Bose® SoundDock® digital music system (Gloss Black)

Home cinema systems can make a huge difference to the quality of sound that emanates from your HDTV, but can also make a mess of your living room plan; the big, black sub-woofer cubes that really give you that extra punch to your audio are somewhat hard to keep discreet from eyes as well as ears.

Yet another independent record shop has closed down in my home town which has enticed me to start typing on a subject close to my heart. This is probably old news to most, but for those of you like me who are clinging on to their vinyl collections for dear life, this may be of interest. The chances are that you already own an mp3 player, or if you don't, will know someone who does. The idea of  digital music may not appeal to those who prefer their music in physical form for quite justifiable reasons - there is still something about opening up a nice vinyl record or well packaged CD that digital will never replace - but clearly the world has changed and digital formats are where the money is at.

There can be no doubt that mp3 players and the digital music formats that are played on them have changed the way we consume our music, in a far greater way than personal stereos or CD Walkmans ever did. But people still have CD collections, still like listening to the radio, still play their old vinyl collections and because of this, still have a desire for Hi-Fi- systems.

There aren't too many portable music players on the market that appeal to those seeking the crispest sound quality, but Meridian Audio always seem to come up with the goods............

Jean Michel Jarre may be more famous for his role as electronic music pioneer - or alternatively, creator of soundtracks to incredibly bad fireworks nights, tacky fairground rides or homoerotic body building competitions - but he is also founder of his own audio company, Jarre Technologies, who have announced the launch of a brand new speaker system at the IFA in Berlin today.