Sound Wave

By Wilson Rothman

Yamaha MusicCast

Keep it in one room, listen to it anywhere. MusicCast's server stores all your music in one location, then streams it--wirelessly--to "client" players, shown above, around the house.yamaha.com/yec ($2,800)

Creative Nomad MuVo2

This MuVo is for those who like big sounds in small packages. It holds 1.5 GB of music--a fraction of an iPod's capacity--but its sleek form could make it the apple of many music lovers' eyes. nomadworld.com ($230)

Rio Nitrus

Like the MuVo2, this "minipod" holds 1.5 GB, or up to 375 songs. At two-thirds of an inch thick, it's the only hard-drive player around that will fit into the pocket of your tightest blue jeans. rioaudio.com ($270)

*PERFECT PITCH

There's more to the digital-music revolution than just downloading MP3 tracks. With little fanfare, Super Audio CDs and DVD-Audio discs--two new formats for high-resolution surround-sound albums--have crept into music stores. Most of the offerings are remixes of well-known hall-of-fame rock recordings, but thanks to the new formats, engineers have been able to infuse new life into the old music.

You can play DVD-Audio discs on DVD players, and many SACDs on CD players, but you won't hear the crystal-clear surround sound of either without special new equipment. One of the best current offerings is Pioneer's DV-563A ($170, below), which reads both SACD and DVD-Audio formats. This machine comes ready to play just about anything--even MP3s you snag online.