Linn has made two interesting announcements in recent weeks. For those of you that don't know Linn, they make high-end audio gear. They are also the parent of Linn Records, an audiofile recording studio. The first announcement was no shock, but a pleasant surprise. A new unit was released in their DS line; the Majik DS-I. This unit is interesting due to the addition of multiple inputs on the back. The Sneaky, as an example, is strictly a networked DS player. This new unit's inputs allow it to also be used as a receiver, driving the speakers directly from a computer, turntable, or other device(s). I find this interesting, as it would allow me (as an example) to listen to my CD collection, a YouTube video, or even watch a movie on the computer, all through my nice speakers. The real surprise it that it's priced low--close to the Sneaky, rather than their other units. Doesn't mean I can afford it any time soon, though. :-( Which is too bad, as the Sneaky could then get connected to the main stereo. The news in the last few weeks is the real surprise. At the end of this year, Linn will stop production of all CD players. This is the biggest shift for them in some 10 years or more, I suspect. Having developed their first player by addressing everything they could that was wrong with the format, they have found the wave of the future is to bypass those faults as much as possible rather than trying to design their way through or around the faults. The DS players avoid all that is wrong with needing to start with a spinning disc (and the increasingly poor quality of said disc's manufacturing). Once you get the ones and zeros onto a hard drive that can be tucked away somewhere, you can focus on turning those bits into the best analogue waveform possible without the distractions of fixing what's wrong with a spinning plastic disc in the unit. This gives Linn, and others, different possibilities, as well. Specifically, it side-steps the issues of CD's sampling rates and frequencies. SACD addressed this, but required the purchase of a special player. For various reasons, said players never took off in the mass market, and remain pricey and few (as do, subsequently, the the actual SACD releases). Since the data is being stored on a hard drive, why ship media at all? Linn Records is putting out their entire music catalogue as Studio Master (SACD quality) downloads, complete with covers and liner notes. Others are doing similar, if not necessarily to the same high quality. The only real competition to this process right now--that I can see, anyway--is the large Blu-ray music market. While that's great for concerts like Neil Young or (please, please) Loreena McKennitt, I don't see the point for, say, Beethoven's Symphonies. Not unless the first violinist is really cute. And some interpretive dance number with it just seems...wrong. Rainer PS I almost forgot--in October, Linn also released new firmware for the DS players, and a much improved KinskyDesktop controller app.