Second hand internet purchases

[Barbirollians]

Today from an amazon.de marketplace seller at a cheap price has arrived a CD I have been seeking for a while . The Rachmaninov PC No 3 with Lazar Berman and Abbado . This was my introduction to the work on a worn out cassette in the 1980s and it has been deleted for a good long while .

What a boon sites like Amazon marketplace are - heavens knows how one searched for such things pre internet - by rooting around shops I suppose

It is just as exciting as I remembered .

Any long lost or much sought after old records discovered by others online ?

[Barbirollians]

Heavens above it is even more exciting than I remembered and superbly accompanied by Abbado and the LSO - one notices lots of orchestral detail missed by others . It is a scandal it has been deleted so long - on the Gramophone archive in its original review it was raved about by RO no less !

[pastoralguy]

Oh yes, Barbie! I had a list of second hand books and CDs that I spent a lot of time trying to track down pre internet days. The one I REALLY REALLY wanted was a Phillips disc of Pinchas Zukerman playing the Mendelssohn e minor violin coupled with an orchestral arrangement of the Octet. Zukerman' playing in the Octet is phenomenal! I first heard this disc when I was a student at music college in the late 80's and I borrowed it so often the staff would just hand it to me. (However, you had to listen in the library - it was forbidden to take them home!)

It was deleted quite quickly so I didn't manage to get my own copy until a friend hooked me up to the net in 2000. It took me about a week to track down all these books and CDs I had spent ages trying to track down in second hand/charity shops! The Mendelssohn cost me $4 from a second hand shop in New York!!

Fantastic!

[pastoralguy]

Oh, and lots of Ida Haendel stuff!!!

[Barbirollians]

Not even the internet can find cheap copies of Woman with Violin !

[pastoralguy]

Not even the internet can find cheap copies of Woman with Violin !

I was lucky enough to find mine on Amazon for 'only' £40! (A lot of money for an ex-library book!) My parents in law bought for my Christmas two years ago. I was lucky enough to meet the great lady and have her sign it!

[Dave2002]

Not even the internet can find cheap copies of Woman with Violin !

Today - at a price - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Woman-Violin.../dp/0575004738 £189.84 the cheapest!

[Roehre]

There is only one slight problem: after a couple of days you don't need to see your bank manager, the bank manager is going to see you

[Ferretfancy]

I've been able to locate a number of Mercury recordings not issued in the two bargain boxes, plus a number of early RCA Living Stereo releases.

Finding books is so much easier than searching bookshops, but I do miss the ability to browse. I've been collecting the crime novels of Donald E Westlake, who wrote the famous Parker series under the name Richard Stark. I now have the complete series, including a a number of books incorporating other characters;
this would have been very difficult to do via my local bookshop.

All that said, we can't let bookshops and record shops go to the wall, after all they have real human beings in them who can discuss your likes and dislikes, and Amazon don't really do that except in a formalised way after purchase.

[hafod]

What a boon sites like Amazon marketplace are - heavens knows how one searched for such things pre internet - by rooting around shops I suppose

Yes indeed. The main downside however can be condition. One hopes that it has been accurately described but that is not always the case. At least rooting around in s/h shops (if you can can find them) avoids this. In the late '70s/early '80s I was looking for volumes of the Stereo Record Guide (forerunner to the Penguin Guides) but with little success at prices I could afford. One day, I stumbled across five different volumes in a very run down general bookshop in Hay-on-Wye for £2 each - way below anything I had seen before. In great condition I snapped them up to add to the two I already had. Fast forward to internet days and for by now much larger sums I bought two more, each described by the sellers as 'very good'. They turned out to be written on and tatty. I still lack two volumes but the pressure is now off as I haven't added to my LP collection for over 3 years now.

All that said, there have been many many more successes than failures with the internet and indeed items found that I would never have done without the internet or indeed in some cases even known of their existence. I would however never buy any kind of antique off the internet sight unseen (photographs can and often are very misleading), altho' it is a useful aid to finding items to go and see.

[teamsaint]

had almost all good experiences on (usually bargain basement) Cds, even from Zoverstocks.

Over time, 2 items didn't turn up, credited good as gold. Never had anything other than in the condition it was described, though occasionally the sleeve notes/cases are a bit ropey.

Best win was a hard to Obtain "Was not Was" CD to replace a worn out tape.not really R3 stuff, but much loved by me !!

[MickyD]

I have to say that I have had excellent service from Zoverstocks - very often their low-price CDs are described as just "used-very good", then they turn up new and still sealed.

[MrGongGong]

Best win was a hard to Obtain "Was not Was" CD to replace a worn out tape.not really R3 stuff, but much loved by me !!

R3 is for dinosaurs innit

[teamsaint]

R3 is for dinosaurs innit

oh very good.

Time to go for a walk, MrGG.

good album it is though....Are you Okay?............

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have to say that I have had excellent service from Zoverstocks - very often their low-price CDs are described as just "used-very good", then they turn up new and still sealed.

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.