Dammit

Sad news today as Oregon rescue workers found James Kim dead in the woods near Grants Pass, Oregon. If you've not been keeping track of this, James was a senior editor with CNet, in charge of the MP3/digital music arena for that site. He and his family became stranded on a snowy road between Grants Pass and Gold Beach for about a week, and he took off on foot last Saturday on his own to find help. His wife and his two young children were rescued on Tuesday and are safe.

It's weird, because I never met the man nor ever conversed with him via email. But in my work with digital music gadgets during most of the 2000s (I became Amazon's first MP3 editor back in 2000), James has been a steady silent online companion--I've used him as a trusted resource for a long time as well as enjoyed his writing style. Here's one of his last published reviews, for the Microsoft Zune. I wish his family well.