On recent threads, these two subjects came up, so I'm killing to birds with one stone.

It's Christmas, time to recieve hundreds of catalogs that you didn't ask for. One that I just got is the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, which might as well be subtitled as "The World's Largest Collection of Really Expensive Things That You Really Don't Need".

First, on page 3 of the Xmas edition, is the one useful item in the whole catalog: The LP to CD Transfer System ($399.95)plays 33, 45 and 78rpm and you don't need to plug it into your computer. You can omit tracks, or mix them up, or combine different lps on to one CD. It also works as a CD/Cassette player, but I don't think you can transfer the cassettes onto CD.

Second, on the back page, is The Classic Aluminum Christmas Tree. $379.95 for the five foot version, or $449.95 for the 7ft version. And, of course, there's a color wheel (You have to have the color wheel with one of these things) for $59.95. It's as ugly as you remembered it.

Have a Happy Holiday.

Steve