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9.0 out of 10
Definitive Technology BPX
Works great with Dolby Pro Logic and Dolby Digital. Full Review
8.8 out of 10
KEF KHT-3005 (black)
The KEF KHT-3005 is one compact, beautifully designed speaker package with solid aluminum satellites that feature unique driver technology to produce incredible clarity. Meanwhile, the equally astounding dual 10-inch, 250-watt powered subwoofer delivers ultradeep bass. Full Review
8.8 out of 10
KEF KHT-3005 (silver)
The KEF KHT-3005 is one compact, beautifully designed speaker package with solid aluminum satellites that feature unique driver technology to produce incredible clarity. Meanwhile, the equally astounding dual 10-inch, 250-watt powered subwoofer delivers ultradeep bass. Full Review
8.7 out of 10
Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080 HD
This 50-inch plasma TV displays an exceedingly deep shade of black with excellent shadow detail; clean image with little noise; "smooth" video-processing mode removes most judder; excellent antireflective screen; sleek, minimalist styling; removable speaker; superb connectivity with four HDMI inputs and one PC input; CableCard compatible with TV Guide EPG. Full Review
8.7 out of 10
Sony VPL-VW200
This projector has exceptional color fidelity. It produces a deep shade of black with excellent shadow detail. It also has a superb feature package, including panel alignment and blacking, and it has solid connectivity. Full Review
8.7 out of 10
Logitech Squeezebox Duet
Network digital audio system includes excellent wireless remote with color screen and scroll wheel control; supports Wi-Fi and Ethernet home networks; compatible with virtually all non-DRM audio file formats, provides access to PC-based music files (on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines) as well as PC-free Internet radio, podcasts, and premium online music services including Rhapsody, Sirius, and Pandora; excellent online account integration; expandable to multiple rooms. Full Review
8.6 out of 10
Wi-Ex zBoost YX510-PCS-CEL cell phone signal extender
The Wi-Ex zBoost YX510-PCS-CEL significantly boosts your cell phone reception and is easy to operate. Also, it uses a wireless connection to your phone. Full Review
8.6 out of 10
Turbo Charge Tc2 portable cell phone charger
The Turbo Charge Tc2 portable cell phone charger successfully delivers emergency power to your cell phone. It's easy to use and comes with a couple of surprising features. Full Review
8.3 out of 10
Energizer Energi To Go (Samsung)
The Energizer Energi To Go is effective and easy to use. Full Review
9.3 out of 10
Canon EOS 1D Mark III
Extremely fast, 10-megapixel continuous shooting; very low noise; highly customizable; well-designed body with weather sealing; 3-inch LCD; abundant optional accessories. Full Review
9.0 out of 10
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N
Combination of fast drive mode and high resolution; large buffer; highly customizable; saves custom camera setups to media, supports cards greater than 2GB. Full Review
9.0 out of 10
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Very low noise, high quality images; 21.1 megapixels; live view shooting; pro-level build-quality and performance. Full Review
9.1 out of 10
HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f
Outstanding price-to-feature ratio; Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive; small, flexible case; great performance thanks to a speedy dual-core AMD CPU Full Review
8.7 out of 10
Dell XPS 630
Fastest gaming performance in its price category (mostly); distinctive chassis; lots of expandability; Nvidia software makes overclocking easy. Full Review
8.5 out of 10
Apple iMac (24-inch, 2.8GHz)
A minor specification update results in some significant performance gains; graphics upgrade an option on this 24-inch model; sleek, polished design didn't receive an update, but we won't start clamoring for a new design until the current one is at least 12 months old. Full Review
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
erkskindl @ Dec 12th 2007 4:36AM
The sad fact is that more and more people don't want to pay for music anymore. They undervalue it because it is easy to steal. Blaming the record companies is just wrong. There are so many different record companies. Some are mega huge, and have massive amounts of money available. Some are tiny and just barely scraping by. Some people are really trying to offer quality product, but in the current environment, they are having one hell of a time connecting with people who really care about music and value it and the artists who create it, and are actually willing to pay for it. If your attitude when you look over a vast array of cd's at a shop is that there will be two good songs and the rest will be crap, why bother? How is it that so many people have such a hard time finding a cd that is actually good all the way through? They exist you know. Many cd's. Sometimes it takes some patience and repeated listening. Sometimes it takes real listening, not just having music in the background while your talking or cleaning the house or driving. While it's definitely true that there is a lot of rubbish out there, there is still a lot of interesting and different music to be found. You just have to look. People have it made today. You can go to a site like CD Baby and spend the whole day listening to full samples of every song on an album and choose whatever does it for you. Most sites also include user commentary as well as related music and recommendations to check out. Barnes and Noble enables the customer to listen to any song that is on any album that they sell. Now that is amazing. Many other sellers have listening stations. A site like Amazon offers pre listening and offers a huge selection including easy access to used sellers. I mean, how much better could it be? Add to this the growing number of internet radio sites that allow the listener easy access to the artist and song title for later purchase if you find yourself liking it. The argument that all this is shit because cd's cost a lot is ridiculous. The cost of a cd today is roughly about the same ratio of average income per hour X 2 as it was years ago. You can easily find cd's at a price point of $12 or $13 today. Most are discounted heavy. If you wish to go back to a time when records were $2.98, bear in mind that the average music buyer was probably making $1.65 an hour or so. (This being in the 60's as an example.) So how bad is it? Comparing the manufacturing costs of a cd versus its retail price and getting all pissed off is a little weird. There are a lot of people splitting up that pie before any of it reaches the actual creators. Record companies cannot count on an identical margin off every cd they release. Some do well, but the majority sell somewhere around 5000 copies. That ain't exactly a lot. An overwhelming amount of people in the music business, including small labels are barely making it at that. So lighten up everyone. Music is a great value. Better than a DVD you might watch 5 times at the most in its lifetime. A great cd will be played for years, off and on. The investment in music is a far better investment than beer or going out to an expensive restaurant. No one seems to complain with the same bitterness about those kinds of things. All that is consumed fast and is gone. But not music. It's still there to give you another ride. It has value and it's worth it.