Next month you'll have your annual opportunity to not read my audiovideo supplement. I don't mind.

I've written an electronics column each month for nearly five years— obviously I'm not discouraged. It's true I don't get phone calls that what I said about bi-amplification had everyone roaring with laughter or that all over town they're repeating my line about pocket calculators. From time to time someone tells me they learned from my column how to clean their records. That's about it.

I don't get much free equipment. In five years I've gotten one needle, a few audio cassettes of varying quality, and every Christmas 3M sends me a box of sample products from scouring pads to Scotch tape. I got a letter from Magnavox asking me if I'd like one of their TV Odyssey games, I wrote back yes please, but they never sent it, so that was probably just a cruel joke. I can borrow equipment to test for a month or two, but I have yet to get something good for nothing.