The long wait is almost over. In less than two weeks The Beatles Remasters will be available to all of us "regular guys." Fortunately TONE Audio has people on its staff who are not "regular guys" and who receive things like the Neil Young Bluray box and the Beatles remasters long before they hit the streets. This afternoon TONE published a really thorough review of Please Please Me: The Beatles Remasters that I think everyone will be interested in reading. Before I read the review I was certain that the stereo version of the box was the one for me. Now I am leaning toward the mono version. I just hope I don't have a week moment and overuse the Amazon 1-Click ordering button to order both the stereo and mono versions. Read more for a link to the review.

I recently received a package from Winston Ma at First Impression Music. Inside the box was six new FIM releases including one that is somewhat special to me (details below). Readers familiar with Winston and FIM are well aware that FIM releases are world-renowned for sonic quality, musical content, and physical packaging. Opening the six individual compact discs was like opening six special presents. Nobody packages discs like First Impression Music. The feel of the high quality, high gloss CD holder is the first thing one notices when opening an FIM disc. Inside, the liner notes are impeccable. A preface from Winston himself, short biographies of the artists, reprinted original liner notes, writings from industry scholars, and album production data are all included. Plus, the fact that each CD is held in a sleeve with a cloth backing is a true sign that nothing is overlooked on an FIM release. As I mentioned above one of the six albums is somewhat special to me. This specific release of Getz/Gilberto (LIM K2HD 036) not only sounds spectacular, but Winston's words in the liner notes ring very close to home. Read more to find out why.

Fifteen months after moving into a new house it's finally time to remodel my listening room. I've lived with the unfinished pine walls and hideous carpet long enough. I'm sure the previous owner loved the look, but it's not cutting it for me. I'd been researching options to make my listening room more aesthetically pleasing and acoustically acceptable. The first stage of the remodel will be mostly aesthetics with more acoustic considerations coming later this year. Needless to say I was gung-ho about getting the project underway. First the carpet was ripped up and the wood trim torn off the bottom of the walls. A little over one week into the project my listening room is in shambles, I'm listening to headphones only, but at least I'm discovering some great music while the room is out of commission.

The recent release of Neil Young's Archives on Blu-ray Disc piqued my interest in the Blu-ray format. The audio on Neil's Archives is at 24/192 for the Blu-ray box compared to 24/96 for the standard DVD box and 16/44.1 for the CD box. I have no desire to purchase a dedicated Blu-ray player, but I am very excited about the possibility of ripping audio off Blu-ray discs that I legally own. Ripping Blu-ray content is not the easiest task and I was initially unsure if I could actually get the audio from a Blu-ray Disc. Instead of purchasing the whole Archives box for a few hundred dollars, I picked up the Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Blu-ray Disc. This way I wouldn't have a box full of expensive unplayable discs if my little project went awry.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video few days ago. It's from the 2008 TED conference in Monterey California. The speaker is Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. The topic is understanding classical music. Before you yawn and click over to the sports page of your favorite newspaper I suggest you give this video at least a few minutes. It's an education in classical music as told by, "A leading interpreter of Mahler and Beethoven [who] is known for his charisma and unyielding energy -- and for his brilliant pre-concert talks." Even if you don't have a San Francisco Symphony 2009-10 season subscription I'm willing to bet you'll this video entertaining nonetheless.

Some Computer Audiophile readers have been familiar with Kent Poon of Design w Sound for quite a while. To be honest I had heard of him and had browsed his website here and there, but I didn't really understand what he did or what his site was all about. If I had done a little research at the time I would have realized Kent Poon is a is a highly esteemed producer and mastering engineer. Kent is at the top of the industry in Asia and has a very impressive resume. In fact he is one of the youngest full members of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). I met Kent this year at CES and I've been extremely impressed with him and his work ever since. I am very pleased to introduce the rest of the Computer Audiophile readers to Kent Poon and his latest piece of work Audiophile Jazz Prologue III.

Many of the Computer Audiophile readers are well aware that my favorite band is Pearl Jam. I sneak Pearl Jam references in to my writing as much as possible. Another favorite of mine is Chicago Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field. I've made the trip from Minneapolis to Chicago more times than I've made a trip to the Metrodome right across town. Making this somewhat relevant to Computer Audiophile is the new Cubs anthem called All The Way from Eddie Vedder. Plus, the song is now available as a download from the Pearl Jam website. Unfortunately it's an mp3 at 256 kbps. But this song is all about the content and I'm sure I'd still have it on repeat if it was 8 bit mono and barely audible. Read more for the link and lyrics.

The new John Mellencamp album Life, Death, Love and Freedom was released today in the ΧΟΔΕ (CODE) format. The ΧΟΔΕ DVD containing the files also comes packaged with the Redbook CD release. Computer Audiophiles will be happy to hear the files are available in three formats. The formats are 256 kbps AAC and mp3, and 24/96 WAV files. I am working with the WAV files right now and will have more information about the experience very soon. Read more for some photos of what you'll find on the ΧΟΔΕ DVD.

The new HRx albums from Reference Recordings are unlike anything I've ever heard. While I did have high expectations for these releases I certainly did not expect anything this close to perfection. I am absolutely blown away by the sound quality. Everything from the crystal clear highs to the extremely accurate lows sounded fabulous. In fact all the typical audiophile adjectives that describe great sound are apropos for these albums. Read more to find out why this product might be the catalyst that kicks the high end audio world into gear and popularizes music servers like none other.

Even though this may be a little off topic I'm going forward with this review anyway. All of us are fans of music and this is surely about rock and roll. I've had my head buried in a book the last few days. We've probably all been there, reading a book you just can't put down as the world continues to spin around. Oblivious to everything else, like the book is all that matters. Along similar lines is the subject matter of the book I just finished. Fans of Motley Crue are no stranger to the band's struggles with addiction. Most famous is bassist Nikki Sixx's addiction to heroin. Read more for details of his book The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, and video podcasts from Nikki and others.