A couple of weeks ago, I attended a media luncheon at the St. Regis Hotel in New York held by Tivoli Audio. You may not have heard of Tivoli, but it was founded in 2000 by audio pioneer Henry Kloss and Tom DeVesto, who's currently the company's CEO. Tivoli has been making award-winning, if relatively hard to find, radios and entertainment systems ever since. At the event, I learned a bit about the company's future products, current distribution plans, and even the history of radio. I also got the idea that even in this era digital downloads, radio still might have some life left in it.

Part of this optimism comes from testing out Tivoli's special bronze edition of its travel radio, the SongBook, released to celebrate the one-hundreth anniversary of broadcasting. This little retro-looking box is easily the best-sounding portable radio I have ever heard. The 2-inch speaker isn't large, but the sound is incredibly rich. The digital tuner is remarkably powerful, knobs are all logically placed, and the unit is even sealed against the elements so you can use it outdoors. There is also an auxillary input, so you can use it as an external speaker with your iPod or CD player.

Put simply, Tivoli makes some sweet-sounding, well-designed radios. Although the company has focused on the tabletop radio business, it also offers CD players and even satellite radio models. The products share a design sensibility that I really like and am happy to show off. (My wife, on the other hand, keeps putting the SongBook in the closet.) This fall, the company will release the iYiYi (yes, they are really calling it that) home entertainment system, which will include an iPod dock, speaker, and AM/FM tuner. It will list for $299.99 and no doubt sound amazing. Well, at least good enough to make you regret ripping all your CDs at 128 Kbps.

Right now, Tivoli does most of its business through boutique retailers, but that will change this fall when systems will be available through 1,700 Target stores. I am not sure that the average Target shopper will appreciate the elegance of a Platinum Series Model One with a hand lacquered, high-gloss finish or the playful naming of the iYiYi, but it is good news for the company.

Also, I have to thank Tivoli's CEO Tom DeVesto for educating me about Reginald Aubrey Fessenden. (Yeah, I hadn't heard of him, either.)  Fessenden was the guy who realized radio wasn't just a medium for point-to-point communication, but could be used for one-to-many broadcasts. It seems quaint to talk about broadcasting in this time when many-to-many communication is ascendant, but until Fessenden, radio was used just to transmit dots and dashes. He was the first to transmit human voices and music. (To find out more you can check out this summary and video put together by Tivoli.)

Seems to me Fessenden should have a space up there alongside Edison and Marconi. Heralding his achievements and celebrating "100 Years of Broadcasting" could be seen as a publicity stunt on the part of Tivoli, but at least it's an educational publicity stunt.

The SongBook makes me want to listen to the radio again, if it weren't for all the damn commercials. But that is another column.

Dan Costa is a senior editor at PC Magazine; check back every Thursday for his take on the world of consumer electronics.