AMERICANS PLUG INTO ELECTRONIC GADGETRY

Today's home resembles an electronics store, crammed full of all sorts of gadgets from computers to interactive CDs.

Personal computers are becoming as common as telephones. "The pricing has gotten down now to where just about anybody can afford one," said Curtis Smith, owner of the ComputerLand store in Cape Girardeau.

A good quality system, including the computer, color monitor, printer and software, costs around $2,000, he said.

But today's computer can do so much more. "It can handle more information, do it faster, and so forth," said Smith.

And there's a wealth of computer programs out there, everything from games to personal finance.

Smith said many parents see computers as educational tools for their kids. Homework can now be typed on a computer screen and printed out.

I know some people who are into genealogy on their computers," he noted. Others have their baseball card collections listed on computer, where they can keep track of the net worth of their collections.

Home computers are also used to keep track of stock investments and the monthly bills.

The library or study in many homes has been replaced by the computer room. "If they don't have a separate room, it is in their den or family room where everybody has access to it.

"We have several clients who have actually build computers into their kitchens," said Smith. Open a kitchen cabinet and there is the computer, he explained.

"Whoever does the cooking can keep their recipes on it, and their finances and all that sort of stuff." Home computers can also provide an electronic grocery list, eliminating the need for all those handwritten lists cluttering the refrigerator door.

Television sets are no longer just something to watch. With interactive CDs, people can call up an encyclopedia or play sports games that look stunningly real.

"The realism of it is incredible," said Scott Shivelbine of Shivelbine's Music Store. "It's much more realistic than your video game." And the sound quality is comparable to that of a regular compact disc.

One 5-inch disc, he said, contains all 26 volumes of Compton's Encyclopedia and 1,800 illustrations," he noted.

Instead of a family slide show, photographs can be shown on the TV set. "You can put your photographs on disc. Each disc will hold up to 100 photographs," said Shivelbine. "The actual CD interactive machine has a memory of its own that remembers how you want your slides or photographs shown."

Shivelbine said, "They are introducing a disc that will have the entire works of William Shakespeare with I don't know how many illustrations.

"There is something for everybody, all the way down to Sesame Street (dics on letters and numbers)."

Through cable, DMX -- Digital Music Express -- offers listeners 30 channels of CD digitized music, with no commercial interruption, 24 hours a day.

The channels offer everything from classical to country music, rap to reggae. "It comes right in over your coaxial cable," said Todd Runkwitz, sales and marketing manager for TCI Cablevision, which provides the service in the Cape Girardeau area. Customers pay a monthly fee of $9.95 for the service.

The service comes with a remote control featuring a digital readout. "You can press a certain button on there and it will tell you the actual song title, the artist singing the song, the record label and then, if it is on the Top 40, it will tell you where it ranks on the Top 40 and how many weeks it has been on the Top 40."

Locally, about 500 homes and 15 to 20 businesses are getting DMX, but Runkwitz believes the numbers will grow.

"The advantage is convenience, listening to music that you want to listen to, anytime you want to listen to it, and with no interruptions," he noted.

"It's definitely something that a music lover would love to give a try," said Runkwitz.