Having made a couple of comments on "Namby Pamby Audiences" and "Copland's Fantasy" I have realised that I should perhaps have introduced myself to the list a little more formally, so here goes.... I am a lover of "serious" music in most of its guises, and also a long-established dealer in Classical LPs (sometimes these two things go hand in hand, sometimes not.) So why don't I deal in CDs? It's a matter of personal taste, perhaps even conscience, and well there's loads of other people dealing in the things, anyway. So I may well infuriate a lot of you by saying that I find CDs quite unmusical to listen to, making it hard to keep concentration pinned on the music. So that's why I deal in classical LPs, I am convinced the format will last well beyond any new technologies which might seek to replace it. Although LP production is now limited to some "facsimile" reissues of early originals, the market in high quality turntables has been quietly growing ever since CDs took over. I have tried with CDs. I like 20th Century repertoire and historical performances, and there's so much in these fields that was never on LP. But my attention wanders as I listen to these CDs, and I end up depressed, wishing I could hear the music on vinyl instead. So for anyone who has a question about the vinyl era (if something was ever recorded, and what was the performance like), feel free to ask. My stocks of LPs are now pretty vast (about 80,000). Seven or eight years ago, a few years after CD appeared, there was a price explosion in the market for major UK and European original classical LP issues. This was driven by the Japanese and Korean markets, where import restrictions had until the 1980s prevented their domestic collectors acquiring early mono and early stereo LPs (and many other artefacts) from the "decadent" West. These higher prices had the effect of bringing vast quantities of classical LPs out from UK collections and into the hands of international dealers such as myself. At its peak, I was adding literally several thousand LPs every week to stock. Now the most desirable vintage LPs from the 50s and early 60s have virtually disappeared from circulation, mainly because so many were exported to the Far East - never again to be circulated amongst collectors and dealers in their country of origin. Fortunately I have managed to keep an interest in all genres of classical LP. So as well as original mono/stereo from the 50s and 60s, I have much 20th Century repertoire on labels from Eastern Europe and the Americas (those still collecting LPs are increasingly expanding their interests into this area). I also have lots of opera and vocal (come on, who really doesn't prefer those gorgeous 12 inch square libretti?) And I have a fair spattering of live/historic performances and private issues from the mono era. Congratulations to all those who made it to the end of this piece! Gale Andrews, G.Andrews Classical LPs [log in to unmask] http://www.galeandrews.co.uk