Second hand internet purchases

[teamsaint]

I buy a lot of second hand stuff now. Unbelievable value to be had.

However i feel a bit guilty about the income of the artists.

I try negate this guilt by telling myself that
1. The money I spend allows others to re invest in new "product".
2. That most artists get much of their income from playing live , which i support as much as I can.
but I still feel a bit bad

[Petrushka]

For years I've been wanting to read Oliver Philpot's classic wartime escape story Stolen Journey but it's been out of print for many years and copies are hard to come by. Pre-internet searching of second hand bookshops and book fairs failed to find it. Then, suddenly remembering it again last June, I purchased a 1950 copy from an Amazon seller for a very reasonable price.

Having read it it's easy to see why it is such a classic of its kind and a re-issue is long overdue.

I've purchased many second CD's on the internet (only to see many subsequently turn up in big boxed sets but that's another story) and have never had one arrive in a less than acceptable condition. As MickyD says, they are quite often in better condition than stated.

[Barbirollians]

I tend only to buy second hand either stuff that is deleted so I cannot otherwise get hold of it - in which case the loss for the artist is caused by their short sighted record companies or publishers or sometimes works that I do not know whether I shall like them . I suppose one could sayI should listen instead on Spotify or something like that but their endless adverts and irritating e-mails put me right off .

[jayne lee wilson]

But I've had so many thrills this way!

I remember the Juilliard set of Elliot Carter's String Quartets coming from a small shop on Lake Ontario, or Janowski's Complete Roussel Symphonies arriving from "CD Discriminator" in Salt Lake City...CPO's 17-disc Hans Zender Edition from... Berlin I think... I went a bit mad on Enescu a few years ago and got several obscure Electrecord issues from obscure European marketplacers... and the original Erato Foster issues from somewhere in California. My joy in finding the lovely original claret and blue Philips box of the Rowicki LSO Dvorak cycle, costly but perfect (and gold CD-Rs inside, only a number giving a clue for what was on them... it was Rattle's Berlin Phil Dvorak Tone Poems!). And any number of CBSO/Rattle EMI Angels.

It's worth repeating that, if such things matter to you - the original CDs often have a better sound, less processed, more detail, wider dynamic range - and often with far nicer artwork and better notes too. Good example was Heinichen's Dresden Concerti (MAK/Goebel/Archiv), lovely Canaletto of the city on the front, and those strange Horemans' paintings of court musicians inside...

Not 2ndhand, but finally getting my mits on the two-box Venezia set of Rozhdestvensky's almost-every-edition-complete USSR Bruckner cycle, one red box, one black, from HMV Tokyo was quite a moment. I think I stared at them and held them as much as I played them... (which I've continued to do ever since).

[Dave2002]

I tend only to buy second hand either stuff that is deleted so I cannot otherwise get hold of it - in which case the loss for the artist is caused by their short sighted record companies or publishers or sometimes works that I do not know whether I shall like them . I suppose one could sayI should listen instead on Spotify or something like that but their endless adverts and irritating e-mails put me right off .

Do you have a Spotify subscription, or do you have a non-paying account (do they still exist?)? I was going to write that there are no adverts if you pay, then I thought that's not quite true - there is unanticipated behaviour, which tries to push you to listen to different music, and indeed unwanted (in my case) genres. However, I do not see adverts in the usual sense - that is products which are completely unrelated supplied by third party companies.

I also think the audio quality levels may be lower for non subscribers. I do use Spotify, though sometimes, even with a subscription, I wonder about the audio quality.

[Ferretfancy]

Me, too. In fact, I've almost stopped buying new books & CDs if a decently-priced second-hand version is available. Following a comment from Roehre, I bought a used copy of Moldenhauer's biography of Webern, described as "Good" with the further details that it was an ex-library copy. It arrived from the States within ten days - and is in superb condition: £3.58 including P&P - Deerfield Library (Illinois)'s loss is my considerable gain.

ferney,

Is your purchase of the biography of Webern tinged by a little sadness ? After all, the fine condition of the volume does rather hint that the citizens of Deerfield Illinois don't appreciate the master as they should !

[Beef Oven!]

ferney,

Is your purchase of the biography of Webern tinged by a little sadness ? After all, the fine condition of the volume does rather hint that the citizens of Deerfield Illinois don't appreciate the master as they should !

Every silver-lining's got a cloud.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

ferney,
Is your purchase of the biography of Webern tinged by a little sadness ? After all, the fine condition of the volume does rather hint that the citizens of Deerfield Illinois don't appreciate the master as they should !

Yes - buying second-hand books often has this tinge, but library books especially. The copy I've got is a first edition, and looks as though it's been read through only about half-a-dozen times. Very sad - but it's in a more appreciative home now (and seems to be settling in very well with all the other books. Hodeir's After Debussy, however, is still snapping aggressively anything I let near it.)








I take these things very seriously.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Every silver-lining's got a cloud.

- I used to have this motto posted on my bedsit wall when I lived in Leytonstone!

[mathias broucek]

- I used to have this motto posted on my bedsit wall when I lived in Leytonstone!

Was Leytonstone the cloud or the silver lining?

[Beef Oven!]

Was Leytonstone the cloud or the silver lining?

I lived there in the 80s for a short while. Cloud.

[Ferretfancy]

Yes - buying second-hand books often has this tinge, but library books especially. The copy I've got is a first edition, and looks as though it's been read through only about half-a-dozen times. Very sad - but it's in a more appreciative home now (and seems to be settling in very well with all the other books. Hodeir's After Debussy, however, is still snapping aggressively anything I let near it.)








I take these things very seriously.

Ah yes ! Sometimes you can be haunted by the memory of something read in childhood, one for me was A Doorway in Fairyland by Laurence Housman, the brother of the poet. I particularly remember the art nouveau style illustrations at which he excelled. Only a few years ago I tracked it down, and discovered that the illustrations were just as good, but the stories now seem too winsome for my taste. I value it just the same.

[Alain Maréchal]

ferney,

Is your purchase of the biography of Webern tinged by a little sadness ? After all, the fine condition of the volume does rather hint that the citizens of Deerfield Illinois don't appreciate the master as they should !

Which reminds me of an exchange from "Sullivan's Travels" (Preston Sturgess)

- they know what they like in Pittsburgh
- if they knew what they liked in Pittsburgh, they wouldn't live in Pittsburgh!

[Ferretfancy]

Which reminds me of an exchange from "Sullivan's Travels" (Preston Sturgess)

- they know what they like in Pittsburgh
- if they knew what they liked in Pittsburgh, they wouldn't live in Pittsburgh!

I've just acquired a couple of William Steinberg CDs with the Pittsburghers, rather nice really !

[Alain Maréchal]

I have quite a few LPs of the Pittsburghers, and I agree they were a fine group of musicians. Many of the regional US orchestras were - they each had enough population to draw on. That film dates from the 40s, and perhaps the comment was a reflection on its status as a steel town, and from a Hollywood perspective.

If you don't know it, its a terrfic film.