But there's been a price for portability. You are listening to your favorite music delivered only after a host of technology has diminished the resolution of the audio, by necessity, so that it can exist in a small digital file and make its way to your ears. It sounds fine, but the makers of a new portable music player are betting there are still some people out there who want even better quality.

Astell & Kern's new portable music player, the AK100, delivers. About half the size of a pack of cigarettes, the AK100 boasts the ability to play music files with more than six times the information on your standard CD, and several times beyond that of a popular but lowly MP3 file.At $699, it's also nearly five times the price of an iPod Nano.

The AK100's magic rests primarily in its Wolfsen 24-bit DAC, or digital-to-analog-convertor, which is a small piece of technology that converts the binary code of a digital music file into an analog signal your ears can hear. It just does it better than anything else in your briefcase or pocket.

MP3 files and a related format called AAC are the most common in digital music players such as the iPod. But converting your CDs to these formats or buying your music through iTunes results in a library of music with moderate sound quality. The sound is good, but music would sound better if it weren't so digitally compressed after it's mastered in the studio. These formats are often described as lossy, because you lose some data in the compression process.

By contrast, the higher-quality, FLAC format used in the AK100 is lossless, meaning no shortcuts are taken for the sake of file size. Files of this type can't be purchased over the counter or ripped from your existing CDs. The high-definition albums have been mastered to perfection and are sold online through retailers such as HDtracks.com.

For perspective, CDs contain only 16-bit resolution after the re-mastering process, and MP3 files are several rungs down the quality ladder. Why is that so-called bit-depth important? Because it helps determine how much actual information is contained in the recording. There is a lot more data to define the sound in a 24-bit mastered audio file than a 16-bit standard CD file.

And given the right speakers or headphones, you'll hear that difference.

The AK100 sounds better than anything I've ever listened to while walking around in public. It was truly that impressive. I tried the AK100 with a variety of stylish headphones in the $100 to $400 range.

When paired with high-quality, reference-grade studio headphones from Shure, John Coltrane never sounded so sweet. It's one thing to listen to jazz in your car or on your phone and hear the magical cadence of a solid quartet. It's quite another to hear the very breaths as a master musician attacks a reed instrument. There is nuance to be appreciated in a finely recorded jazz session, and the AK100 is able to replicate those important relationships between signal and silence.

The same songs played on several other digital devices failed to deliver anywhere near the same audio experience, even when using the same headphones. The AK100 delivers the type of quality typically reserved for custom listening rooms filled with high-end audio components and expensive speakers.

Other genres also benefited from the 24-bit recordings that the AK100 can play. The rich guitar work on Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" gave way to Robert Plant's crystal clear vocals. When John Bonham's drums take full stage, it's like thunder rolling in from the distance and finally crashing before you.

Even listening to Simon & Garfunkel perform "Cecelia" in 24-bit clarity is an eye-opener. A pleasing song with a peppy gallop suddenly became a true force, with the echo and sizzle of percussion instruments building to a fine frenzy that I could, at last, discern in detail.

There were only a couple of hiccups in my experience with the AK100.

Several of the Pat Metheny Group songs took a lot longer to load and play than all the others, which started instantly. I don't know the reason for the delay, but it was frustrating.

Also, the on-screen equalizer is a bit confusing. There are dots to drag, and on-screen dials with frequency numbers to spin. A simpler design to access those adjustments, which are important, might have helped.

The physical design of the device is very polished and professional. It has a black metal finish with a nicely knurled volume knob along the right side. The screen offers touch control for basic playback and music library duties. Three buttons along the left side allow you to play, pause and advance tracks forward and backward without relying on the touch screen.

The high-definition audio world made possible by this product won't be for everyone. Beyond its own hefty price tag, the audiophile-grade album downloads are also more expensive than their iTunes counterparts. For instance, Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" costs $17.98 for the full 24-bit album download at HDtracks.com. The same album costs $11.99 at iTunes.

In addition, you won't find as robust a selection at online high-definition audio retailers as you would on iTunes. Songs must be specially mastered in the studio to deliver the true 24-bit sound experience. There is a nice range of music from classical to heavy metal, but it remains a fraction of what is available at lower quality from other outlets.

Those highest-quality audio files take up more storage space as well. Your typical MP3 file weighs in at about four megabytes for a four-minute song. The same song in a lossless format for the AK100 takes up about 200 megabytes.

The AK100 comes with 32 gigabytes of storage built in. That's enough room for roughly 160 four-minute songs if each of them is encoded at the highest quality the AK100 can play. By contrast, a 16-gigabyte iPod Nano can hold roughly 4,000 songs in MP3. The AK100's memory can be expanded to 96 gigabytes with additional memory cards, but you'll have to be judicious about it when filling it up with audio of this quality.

The AK100 does play the lesser-quality formats, including MP3, OGG and WAV. If you only fill it up with standard MP3s, it will hold thousands of songs, like most traditional digital music players.

The AK100 player also has built-in Bluetooth technology, allowing it to stream audio wirelessly to connected devices such as Bluetooth-enabled speakers. It worked fine, but the high-definition audio fidelity is better experienced with proper headphones.

With the AK100, you won't be able to view photos or video or make phone calls, as the iPod Touch offers. The AK100 does one thing play music and does it really well.

Is the difference worth it? For some, maybe. Others won't care about that difference, can't hear it, or would decide it's not worth the additional cost it even if they can hear it.

But for those who truly appreciate a good recording, and would like to hear something as close to the original as possible, the Astell & Kern player is a refreshing device they'll likely embrace.

___

Follow Ron Harris on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Journorati

___

About the AK100:

The $699 portable music device from iRiver's Astell & Kern can play high-quality audio files, producing better sound than iPods and other digital music players. It comes with 32 gigabytes of storage, enough for about 160 songs at highest quality. The memory can be expanded to 96 gigabytes.

Supported audio formats are WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG and APE.

___

Online:

http://www.astellnkern.com

http://www.iriver.com

Authorities say new information caused them to reopen the case of Lolo Sono and Siboniso Shabalala. The two young men figured into Madikizela-Mandela's chaotic life in Soweto when she ran a soccer club and faced a host of allegations that she and those under her committed violent attacks.

The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa's Missing Persons Task Team, assigned to investigate disappearances from the apartheid era, is handling the investigation. Already, investigators have taken DNA samples from Shabalala and Sono's family members, spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said in a statement.

"The investigations into this case are still ongoing and possible burial sites are still being examined on the basis of recently obtained information," Nkosi said. "No exact burial sites have yet been confirmed or excavated."

News of the reopened investigation was first reported by the Sunday Herald newspaper of Scotland.

Madikizela-Mandela married Mandela in 1958 and they spent 27 years apart while Mandela was imprisoned by South Africa's racist white government.

While beloved by some, her behavior grew increasingly erratic in the 1980s as crackdowns against her and the African National Congress liberation movement grew increasingly intense. She and her former bodyguard unit, known as the Mandela United Football Club, were accused of committing 18 killings and other crimes during this period.

The violence by young men she allowed to sleep at her house and sponsored as a soccer club caused the mainstream anti-apartheid movement to ostracize her. Exiled ANC leaders, on instructions from her jailed husband, ordered the club's disbandment.

Madikizela-Mandela later was convicted on kidnapping and assault charges involving four young men in 1991. Initially sentenced to six years in jail, she was ordered to pay a $3,200 fine on appeal.

In 1997, as she appeared before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Committee in what she described as an attempt to clear her name, Sono's father Nicodemus testified that he saw his son and Madikizela-Mandela in the same van. He said his son's face was puffy from a beating.

Asked why his son was attacked, Nicodemus Sono said Madikizela-Mandela told him his son was a spy who needed to be dealt with. The van drove away, and Nicodemus Sono said it was the last time he ever saw his son.

"I went to see Mrs. Mandela and she said, 'Lolo, we dropped him off somewhere,'" the father testified.

Nomsa Shabalala, mother to Siboniso, said he had been part of a group, including Lolo, targeted by Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards

"I want Winnie to give my son back. I want his bones and remains," she said at the time of the hearings.

When it came time for her to offer testimony, Madikizela-Mandela described most of the accusations as "ludicrous," ''lunacy" or "ridiculous."

Madikizela-Mandela divorced Mandela in 1997. She currently is a member of the now-governing ANC political party's national executive committee.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

Despite bitter cold, turnout was higher than in past elections. Political analysts said that might provide a slight boost to liberal Moon Jae-in over conservative Park Geun-hye in their contest to lead Asia's fourth-largest economy at a time of high tension with Pyongyang.

South Koreans stood in long lines, wrapped in mufflers and parkas. A big turnout could mean large numbers of young people more likely to be aligned with Moon are going to the polls, analysts said. Park's conservative base is comprised mainly of older voters who remember with fondness what they see as the firm economic and security guidance of her dictator father, Park Chung-hee.

Seoul's election watchdog said turnout was about 59 percent Wednesday afternoon, which is 11 percentage points higher than five years ago, when current conservative President Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory It is also 5 percentage points higher than a decade ago, when Moon's protege and former boss, liberal Roh Moo-hyun, won.

Wednesday is a national holiday in South Korea. Polls opened at 6 a.m. (2100 GMT) and were to close at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT), after which television broadcasters planned to announce results from exit polls predicting a winner.

For all their differences, Moon, who was Roh's former chief of staff, and Park, who belongs to Lee's party, hold remarkably similar views on the need to engage with Pyongyang and other issues.

One big reason: Many voters are dissatisfied with current President Lee, including with his hard-line stance on the country's authoritarian rival to the north. Park has had to tack to the center in her bid to become South Korea's first woman president.

Many voters blame inter-Korean tension for encouraging North Korea to conduct nuclear and missile tests including a rocket launch by Pyongyang last week that outsiders call a cover for a banned long-range missile test. Some also say ragged North-South relations led to two attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

Earlier polls showed Park and Moon in a dead heat.

"Everything's now at heaven's disposal," Moon told reporters at a polling station in the southeastern port city of Busan. "I have put forward every bit of my energy."

Park, a five-term lawmaker, voted in Seoul and said she would wait for the "people's choice with a humble mind," calling on voters to "open a new era" for their nation.

South Koreans express deepening worry about the economy and disgust over the alleged involvement of aides close to Lee in corruption scandals.

"I skipped breakfast to vote. I've been waiting to vote for five years. I think it's time to change the government," said 37-year-old Kim Young-jin, who voted for Moon at a polling station inside an apartment complex.

At one polling station in Seoul, electric stoves were set up near a long line of young and old voters, some of whom blew on their freezing hands to try to keep warm.

The effort to create distance with incumbent Lee has been more difficult for Park, whose popularity rests on a staunchly conservative, anti-North Korea base.

Both candidates propose pulling back from Lee's insistence that engagement with North Korea be linked to so-far-nonexistent nuclear disarmament progress by Pyongyang. Park, however, insists on more conditions than Moon.

"Park is good-hearted, calm and trustworthy," 50-year-old housewife Lee Hye-Young said at a polling station at a Seoul elementary school. "Also, I think Park would handle North Korea better. Moon would want to make too many concessions to North Korea."

Moon was a close friend and aide of late President Roh, who championed the so-called "sunshine policy" of no-strings-attached aid for Pyongyang.

Moon wants an early summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Park has also held out the possibility of such a meeting, but only if it's "an honest dialogue on issues of mutual concern."

Whoever wins and moves into the presidential Blue House in February will set the initial tone for new North Korea policy not just in Seoul but in Washington, Beijing and Tokyo. All those governments have recently undergone an election, a change of leadership or both.

A Moon election could lead to friction with Washington if new engagement with Pyongyang comes without any of the reciprocal nuclear disarmament progress that Washington demands from the North.

Moon and Park also agree on the need to fight widespread government corruption, strengthen social welfare, help small companies, close growing gaps between rich and poor, ease heavy household debt and rein in big corporations that have grown so powerful they threaten to eclipse national laws. They differ mainly in how far they want to go.

Moon wants to drastically expand welfare, while Park seeks more cautious improvement in the system, out of concern that expanding too much could hurt the economy, according to Chung Jin-young, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in South Korea.

Park is aiming to make history as the first female leader in South Korea and modern Northeast Asia. But she also works under the shadow of her father, Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea as dictator for 18 years until his intelligence chief killed him during a drinking party in 1979.

Park's father is both an asset and a soft spot. Many older South Koreans revere his strict economic policies and tough line against North Korea. But he's also loathed for his odious treatment of opponents, including claims of torture and snap executions.

A Park win would mean that South Korean voters believe she would evoke her father's strong charisma as president and settle the country's economic and security woes, analyst Chung said.

"We now make a decent living because of her father, President Park Chung-hee. He did well on the economy," said 66-year-old Seo Dong Man. He vividly remembers ruined Seoul neighborhoods filled with beggars in the years after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Moon, on the other hand, was a young opponent of Park Chung-hee. Before working for Roh, whom Lee replaced in 2008, Moon was a human rights lawyer. He also spent time in jail for challenging Park's government.

Moon's parents lived in the North Korean port city of Hungnam before fleeing to South Korea aboard a U.S. military ship in daring evacuation operations in December 1950, six months after the Korean War broke out.

A Moon win would be a clear judgment against the Lee government, said Hahm Sung Deuk, a political scientist at Korea University in Seoul.

Economic worries may be the focus of many voters, but North Korea forced itself as an issue in the closing days of campaigning with its rocket launch last week, which put a satellite into orbit.

The launch won't be a major election influence, but it will consolidate conservative votes in favor of Park, said Hahm. He said the launch will remind South Korean voters that "the North Koreans are unpredictable and belligerent."

___

AP writers Foster Klug and Youkyung Lee contributed to this story.

In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty.

"I feel it is sick what is happening across the country . it is totally sick, and it needs to stop," said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi's police headquarters, protested near Parliament and rallied outside a major university.

Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

"We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day," said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city's top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

Meanwhile, the victim lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city passing through several police checkpoints before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road Sunday night.

Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress Party, visited the victim, promised swift action against the perpetrators and called for police to be trained to deal with crimes against women.

"It is a matter of shame that these incidents recur with painful regularity and that our daughters, sisters and mothers are unsafe in our capital city," she wrote in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The outpouring of anger is unusual in a country where attacks against women are rarely prosecuted. The Times of India newspaper dedicated four pages to the rape Wednesday, demanding an example be made of the rapists, while television stations debated the nation's treatment of its women.

Opposition lawmakers shouted slogans and protested outside Parliament and called for making rape a capital crime. Cutting across party affiliations, lawmakers demanded the government announce a plan to safeguard women in the city.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told Parliament he had ordered increased police patrols on the streets, especially at night.

Shinde said the government has introduced bills to increase the punishment for rapes and other crimes against women, but they are bogged down in Parliament.

Analysts and protesters said the upsurge of anger was chiefly due to increasing incidents of crime against women and the seeming inability of authorities to protect them.

"We have been screaming ourselves hoarse demanding greater security for women and girls. But the government, the police, and others responsible for public security have ignored the daily violence that women face," said Sehba Farooqui, a women's rights activist.

Farooqui said women's groups were demanding fast-track courts to deal with rape and other crimes against women.

In India's painfully slow justice system, cases can languish for 10 to 15 years before reaching court.

"We have thousands of rape cases pending in different courts of the country. As a result, there is no fear of law," says Ranjana Kumari, a sociologist and head of the New Delhi-based Center for Social Research.

"We want this case to be dealt with within 30 days and not the go the usual way when justice is denied to rape victims because of inordinate delays and the rapists go scot-free," Farooqui said.

Analysts say crimes against women were on the rise as more young women left their homes to join the work force in India's booming economy, even as deep-rooted social attitudes that women are inferior remained unchanged. Many families look down on women, viewing the girl child as a burden that forces them to pay a huge dowry to marry her off.

Kumari says a change can come about only when women are seen as equal to men.

Rapes in India remain drastically underreported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police. Police, themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.

In a sign of the protesters' fury, Khushi Pattanaik, a student, said death was too easy a punishment for the rapists, they should instead be castrated and forced to suffer as their victim did.

"It should be made public so that you see it, you feel it and you also live with it . the kind of shame and guilt," she said.

After weeks of stalemate, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House on Monday, raising hopes that Washington will be able to head off steep tax hikes and spending cuts that threaten the economy.

All of the S&P 500's 10 sectors were higher, led by financials and other growth-oriented sectors. The S&P Financial Index gained 2.1 percent, while the S&P consumer discretionary sector was up 1.8 percent.

Investors worry the U.S. economy could slide into recession if the tax and spending changes are implemented.

Boehner has edged closer to Obama's position by proposing to extend lower tax rates for everyone who earns less than $1 million. Still, his position remains far from that of President Obama.

"Trumping everything right now are the fiscal cliff talks. It seems like progress is being made. I think it's getting to the nitty gritty," said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc. in Toledo, Ohio. "The bet right now is that something will come by the end of this week."

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 100.38 points, or 0.76 percent, at 13,235.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 16.78 points, or 1.19 percent, at 1,430.36, its highest close since October 22. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 39.27 points, or 1.32 percent, at 3,010.60.

The gains, which came on lighter-than-usual volume, ended a two-day losing streak on the S&P 500. The index also had its best daily percentage gain since November 23. Volume was roughly 6.2 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the year-to-date average daily closing volume of 6.4 billion.

In the financial sector, shares of Bank of Americarose 4 percent to $11. American International Group Inc.shares rose 3 percent to $34.95 on plans to sell as much as $6.5 billion of AIA Group Ltd. Advancing stocks included those in the home construction sector, which rose 4.5 percent.

"People are looking for sectors to play, and I think Bank of America broke out of some long-standing price levels, and it got everything going in that sector," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Clearwire Corpagreed to sell the rest of the company to Sprint Nextel Corpfor a slightly sweetened $2.2 billion offer just days after minority shareholders criticized the previous bid as too low. Clearwire tumbled 13.6 percent to $2.91, while Sprint was up 0.2 percent to $5.56.

Apple Incshares edged up after recent losses, rising 1.8 percent to $518.83 even though two firms cut their price targets on the stock Monday.

The tech giant said it sold more than 2 million of its new iPhone 5 smartphones in China during the three days after its launch there on Friday, but the figures did not ease worries about stiffer competition. Apple shares have tumbled more than 25 percent in about three months.

Compuware Corprose 12.9 percent to $10.76 after hedge fund Elliott Management offered to buy the business software maker for $2.3 billion and S&P Capital IQ raised the target price and moved it to "hold" from "strong sell."

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)