iPod Über Alles - Apple is currently selling about one million iPods a month worldwide. Several new models have been introduced, including a 4GB mini for $199, a 6GB mini and two photo models with hi-res color screens - a 30GB and a 60GB. Both will hold up to 25,000 digital photos. Battery life of the mini iPods has been increased to as high as 18 hours and they’re available in four colors. The stylish mini hard drives work with both Macs and PCs. Onkyo has just introduced a remote interactive dock that interfaces the iPod with any Onkyo receiver or AV system having both an external input and RI remote control.
Distinguished Rings - Speaking of things small and electronic, both Boosey & Hawkes Publishers and The London Symphony Orchestra now offer their classical libraries for use as ring tones on cell phones. (The composition for string orchestra and cell phone rings on the Kremerland CD reviewed in this issue is a kick and half.) And on the small front, a speaker at the last CEDIA suggested if cell phones get any smaller the government might require a sticker warning: Do Not Swallow.
Universal Disc Players Abound - In an industrywide effort to make the hi-res format war less painful, about 50 different universal disc players are currently available, going as low as Pioneer’s DV-578A - which is only $199 and has become a popular unit for DIY mods to the analog audio out circuit. All are also DVD-V players, and some have begun to include a sophisticated internal scaler to enhance DVD imaging closer to HD. On the hi-res disc front, Sony-Philip’s SACD is way ahead of the DVD-A camp quantity-wise, with about 3,500 releases now available.
NYC Location for HE2005 Show - The next Home Entertainment Show put on by Stereophile and associated publications will take place at Manhattan’s Hilton Hotel April 28 thru May 1. It will feature over 80 demo rooms with over 250 manufacturers exhibiting on five floors.
March 2, 2005 
