Hi-Fi

One facsinatng thing about my day spent in Seoul's Yongsan Electronics market was the huge amount of vinyl on sale. I found this massive store full of secondhand discs, with the staff busy unpacking boxes and pricing up more stock to fill the empty bins in the centre.

And there are bargains to be had if your taste extends to the kitsch. The K-Tel compilation below,  from the glam rock era - 1976, to be precise. Complete with what looks like a period Spirograph attack on the cover, it would probably have the Guilty Pleasures fans foaming at the mouth: It contains hits from the likes of ELO, Elton John, Thin Lizzy and Diana Ross, and it's yours for the princely sum of W500, or about 20p.

 

There are more upmarket used vinyl stores, with a more selective display of prized records. This is the window of 33RPM, with discs including a 1960s Brian Hyland album, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother alongside the classical discs.

But even in the general music/DVD stores here there's a massive selection of used vinyl for sale

and bargains to be had, whatever your taste in music...

 

Bang & Olufsen chose the Copenhagen Opera as the venue for the launch of its new BeoSound 5 digital music player, due on sale in March next year.

The player itself comprises the striking-looking  main control unit, with its stacked aluminium controls on the post to the right and a comprehensive display panel, and a hideaway black box containing the 500GB hard drive and connection panel for audio and data.

Rotating the main dial on the top scrolls through the options on offer, while a lever below it operates a 'light beam' display used to select modes, Below that a third ring, with a knurled edge, accesses volume control.

Concept and prototype developer Oliver Wallington, seen above demonstrating one of the development units used in creating the system, explained that the first concept of the system took just two weeks to put together, using items such as tablet PCs, computer mice and bits of Lego.

Another week was spent implementing the MOTS (more of the same) software at the heart of the system. Developed by the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, this system allows the user to 'sow a seed' by selecting a track or album and allow the system to programme more music based on an analysis of that track and the other content stored in the system's memory.

The MOTS system isn't something the user needs to select: it runs all the time, and will just keep on making selections unless you overrule it.

The company enthuses about having friends round and letting them 'sow their own seeds' by choosing a track, then seeing where the system takes the party. It's all part of the concept of freeing users' music collections, it says.

Wallington talked about the feel of the controls, and the way the electronic display and mechanical controls appear to be one and the same. and he also discussed usability issues - apparently it's important that the system can be worked with a glass of wine in one hand - perfect for late-night listening.

Another presentation was given by designer Anders Hermansen, who gave us an insight into the concept of the user reaching into the unit to operate it. That's what that wireframe model at the centre of the picture is all about, and shows how deeply the company considers the way its users will interact with its products. 

Finally, we heard from Geoff Martin, B&O's Tonmeister and sound design specialist, who gave an enthralling primer on data-reduced music, including demonstrations at the piano in the Opera's huge orchestra rehearsal room, and a demonstration of what's lost when different levels of MP3 data reduction are employed.

His personal belief? That 256kbps MP3 is good enough for most listeners, with minimal losses to the music.

And he answered those critics who were already muttering that a 500GB hard disk was no longer enough on a product of this kind.

As he said, at full CD quality the system will hold 79 days of music, while at 256kbps that rises to just under 190 days of non-stop playback, which should be more than enough for most users.

More on the company behind the BeoSound 5 here.

The second day of the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5 launch program took us north-west from Copenhagen to Jutland, and B&O's hometown, Struer.

Here the company has its headquarters, at The Farm, so called because it resembles a traditional Danish farm layout - and has sheep on the grass outside to emphasise the point.

But before The Farm, a visit to the place where Bang & Olufsen began: the Manor House at Qvistrup (above), home to Svend Olufsen's parents, and where he and Peter Bang started making their first products in the attic.

The house is still lived in by Peter Skak Olufsen, the nephew of Svend Olufsen and a member of the company's Supervisory Board, and his wife Susanne.

Peter explained to us some of the history of the house and its part in the company's development, while Susanne revealed the stories of the women behind the serious, industrious Olufsen and the lighter-hearted (and slightly more wayward) Bang.

We heard about Olufsen's mother selling eggs to pay the company's early bills, and of the staff working at the house becoming part of the extended family, eating and even sleeping at the Manor.

And then we were served lunch from the Skak Olufsens' kitchen - it seems they're used to large groups of strangers (and they don't get much stranger than a busload of journalists) descending on their home for an insight into the company's roots and the odd plate of food or glass of wine.

Over lunch, Peter Skak Olufsen told me that during the company's jubilee celebrations not so long back, they hosted over 2500 visitors, but he emphasised that this is no museum. This really is the family home, and Susanne - who's also a local politician - told us she's looking forward to having a houseful of family over Christmas.

In the afternoon, we moved on to the more industrial side of present-day Bang & Olufsen.

And it's only when you visit the factories and development labs that you realise how wide of the mark are those who insist that buying B&O is all about paying for fancy styling.

You're paying for quality and fanatical attention to detail, from the aluminium milling and polishing machines (above) to the huge anodising plant (below) that's at the heart of the quality and longevity built into every B&O product.

And the same care and attention goes into research and development. We had a session in the listening room (below), where the company's trained listening panels assess both its own products and those of other companies under strict blind conditions, using the acoustically transparent curtains - they're open here to show the layout better -

and also visited The Cube, B&O's unique 12m testing chamber, in which speakers can be measured with great accuracy.

Unlike conventional anechoic chambers, which are lined with sound-absorbing materials, The Cube works by being enormous. The reflections from the walls take so long to arrive at the measuring microphone that the software used to test speakers can ignore them, while the gantry seen here can move, lift or turn any speaker the company makes with pinpoint accuracy.

Oh, and while talking about the equipment The Cube could be used to measure, including TVs – or 'high-quality two-way active speakers with a big display' as the audio guys refer to them – it was let slip that on the way from Struer is a 103in B&O TV. Hint: it might be a little pricey... 

Next stop was the basement 'torture chamber', where finished products and components are tested in extremes of humidity and temperature, and subjected to physical abuse even to the extent of being dropped to make sure their packaging will survive in transit.

They even get abused with two kinds of sweat (fresh and old!), cosmetics, bleach and even 120 cigarettes a day being smoked over them (by a machine!) to make sure they'll survive even extreme domestic circumstances.

There's even a test where products are chilled down to well below freezing, then unpacked in a warm room and switched on - not to check they'll still work, but to ensure they don't explode due to condensation and other enviromental effects.

The testers are quite happy if the product takes a while to start working properly, but this safety check is crucial - after all, up here in Jutland, and indeed in points even further north, it's not unknown for consumers to buy a new TV for Christmastime, drive it home for a few hours in the back of the car in sub-zero conditions, and then take it out, set it up and plug it in.

By the way, what's the highlight of the Danish festive viewing on those new TV sets? This ancient sketch by long-gone British comedian Freddie Frinton, which is a New Year's Eve TV institution in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

The Norwegians, just to be different, show it on December 23rd, but all the countries enjoy it in all its 1963 black and white glory, and without subtitles.

Anyway, the torture chamber tour was almost the end of the day - but there was one more visit to come...

 

Our final stop on the BeoSound 5 launch program was a trip back into the company's history.

Until recently, the historic products were housed in a 'Time Tunnel' in the basement of B&O HQ, and only seen by invited visitors guided by the company archivist, Ronnie Kaas. Now, in a new extension to the Struer Museum, the collection - or at least part of it - is on show to the public.

You enter the Bang & Olufsen galleries between portraits of the founders, having had your way signposted by a dress made for the company's exhibition staff back in the 1950s.

It seems even the dresses were made with typical B&O attention to detail. 15 years after they were worn by these women at an electronics show

they were still going strong, and were used well into the 1960s.

Kaas, seen above showing that, like the BeoSound 5, the company's original product - a mains-powered battery elmininator for radios - can be used with a glass of wine in one hand, explained to me that the museum collection will change over time

More items will be drawn from the huge range currently in storage, and restored by retired company employees.

But at the heart will be products such as this original radio, with its speaker showing early signs of B&O's flair:

and iconic designs such as the Beolit 39 radio

 

to those sleek systems most of us associate with the brands's more recent past.

And the museum is full of intriguing oddities, too, including this historic radiogram made for the then Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederik, with the royal crest prominently displayed

 

to this art deco/Bauhaus extravaganza,clearly showing most of the design trends of the time.

But my favourite product is one bound to strike a chord with those of us involved in reviewing TVs, which often means lugging the things around.

It seems back in the early days of TV, people preferred to have their set out of sight, only bringing it out when they wanted to view it. But how could that be done, with the big heavy wood-cabinet models of the time?

Simple: the B&O designers put some wheels at the back, and pull-out handles at the front, and the result was this, which could be trundled around the room like a wheelbarrow.

Apparently it was a big hit with the delivery staff, too.

 

We know some of you have reported problems getting hold of our Awards issue at Tesco stores, so we've been on to head office and had the issue fixed.

If you're popping down to your local Tesco this weekend, why not pick up a copy of our special 2008 Awards issue – you can't miss it with its snazzy gold foil cover – and enter our exclusive Awards competition.

We've got two fabulous home cinema systems to give away, each worth £2500. Enter by following the instructions on page 42 and you could win:

A £900 NAD Viso 5 all-in-one home cinema system

A DAB tuner module worth £125

NAD's matching Viso iPod dock

A QAcoustics Q-AV surround speaker system

A swivelling stand that will hold your TV and Q-AV system

Two QED HDMI-P cables, a QED subwoofer cable (6m), QED optical cable and QED SA-XT speaker cable.

Full details are in the Awards 2008 issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale now at Tesco and all leading supermarkets and newsagents.

 

I find it interesting to meet audio engineers and see where they work. It always gives plenty of insight into product development and their company's engineering philosophy.

Recently, I met Ken Ishiwata of Marantz fame (above), and visited his new listening room in Eindhoven. Ken Ishiwata is arguably the best known audio engineer around thanks to years of developing top-class hi-fi, wearing some rather distinctive suits and the little matter of Marantz's special edition KI Signature products bearing his initials.

The new listening room is where Ken assesses and tunes all of Marantz's new European products. Only once he is happy are they signed off for production.

The listening room is a lavish affair, far more exotic than normally found at a manufacturer's facility. It's irregularly shaped with angled walls to control standing waves and has had plenty of acoustic treatment.

This is a large room, measuring 8.6m in length and around 6.6m at its widest. Our listening was done with Marantz's Legendary series equipment – the SA-7S1 SACD/CD player, SC-7S2 pre/MA-9S2 power amplifier completed by a pair of Mordaunt-Short Performance 6 speakers (Marantz distributes Mordaunt-Short across Europe).

We also had the pleasure of listen to vinyl on the company's now deleted flagship turntable the TT100 Mk 2. Back in the late Eighties it cost £6000. Today, if Marantz decided to resume production, it would be as much as £20,000. And that's without arm or cartridge.

The intention behind the room is to provide a listening space that is neutral yet not acoustically dead. It's a tough balancing act, but with £70,000, eight months of fine-tuning and decades of audio experience, Ken has come up with one of the best sounding rooms I've heard.

UPDATE: Videos of all 19 Products of the Year, plus reviews of 80+ Best Buys, now on our dedicated Awards website.

OK folks, the wait is over and today's the day we bring you the results of the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Awards 2008. In anticipation of the Awards website going live later this morning, complete with videos of all 19 Products of the Year, here's the winners list in full:

Televisions
 
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sony KDL-40W4500 £1190

Best 26in television
Samsung LE26A456 £370

Best 32in television
Sony KDL-32W4000 £700

Best 37in television
Panasonic TH-37PX80B £650

Best budget 40-42in television
Sony KDL-40V4000 £750

Best 46in television
Sony KDL-46W4500 £1600

Best 50in television
Pioneer PDP-LX509D £2400

All-in-one-systems

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
All-in-one-systems
Denon D-M37DAB £300

Best home cinema system under £500
Sony DAV-F200 £350

Best home cinema system £500-£750
LG HT953TV £600

Best hi-fi system over £500
Arcam Solo Mini £650

Best home cinema system £750+
NAD Viso 5 £900

Best sound bar
Yamaha YSP-40D £800

Turntables

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Rega P3-24/Elys 2 £498

Best turntable under £250
Pro-ject Genie 2 £140

Best turntable £1000+
Thorens TD160HD £1560

Style speaker packages

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
KEF KHT3005SE £1000

Best style speaker package up to £500
Jamo A102HCS5 £250

Best style speaker package £500-£700
KEF KHT2005.3 £700

Best style speaker package £1000-£2000
B&W MT-30 £1575

Best style speaker package £2000+
Tannoy Arena Highline 500 £2700

Projectors

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Projectors
InFocus IN80 £1300

Best projector under £1000
Panasonic PT-AX200E £800

Best projector over £2000
JVC DLA-HD100 £4800

Radios

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Pure Evoke Flow £150

Best portable DAB £50-£100
Pure One Elite £70

Best portable DAB under £50
Pure One Mini £40

Best hi-fi tuner
Denon TU-1800DAB £250

DVD & Blu-ray players

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
DVD & Blu-ray players
Panasonic DMP-BD55 £400

Best DVD player under £200
Onkyo DV-SP406 £100

Best Blu-ray player £200-£300
Panasonic DMP-BD35 £250

Best Blu-ray player £500-£700
Pioneer BDP-LX71 £600

Best Blu-ray player £700+
Denon DVD-2500BT £900

Speaker packages

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W 685 Theatre 1 £1206

Best speaker package under £750
Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 £500

Best speaker package £1500+
Tannoy Revolution Signature £2300

Subwoofers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W PV1 £950

Best subwoofer under £500
B&W ASW610 £400

Best subwoofer £500-£750
Monitor Audio RSW12 £650

Stereo amplifiers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Roksan Kandy K2 £750
 
Best stereo amplifier under £300
Marantz PM6002 £270

Best stereo amplifier £800-£1500
Roksan Caspian M series-1 ú1000

Best stereo amplifier £1500-£2500
Cyrus VS2/PSX-R/8 power £2000

Best stereo amplifier £2500+
Plinius 9200 £3000

DVD recorders and PVRs

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sky+ HD £75

Best DVD recorder under £300
Sony RDR-HXD890 £240

Best Freeview PVR
Topfield TF5810PVRt £300

Stereo speakers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W 685 £380

Best stereo speakers under £150
Tannoy Mercury F1 Custom £110

Best stereo speakers £150-£250
Dali Lektor 1 £250

Best stereo speakers £500-£1000
ATC SCM11 £850

Best stereo speakers £1000-£2000
Dynaudio Excite 32 £1600

Best stereo speakers £2000+
Monitor Audio PL300 £5500

Digital media players and accessories

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sonos BU150 £700

Best ultraportable
Apple iPod nano £110

Best music portable
Apple iPod Classic £180

Best multimedia portable
Apple iPhone £349

Best budget iPod dock
Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere £100

Best premium iPod dock
B&W Zeppelin £400

Best budget desktop speakers
Audioengine A2 £110

Best premium desktop speakers
Dynaudio MC15 £670

Best DAC
Cambridge Audio DacMagic £200

Best media centre PC
I.US XpcHD £1500

Headphones

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Klipsch Image £200

Best in-ear headphones under £50
Sennheiser CX300 £30

Best in-ear headphones £50-£100
Shure SE110 £80

Best hi-fi headphones under £50
Grado iGrado £40

Best hi-fi headphones £50-£100
Grado SR60 £90

Best hi-fi headphones £100+
Grado SR325i £310

Best noise-cancelling headphones
Sennheiser PXC 450 £300

Cables
 
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Chord Carnival SilverScreen £6/m

Best optical cable
True Colours Industries Coral £35

Best stereo interconnect
Atlas Equator MkII £48

Best mains cable
Clearer Audio Copper-line Alpha £35

Best HDMI cable
Van den Hul HDMI Flat £65

Multichannel receivers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Yamaha DSP-AX863 £600

Best multichannel receiver under £500
Yamaha DSP-AX763 £400

Best multichannel receiver £1000-£2000
Pioneer SC-LX81 £1500

Best multichannel receiver £2000+
Denon AVC-1HD £3800

CD players
 
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Cyrus CD6se £800

Best CD player under £300
Marantz CD6002 £270

Best CD player £1000-£1500
Cyrus CD8se £1100

Best CD player £1500+
Cyrus CDXtse / DACX £800/£1100

Accessories

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Atacama Equinox range from £140

Best speaker stands under £100
Soundstyle Z2  £70

Best speaker stands £100+
Partington Super Dreadnought £180

Best phono stage
Cambridge Audio Azur 640P £60

Best remote
Logitech Harmony One £125

Best value upgrade
Tacima CS929 £40

The IFA consumer electronics show kicks off in Berlin tomorrow, and as I write this four of our team are winging their way through the air in preparation for a veritable newsfest over the next few days. We'll have regular updates throughout the day here on whathifi.com.

In case you don't know, IFA stands for the International Funkausstellung and is one of the biggest consumer electronic shows on the planet, taking place from August 29th to September 3rd.

All the major manufacturers will be out in force, including Sony, Samsung, Philips, Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, Harman Kardon, Pioneer and Loewe. We're expecting a whole host of new product launches, and the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision team is on standby to bring you all the latest news as soon as the press conferences start tomorrow.

Rumour has it there'll be a brace of new Blu-ray players from Panasonic, some new Harman Kardon receivers, high-end audio from LG, two new DVD players from Toshiba and possibly a new Blu-ray player from Pioneer.

All this and more will be brought to you live from the show, so remember to log in and check the site for our daily updates.

Regular site visitors may have noticed we've been experiencing a few technical glitches this week, for which a thousand apologies. It was all down to the Advanced Search functionality we added in a site upgrade last week, which turned out to be a tad more complex than we'd envisaged.

However, the good news is that we've now identified and fixed the offending bugs in the system, and we hope the site is now working properly again. We'll be adding the Advanced Search filtering to each product category in Reviews over the next few days, so please bear with us while we get it all sorted.

I hope you'll find this new feature useful. It's something we planned at the time the site launched back in June, but it's taken a bit longer than we'd hoped to get it implemented. But now you'll be able to select the products you're looking for by price, star rating or brand in the Basic Search function, and by detailed technical specs in Advanced Search.

It's all part of our drive to make the site the best in the business, and we've got more exciting upgrades in the pipeline over the coming months. So have a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend, and if you're thinking of buying a new TV, hi-fi or home cinema over the holiday period, remember to do your research first here on whathifi.com.

And if you have any technical queries, don't forget our ever-popular Forums – we'll be on hand to help you out. Enjoy the break.

We've just implemented a major update on the site this morning, and you'll now find a new Search box on all the Forum pages to help you find the posts you're looking for.

We've also upgraded the Content Management System so we can add Advanced Search filters to each of the product categories within the Review section of the site.

At the moment you'll see just a Brand and Sort by pulldown menu in each category, but I'll be adding the new filters over the course of the next few days. I'll start with Televisions and then work my way through home cinema and hi-fi after that.

What you'll see soon is three Basic Search options at the top of each review landing page: Brand, Price and Star rating. There will then be a Show Advanced Options tab which, when you click on it, will display up to eight further technical specs to choose from.

So for example, if you're searching for a new TV, you'll be able to select the price and star rating you want, then further options within the Advanced Search filter such as the number of HDMI sockets, Full HD or HD-ready, screen size, type, digital or analogue tuner.

This will make whathifi.com even easier to use and help you find the best TV, hi-fi or home cinema kit for your money. So please bear with us as we implement the improvement. It'll be worth the wait!

I've just got back from the British Motor Show. Why? Quite apart from the fact that I've been helplessly in love with all things automotive since, ooh, birth, it's also because I'm increasingly getting involved in reviewing in-car audio systems, both for What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, and for our sister title, What Car?.

That's why my show highlight was sitting in a Bentley Flying Spur enjoying its new Naim audio hi-fi system, a £5000, 1100-watt upgrade option that, on my first listen, appears to be worth every penny.

Thing is, despite my best efforts – and those of my esteemed colleague Mr Everard – we weren't able to get hold of a review sample of the new Bentley in time for it to appear in an in-car audio review section in the Ultimate Guide to High-End Entertainment (on sale July 31st, since you ask).

Missing out was a blow – and having just heard it at the Motor Show, I'm even more frustrated that it didn't work out as planned, because on first impressions, this is a genuinely fabulous in-car hi-fi system. In fact, it could be the best of the lot.

Now I fully appreciate I'm talking about a fearsomely expensive luxury car most of you will never sit in, never mind own. Believe me, I'm in the same financial boat as you.

But I'm still thrilled that Bentley decided to enlist Naim's help to devote so much effort to delivering good-quality sound in the car, simply because it means more people are being exposed to the concept of proper hi-fi – people who otherwise might choose to spend their money on other things.

And personally, I think it's a wonderful thing that someone has chosen to construct it in the first place, if only because it would have been much easier not to. After all, and as I commented to Stuart McCullough, member of the board for Sales & Marketing at Bentley, Naim isn't as well-known as, say, Bang & Olufsen or Bose, both rightly respected for their in-car audio systems on a wide range of vehicles.

His response? "We're not overly concerned about high-street recognition. We chose to work with Naim because it's like us: small, tightly knit, adaptable and blessed with an impressive track record in its field. It's a great fit and blends with our brand values 100 per cent."

I'm also well aware that some will always believe that no matter how well-engineered it is, an in-car hi-fi system will never actually sound like hi-fi. Sorry, but that notion is thoroughly out of date. Forget your boom'n'bang preconceptions: I reckon the Bentley Naim system sounds just like proper hi-fi, and just as importantly, just like Naim kit ought.

It's fast, taut, expressive, dynamic when necessary and always rhythmic; it doesn't necessarily go super-deep, but the bass it generates is of the highest, most articulate calibre; and it always – whatever you're playing, from CD to compressed MP3 file – plays a tune.

The full niceties of its performance can wait for a proper review, but based on what I've heard so far, this could be something very, very special indeed. Mr Everard is heading up to Crewe for his own extended listening session next week: I can't wait to hear what he thinks.

 

Warning, the following sentence could make you feel very old.

Today marks the release of Now 70 - the latest chart-hits compilation that originally launched as Now That's What I Call Music back in 1983.

Wow - 70 double-albums (plus many spin-off 'best of the decade' compilations) and 25 years: that's some franchise. 

As someone who bought the very first Now (on double-cassette, no less), I've been thinking back at how much - or little - things have changed in that time.

Here's the track listing for Now That's What I Call Music - and I defy anyone of a certain age NOT to be singing at least one of these before the list is through:

• You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collins
• Is There Something I Should Know - Duran Duran
• Red Red Wine - UB40
• Only For Love - Limahl
• Temptation - Heaven 17
• Give It Up - KC & The Sunshine Band
• Double Dutch - Malcolm McLaren
• Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler
• Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
• Safety Dance  - Men Without Hats
• Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
• Down Under - Men At Work
• Moonlight Shadow - Mike Oldfield
• (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew - Rock Steady Crew
• Baby Jane - Rod Stewart
• Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) - Paul Young
• Candy Girl - New Edition
• Big Apple (Metro Mix) - Kajagoogoo
• Let's Stay Together - Tina Turner
• (Keep Feeling) Fascination - The Human League
• New Song - Howard Jones
• Please Don't Make Me Cry - UB40
• Tonight I Celebrate My Love -Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson
• They Don't Know - Tracey Ullman
• Kissing With Confidence - Will Powers
• That's All - Genesis
• Love Cats - The Cure
• Waterfront (Union Jack Remix) - Simple Minds
• The Sun And The Rain - Madness
• Victims - Culture Club

Crikey, some challenging choices there (two Kajagoogoo tracks AND a Limahl solo single?!), and - and this continued for many a year, as I remember - no real rhyme or reason in ordering. Mixtape genius it ain't, but it was chock-full of chart hits for the money. 

Yes, any youngsters reading, back then this was the only way to get lots of singles without a) being extremely rich and buying everything in the charts or b) taping them off your mates' copies (very naughty). And - despite being compressed enough to fit 20-odd songs on each side - still doubtless in higher-quality than a 128kbps download.

So, here in the day of downloads, how is Now still thriving? Well, as I write this, Now 70 is sitting at no 7 in the Apple iTunes album downloads chart - showing quite a touching brand loyalty when you could have/can buy the vast bulk of its tracks individually before today's release date.

The compilations now also include exclusive content - the CDs and downloads now contain videos and bonus tracks, plus a digital booklet -  which my teenage stepson insists is 'cool'. ('Cool' is, apparently cool again, by the way). 

The music's changed a little in 25 years, though. Here's Now 70's track-listing: 

• Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy
• Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome- Dance Wiv Me
• Mint Royale - Singin' In The Rain
• Sam Sparro - Black & Gold
• Duffy - Warwick Avenue
• Sara Bareilles - Love Song
• Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me
• Ne-Yo - Closer
• Girls Aloud - Can't Speak French
• Kylie Minogue - In My Arms
• Sugababes - Denial
• Jonas Brothers - S.O.S.
• Alphabeat - 10,000 Nights
• The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
• The Kooks - Always Where I Need To Be
• Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
• Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
• Scouting For Girls - Heartbeat
• The Feeling - Turn It Up
• The Hoosiers - Cops & Robbers
• Paul Weller - Have You Made Up Your Mind
• Coldplay - Violet Hill
• Rihanna - Take A Bow
• Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown - No Air
• Will.I.am feat. Cheryl Cole - Heartbreaker
• Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
• Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
• Leona Lewis - Better In Time
• Chris Brown - With You
• Ironik - Stay With Me
• Taio Cruz - I Can Be
• The Script - We Cry
• Britney Spears - Break The Ice
• Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger - Scream
• Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low
• Wiley - Wearing My Rolex
• DJ Q feat. MC Bonez - You Wot!
• Basshunter - All I Ever Wanted
• Scooter - Jumping All Over The World
• Ultrabeat vs Darren Styles - Discolights
• Alex Gaudino feat. Shena - Watch Out
• September - Cry For You
• Fragma - Toca's Miracle 2008

So, leaving musical styles aside, in 25 years we've lost the fad for brackets in song titles, and gained the need to name every featured artist (whereas before everyone just KNEW stuff like Stevie Wonder playing harmonica on everything).

Oh, and Paul Weller's still doing the business (first Now appearance in 1984's Now That's What I Call Music 3,  with Style Council -  You're The Best Thing).

For more Now nostalgia - including track listings of all 70 editions: heaven for one-hit wonder fans - there's a dedicated website.  

But for me the burning question remains: whatever happened to the pig in sunglasses?

 

If you've a chance to tune into BBC Radio 4 today at 11.30am - or catch it via Listen Again or BBC iPlayer at a later date - you can hear a great slice of hi-fi nostalgia in the form of The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape: a programme in praise of those cassette compilations many of us used to lovingly labour over.

BBC Manchester, who produced the Show, asked me to take part to add some technical input, but once they had me in the studio, there was no stopping me waxing lyrical about my own love of compilations, and the fact that I still make them for my analogue pleasure (you can see my retro tape kit here).

Yes, I also love crafting a carefully plotted Playlist for iTunes, but somehow it's not quite the same - without the technical and timing hassles involved, and with the ability to shuffle songs around if you feel the music muse hasn't quite worked their magic yet, there's not the same sense of achievement.

One of my favourite parts of the Radio 4 programme is the discussion of those classic, two-minutes-or-less tracks that you used to stick on the end of each C90 side to fill up the 45 minutes.

As the show mentions, anything by The Ramones was a safe bet, and for those - like me - with a love of rock and roll, there are almost endless killer-not-filler tunes from Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly to see out a side in style. Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys - at a svelte 1:40 - was another favourite, or Simon and Garfunkel's Song for the Asking (1:50) if a gentler mood was called for.

There are also tunes that - thanks to gazillions of repeated plays of mixtapes - I can't hear without expecting a certain song to come on directly afterwards. This happens when Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes fades out, surely to be replaced by Bowie's Young Americans?

So, any mixtape moments you remember fondly?

 

Eagle-eyed users may have noticed that our hi-fi blogs channel has been re-instated. When we launched the new site last month we had a slight technical glitch that meant we were unable to pull in all the hi-fi blogs from the old site, or post new ones.

Now, thanks to the hard work of our colleagues in the Digital Media dept, all the hi-fi blogs are back! So if you're searching for any hi-fi related topics, you should now be able to find them.

We've taken the opportunity with today's site update to add a couple of other improvements too: you may notice in the Forums that we've tweaked the design of the pages to make them easier to read and use, and yes, the red font has turned blue as it's easier on the eyes.

All News and Reviews pages now display up to 10 items, so don't forget to scroll down the page to see what else is there.

You can now also click through to the Latest Issue page from the link top-right on the homepage to discover what's in the new issue of the mag, and we've added Cables and Accessories categories to the Awards listing pages.

Oh, and for those of you who were having problems with our registration process, we've fixed that too.

But don't think we're resting on our laurels. Oh no! Further upgrades will be coming over the next weeks and months, including our Advanced Search function. More on that soon.

Skirting round the fact that today's Friday 13th, we move swiftly on to the fact that on this day in 1970 The Beatles' last chart-topper, The Long and Winding Road, hit number 1. Of course by that time the band had already split.

More recently, in 1986, jazz genius Benny Goodman died, aged 77. And if you're into music trivia, try to seek out his classical recordings – they're well worth hearing.

Finally in today's anniversaries, it's 25 years since the space probe Pioneer 10 passed Neptune and left the solar system. It's due to pass (relatively) close to another star – Ross 246 – next. Check back here in the year 34,600 and we'll let you know as soon as it happens.

Meanwhile here on the website, we've...

• Reported from the launch of the 3G iPhone
• Brought you the latest new product news from Panasonic and Sony
• Revealed the BBC's plans to put its 81-year history online
• And brought you our verdict on Panasonic's TH-46PZ81 Freesat TV

Over in the Forums we now have more than 15,000 registered users, over 55,000 threads and 87,000 posts to keep you talking.

This week we've been discussing Panasonic's 42in plasmas, pasta sauce recipes and the pros and cons of MP3.

So why not join in? Click here to start talking hi-fi and home cinema with fellow enthusiasts, or here to subscribe to the magazine.