Donald Satz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Comments on this thread have tended to concentrate on price, availability,
>and delivery time.

Fresh from having stood in a long bedraggled line of shoppers at the
opening gun of the Greater St Louis Book Fair featuring nearly 500,000
items including LPs and sheet music, I'll assert that "real time" human
contact is infinitely preferable to cyber space.  Finding a discarded
treasure because of someone else's foolishness and my persistence at a
bargain price is exciting- enough to dismiss the midlife back ache that
inevitably accompanies these trips.  Ditto my visits to my independent
record store, Webster Records, that deals so marvellously in "used" CDs
in superior, or at least adequate condition.

If you don't like the chains-make telephone calls and find out where
an "indie" is in your area that has a proprietor with some taste and
knowledge.If I pay the extra dollar occasionally for a new release, I
voted with my pocketbook to keep him in business.  The conversation alone
justified the tariff.  I do put a value on my time-enough to know that I
need to refresh and expand my circle of acquaintance just like I need air
and exercise and CM.

Jeff Tedford