Earplugs are a necessity for me: I value my ears, but I also play in loud bands and go to loud shows. Standard foamie earplugs are cheap and get the job done, but they eat high-end frequencies, so everything sounds like you're underwater.

These earplugs have a much flatter frequency response, and wearing them makes everything sound more natural. At $12 a pair, they're still affordable, and they come in a keychain carrying case, so you'll always have them with you. I've used these for many years.

Etymotic also makes "musician's earplugs" -- baffles that fit into custom-molded plugs, fitted and sold by audiologists. I've owned these, too, and I like the $12 ones as much or more: though the custom-fit type allow even more high-frequency sound through, the ER-20 sounds quite good, and it's a lot less traumatic if (really when) I lose a pair.

I wasn't a big fan of Boom Boxes in their era. Unfortunately, the iPod kept the listener tethered with wires to uncomfortable 'earbuds' (as did the Walkman in its day). Apple has since upgraded its painful in-ear headphones, but then the Capsule Speaker came along.

I have re-configured my iPhone to play my music (albeit with monophonic sound) through the very nice X-Mini Capsule Speaker (which looks like a golf ball with a tether). The X-Mini, engineered in Singapore, can be dangled from a lanyard like a piece of Asian jewelry. This little wonder is remarkable in its size, sound quality and versatility. I have more than one.

-- Kevin Manson

[This unusual Singaporean speaker twists open to form a booming little portable megaphone. -- Bruce Sterling]

Finale Allegro is an amazing music scoring program with so many features it boggles the mind. I am using it -- along with the previously-reviewed Transcribe! -- to transcribe blues harp music, which is only a fraction of its capabilities. To be honest, there is a steep learning curve if you've never used a scoring program before, but I found it to be more intuitive than programs which cost many times more. It's like learning to use CAD programs. There is no easy way. You have to trudge through the manual and just try things every time you want to do something.

That said, once you get started, there is so much you can do with this program. There are wizards that help you quickly create a blank sheet with staves. The wizard lets you choose the type of instrument, time signature, key, and font. You then add notes and rests to the staff by choosing from a palette the duration and clicking on the appropriate line or space on the staff. There are also keyboard shortcuts that facilitate this. Each time you add a note you hear the note via a built-in synthesizer. You can play the score you entered via a "play" button. You can change the duration of a note by choosing a different note from the palette and clicking on the note you want to change. You can alter the pitch of a note by dragging it to a different position on the staff or by selecting the note and using the cursor keys. You can add rests, accidentals, and tuplets in a similar manner. You can create chords or add notes to a chord and change its pitch.

Another really nice feature is the ability to import MIDI files which are instantly displayed as a musical score that can be edited. You can also export your score to a MIDI file. And once you are happy with your creation or transcription, you can of course print a hard copy or export to a pdf to distribute to your fellow musicians. One plus is the abilty to automatically create tablatures of your music -- simultaneously, in a separate staff below your main staff. Unfortunately for me, the program doesn't have a built-in harmonica TAB, but it is possible to create a custom TAB (though, I've found it is easier to manually add TABS with the lyrics tool).

All this and much more for $200. And there are lower-priced, limited versions for as low as $9.95. Quite frankly the $200 version is overkill for my purposes. You can try the free demos to see which version is right for you.

As an avid record collector, tinkerer, and restorer of vintage audio equipment (speakers, turntables, etc.), Vinyl Engine's vast resources have proven indispensable (registration required). Whenever you get a new table, you have to set up and align the specific stylus and tone arm -- settings which are highly-specific to particular models. Without that info you're flying in the dark and have no idea if your stylus is seating correctly in the groove. Translation: crappy sound, damaged vinyl, unnecessary strain on your needle.

So far, every single turntable I've needed data on has been available on the site. The Library archive features 217 brand names of turntable related gear, each one drilling down into a vast wealth of data: alignment protractors, cartridges, tone arms, strobe discs, manuals, catalogs, and even a brand-specific forum for info-sharing and troubleshooting. For instance, the Technics page alone has info on 64 direct drive tables, 20 belt drive tables, and another 9 misc. tables. And the depth will only improve as members upload files and share more info.

Recently I acquired a stock Rega Planar 3 turntable that I've been after for a reasonable price for about 6 years now. Score! Not quite. Initial listening tests showed some sibilance (S sounds more like TH than S) which worsens towards the center of the record. This led me to do some research to see if I can solve that issue. Vinyl Engine had PDF's of the original owner's manual and setup guide as well as user-created alignment protractor (pic below) that made correct setup fast and easy -- you just put them on the table, and make sure the needle traces the correct path (hint: when printing the protractor it is important to turn off page scaling, otherwise, the geometry is thrown off!). This did not solve my sibilance issue, but it moved me closer to a solution. Further support was available within the forum dedicated to Rega products: Looks like I need a new stylus.

Another example: I have a Technics SL-1900 I stopped using because the automatic return function causes the stylus to scrape across the record as it is unable to lift the tonearm high enough. Posting a query on the forum recently yielded very useful information. Evidently there is an adjustment screw that is easily-accessible from the top of the turntable. Also, I learned I may have to dismantle the entire table and replace the tonearm lift's silicone damping fluid. Fortunately for me, people have posted pictures and step by step instructions. Turns out a variety of viscosities of 100% pure silicone lubricant are available locally at San Francisco's cooperatively-owned sex toy store Good Vibrations. Inexpensive, too!

I'm learning to play blues harp, so in addition to the previously-reviewed Amazing Slow Downer, I've tried a number of programs that let you manually control the speed of a tune without changing the pitch. I have to say without reservation that Transcribe! is the clear winner. Its simple user interface is completely intuitive and easy to use. To select a section of music you want repeated, all you have to do is drag the cursor over the section of the displayed waveform, choose a preset speed from 15 percent to 150 percent, and play. You can add markers to the sections you want to come back to later as well.

Compared to Transcribe!, Amazing Slow Downer's interface is just awkward. First of all, there is no displayed waveform, which, to me, is a minimum requirement for this type of software. So to select the start and end points of a section, you have to play the piece to *audibly* locate the section you want and then jockey with two sliders to set the endpoints -- a very time consuming and annoying process. To select the speed there is another slider that makes it almost impossible to select whole number increments or repeat a desired speed. There's also no marker capability, so you have to go through this awkward procedure every time you want to practice a different section. While two programs -- Guitar and Drum Trainer 3 and SlowGold -- do have a graphical waveform display, they are still very awkward to use.

When I am learning a song, I go through it bar by bar, and, by repeating the bar at a slow speed and playing it on the harmonica, I type down the tab for each note. After I have transcribed the whole piece, I then select larger sections and repeat them slowly, playing along using the tabs for guidance, and gradually increase the speed until I've got it. I've tried all the programs I mentioned above and then some. I just couldn't believe how difficult other programs make this process. Transcribe! just works. I have been using it for around two years on Windows XP; from the screen shots, it looks like it's identical for Mac OS.

-- Laral

Transcribe!
30-day free trial
Available from Seventh String

$50
Available from Seventh String

The previously-reviewed Sony ICF-2010 is undoubtedly the best portable shortwave radio ever made. It was built to perfection with synchronous detection, aircraft band and a lot of other bells and whistles. But unfortunately, it has long been discontinued. Likewise, the previously-reviewed Grundig YB-400 has also been discontinued.

Today, the two best portable shortwave receivers in the market are the Sony ICF-SW7600GR and the Grundig G5. Both are great radios, but the 7600GR triumphs over the Grundig because of its excellent build quality (still Japanese made!) and synchronous detection circuitry, which lets the user eliminate adjacent channel interference, fading and distortion on shortwave. Both are equally sensitive on shortwave but some argue that the G5 has better audio (i.e. the speaker). For listening to ham radio stations, though, the 7600GR is much better and, at least for the moment, it is the only portable receiver that features synchronous detection circuitry, technology usually found only on radios *ten times* the price!

Some background on synchronous detection: an Amplitude modulated (AM) signal has three components: the carrier signal which is flanked by upper and lower sidebands (USB and LSB). The sidebands carry the audio information and are prone to interference when a station from an adjacent frequency interferes with the sidebands. For example, if you are listening to BBC on 9500 KHz, a station at 9505 KHz might interfere with the upper sideband of 9500 KHz but not with the lower sideband. The lower sideband is vulnerable only to a frequency lower than BBC at 9500 KHz. A regular detector on a radio like G5 will take *both* sidebands and the carrier signal and generate an audio that will show signs of interference. A synchronous detector like the one on the Sony 7600GR eliminates the distorted sideband and uses the cleaner sideband (the one not affected by interference) and mixes it up with a new strong carrier signal, which it generates by itself. Thus, the 7600GR eliminates two problems: weak carrier signal and distortion of the sidebands due to adjacent channel interference.

For hams radio stations, single side band (SSB) capability is needed. Hams generally broadcast in the upper or the lower side band but not both. The Grundig G5 and the Sony 7600GR both have an SSB feature, but only Sony lets you manually select which of the two single side bands (upper or lower) to listen to. That USB/LSB selectable switch also comes in handy for the synchronous detection circuitry. For instance, if you know the interference is coming from a station broadcasting at a frequency higher than what you are listening to, choose LSB on the switch and the USB is eliminated and vice versa.

The 7600GR has been a great companion to me for the last five years. I listen to All India Radio to catch some news and music from home. I also love listening to voices from all over the world: BBC, Radio Netherlands, Radio China International, Radio Japan, and Radio Australia among many others. Beyond increasing my understanding of the world around me, the radio also helped me a lot with improving my spoken English. And due to its size, I'm able to take the radio pretty much everywhere I go.

-- Sam Ponissery

Sony Shortwave Radio - ICF-SW7600GR
$150
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Sony

A USB-connected MIDI controller, Korg's nanoKEY looks much like a mutated computer keyboard. It weighs less than a pound and takes up less room in one's bag than a paperback book. At first blush, it seems impossibly thin and a bit cheaply made, but after a few minutes, I found it to be playable just like any other keyboard. It has a trio of buttons that approximate a full-sized keyboard's pitch and modulation wheels (albeit in a binary fashion, no nuance available). There are also buttons that shift the keyboard's range up or down several octaves, and a special CC mode that makes each key output a MIDI continuous controller value when struck (instead of a MIDI note) which is handy when trying to get a hold of the dozens of little buttons that festoon modern music software. There are several behavioral options under the hood, too, and the included editor makes tweaking things simple.

So far, I've taken the keyboard with me on several trips and countless public transit rides. It has allowed me to take down ideas -- direct to my laptop -- that I never would have chronicled otherwise. It's also just plain fun.

I've been making music on computers since the early 90s, and the march of miniaturization and affordability in computer music gear has never ceased to astound me. The equivalent of a setup that once cost thousands of dollars to assemble and occupied an entire second bedroom now runs on a laptop which comes with me everywhere. But one of the main things that remained a challenge to small-ify was the MIDI keyboard. M-Audio's Oxygen 8 led the charge, being small enough to throw into a large backpack with one's laptop, but it was still rather heavy and chunky. In time, various other keyboards were created that slimmed things down even further, but the form factor remained that of something you needed to create space for in one's bag, and lugging one around all day was not a fun prospect.

Finally, the nanoKEY seems to have gotten it all right. Now I can always have a keyboard with me, wherever I go, with little weight or space penalty. Lovely.

-- George Cochrane

Korg nanoKEY
$50
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Korg

Although I have played acoustic guitar for some time, I had never considered the prospect of actually building one myself from scratch. Then one of my co-workers brought in an acoustic guitar he had built using the guiding principles contained within WIlliam Cumpiano's Guitarmaking. I was truly blown away by the professional build and tonal quality of his guitar, and was immediately hooked on the hobby. Widely considered in many lutherie circles to be the de facto bible for the novice guitarmaker, this book makes the whole experience seem far less intimidating.

Cumpiano's book can be approached as both a comprehensively detailed construction manual as well as a structural framework for creative exploration. Taken in its most straightforward form, the book will guide you step by step in exacting detail through the entire construction process -- from tool and wood selection, through to lacquering and final string-action set up -- enabling aspiring luthiers of any skill level to produce a quality final guitar. Each task is broken down in an assembly line-like manner, and is prefaced with exactly which tools and materials will be required; everything down to the number and placement of clamps to the glue drying time is provided. There are also explanations of beginner's pitfalls and invaluable tips on how to avoid them.

One of the most striking points I garnered from this book is that an acoustic guitar can be completely constructed with very minimal tools. In fact, the book assumes you have little or no access to power tools. I live in a small condo without any extra space or anything resembling a workshop. Although I had some previous woodworking experience, I had never used tools such as hand planes, cabinet scrapers, and paring chisels. Still, with the book, I was able to confidently take on the challenging and rewarding task of designing and building a guitar about the size of the previously-reviewed Martin OM -- in my kitchen. You don't have to blow through three weeks of vacation time to enjoy this hobby either. I've been working on mine fairly consistently, but also off-and-on for a year now (I expect to finish around Janurary 2009).

If you read with an open mind and are willing to research modern construction techniques on the Internet and learn from other builders, I found you can also take what you learn from Cumpiano and slightly improve upon the book's construction techniques in a few areas -- a caveat that even he mentions in the preface in the book, as lutherie is a constantly-evolving art form. For instance, there is a chapter about "pinning" the neck to the body that reads as a fairly complex task. However, Cumpiano subsequently invented a more modern "bolt on" approach that is significantly easier and more successful, and he has continued to provide his readers with these construction tips and details on his web site.

-Steve Summerford

Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology:
A Complete Reference for the Design & Construction
of the Steel-String Folk Guitar & the Classical Guitar
William Cumpiano
1998, 392 pages
$35
Available from Amazon

Cumpian's web site

Great resources for the harder-to-find tools:
Stewart-MacDonald
Allied Lutherie
LMI
RC Tonewood & Sons

I started to find it really hard to get to sleep. Instead of staying up for hours, thinking, this sound machine gives me a rhythm for breathing and falling asleep and it's louder than the voice in my head. Unlike a white noise machine, which can *only* create static, this unit offers a range of built-in natural sounds, plus expansion sound cards with more sounds for $15 and up. My wife is partial to the summer night sounds whereas I prefer the ocean surf, so we bought two cards and alternate: Rhythms of the Sea and Wilderness Journey. The sound can be played for a set time (30-, 60-, or 90-minutes), fades out gradually and it automatically shuts off. Unlike many machines that have a combination volume and on/off switch, this one has a great big button that only turns it on and off -- very easy to hit with my eyes closed or while wearing a sleep mask.

I looked at a lot of different sound machines. I first tried one intended for babies. It was cheap and well-regarded, but had a very limited number of sounds which ranged from inauthentic to annoying, poor volume control and it clicked loudly when it shut off. I found there are a lot of poorly-made sound machines and a lot of good ones, but those cost a lot more. I wasn't willing to go up to the next price point ($100), so for the money, I really think this is the best one for regular, at-home use. I've used ours for about six months now and use it every night to get to sleep. I even travel with it and play it on planes with earphones (it runs on AA batteries as well as AC).

Sure they make CDs and mp3s with similar soundtracks, but you can't program fades or set automatic shut offs unless you have a fancy stereo/player, which our bedroom does not. Also, those albums aren't necessarily designed for sleeping. I remember being in a Thai restaurant where there was a flat screen playing a scene of a running brook with birds, complete with sound. It did not take very long before I knew the sequence and what was coming next and how long the loop was. That kind of repetition only keeps me awake. The sounds on our expansion cards do not repeat all that quickly, or if they do, it is not at all obvious when they start over.

-- Hugh Brown

Sound Oasis - S-550-03
$49
Available from Amazon

Sound Expansion Cards
$15
Available from Sleep Well Baby

Manufactured by Sound Oasis

Ever wonder what instruments, pedals and assorted gizmos Eric Clapton used on stage with Cream circa 1968? If you're a gearhound, amateur musician, professional journeyman, or weekend warrior, Guitar Geek is a fantastic resource (and a major potential time suck). In addition to a laundry list of gear, with each artist comes a very straightforward visual roadmap of what hooks into what. Plus, each specific piece of gear gets its own page with additional info and links to every bands in the database that use, for instance, the Digitech WH-1 Whammy: Robert Fripp, Steve Vai, Radiohead, and My Bloody Valentine, just to name a few. The catalog of bands/guitars is not as vast as it could be. It's very late-90s-heavy and there are some glaring omissions -- no Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin. Also, the site says the accuracy of each setup is not guaranteed, as each has been cobbled together from bios, concert footage, eyewitness accounts, press and online research. Nevertheless, even if you're a fan who has no interest in building your dream setup, there's a certain wow factor when you dive in here (check out Eddie Van Halen's rig circa 1997. Seriously.). When I was 14 years-old and played non-stop, not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined so much info would ever be available in one place.

-- Steven Leckart

Guitar Geek

Sample Excerpts:

ARTIST: JIMI HENDRIX
BAND: JIMI HENDRIX
YEAR: 1968
STRINGS: FENDER "ROCK N' ROLL" STRINGS
GAUGE: LIGHT GAUGE
AMPS: Marshall 1959SLP 100Watt Super Lead Plexi Head
CABINETS: Marshall 1960A Slant Cabinet / 4x12
Marshall 1960AC Vintage Cabinet / 4x12
GUITARS: 1968 Fender Stratocaster Reverse Headstock Electric Guitar
(blonde w/maple neck & black w/maple neck)
PEDALS: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
Roger Mayer Octavia Fuzz/Octave
UniVox UniVibe
Vox 847 Wah
STRINGS: Fender "Rock N' Roll" Strings
LAYOUT:

ARTIST: JONNY GREENWOOD
BAND: RADIOHEAD
YEAR: 1997
GUITARS 1990S FENDER TELECASTER PLUS ELECTRIC GUITAR
SUNBURST - REWIRED - CUSTOM ON/OFF SWITCH INSTALLED WHICH MUTES SOUND FROM THE
1975 FENDER STARCASTER ELECTRIC GUITAR
AMPS: Fender Deluxe 85 Combo / 1x12
Vox AC30/6TB Top Boost Combo Reissue / 2x12
PEDALS: Boss LS-2 Line Selector / Loop / Power Supply
Boss RV-3 Reverb Delay
Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
Boss TU-12H Chromatic Tuner
Digitech WH-1 Whammy Original
DOD 440 Envelope Filter
Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phaser USA
Marshall Shredmaster Overdrive / Distortion
Roland FV-300H Volume Pedal
RACK: Mutronics Mutator Filter / Envelope Follower
Roland RE-201 Space Echo Tape Delay / Reverb
LAYOUT:

Quality digital recorders have shrunk to the point where they fit *inside* a hi-fi microphone, like this Zoom model. You can hold the mic and the recorder in one hand. This very compact recorder/mic can capture music in the studio or in the field at surprising high audio quality in stereo. I am more interested in recording voice and sounds for radio, and flash-card-based units like this one are more than adequate for that purpose. I was guided to the Zoom by the audio geeks at Transom, an online hangout for radio journalists. They review the best gear for NPR reporters and the like. (This stuff changes quickly so check Transom's tool area for the latest recommendations).

I've been using the Zoom H2 because it was among the least expensive choices for a professional level digital sound recorder. It contains its own decent microphones (no fooling around with auxiliary plugs, boosters, adapters, etc.), it records on cheap flash cards, it has an earphone jack so you can monitor the actual feed, and it comes with a nifty removable handle so I can hold it in front of interviewees. It also comes with a short mini-stand for studio recording. The Zoom H2 gets good marks for the quality of the mic and stereo recording. The resulting edited files sound as crisp and full as anything you'll hear on radio or CD. And the street price for this microphone/recorder combo is about $180.

Remember when $200 digital cameras were able to take a picture as rich and detailed as a professional 35mm camera? Recorders like the Zoom H2 have crossed a similar threshold for sound. For under $200 you can record music, voice, sound at a quality nearly undistinguishable (for 95% of uses) from anything a professional model would do.

-- KK

Zoom H2 Handy Recorder
$168
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Samson

Zoom H2 on Wikipedia

Last year I took a cross-country road trip with my 10-year-old daughter, and we were greatly entertained by the free public domain audio books available from LibriVox, an online forum which connects readers (as in those who voice the text) to books, then makes the resulting audio files freely available to all. The library is strictly public domain material, but is very extensive. Most of the books we listened to were read by just one person ("going solo"), but readers can volunteer for individual chapters of books in progress. We listened to The Prince and the Pauper, The Mysterious Island, The Wind in the Willows, Five Children and It, and several selected poems and short stories. (Kudos to Timothy Smith for The Mysterious Island -- a tour de force!). Online coordinators organize the readings, which are generally excellent. Some readers provide wonderful voices for each character; some simply read the text. The books are available for download from the website, or can be downloaded via iTunes, which we did and then listened to from the iPod in the car (note: using iTunes, the files are stored as separate podcasts with a separate podcast per chapter; when you download the .mp3 file from the LibriVox website, it is listed not in audiobooks nor podcasts, but as a LibriVox 'song'). This really is a wonderful public service. It's not as easy to be a good reader as you may think! If you want to contribute, the website includes a FAQ on how to record and prepare the audio file for submission, including links to free recording software and instructions on adding ID3 tags for the iPod. My daughter is enchanted with the concept, and has since volunteered to read chapters of Raggedy Ann Stories.

-- Paul Goessling

LibriVox

Newbie Guide to Recording

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Podcasts

DailyLit

Olympus Digital Voice Recorder

For a number of years I've been into sound art and electronics, but never had the cash and space for an ARP 2600. I recently acquired a Korg Kaossilator, a fabulous little dynamic phrase synthesizer, which, for all intents and purposes, now serves as my main musical device. Pocket-sized and touch-operated, the Kaossilator is comprised of 100 sounds: electronic beats, synth chords and pads, squelchy bass tones and the odd acoustic instruments. The Theremin sounds alone are worth the $200 price tag. The fun part is creating 8-beat loops in which you can control the tempo and the scales of the instruments selected. I've already "composed" a few pieces using just the Korg and will most likely start incorporating it into GarageBand or, perhaps, Max/MSP once my visual programming chops get happening. My only complaint is you can't edit or remove instruments/sounds as you layer them or control individual volumes. Still, I highly recommend the Korg for beginners and semi-pros that haven't got a cache of gear and/or software. For standalone equipment, I don't think there's anything really comparable to the Kaossilator, except it's cousin, the Mini Kaoss Pad, which is more for effects.

A hobbyist that was a session drummer in another life (before children), it's limiting to how often I can make music. Drummers have to deal with the confines of noise volumes (the neighbors), the amount of space required and the portability of your gear. Plus, your output is restricted to mainly the rhythmic aspects of music as well as performing in the more traditional acoustic genres. With two small children, I don't get to play with the Kaossilator as often as I'd like, but the one-year-old loves to see and hear it in action. While you can use the sounds to record with in your audio software, you can also just plug in headphones and experience your public transit commuting time diminish exponentially. I've taken it out of the house a few times. It runs on either a 4.5V adapter (not included) or 4 AA batteries (included). I have yet to really clock the amount of time used with just the batteries, but it's been a lot longer than you'd get on a laptop.

-- Gord Fynes

Video demo

Korg Kaossilator
$190
Available from DJDeals

Periodically available from Amazon

Manufactured by Korg

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Tape Op Magazine

Logic

Electroplankton

iPods are great except for those of us who are required to have hearing protection at work. I'm a Highway Safety Consultant and still do construction. This is the only radio earmuff I have found that has hearing protection and digital tuning. Unlike standard noise-reducing headphones, these provide actual hearing protection from loud noises (the noise reduction rating is advertised as 26 dB). I have owned other radio earmuff models but when you "bump" the channel selector you lose your station. Since this one's digital, I can program the presets. Now I tune in, save my favorite channels, and flip between them. So far I've been using mine at work with a patch cord for the iPod, however, I am going to buy an FM modulator for the iPod so I can go wireless.

-- Scott Newton

Peltor Digital WorkTunes Radio Earmuff
$50
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Aearo Company

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Bose Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset

iTrip

Peltor Kid Earmuffs

When it came to music, I was an old fogie. I had a shelf full of Bob Dylan, Allman Brothers, Brian Eno, and more Bob Dylan. You know, old guy's music. I actually liked a lot of the new popular music I overheard, I was just not up on it. Didn't know what was what. Recently I've found two tools to keep me current with great contemporary music that wasn't just top 40. My iPod is now full of some pretty hip music, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Here's what works for me. At my birthday or Christmas, I request as my only present that my kids, nieces and nephews burn me a disc of their favorite music in the last year, or so. It is an easy gift for them to make, and a great learning experience for me. The few tracks I can't stand, I just delete. The stuff I love I seek out on iTunes to purchase more of. From this I get the fashionable tunes.

This trick actually works even better with kids not your own. When I am traveling overseas I ask students who befriend me to burn me a CD of their favorite local tunes, and boy does this beckon forth some great unknown stuff. I landed some lovely Polish rock this way. I've learned to not be bashful asking because everyone loves to share their favorites. The main thing is to not ask your friends; they think too much like you. Instead you want the "other-ness" from fans in other lands and other generations. In my experience this method works better than following random play lists on iTunes, or random recommendations on Amazon. The winnowing process to burn to a CD is more selective, and perhaps because it is being made for a specific person -- me -- it is, well, more personalized.

My second method is a more automatic version of "what's on your iPod?", yet brings me a wider range of songs. For one or two days a month I queue up David Byrne's Radio Station on the web and listen to his two-hour loop of new, wonderful, delicious tunes. Rock-star Byrne is a professional musical pioneer, admirably eclectic in his taste, yet astutely discriminating at the same time. Over years of listening to all kinds of music -- experimental, indie, international, fringe, classical, pop -- he's heard enough to make some great recommendations. Given his reputation he is constantly asked what he is listening to. In answer he has generously turned his play list into a streaming audio station. When you tune in, you are hearing the music he plays in his office.

Each Radio David Byrne playlist runs a few hours long before it repeats; it keeps cycling the whole month. It's kind of like listening to a 2-hour album over and over again.This gives you a chance to "master" the new music you are hearing. Past playlists have focused on "Icelandic Pop," "Movie sound tracks," "Opera highlights," or, my favorite, "Eclectic Stuff." This month (Feb 08) the theme is "African Fusion Pop" -- Byrne's favorites from two decades of exploring modern African hits.

I listen to each list for a few days as I work, slowly accumulating my favorites. There is a handy Amazon link near the tunes available for download, which makes adding a new song to your own collection a no-brainer. Or you can copy the metadata and hunt for it on iTunes or E-Music, etc. Byrne earns a few cents for each download, which keeps his bandwidth going. Over several years of listening a few hours per month I've gotten a great education in contemporary music. I know Dylan has a satellite radio show, but really, more legends should do this -- stream what you love.

Besides the fact that Byrne's Radio station has introduced me to fantastic artists (sometimes preempting my kids!), I also like the fact that it is demonstrating a workable, legal (at the moment) model for music exploration: Expert + Sharing + Purchase.

-- KK

Radio David Byrne

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

World Music

CD Roots

Global Rhythm

After extensive comparisons of the surprisingly small number of inexpensive, quality options for listening to my digitized music on my hi-fi audio system, I went with Roku's very reasonably-priced SoundBridge M1001 network music player. The latest SoundBridge model uses wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi (including WEP or WPA security) to stream music from my hard drive to my stereo. While my stereo set-up is far from audiophile, it still sounds a lot better than my laptop or plug-in speakers.

Following months of ripping the thousands of CDs in my collection, I now have more gigabytes of music on my laptop than even the largest iPod can hold, so plugging an mp3 player into my stereo wasn't an option. I also find it too much trouble to tote the computer from my desk to the other room where my stereo sits to connect it with an audio cable. Plus, then I can't use the computer while it sits tethered up on the shelf next to the receiver.

As a universal jukebox, the SoundBridge gives me convenient access to all my digitized music. It also offers built in search for the countless Internet radio stations out there, which expands my music choices nearly infinitely. The device itself is small and very attractive, and installation was mostly easy. SoundBridge found my home wireless network and connected instantly as soon as I entered the password. The manual is clearly written, and I was able to learn the device's menus and functions pretty quickly. I refuse to use iTunes because it is a system hog on my Windows machine. I rely on WinAmp instead, but the Firefly Media Server (offered by Roku as a free download) works fine, as will the media server built into Windows Media Player. Both server options (and the others detailed on Roku's site) quickly read the tags on my audio files and provide a seamless browsing and searching opportunity, with support for all the playlists I have created, too. Just to be clear, the SoundBridge does NOT connect to a computer's soundcard, so it can't be used to stream the sound from a DVD being played, for example.

All of the set-up and navigation is done with a small infrared remote control that comes with the SoundBridge device. While shaped nicely for my hand, the remote is actually the least impressive element of the system. I find it a bit flimsy and the squishy buttons give little tactile (or aural) feedback, so I may eventually replace it with a universal remote. That said, I am immensely happy with the system, and I'm free to listen to music but still use my laptop wherever and whenever I want.

-- Ted Weinstein

Roku SoundBridge
$133
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Roku

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools

Sonos

Control 4 Home Automation

The Perfect Thing

I've been using an evaluation unit of the recently-released Calisto Pro phone and Bluetooth headset for a few months and absolutely love it. I replaced an old phone in my office and set this system up on my business line; I clip the handset on my belt when I am away from my desk so I don't have to run into my office to pick up from there. It is the details that really matter. The base is compact and elegant, and because the only dock for the headset is in the base unit, you never have to worry about losing the headset. The soft-clip on the phone opens easily and it's placed on the phone upside down, so when a call comes in you can easily glance down and easily read the screen right side up. The handset also has a built-in speakerphone that is just tremendous, both when docked in the base and used remotely. But the headset is so elegantly integrated with the phone (and it has a long voice-tube for a change!) that one hardly needs the speakerphone function. The system can also sync with Outlook and has a bunch of neat extras, like elegant switching among land, VOIP and cellular calls. Though I haven't used them in my office, I have seen these features demo'd. I've yet to replace my cell phone headset with this one, but I really should, as the Calisto Pro headset is much better. However, this would be a terrific product even if it had no headset because of the quality of the DECT-6 protocol, which delivers tremendous sound quality on the handset. Battery life is also very solid, and so is range, though of course the laws of physics still apply and thus it matters where you put the base and what sort of building you are in. Set up is no different from an ordinary cordless phone -- no need to read directions or the like; it is all very self-evident plug-and-play sort of experience. Just plug into the wall jack and plug in the power supply. When a call comes in, picking up the handset is as easy as picking up a traditional phone. All in all, this is the first cordless headset phone I consider good enough for a home office -- and I've been buying cordless headset phones since the mid-80s and have more than I can count moldering away in boxes. Interestingly, Plantronics is the company that built the headset used by Neal Armstrong when he first stepped on the Moon!

-- Paul Saffo

Calisto Pro Hands-Free Phone System
$250
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Plantronics

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Phone Recorder

OneSuite

Boom Noise Cancelling Headset

This is one of the "games" that will likely get me to finally shell out for Nintendo's DS Lite. The three weeks I spent indulging in a preview copy on a borrowed DS were rather satisfying. As with Electroplankton, you touch a stylus to the screen to create sounds, except in this case you're playing an actual, well, virtual instrument: six-string guitar. You change chords with the D-pad. The stylus can be strummed soft or hard, fast or slow. And the responsiveness was impressive, especially considering you're playing a pocket-sized system. There are note-by-note, karaoke-like instructions for a range of contemporary and classic rock and pop songs. Personally, I enjoyed simply tinkering with chord changes and all the effects.

If you're a musician, this could be a fun, albeit potentially-productive, way to pass a long flight. If you're not a musician, this is a solid way to learn chords and songs by doing, but without investing in an object that will take up space or make too much noise. With Jam Sessions, you can put on headphones and rock out whenever, wherever. Some say gaming -- and the web, too -- causes a disconnect between you and the "real world." That said, playing Jam Sessions inspired me to dig out my retired, old steel string to try out some of the digital ditties I composed while riding public transit.

-- Steven Leckart

Jam Sessions
$30
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Ubisoft

Here's a video of a decent cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin"; if you know the song, the sound from the game should be pretty convincing (at 00:44, you really get the full effect) -- sl

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Electroplankton

Martin OM-15 Guitar

The Fluke Ukulele

Tape Op is the only music geek magazine worth buying -- and it's free. Widely eclectic and ever encouraging, the main premise seems to be "Try, and trust your ears." Pro, semi-pro, and DIY info sits comfortably side-by-side. Pros read it, hobbyists read it, some kids read it, all get something from it. Tape Op will give step-by step demos of, for instance, modding a certain low-cost microphone to get more bang for the buck written by a guy who sell his own mics for thousands. Or they talk to a guy with a barn full of home-made analog synths or someone who makes music out of sounds from antique recordings. The mag offers information in all kinds of directions, but it only wants you to do your own thing with it, what ever that is. Tape Op's philosophy: use your ears and twist some knobs, learn all you can, then forget about it. Standards are explained, history is explored first-person, but rules might be thrown out the window. An undercurrent regarding how unrealistic and difficult it is to run a studio coexists with inspiring tales about the pleasure and pride that comes from recording music. The contributors work hard in their own studios and know what they're talking about. A large community of recordists supports contributing articles and a lively online Q and A page (later edited and published). Recent profiles have run the gamut from legendary producers/engineers to seriously indie/outsider recordists; all have a jones for doing what they do their own way.

A recent, typical issue reviewed a mic you can buy for a steal on eBay for $40 and a mic that streets for $7,000. They don't waste time writing slagging reviews; they review only what might be useful to someone on some level. On one hand, you can learn a lot by reading about something you may never be able to afford. On the other, you see that despite how amazing, desirable and beautiful that thing is -- and this where most music mags stop -- you don't really need it. It might be a great tool for someone, but you don't have to need it. Record reviews, written in the same "we like this" spirit, lean indie and outside, but might go anywhere. I always read about something I don't know, but wouldn't mind hearing. It's independently published and paid for by ads from all kinds of audio-related concerns, but beholden to no one, so it's neither slick nor slimy. Other recording magazines often seem to be trolling for sales or hyping an image. Their editorial decisions are suspect, noising on about last year's retreads, repeating a press release, offering the same tutorials you could find in another magazine -- or the library(!). The 'net offers a lot of basic DIY sites you can learn from, but will they print an interview with Rupert Neve, as issue by issue, you learn about the products that riff on his designs? How about talking to Rudy Van Gelder (who recorded all the classic Blue Note jazz) about taping John Coltrane in the living room of his parent's house in New Jersey?

I've been subscribing since 1997-8 when a producer I met turned me onto it. There is absolutely nothing out there like it. Nowadays my job is production manager/soundcheck and rehearsal substitute/backline tech for a three-time Grammy winning artist. I work with and have hired top-notch audio pros and I learn a great deal from them. Tape Op has often given me insight that keeps me apace in our discussions and what I learn from them takes me deeper into the magazine. However, Tape Op also has allowed me to nourish a side-line in sound designing/composing for theatre when I am off the road. When no one's paying me and I'm home with the kids asleep, I record my music or occasionally, friends. That is where the knife really gets sharpened and what I have taken in from Tape Op gets put to the test.

-- John Stovicek

Tape Op Magazine
Free
Available from TapeOp.com

--
Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Logic

How to Sell Your Book, CD, or DVD on Amazon

Amazing Slow Downer

Podcasts are audio programs you subscribe to. You can easily manage your subscriptions through iTunes, but finding great stuff that remains great over the long haul, month after month, is not easy. There's lots of single issue podcasts, but not many programs you'll want to hear on a regular basis.

For the past several years I've been actively auditing podcasts while in my car. I've tried all kinds of stuff -- one time talks, home-made riffs, occasional raves by brilliant geniuses, and regular fragments of broadcast material. I have two criteria: I want to be surprised, and I want to learn.

In the past 12 months I have settled my listening time on three regular podcasts, which I look forward to eagerly. I can heartily recommend all three. They share these characteristics: they are one-hour, weekly podcasts of non-fiction that begin as broadcasts on public radio. I know the whole point of podcasting is to let a million amateur voices bloom, but what can I say? Week after week, what I crave is well-crafted, compelling audible surprises that tell me something I didn't know. That is what you get with these free podcasts. One hour gives time to go deep, weekly gives room to experiment, but doesn't overwhelm the way daily does (I dropped Fresh Air because I couldn't keep up), and non-fiction keeps me learning.

One thing to keep in mind: podcasts are meant to be "subscribed to" as they are delivered, which means getting "back copies" or archived editions of formerly broadcast podcasts may not easy. You may have to either listen to them as streaming audio, or pay for a download.

In Our Time

This weekly broadcast from the BBC in London is a testimony to the benefits of intellectuals and professors. Every week the mumbling host Melvyn Bragg invites three English professors (usually from Oxford or Cambridge) to discuss the most obscure subject of their expertise. They are only too happy to talk about that thing they know more about than anyone. By forcing the eggheads to be succinct, or demanding they restate a concept until clear, In Our Time delivers an incredibly fascinating glimpse into an unknown world in sufficient detail to make the conversation memorable. Imagine a whole hour each on: The Speed of Light; Indian Mathematics; The Siege of Constantinople; Gravitational Waves; The Trial of Madame Bovary; Anaesthetics; Joan of Arc; Ockham's Razor. Those are some of the topics I've heard in recent months. I've learned that the more obscure the subject, the more revelatory detail, and the more it becomes fascinating.

Direct feed
iTunes feed

***

Radio Lab

It's hard to describe the innovative audio sensibility in a Radio Lab show. Sounds and speech are layered, cut, remixed, and spot-lighted in a way that could be very annoying, but isn't. Instead these experiments add subtlety, animation, and depth to otherwise talking voices. Each session of Radio Lab takes a broad subject like Placebos, or Forgetting, and explores the idea in sound and words non-linearly, with great intelligence, originality, and daring. They ask hard questions, and keep circling it until they come close to an answer. It's a lot of fun. They also do a wonderful job integrating their website material (links, bibliography, further research) into the hour. You can download past programs as mp3. Start with the Musical Languages show.

Direct feed
iTunes feed

***

This American Life

True stories about anything. Simply the best thing on radio. Possibly ever. Host Ira Glass has been pioneering the art of telling non-fiction stories for 10 years. He gives each voice time to stumble, pause, or lunge forward. But not a nanosecond is wasted. You hear what happened to people that makes their lives human. Every story on This American Life has an emotional narrative arc, and is often about transformation. Each story is told in an honest, original voice, and will make you cry or laugh. It is not uncommon for people to sit in their cars at their destination in order to hear the end of a story. That was the main drawback of This America Life: I wasn't usually in my car when it broadcast on the radio. Now with the podcast version I catch the three stories -- and their endings -- every week.

Direct feed
iTunes feed

-- KK

Logic is the Photoshop for music. With Logic, an audio software package from Apple, you can capture, process, filter, manipulate, correct, fiddle, compose, edit and endlessly tweak musical sounds to your heart's content. It's not the first music software, of course. Apple's beginner program Garage Band is a hint in the general direction, and Avid's ProTools is the expensive professional competitor to beat. And there are about a dozen other decent audio managing software packages available and in wide use, including a few basic free options. But Logic is gaining a reputation among some pros as the best one for music makers.

I was turned onto Logic by Brian Eno, who like many other musicians, is using it as his primary creative tool. Logic is the software he uses to compose music, and it's what he uses in the studio while producing albums of some the world's best-selling bands. I asked him how it compared to the current professional audio recording program, ProTools, which has become the default in most recording studios, and why he would recommend Logic over ProTools for musicians. Eno said:

I think my main arguments come in three varieties. Protools is a fine system, but it is definitely more orientated towards recording than impromptu creation. It doesn't handle midi as well as Logic does, and in general it doesn't take so kindly to the improvisational way of working which you can adopt in Logic. Most importantly, it doesn't come bundled with all the interesting plug-ins and ready made loops that come with Logic. For instance I created a little song in my hotel room one night [as a gift, posted here] which I could not have done there in Protools. Logic's main strength, until recently at least, is that it is a high quality format (although I have to confess the actual audio difference is increasingly minimal to me).

And this brings me to my second thought. Protools is a stand-alone system with its own hardware and software. Logic is an Apple-owned system. What this means to me is that Logic benefits from every advance that Apple computers make in the evolution of their hardware -- and I think Protools just won't be able to keep up with them. Remember Apple only just bought Logic, and the next version of Logic is expected to be a huge leap forward. I think Protools just won't have the resources to match Apple in that arena.

Last thing: you can carry Logic on your laptop and play, compose, create on the plane, wherever.

Logic, like Photoshop, is a complex, deep, powerful piece of software that will take some time to learn, and will cost you a bundle. But you will never exhaust it. And like Photoshop, which comes in a slightly "lighter" and significantly cheaper version (PhotoShop Elements), Logic also comes in a cheaper lite version called Logic Express. Most folks won't miss the few deleted features in Logic Express, and you can upgrade easily when desired.

-- KK

Logic Pro 7
$900
Available from Amazon

Logic Express 7
$300
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Apple

StewMac isn't the only catalogue, nor the oldest, but every luthier and instrument repair dude I know has one on a shelf by his/her bench. I've been getting the catalogue for 6-7 years to find and order replacement and upgrade parts. I buy instruments at garage sales and fix them up to give away or use (I play a bunch of lute-family instruments -- own about 10 guitars, a couple of banjos, a sitar, a bandurria, a ukulele).

StewMac carries some really unusual tools and they have the widest selection I've seen: fret files, bridge plate iron, inlay routing jigs, saws for mother-of-pearl and abalone, bushing pullers. They carry specialty glues, hard-to-find woods (Sitka spruce, koa, curly maple, Indian rosewood), laminated paua abalone, pre-sawn wood blanks for mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, and guitars.

If you've busted a hole in your guitar, you can also get the repair supplies, tools, and instructional books/videos to fix it for less than the guy at the shop will quote for doing the job. StewMac put in a minimum order of $30 not long ago, but I still think it's a fair deal.

-- Mark Johnson

Stewart MacDonald Catalogue
Free
Available online

Or order the print version here

[StewMac also has a "tips, tricks, news and know-how" Trade Secrets Newsletter you might want to check out- sl]

Nothing compliments a campfire like a harmonica, but if you're looking for a new and challenging pocket noisemaker, I highly recommend the jaw harp. Much like a didgeridoo, you can create trance-inducing vibrations that will annoy some and mesmerize others. On its own, your mouth can learn to make some pretty great sounds, but it's remarkable what can be accomplished with this little doohickey. Just the slightest change in breath and flickering of the tongue shapes the sound dramatically.

The history is part of the appeal. I purchased mine in rural Tennessee, but the harp's roots are deeper than American folk. Some say the instrument was born in Asia and migrated to Europe around the 13th century. Archaic versions of these twangers have been found everywhere from England to the Philippines and Siberia (there are several names, including the "mouth" or "jew" harp, which seemingly bears no connection to Judaism). Pluck and listen, and time travel while plucking some more. When you get light-headed -- and you will -- do take a breather.

-- Steven Leckart

Mouth Harp
$4
Available from Lehman's

Also $6 from the Wisconsin Historical Society
(I own this harp)

How-To Resource: Michael Wright's Tutorial

I too was struck by the mesmerising sound of the jaw harp when I heard Mike Seeger play one. I searched around and finally decided on the Whitlow. At $25, this is a really good buy. It is hand made in America by one guy who learned to make it from the Whitlow guy who originally made them. I also purchased the harp mentioned above, because it is so cheap. But the Whitlow is just so superior I couldn't stand the tinny vibrations and lack of resonance of the cheap one. The Whitlow plays like butter the first time you play it. It resonates for a long time and is really loud. Get the lowest key you can find. I have a low D. You can make some really haunting, low frequency sounds by breathing in and out while twanging.

-- Larry Albertelli

I've used Etymotic's product for years and the ER-6's offer great audio quality (it's astonishing to hear the clear noise of a pick hitting guitar strings, or a singer quietly breathing during an instrumental), but what's most impressive is just how phenomenal their noise isolation performance is, particularly with blocking low-level noise in airplanes. 34-36 dB, depending on which ear tip you use. They come with foam tips like the UM In-Ear Monitors or rubbery flange tips which are quieter, but may not fit everyone as well. These headphones do better than any of the expensive, battery dependent ANC headsets I've come across, including the top shelf ones I used when I was a private pilot. And they come close to silencing the droning hum of a passenger airliner. The noise isolation is so very good I'd be nervous to wear these while jogging -- you wouldn't hear someone shout a warning at you.

Etymotic has a lot of data about the frequency response range and noise isolation characteristics of their headphones on their website (I'm a neuroscientist, so lots of data makes me feel comfortable). Westone (makers of the UMs) doesn't provide as much detailed information, but from what I gather the UMs, which are a bit more expensive, don't have quite as deep base response -- they go down to 40 Hz while Etymotic's go to 20 Hz. Etymotic also provides data on accuracy of sound reproduction across the frequency range. They demonstrate 90% accuracy for the ER-6, which they claim is the highest accuracy of all in-ear headphones except their own more expensive ER-4 (92%).

I've tried loads of less expensive headsets and a few higher end ones like the Bose X ANC headset and some models from Shure. In my hands the ER-6 vastly, vastly outperforms any low-end stuff -- so much so that it blows my mind that people listen to their iPods with the standard earphones. On the high end, the Bose works well with ANC but terribly when the batteries die -- and its sound reproduction isn't as convincing as the ER-6. The more expensive Shure models are pretty much the same as the Etymotics (I think the Shure E3c is the most direct match up in the product line). There may be some technical advantages one way or the other, but I really couldn't hear the difference. Both companies offer a high-end model, which is substantially more expensive -- in those cases I could hear a very small advantage over the cheaper products, but certainly not enough to justify the huge price difference.

I haven't tried any dual-drivers in general, because many are a chunk more expensive than the Etymotics (about $100). With that price differential I'd expect some to be substantially better in quiet environments, on par with Etymotic's ER-4 line. But the ER-6 still claims substantially better noise isolation than Ultimate Ears, for instance (35 dB versus 26 dB, a massive difference on the log scale). I frequently use my ER-6's on airlines without plugging them into anything, just to quiet things down while I sleep.

One last point: The ER-6 has a relatively high impedance, which means that devices like the iPod won't have enough power to play at extremely high volumes. This has never been a problem with my iPod, because the excellent noise isolation means that lower volumes are preferable. You trade off a little sound accuracy in exchange for low impedance, but for those who prefer VERY loud music, the low-impedance model called the ER-6i would be a better choice (ed.: see below*).

-- Ashish Ranpura

ER-6 Isolator Earphones
$72
Available from ProVantage

Or $85 from Amazon

Manufactured by Etymotic

*

ER6i Isolator Earphones

These tiny in-ear units sound fantastic, feel comfortable, and do an excellent job of blocking out ambient sounds. When I write, I like to get out of the house and into a coffee shop, where I can enjoy free WiFi, fresh coffee, great vibes, and walls of art. But the main attractions of a public space (other people) can also be their biggest problems (crying babies, the espresso machine or the barista's choice of music). To block the noise, I started wearing high-density foam earplugs, but I like to listen to music when I work. Even with nice headphones, my music was frequently swamped by the house music. The best, relatively inexpensive solution I've found has been a pair of Etymotic ER6i's.

I generally keep the sound level far from loud, but there are times when I'm listening to very quiet passages outdoors, and the ability to crank up the volume at those moments lets me catch nuances that would otherwise get lost amidst birds, kids, and so on. Some spoken-word podcasts seem to reliably dip into barely-audible once or twice per podcast, so I also ride the gain at those times.

The earbuds come with four different types of removable isolators (three are variations on plastic flanges, the other is a nub of high-density foam), so you can find the type that is most comfortable and effective for you. I resisted earbuds for years because they usually make my ears hurt after only a few minutes, but I can wear the ER6i buds comfortably for a couple of hours at a stretch before wanting a break.

It's important to note that the very qualities that make these earbuds so attractive in a coffee shop can be dangerous if you're outside: you may very well not hear a car horn, a shout from an approaching bicyclist, or a piano dropping on your head from high above. These earbuds would be a poor choice for jogging or even walking in the park, but in a safe, stable environment they're terrific.

The ER6i buds are a version of the company's ER6 model, modified for use with portable players in both indoor and outdoor environments. Compared to their predecessors, the ER6i models are offer a lower impedance (making them more energy efficient), and have a slightly modified frequency response, offering a touch more bass and a little less treble.

The buds also come with a convenient carry bag, so you don't have to wrap up the cord tightly, which can put a lot of strain on them and cause internal breakage. Just smoosh them up into the bag and zipper it shut. This almost always keeps them free of tangling.

-- Andrew G.

ER6i Isolator Earphones
$68
Available from ProVantage

Or $82 from Amazon

Nothing will ruin your guitar worse than drying out: it will warp your neck and crack your soundboard. I have used this humidifier, which rests between the strings, for my classical guitar for the last six years. It is way superior to any other system like the Damp-It, which is just a regular sponge. Before getting this humidifier I had something called the Humitar for a while. You filled it up with water and the material on the surface was always damp through osmosis. It was a pain, rusted the strings and even developed mold. I replaced it with the Planet Waves almost as soon as it was introduced. The Planet Waves model holds more water than a regular sponge, so I only have to refill it every two weeks, and it doesn't leak (note: when I travel, I remove it from between the strings and keep it in the case to make sure it doesn't fall between the strings into the soundhole).

You will also need a hygrometer to go along with this humidifier. As soon as the humidity hits around 45%, I take the humidifier out of the case to avoid over humidifying the guitar, which can weaken the glue that holds the neck to the body and the bridge to the soundboard. I live in Toronto (a dry climate in the winter and humid in the summer), so I already had a room hygrometer and cigar case hygrometer for the room where I store my instruments. Otherwise I would have purchased the sensor made by Planet Waves (see below).

I have long had what guitarists refer to as GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). But even if you have just one guitar and aren't a gearhead, this humidifier will help maintain the quality of your instrument's sound, so it's a cheap and worthy investment. And if you're not a guitarist, Planet Waves (a division of the string makers D'Addario) also makes large and small models for other acoustic instruments.

-- Mark Chow-Young

Planet Waves Acoustic Guitar Humidifier
$11
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Planet Waves

This device works with any FM radio to turn your PC or laptop into a small, localized stereo FM radio station. We use it to broadcast music to stereos and radios around our house (it has a range of about 10 meters). Rather than opt for a Squeezebox or another steaming media appliance like the LinkSys WMA11B (which we tried), we found the Rocket FM to be a much simpler, cheaper solution that still has superb sound quality.

It works with PC or Mac and it's USB-based so it doesn't need batteries like a lot of the other devices out there. The Belkin TuneCaster and TuneCaster II aren't too bad - and they are platform independent -- but the sound quality is not as good and they do require batteries. The Griffin iTrip is a version specifically for the iPod, but it's just for the iPod, so it isn't useful around the house. The Rocket FM really is the best no-frills home tunecasting device I've found.

-- Robbie Gibbon

Griffin Rocket FM
$30
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Griffin Technology

Music playing simultaneously in every room of your house is a luxurious experience, and decidedly different from a song playing in a single room. Music in a room is a dim, blurry sonic echo if you're not in front of the speakers. But music everywhere is an environment that envelopes you as you go about your day. Of course to get this experience, you could run speaker wire to a second room and connect up a second set of speakers, but that's not the same enveloping sonic goodness of a whole house system.

Used to be whole-house music systems were only for the very rich. You needed a rack of amplifiers (two channels for every room), a pre-amp, switcher, control unit, and then in-room controllers either hand-held or built into the walls, plus cabling from the speakers in each room homerunned back to the equipment, which probably needed its own closet because there was so much of it, it was so loud, and so hot. Crestron, Niles and others have made good money catering to this rarefied market. But the systems are pretty bespoke (there is no standard OS, the equipment is not interchangeable, you need an installer to set them up, you had to destroy walls to run cables, etc.), they were inherently less reliable than mass produced equipment, and they were, as I said, so expensive (as in $20-50K and up for equipment alone, plus design and installer time in addition) that only the wealthy could afford them. Oh, and none of them can connect to the consumer music server standard that we all use and love -- iTunes. That's right, they all use proprietary or non-Apple servers.

That was then. But now if you want a whole house music system, you have a much lower cost, more reliable, and more functional alternative: Sonos. It isn't cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than the previous bespoke solutions. It's dead easy to install -- literally anyone can do it. It connects seamlessly to the iTunes music library, as well as giving you access to internet radio stations. And it's just completely thought out. Sonos is one of the two best consumer electronic products ever created, the other being the Garmin Nuvi.

Sonos comes in two flavors: with and without amplifiers. Either can connect via ethernet or wirelessly to your computer with its iTunes library (you can also use other libraries if you want). The Sonos unamplified units -- smaller than an Apple Mini -- mate with amplifiers (or receivers) you probably already have that are connected to speakers. The Sonos amplified units (think the size of a big old family bible) drive speakers where you don't already have amps. Both type of units talk to each other via a mesh network. You can lash up to 32 of the beasts together if you're so inclined. The sound across the entire network is in perfect sync. (Airport Express, in contrast, has a limit of, I believe three units, because it can't handle the data in way that can keep the units delivering the sound simultaneously without lags). And the fidelity is exemplary -- I rip all my music to Appleloss, and every room is playing music as if the CD is present, not ripped to a server at the other end of the house.

How easy is it to set up? You can install the software and set up half-a-dozen of these units in an hour. Once installed, the systems are rock solid. And if you ever have problems, online and telephone support is conscientious, even exemplary. You get the feeling they really want you to have your system working right, and for you to be happy.

You can control the whole system from your computer, selecting music and playing it in one, all, or a combination of rooms, at different volumes for each room. For instance, you can play different music in each room; or you can play music from your iTunes library in one room, or an internet radio station in another, etc. A better way to control the Sonos system is with the Sonos wireless handheld controller, which has a scroll wheel like the iPod and a color LCD screen which provides all the functionality of the Sonos computer software. You don't need one per room -- per floor is more like it.

Sonos is a lot cheaper than the old bespoke whole house system. Two unamplified players with one handheld controller will run you $1000. You still need an amp and speakers for each player. Or you can buy two amplified players (and the amps are decent 50W units) and one controller for $1200. Each extra controller will run $400, each unamplified player $350, and each amplified player $500. And Sonos has a deal with Rhapsody where you can subscribe to their million song library for $10 a month (sound quality is only mediocre MP3, but being able to sample virtually all current releases for ten bucks a month is pretty compelling).

Sonos: Not cheap, but an entirely more affordable luxury than whole house music systems used to be.

-- Louis Rossetto

Sonos
$1,000 and up
Available from Sonos

More than an entertaining tale about the birth of the iPod (which it is), this book is a 12-horn hallelujah chorus celebrating how this "perfect thing" is propelling music from the past into the future. What's perfect is not Apple's porcelain white gizmo, but the new roles and ways of music. Veteran tech writer Steven Levy explores this new "always on" culture with intelligence and ease.

-- KK

The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness
Steven Levy
2006, 272 pages
$17
Available from Amazon

Sample excerpts:

As The New York Times' music critic Kelefa Sanneh put it, "Obscure ain't what it used to be... it's getting harder to find any music at all that's hard to find."

Every time a song arrives in this musical DNA shop, an analyst will devote twenty to thirty minutes of intense concentration to identifying as many as four hundred distinct variables, or "genes". Just to capture the emotional metrics of the singing voice, there are thirty-two variables-- things like timbre, vibrato, pitch, and range. "Any voice can be understood as the combination of these genes," says Westergren. When this system is applied to all the instruments as well as the traits of the song -- tempo, amplitude, etc -- the analyst produces a precis. if done right, says Westergren, another analyst can look at and virtually play the whole song in his or her head. More to the point, using this Music Genome Project, you can automate what a disk-jocky does to customize a set according to your tastes.

I bought a Nintendo GameBoy DS just to play this game. Designed by the legendary Japanese artist Toshio Iwai, this little gem allows you to draw music. I have always wanted to make music, but I never mastered an instrument. This tiny thing is that wondrous instrument. It lets me construct harmonic and melodic sounds in pictures. The joy of making my own music instantly and visually is intoxicating. Computer-assisted music making is nothing new. What's simply fantastic here is the utterly beautiful and ingenious interface that Iwai-san has devised, and the ease and fun it provides.

To make music I take the little Nintendo touch-screen stylus and drag around cute little sprites on the screen (it's supposed to be for kids). Musical notes in the shape of single-cell organisms bounce around between them. These "electro-plankton" jump, swim, ricochet, wiggle, and ripple sounds. By arranging the cells in different patterns, under different environments, I can direct them to play interesting melodies and rhythms. But since these little sprites are creatures themselves, they have a little bit of their own action. The music is co-created. The sound is never random noise, but coherent in some strange way. It's a visual and audible treat. When I play with it I feel good. That's all it does. However, I know of a few musicians who use this game for their professional music, almost like a sketchbook. You can export tunes from it via the speaker port. Yet, Electroplankton is not a general purpose music machine; the style of sounds it generates is limited to an underwatery ambiance. It's closer to art than a game. But it is a strangely endearing toy, perfect for sonic doodling.

-- KK

Electroplankton, for the Nintendo DS
$155
Available from Amazon

You can spend a lot of money on an acoustic guitar these days and end up with an instrument that doesn't improve with age, either tonally or aesthetically. With CNC machines and other robotic aids, assembling a decent instrument is no longer the exclusive province of the master luthier. Now that any idiot can do it, any idiot does, and the results vary wildly. I don't know how any beginner is expected to choose wisely from such a tawdry lot and end up with something worth passing on to their kids.

I've owned and played professionally close to a hundred fine instruments in the 35 years I've been playing and I've ended up being something of an accidental Martin collector. When people ask me what they should buy for their first guitar, I tell them to go straight to their nearest authorized Martin dealer and get a OO-15 or an OM-15. (The OM-15 is no longer in the Martin catalog as of 2003 but is still available used; I just saw one on eBay for $495). These all-mahogany instruments are an absolute steal in today's wacky market. They are spartan versions of Martin's multi-thousand dollar OO and OM models, offering the same playability but without the Nashville flash. Simple, honest, great-sounding, great-looking guitars that can take a beating and will last a lifetime -- all for a less than a grand. I bought my OO-15 new for $700 with a Martin hard case, and my beloved OM-15 slightly used for $550 with the same case. The OM-15 is slightly larger, with a wider fretboard suitable for fingerpicking styles and/or larger hands. Both instruments have a characteristic "airy" sound from the mahogany top, making them particularly well-suited for recording. They don't boom, nor do they crackle; they hum with a satisfying balance, strummed or fingerpicked. The satin-finished mahogany is lower maintenance than the softer spruce tops, and minor dings disappear in the dark chocolate-colored grain patterns. By the way, the "O" in both names refers to Orchestra, not the number zero, so say "oh-M".

You can't get more guitar for the money anywhere.

-- David MacNeill

Martin Dealer Locator

Ebay, Martin OM page

Used and vintage guitars
Schoenberg

I'm in research mode, interviewing experts for my book. I had been using an Olympus mini-cassette recorder, and wasn't too unhappy with it, but a few years ago professional journalists convinced me to try out a solid-state digital recorder. I settled on an early Olympus Digital Recorder and it's been pure delight. There are many more models to choose from now. Each is solid state and essentially a small capacity MP3 player with a built in microphone.

The advantages over the mini-cassette: 1) Ultra-tiny and light, it's truly pocket size, only as long as your finger, but twice as fat. It's only weight seems to be the two AA batteries. 2) Digital sound; the built-in mike is fantastically keen and sharp. I usually don't need the lavaliere mike I used to use with the analog machine. 3) No tapes. I can get up to five hours in this little thing; other versions can get 11 hours. 4) Easy download. After each session I merely plug it into the USB port and it dumps the recording to my hard disk. (Has a nice MacOSX version!). 5) Best part, the files are easily scannable, and bookmarked on my computer. I find I can more readily zip back and forth through an interview to find the parts I want, rather than have the whole affair transcribed. 6) But if I want to, the files are easily transmitted to transcribers via email or the web. No more packaging up tapes. 7) Lastly, the audio files can be easily posted for general archival purposes on the web or elsewhere.

Downsides: Olumpus does not record in MP3 but its own compressed format. It's more compressed than MP3 and so files are easier to email, but you have to convert them if you want to share them openly.

I carry mine in my bag, next to a Radio Shack itsy bitsy lav mike for extra sound quality in noisy rooms.

There are many Olympus models, some as low as $32, but those don't have a USB plug -- they are listen only. The cheapest one that has a USB outlet to move the digital files is, I believe, the 960PC for $80. But this model does not work with the Mac for some strange reason. The least expensive Olympus model I found that will work with the Mac is the DS-2, which goes for about $100.

None of these models remain in production long.

-- KK

Olympus Digital Voice Recorder
VN 960
$55
Available from Amazon

DS-2
$119
Available from Amazon

This is one of those tools that I've been using for so long that it's just become a small part of my life.

For some odd reason, I often find myself in need of sounds of all sorts to plug a particular hole in a project. Just as stock photos are a great tool for designers and multimedia creators, sounds can be used to quickly set the mood or form transitions between disparate elements. Whether physical sound effects ( e.g. crickets, birds, gunshots, explosions, doorbells, everything under the sun), more creative effects (zips, zonks, beeps, and wooshes), and instrumental music of all kinds and emotions, Sounddogs is the perfect source for sounds of all kinds. Most effects are in the $3-$5 range, making it reasonable to collect sounds for multimedia projects, theater, and the ever so fun practical joke. The sounds themselves are delivered as CD-quality AIFF or WAV files right after you order; no shipping delays. You can browse through the entire catalog and listen to low-quality full-length previews of everything. It's truly addictive (and useful)!

-- Zach Lipton

[Sounddogs also offers background and mood music, and CDs by mail order. --CP]

Available from Sounddogs
Free audio browsing; cost for downloading a CD-quality clip varies from $2 to $10.

The Buddha Machine is a hardware loop player, built kind of like a little AM radio, a small device for producing ambient sounds.

My son, 12 years old, made a small flash presentation of this device just for fun :)

-- Sergey Moskalev

[Intrigued by this succinct summary, I went digging and found some oddly lyrical reviews of the Buddha Machine. Its nine variants of "soothing" electronic ambient sound--perhaps better described as ambient music--fade from one to the next. A line output allows connection to a stereo system. Supposedly Brian Eno bought eight of them. --CP]

Buddha Machine
$23
Available from Forced Exposure

Manufactured by FM3

Once all music is available online, for free, what's a musician to do? House concerts are one alternative. Instead of plying a circuit of poorly-paid bars, clueful musicians can now rely on their fans to organize, promote, and pay for small, intimate, private performances in their homes and other non-traditional venues. Fans win, and performers win (by earning more). This slim book explains to both fans and musicians how this new system works.

-- KK

The Complete Guide to House Concerts
Nyree Belleville
2003, 120 pages
$15
Available from
Amazon

House Concerts: They're folk presenting*
By Tom Neff
This is a pretty good online introduction to the house concert scene. Great start for fans to locate a house concert, and for musicians to set up one.

-- KK

NOTE: Unfortunately, this web site is no longer active, and a search of the Wayback Machine did not reveal the cached page or the full Rich Text version of Neff's introduction. We've contacted Neff, but in the meantime, If you have the info or know of an updated link, please let us know. And, for what it's worth, here's a good collection of house concert resources. --sl

Sample Excerpts:

What is a house concert?

When you play bars or cafes, it is frequently a struggle even getting the booker on the phone! With house concerts, you are constantly juggling plenty of gig offers, which come with guaranteed money, a guaranteed audience, and a minimum of hassles. What could be better?
-- The Complete Guide to House Concerts

Three portal sites:
concertsinyourhome.com
houseconcerts.org
houseconcerts.com

A great kit will allow you to make something you probably wouldn't make any other way. You are given all the parts, and then you assemble and finish. Musical instruments, with their exactness, fit into that category for me. Years ago I used this kit to make a simple dulcimer. It was easy to build, and beautiful to behold and hear.

-- KK

Black Mountain Dulcimer Kit
Hourglass Spruce, Model 56
$123
Available from
Amazon

Manufactured by
Black Mountain Instruments

This is the best capo on Earth. The unique one-way cam lets you adjust tension in tiny increments with a squeeze. Unlike every other capo I've used, it can apply enough tension to cleanly fret the string without bending it sharp. Works on acoustic and electric instruments equally well. Build and finish quality is absolutely superb. The G7th capo is a brilliant piece of gear for the discerning guitarist.

-- David MacNeill

G7th Capo
$38
Available from
Amazon

Travel with your ears. This comprehensive, massive (700-plus pages), and recently updated two-volume guide to global song covers the planet, from Norwegian fiddlers to Filipino folk rockers. It's all here: what kind of music is out there, where it came from, who is playing it, and where to get it. Feeling stuck? Open up this book at random, order a CD, and enter another way of seeing.

-- KK

Rough Guide World Music
Vol. 1: Africa, Europe, Mid East
$18
Available from Amazon

Vol. 2: Latin and North America, the Caribbean, Asia & the Pacific
2000 (2nd edition),Vol. 1, 736 pages, Vol 2, 720 pages
$18
Available from Amazon

Sample Excerpt:

Indonesian Pop
Moluccan Moods Orchestra
(Piranha, Germany). If you haven't heard of the Moluccans since they held up Dutch trains in the 1970s, give this disc a listen. Traditional songs arranged in laid-back style with exciting percussion, keyboards, saxophone and flute.

Albanian
Famille Lela De Permet
Polyphonies vocales et instrumentales d'Albanie
(Indigo/Harmonia Mundi, France). Beautiful and approachable songs and instrumental music from the Permet and Korce regions of southern Albania. Wailing and sliding clarinets give this music an enchanting mournful sound.

Fill your iPod with something different. I don't mean more indie rock or the latest in hip-hop or electronica. I mean Norwegian jazz, Zaire club house, slide guitar from India, Russian underground, Ethiopian acid pop.

An awful lot of great world music can be easily had from the usual sources, including Amazon and iTunes, but most of the rest of the world's local music has very small audiences and must still be "imported." This source specializes in esoteric import CDs of traditional and contemporary world music not found on Amazon, iTunes and the like. This is the far end of the "long tail" music scene.

-- KK

CD Roots

Sample CDs:

Marimba Magia - Papa Roncon and Grupo Katanga - $17.99
From the town of Borbon, in the Esmeraldas district of northern Ecuador, Pap� Ronc�n is a living legend. He plays the marimba and the guitar; he is a singer and a dancer. He makes musical instruments. He lives the folk music of the region. Joined by Catalina Mina Quintero on bombo and kununu, Grupo Katanga makes music that is essential, rough and irresistible.

Discopolis (Radio Three) - Various Spanish Artists - $17.99
An interesting and personal collection of what is going on in the ever so vaguely defined roots music scene in Spain, put together by Spanish Radio 3's DJ Jos� Miguel L�pez.

The Mirrors of My Soul - Rim Banna - $18.99
The Palestinian singer who gained global recognition as part of the Lullabies from the Axis of Evil project returns with a Norwegian band with a decidedly 'pop' recording of Palestinian songs. It veers from emotionally charged, sparsely arranged to full-tilt pop-rock, and has the huge advantage of not allowing a drum machine within 4000 miles of the studio. As Arab pop goes, this is thoroughly unique.

This sweetly intuitive program for ear-playing musicians slows down the tune without altering the pitch and/or plays the tune in any key you like. Crooked & complicated melody, complex ornamentation, blistering speed? With this you can tune it to your instrument, slow it down, isolate the tricky parts, put them on loops and play along with them over and over until you get it right. And marvel at how inventive and agile your favorite jazzmen/fiddlers/pipers/bluesmen/etc could and can be. If you play like this, I need say very little more: this is our wet dream, as big an invention as written music or the phonograph.

Works directly from the CD drive, or with any MP3/AIFF/Wave/AAC/M4A files on your HD, iTunes friendly, originally written for the Mac, now available for Windows as well. Download the demo, and see how it works; I believe you'll agree that the $45 price is an excellent value. I used to pay much more for those clunky old Maranzes that were nowhere near as useful, and then broke.

This cool tool has opened a whole realm of hard tunes to me. It's that social thing -- you need to play with people who are better than you, but you really don't want to waste the patience of good musicians by making them to go over that tricky part for you *again.* It's relaxing to let the machine do the machine work, and relaxing makes for good music.

The program is frequently upgraded, and upgrades are always free. (There's a note about "major upgrades may entail a slight fee", but the OSX version was free to people who'd bought classic.) A couple of times I had to email for help and was fixed up immediately apparently by the program's author, a Swedish musician and programmer named Rolf.

-- Tim Jennings

Amazing Slow Downer
$50
Available from
Roni Music

RadioTime is a web-based interface to the vast invisible world of sound publishing -- music, talk, news, sports, journalism, and non-fiction stories -- or what used to be called "radio."

These days you can get "radio" over the web at your convenience and in your preferred format: live in real time, downloaded, or archived. Just about any respectable station will provide some of their programs over the internet. However RadioTime aggregates the full schedules of 5,000 commercial and public radio stations and provides a uniform web-based interface to their schedules and your preferences of how and when you'd like to hear them. Like a TiVo for radio, you can browse, sort and shift the universe. You can use RadioTime to program your RadioShark, or you can simply program RadioTime to record certain select programs to your computer, or even better, drop them right into iTunes. It's then an easy hop into the iPod for playing in the car (which is how I like to use it since I am never driving when This American Life is playing on the radio.) Their web-based guide is free; to record from it they charge a $39/year subscription.

What's the difference between RadioShark and RadioTime (other than one is hardware and one is software)? If you want to time-shift or migrate to your iPod only one or two locally broadcast radios shows, then your best bet is to pay up front and plunk down your money for a RadioShark, which you can program once and thereafter pay no fees: the free radio model. A RadioShark is also great for the 50% (as of 2005) of all radio broadcasts which are still NOT bit-streamed, including many talk shows, certain sports events and so on. It's a cheap way to record the free radio you can hear -- but only what you can hear.

You can't hear much locally. Most of the great radio made will not reach your RadioShark, but it will come through RadioTime. There are 36,000 radio stations world-wide streaming some part of their programs. Only a tiny sliver of all that is produced is aired in one locale. In fact only a tiny portion of all the material produced in American public radio will play on your local station. Whole rivers of great stuff -- music, stories, interviews, talk, sports -- are flowing by invisibly. A monthly subscription to RadioTime will record your favorites, but also make visible and manageable this sonic tide, an entirely new territory. Indeed, on first entry the amount of audio material, much of it excellent, is overwhelming. I am reminded of the early web; so much so fast. RadioTime is in the first days of figuring out how to navigate through this immense hidden library (much greater than the world of TV and video); their actual launch date is March 2005. BTW, you don't need to pay RadioTime to benefit from their aggregation. You can explore and play (but not record) simply by registering.

In fact if your tastes tend toward the intellectual, then you might consider the Public Radio Fan base, which is a great index to all the public radio programs on the air. This heroic treasure is compiled and maintained by the OTHER Kevin Kelly (!). Dip into it to discover some amazing interviews, stories, and reportage that never makes it to your local station. You can then download or stream at will, or use RadioTime (its database is incorporated into RadioTime) to schedule regular recordings.

-- KK

RadioTime

Public Radio Fan

What I have wanted for some time is TiVo for the radio. The Griffin RadioSHARK is it. It's a $70 USB device that plays, pauses, and records live radio on a Mac or PC.

I want the convenience of being able to listen my favorite shows on my own schedule. If I get interrupted, I want to be able to pause the program. More than that, I want to be able to schedule recordings in advance, and I want to listen to them on my iPod. The RadioSHARK obliges.

I kept expecting something to go wrong, but nothing did. Setup was a snap, and reception was good. As I was going away for the weekend, I programmed it to record "Prairie Home Companion" and "This American Life", two of my favorite shows. When I came back, there they were. There is even an option to add a scheduled recording to an ITunes playlist, so as soon as I synched my iPod, I could take them with me.

One nit: You have to enter the date, time, station, and duration manually as there is no integrated program guide (though there is one you can get online at RadioTime.)

RadioShark
$63
Available from
Amazon

Manufactured by Griffin

If you want a cheap one-way ticket into global folk music, a path that continues a long way, you want the Alan Lomax Collection Sampler disc. For a few dollars you can buy the best of a national treasure. In the 1950s folklorist Alan Lomax began the systematic field recording of folk songs in the US, Europe and the West Indies. His microphone picked up sea chants, dance reels, peddler calls, hymns from the American Deep South, calypsos, Negro spirituals, and a dizzying variety of European folk styles (which are not at all what you'd expect--they sound oriental and medieval).

Lomax's peerless enthnomusic archive was until recently difficult to access. Now Rounder Records has reissued his collection as a massive forty-CD series, The Alan Lomax Collection. The quantity and quality of this achievement is vast and world-class.

For most humans, the Sampler is a good start--an amazing, ear-tickling gathering of thirty-seven pieces of highly evolved, but sadly ephemeral, culture. Further wonderfulness can be found in the other forty discs dedicated to say, Prison Songs (two volumes), or the ballads of black cowboys known as Black Texicans, or the sacred harp music of white Baptist churches. Boredom will not be a problem; Epiphany will be likely.

-- KK

The Alan Lomax Collection Sampler
1997
$17
Rounder
Amazon

A Romance singer in Asturias, the most mountainous province of Spain. Austurians sing the classical romances (ballads) of central Spain, retaining lyrics dating from the fifteenth century.

Excerpt:

Day after day I turned up ancient folk song genres totally unknown to my colleagues in Rome. By chance I happened to be the first person to record in the field over the whole Italian countryside, and I began to understand how the men of the Renaissance must have felt upon discovering the buried and hidden treasure of classical Greek and Roman antiquity. In a sense, I was a kind of musical Columbus in reverse. Nor had I arrived on the scene a moment too soon. --Alan Lomax, from the inside booklet of "Folk Music and Song of Italy; A Sampler"

I'm such a wimp when it comes to exploring pop music I don't know. This great idea helps a bit: about 100 leading pop musicians recommend their all-time favorite artists and albums, and why they love them. The unfamiliar (to me) names that come up again and again are the ones I'm looking for. The best aspect of this approach is that one can glimpse something rare--artists talking about their musical influences. Who wouldn't want to study the record collection of say, Herbie Hancock, or Pat Metheny?

-- KK

Listen to This!
Leading Musicians Recommend Their Favorite Artists and Recordings
Alan Reder and John Baxter
Amazon

All my music is stored in an iPod, so I have been looking for a way to finish my dream of a personal portable jukebox. I needed something to turn the iPod from a private experience to a public one -- booming my selected library of songs loudly in the garage, at a cabin, or at a patio dance.

Several readers turned me onto the Tivoli PAL unit. This is a weatherized, rubber-coated radio/speaker that accepts an iPod (or any other music device with a mini-plug). The tiny PAL has an amazing rich and deep sound. You plug an iPod in, turn up the volume, and it uses its internal rechargeable battery to play your musical playlists longer than your iPod battery will last (I can get 8 hours on the PAL in one charge). Clear, marvelous sound from a small, rugged box that has survived rain and being dropped into a pool. That doesn't usually happen because it is carefully designed with handy finger grips and a grippy covering. It comes with an adapter for running on AC. You have a choice of many bright colors, among them on iPod-ish pearl white -- that version is now being sold as the iPAL (identical in all other respects to regular PALs.) With the same sonic guts as the Henry Kloss Tivoli One model, this cool unit gets rave reviews by audio snobs for its great sound. Its actually better than the built-in stereo in my office. And it serves as a highly sensitive FM/AM radio, too.

I rubber-banded my iPod to its top (it would be great if they added a bracket on the back) for the ultimate in a completely portable jukebox. The two are a match made in tech heaven.

[Suggested by Gordon Meyer, by Tom Ferguson, and by Keith Alexander]

-- KK

Tivoli PAL
$220
Amazon

When I was growing up as a kid in the 1960s, I listened to legendary storyteller Jean Shepherd spin wild, maniacal yarns every night for forty-five minutes on our local radio station near New York City. Shepherd told outrageous tales from his experiences working in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, of his teenage exploits with hot rod cars, of the crazy boredom of his army life, and of his life as swinger in Greenwich Village. Imagine Walt Whitman as a comedian, or Garrison Keillor as a beatnik, and you might come close, but you�d miss the way Shepherd creatively hacked the medium of radio, doing things with it that would not be commonplace until the talk show era decades later. (Shepherd once got his audience to force a fictional book onto the New York Times�s best seller list.) I kept thinking over the years, �I sure hope someone out there is recording these.� Well, many people were. Jean Shepherd died last year, but now his stories live on via the Web and cassettes.

With thousands of broadcasts, it�s hard to know where to start. Shepherd was at his peak in the mid-1960s, and his �Live at the Limelight� shows are always great, but you can get a feel for what it was like listening to him through the evening static of WOR-AM by clicking on the weekly re-broadcasts of his show on the Web. Check out the fabulous Shepherd fan site, (Web radio), or see the catalog of tapes, which also has a steady stream of other old-time radio shows.

-- KK

Jean Shepherd Tapes
Free catalog
Max Schmid
PO Box 3449
Astoria, NY 11103
Old Time Radio
Flick Lives

"Can you imagine 4,000 years passing, and you're not even a memory? Think about it, friends. It's not just a possibility. It is a certainty." -- Jean Shepherd, 1975

The Intellitouch Tuner is an electronic tuner for string instruments which I have found to be reliable in almost all conditions. I've used mine with guitars, mandolin, and mandola for several years and have had nothing but great success.

Intellitouch Tuners don't have microphones, like most electronic tuners do, or patch cord inputs (for electric guitars). Instead they clip onto the headstock of just about any stringed instrument and give a readout of the exact pitch of a note by reading the vibrations through the neck of the guitar, bass, violin, mandolin, or whatever. The benefit of these tuners is that they can be used in noisy environments, like bluegrass sessions or stage performances, whereas conventional tuners are completely scrambled by a noisy environment. Since you can leave them clipped onto the headstock for any length of time you like, you can stay in perfect tune without having to step back and use your ears or try to get a good reading from a microphone-driven tuner. They are chromatic, reading all the accidentals and natural notes, and displaying them with three arrows on either side that tell you whether you're sharp or flat. And best of all, they're backlit and easy to read.

At the weekly bluegrass session I drop in on now and then, it appears as if everyone has one of these clipped to their instrument. But the result is terrific -- even if not all of us can quite keep up with the tempo or remember the words to a song, at least we're in tune. The company that makes it looks to be introducing a similar tuner for brass and woodwind instruments, perhaps helping high school bands actually sound -- uh, better?

-- David Dawson

The Intellitouch Tuner
$50, street price
The Intellitouch Bare Bone Tuner (without backlight or case)
$37, street price from among others, Tricopolis Records
Or From Amazon

Manufactured by Onboard Research

The Boom uses noise cancellation technology to allow you to clearly communicate even if you are calling from the noisiest of places. For example, this headset is now widely used on rambunctious stock market trading floors. I was blown away when I tested this with a friend. His voice came through clearly even though he was in a room with the stereo and television blasting away so loudly he couldn't hear his own voice. The clarity of his voice on my side was perfect.

The headset comes with two jack cables: one for standard cell phones and another for Nokia cell phones which have a slightly different jack. In addition, purchased separately, you can obtain a jack cable that connects directly to a computer "mini" microphone input and audio output. That's probably how the folks on Wall Street connect their Boom headsets in. The delightful headset stays snug even on heads as misshapen as mine. The wire-embedded-in-plastic design means the headset can truly be molded and adjusted... something that can not be done with other headsets.

When you are finished the boom fits nicely into any shirt pocket. A very cool feature is that the Boom ear piece unit is attached by a clever magnetic clip... so you can quickly detach and swing the earpiece unit around to attach it so it works for the opposite ear.

-- Dan Dubno

The Boom
$150
Available from The Boom

My wife and I have discovered an economical source for renting books on tapes or CDs: Cracker Barrel restaurants.You buy a tape or CD at any branch for the full price ($20), and when you are done, you return it to ANY Cracker Barrel restaurant. Hold on to your receipt. They will refund your purchase price minus a weekly fee of about $3. May not work that well for a commute, but for a long car trip, it's just the thing. Cracker Barrels are usually located along the Interstates, which makes it very convenient to pop in and get a new 'book'.

-- Juergen Lorenz [also suggested by Travis Allison]

[For more about books on tape, see an earlier review here. -- KK]

Cracker Barrel Store Directory
[500 stores, but none on the west coast yet!]

This gear has managed to turn my many long-distance airplane trips into peaceful journeys. It turns out a lot of the fatigue of long flights is the constant drum of the airplane�s engines. With this magical headset on, that noise completely vanishes. Gone! In its place you can listen to music (whatever source) or just pure faint silence. For sleeping on planes, there is no better technology, including chemicals. Because of the smart design of the generous ear cups there is no ear cringe from wearing these for hours on end. In fact, they are far more comfortable than the flimsy lightweight Walkman-style earsets. Even though these weigh more, they feel better. I put them on when I board a plane and I sleep with them on, too. Tuned low to some innocuous music channel, they coo sweetly. (It�s a shock to take the phones off because you can then hear how incredibly loud the plane�s rumble really is.) This works so well for flights that Bose makes a special aviation set just for pilots, and a military issue helmet for soldiers working in high-decibel environments like a helicopter. All this comfort comes to you via some very clever chips that cancel out noise signals. This pricey set make perfectly wonderful earphones for land as well, particularly if you need to listen anywhere there is a lot of background distractions. I haven�t yet tried it in a shop environment, or while mowing the grass, but I will.

This is really one of those things you have to hear to believe. Bose has a thirty-day free trial period. Take them up on their offer next time you have a fourteen-hour flight and see if it works for you.

-- KK

Bose Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset
$300
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by and available from Bose

Whenever I overhear a complaint of someone's long time-wasting commute I want to shout, "It doesn't have to be that way. You can read books while you drive!" By "read," I quickly add, I mean listening. Books on tape aren't new, but they aren't as common as they should be. Which is a shame because the selection of books available for auditing continues to expand, their relative price continues to drop, and the venues where they can be rented or bought continue to increase. Many public libraries have decent collections, more online bookstores sell them, and now many titles are available on CD. I've read, oh I suppose, hundreds of books this way. And I've met others likewise initiated into this underground. Here's what we know about how to maximize this great medium.

1) Being read to is a pleasure. Hearing a book instead of "watching" it can be a powerful experience.

2) Start with a good story. If you have never listened to a book on tape before, pick what you know is a good tale to begin with. You can always get to that self-help or executive summary later. Try the Pulitzer-winning novel Lonesome Dove for a memorable treat.

3) If at all possible choose an unabridged version. The unabridged is how the author wanted you to get his/her story. One of the delights about books on tape is that they are far more leisurely (reading aloud takes longer), so you can exploit this pace by getting the full unexpurged version. As a rule of thumb, most unabridged books will require at least eight cassettes at minimum, with very long ones like Peter the Great taking up to forty or more. Many of the books on tape for sale in bookstores are slim two- or four-cassette abbreviated versions. I consider these a second choice.

4) If a book is only available in an abridged version, it can still be enjoyable. Very rarely, it can be better. Cyberpunk author William Gibson actually prefers the abridged audio version of his book Neuromancer. Occasionally I've deliberately chosen an abbreviated version because I just didn't want to sit through the long edition. Still, a book worth reading is usually worth the original text.

5) Avoid dramatizations. These were in vogue for a while but luckily they've mostly disappeared. More than one person acts out the dialog, but the histronic tone usually turns a book into theater. There is something incredibly satisfying about having one voice (with accents and drama, yes) continue through the work.

6) Narrators matter. I have learned to never listen to an author read his own work, no matter who. A professional narrator can make all the difference between a book that sings and one that dies. Good narrators can pronounce technical and foreign names exactly, and often do accents properly. Their voices don't waver or dull. But the wrong narrator can pollute a book. I will return a book if I find the narrator's voice makes me wince. Conversely, if I notice a great narrator I will now seek out the other books they have done. Narrating is a very laborious process and good narrators are in top demand, so they won't invest their time in a mediocre book. Half the spell of a book is cast by the narration.

7) With that in mind, sometimes a narrated version of a book is actually better than reading it. The example on everyone's mind these days is the Harry Potter series. I have no hesitation in saying that Jim Dale's narration of Harry Potter is better than reading it. (If you want my best candidate for a book to start out, pick any Harry Potter book and listen to it on tape; Dale's is the only version available at the moment). Dale does something like 120 different voices for the series (so far) and each one is absolutely perfect. He makes an already remarkable series of books fantastic. Another book that was better on tape than reading it was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Again, the narrator got the accents of these characters more exact and colorful than my reading ear could have. Russian novels are often improved by audio because they can get all those Russian names and places perfect.

8) Over the years I've found that the best books for auditing are either fiction or history. I still read a lot of nonfiction on tape, but fiction and history work best for me. Both have deep narrative structure. I choose more and more history now because I realize that I don't have the patience to read history, as in using my eyes while staring at the page. The captured-audience nature of listening (can't skip easily) demands that I follow the course all the way through. And I'm usually glad I did. So most of the history I read now, I actually audit. Happily, there are a lot of great historical books on tape.

9) Having a parallel printed copy of a book can help alleviate one of an audio book's primary weaknesses: there's no way to bookmark a passage. Stewart Brand, another audio book fanatic, will usually keep a hard copy of the text in book form handy so that he can mark sections he wants to refer to later. I don't do that but I sure wish I could bookmark stuff.

10) You have a choice of channels. A) Cassettes are still the default. The pros: most cars have players; easy to retain your place if you take it out. Cons: break too much, too many tapes for long books. B) CDs are the up-and-coming venue. Pros: Crystal clear, compact, reliable. Cons: Lose place if you yank it out to put on some music, and not all cars have players. C) Coming soon: downloaded versions. You can already get MP3 versions of books to play on dedicated players. I confess I haven't tried any of these because tapes and CDs work well enough, but I can see the advantages clearly: very compact, very fast delivery, and possible mechanisms for bookmarking.

11) Auditing while driving is not dangerous. I don't know how it works but you can be completely engrossed in a story, while the other you somehow drives at your top skill. It's not the same as talking on a cell phone. Works best if you know exactly where you are going, like on a commute. Doesn't work if you have to navigate; you'll miss a turn for sure.

12) Rent or buy? Public libraries have gotten smart and are stocking up. You can usually find what you want via the interlibrary loan system. Book shops mostly sell. I occasionally will buy a particularly good tape and then circulate it to friends, who will do the same. It makes an informal books-on-tape lending circle. The two main sources for rental--which costs about $10 per short book, or part of a long book--are below.

Where to start? Let's see; this summer my wife and I (on separate commutes) listened to War & Peace, all of it. Great book, great narration. Took three months, but worth every second. Adventures like The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air are just right. Robert Hughes' history of Australia, The Fatal Shore, listened well. Occasionally I throw in some lightweight mystery or technothriller. Right now I'm auditing the Odyssey and the Illiad. You get the picture. Traffic jams are just story-time extenders. If I've got a good book, and someone to read, I'll go slow and learn something.

-- KK

Books on Tape
800-626-3333

Recorded Books
880-638-1304

Global Rhythm is a colorful and well-written monthly publication that surveys the world music scene. The magazine includes music reports from all corners of the earth and adds stories about travel, foods, culture and lifestyle to the mix. Best of all is the cd sampler included with each issue. A full 60 minutes in length, it is always full of surprises with familiar and unknown artists that run the gamut from traditional to post-modern. Look for it at larger bookstores or newsstands. You can also subscribe at the website.

-- Henry Gordon

Global Rhythm
$25 for 8 issues

I travel constantly and have, over time, become a big fan of earplugs on flights, especially long distance flights. I can feel the difference; I arrive more relaxed if I can block out the roar of the engines. But I've never sprung for the Bose noise-cancelling headphones, partly because I'm too cheap and partly because I don't really like to listen to music on planes. I just want quiet, and the idea of wearing a big set of headphones doesn't appeal to me. What I'm waiting for is noise cancelling earplugs, like white noise generating hearing aids -- that's a winner in my book.

Until then, I've settled on cheap, high-quality disposable earplugs by Howard Leight. I use their "MAX" model, with an NRR rating of 33, the highest I've been able to find; the higher the NRR rating, the more sound they block. I've tried every kind of earplug, from balls of silicon to wax and cotton and these work best for me.

I buy my earplugs from here. It's amazing to me to learn that there is an "Earplug Superstore" in this world, but there you go.

--Edward J. Murphy

Max Earplugs
12 cents per pair

My iPod is a constant companion. It comes with me every time I leave the house. Except, until recently, when I'm driving somewhere. The iTrip has changed all that.

This barrel-shaped add-on turns your iPod into a tiny FM radio station. This means that you can play music from your iPod anywhere there's a radio, like in your car. Using an iPod playlist, you just tune your device to a unused radio frequency, tune your radio to the same frequency and you're ready to go.

The configuration process is a bit finicky, and the iTrip doesn't fit as snugly as I'd like into my iPod, but once you get going, there's no complaints. I've gone on a couple of long drives with it, and it's
invaluable. When optimized, the quality is, predictably, as good as a clear FM radio station. It'd be of particularly use to anyone who drives a great deal.

-- Darren Barefoot

Note:
The iRock, a similar device which I had recommended before the iTrip came along, is easier to configure, and it can be used with any device with a earphone plug; the iTrip, however is made specifically to augment the iPod. But as Darren notes: "the iRock only offers four FM frequencies to choose from, while you can choose any frequency you want with the iTrip. Additionally, the iRock requires its own batteries. Plus, of course, the iTrip's a lot niftier looking."

My own experience and that of many others is that neither the iRock nor the iTrip will work well consistently in areas where there is dense radio broadcasts -- like much of the Bay Area. Some find the iRock doesn't work, but the iPod does, others the reverse. Also some newer cars have problems because of the location of their antenna. Most people are happy with these devices when used outside of cities. In Europe the Smart Car is available with the smart-idea of a clean built-in dock for your iPod; I suspect other cars will follow. Until that happy day, or a USB port in all cars, this is one of those things I would borrow first, or be sure you can easily return it.

There are now several flavors for iTrip: the original for "original" iPods, a newer one for iPods with a dock connector on the bottom, and others. This page will sort them out for you.

--KK

iTrip
$14
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Griffin Technologies

Long live this neck saver! Hail to the hand-freer! I've been using a headset on my phone for a decade now, and I continue to be puzzled why everyone else doesn't. A headset lets me make two-hour teleconferences without a bit of discomfort. Having to grip a phone for any length now feels unhealthy. Mine is a pretty typical set with one ear piece and a tiny boom microphone, that altogether weights a few ounces, if that. It takes no extra effort to slip it on when the phone beeps. My hands are completely liberated. With a comfy headset I can take notes, search for a paper, look up a number on my computer, or just stretch, without neck crinks, sore elbows, or squashed ears. You can choose from dozens of models including cordless sets, ear buds, ultralights, or cheapies. Radio Shack has a low end for cost $20 while Hello Direct has a complete selection of the fancy goods, and a line of headset accessories. I've seen some go for $6. A lot of people used to refuse them because they thought it made them look dorky, but I see more and more executives sporting them now, and with cellphones it's become fashionable to have a set in your ear.

But because a headset is so much better for your health I wouldn't be surprised if companies began to mandate headsets strictly for health reasons. Do your body a favor and use one.
-- KK

Over-the-Head Headset
Model: 43-1951
$25
RadioShack

Hello Direct
800-444-3556

There used to be two kinds of ukuleles: pressed cardboard junk for less than $50, and professional quality beauties for over $500. Now there is a third option - the Fluke, a half-plastic, half-wood ukulele that costs $190. As soon as my fingers hit the cute-as-a-bug instrument, I fell in love with it. It's a pleasure to play and the sound is strong and chipper. Its radical design reminds me of the iMac or New Beetle. One fellow uker told me his Fluke sounds and plays better than his $3000 vintage Martin ukulele. He was almost mad about it. Jim Beloff, co-creator of the Fluke also publishes a bunch of excellent ukulele songbooks. My favorite is Jumpin' Jim's Gone Hawaiian

-- Mark Frauenfelder

The Fluke: $190+
The Flea (smaller than The Fluke): $160+
Jumpin' Jim's Gone Hawaiian: $13
Flea Market Music
800-459-5558
860-496-1508

Do you know about XM satellite radio? I basically stopped listening to radio about 10 years ago, because I was so dissatisfied with the range of music. Now I listen to the radio more than I listen to CDs, because of the advent of XM. It costs $9.95 per month for the service, and of course you have to buy a dedicated receiver ($150 to $300 depending on features). Because the satellites are so powerful, you don't need a dish antenna; my Sony system uses an antenna the size of a travel iron. Supposedly you place it on the roof of your car (it has a magnetic base) but I find I get flawless reception if I place it inside the car, under the windshield. The Sony receiver can be moved in and out of various vehicles, or your home. The antenna *just* manages to pick up the satellite signal from inside a wooden-framed house.

You get 101 channels, many commercial-free. Highlights for me have included a 10-hour special on John Lennon (created by the BBC), the blues channel (amazingly wide ranging eclectic selection), and "Music Lab" which ranges from Phish to Frank Zappa. You also get news stations (audio versions of CNN and Bloomberg), CSPAN, BBC World Service, oldtime radio dramas, readings of classic novels (more BBC material, excellently produced), and E! stuff which can be entertaining (they specialize in chronicling troubled lives of celebs). Of course there is a full range of new rock/pop/country/hiphop/oldies. You can send email to the DJs and get intelligent replies. If it is successful it may go the way of MTV, but right now it is still new and adventurous. Full programming details and signup info on their web site.

I play my XM radio in my car through a beautiful little headphone amplifier which I found after a great deal of digging online. It's the PHA-1 by Raven Labs, delivering great sound from a couple of 9v batteries (which give you about 50 hours). (I have no idea whether listening on headphones violates some state law, but since motorcycle riders have headphones inside their helmets these days, why not car drivers?)

My current job entails driving from my home in Northern Arizona to Phoenix and back, each week (150 miles each way). Headphones coupled with XM radio have erased the boredom and irritation of the journey, and I don't find the headphone experience any more distracting than a regular car radio. It's just more restful.

-- Charles Platt

XM Radio

I remain skeptical about my news sources. I feel that the only way to glimpse the truth is to listen to as many POVs as possible. I don't watch TV, and domestic radio is limited in POV. Shortwave radio, however, is rich in POV. American Christian Right Wing, Radio Havana, The Beeb, Deutche Welle, Radio Taiwan, North Korea Radio, Radio Moscow, VOA, CBC, even Radio Albania and Radio Estonia -- all have English language broadcasts.

I find radio much more satisfying than webcasting news. Something about the magic of wringing distant magnetic emanations out of the ether. By listening to enough points of view, you begin to see that they all circumscribe the truth - in the middle somewhere is the Real Truth.

I use a Sony ICF 2010 and a Grundig Yacht Boy 400, connected to a 40 meter dipole. The Sony ICF 2010 is a classic - it's the Ford F-150 of shortwave radios. (see: DXing, scroll down). It was continuously produced by Sony for 16 years - a very, very long time in consumer electronics terms, but has recently been discontinued. You can easily find used ones between $225 - $300.

I always use the Sony when at home, but when I travel I use the Grundig Yacht Boy 400 (silly name!). The Grundig is smaller and lighter, fairly compact, and has a retractable antenna in a little reel that I use when I'm on the road. Works much better than the telescoping antenna on the radio. see: Grundig. However the Grundig is not as easy to operate, nor does it have quite the selectivity and filters that the Sony has. The Grundig is relatively inexpensive
(current price around $130).

There are many other capable receivers available, starting from under $100. Radio Shack sells Sangean receivers, which are decent. Sony and Grundig produce a range of consumer priced models. You would probably do OK with any of the models in the $100 price range. Unless you buy a model that has DSP (digital signal processing) built in, the newest technology isn't much different from the 15 year-old technology. The primary differences between inexpensive and expensive receivers are in the filters. Filters are what allow a receiver to have "selectivity" - the ability to discriminate between adjacent signals. I have a 50,000 watt AM station a few miles from my house. Their signal (or harmonics of their signal) show up all over the spectrum. Filters allow me to hear the weak signals from Radio North Korea and block the adjacent interference from my 50 KWatt neighbor.

DSP models are available now, but are currently expensive. That will change significantly over the next couple of years. In fact, the trend is toward SDR - software defined radio - where the radio itself is a highly flexible, programmable device that is configured in software. This would allow, for example, your AM/FM radio to become a cell phone, a GPS receiver, an aircraft band receiver, or a police scanner simply by running different "programs" on the device. The other new type of radio to emerge is a black box that interfaces to your PC. The box receives the radio signals and converts them into audio, which is then processed by your PC's sound card. All control over the radio is via a user interface on the PC. Sophisticated filtering algorithms can be run on the signal with the sound card. You can download frequency lists from the internet, and scan those frequencies for signals of interest, and even record the audio to your hard drive for later listening or analysis. An example of this type of radio can be seen at Winradio.

-- Michael Clark

I like earbud headphones -- especially on airplanes -- for acoustic privacy and because of the way they focus and intensify listening for me. But most off-the-shelf earbuds don't fit my ears; for instance, the set that came with the Apple ipod are just unwearable. They are not just big, but really round, which is not the shape of my ear, anyhow. And it is not just me; other people have this problem because I see this question online in the Apple discussion board.

I've tried many alternative brands. In my experience earbuds contoured to fit into the ear almost never fit comfortably and often won't even stay put. That is why I was delighted to find the UM1, apparently a unit made for musicians to wear as a monitor while on stage. It's produced by Westone, which mainly makes hearing aides, and the quality and performance reflect that high standard. The replaceable foam earpieces naturally fit perfectly, the sound is remarkably clean and precise, and the whole unit is unobtrusive when worn and quite small and packable.

I know these UMs don't appear especially ergonomic but the yellow foam piece is infinitely malleable; you squish them into shape, insert and then they expand to fill. And you'll notice that the earphone unit itself sits at a slight canted angle from the foam, which serves to point it into the ear when properly inserted. Following included instructions (I know, nobody does) I even learned to loop the wires behind the ear after inserting and slightly twisiting the foam plugs, which serves to secure the whole apparatus and basically hide the wires.

When my dog chewed up my first set, I nearly had to quit listening to the ipod until replacements arrived; the difference between them and ordinary earphones is that great. I recommend them to everybody.

The UM1 is a bargain at $99 (web price). I'm told the higher grade UM2 is even better, but my discrimination isn't that great so I haven't sprung for them yet.

--Howard Weaver

UM1 In-Ear Monitor
$110
Available from Westone