neveronfriday

Aren't those anti-Oscars prizes called "Razzies" (or sth like that)? Maybe we should have the "Jazzies" as well. Some of the stuff on that list I'd nominate for those.

Here's a copy of the front page of the four-page commercial flyer (other pages unrelated to the new boxed set | page 2: Icon Collectibles art fine print series | page 3: MD T-shirts | page 4: about the MD exhibition in Paris]:

Welcome ... I'll upload more once the current - completely insane - workload has been reduced by about 80%. I've got another 20 or so done ... plus a lot more unfinished ones. Cheers!

The trumpet case (2010). Doesn't say much else, but sounds like that it'll contain some art/photos/etc. and will cost an arm and a leg. Sorry, I'm not home right now to check my box for the exact content of said flyer. I think it was mentioned elsewhere here already?

http://livingwithmusic.com/mosaic/ Scroll down the page. Download.

Thanks for that recommendation. I will certainly have a close look at it ... now.

Cool. Always best to be buying from the locals! Though, as I say, I don't have any direct experience with the product, the fact that Vladimir at North Country carries Atoll is a pretty good endorsement; I think he's generaly considered reliable and a decent judge of products. Yes, actually all the reviews have been good to stellar, depending on the way you read them. If I hit some forums though that cater to us audiophile geeks, I get a whiff of subdued criticism. One of the major ones seems to be (very few people have voiced this concern ... and in a rather veiled manner) that the amps (recent models) seem to run hot in very few situations because cooling seems to be somewhat inefficient. Others usually swipe that opinion off the table by the standard "then turn the volume down" reply. I've gotten a bit careful with endorsements by just about anyone when I found out that two Cambridge models (I'm talking about British Cambridge Audio, not Cambridge Soundworks) I was interested in and which had been unanimously praised in the various media actually turned out to be faulty. Service from Cambridge was top-notch, but somehow the reviews and endorsements didn't seem to jell with real-life experiences users had with the units over an extended period of time.

Thanks for the feedback, BeBop! I'm all set up with a fine shop here in my area which will lead to substantial savings if I jump on this duo by January.

My shipment has been stuck in customs for bloody weeks now. So I wouldn't even know if I got the right one. Seems like they have two people working there to battle the Christmas rush. That would be twelve thousand packages per person per day. [Edit: And two forms, two letters and five phone calls per package.] That's Germany for you.

I'm thinking of getting a CD-player/amp combo to oust my current Marantz setup (CD-drive has started making too much noise, amp is still fine but can be used elsewhere in the house). Anyone here that has any experience with these (I'm highly distrustful of the glowing reviews that have never had any of the reviewed equipment running for longer than a few days). What I'm especially interested in is to find out if Atoll products are as solid and robust as most reviewers claim. Secondly, if anyone has any one of their CD players, old or new, I'd like to have real-life feedback on error correction, besides sound quality the number one feature on my list. Thanks for looking. P.S.: http://www.atoll-electronique.com/

My old rant: "Limited" and "Exlusive" are probably the two words one should avoid when purchasing sets. A marketing scam, the lot of it (exceptions, like Mosaic, prove the rule). Anyone stupid enough to think that the Beatles' mono boxed set and the Miles Davis boxed set wouldn't be reprinted ad nauseam if they sell well is an idiot. Let's wait for the bargain bin appearance of these sets after Christmas .. for a sandwich a piece. I'm just surprised that after once exclusive DVD sets and limited CD releases are still around today for a fraction of the price (expanded and packaged better than the previous limited and exclusive ones at that) and the various other scams, the industry hasn't started to complain about dwindling sales. I'm sure they'll start suing some customer soon ... for whatever reason. I've stopped falling for it a long time ago and have stopped joining the scrambling masses unless someone has a good offer in the process. I just wish there were stickers attached to these sets (bright-red, large letters) that state "I'm still going to be around ten years from now for a penny" so we wouldn't miss out on the ones that do disappear like lightening.

I actually had to get a new printer -- not by choice -- but because Dell decided not to pay their techies to upgrade the drivers on the older printers for Windows 7. Thanks a bundle, Dell. That's the last time I will ever be a customer of yours. I put a Canon printer in my Amazon cart at a very good price, and when I woke up on Black Friday it was $25 less. The price on printers has gotten so insanely low that for many brands it is almost like razors and razor blades. The printer is nearly free, and they make their money back by selling ink! Yep. Had that with every printer until I bought myself a Kyocera years ago. Have been a happy camper ever since (mine is the old workhorse, FS-1030D).

Same here. Sad to say, I'm beginning to get used to it.

Financial trouble isn't really the issue all the time, but I've gotten close once or twice in respect to my strict monthly budget (I have enough to cushion extreme sprees). I haven't been in the rug squeeze yet (although, in Germany, every single one of those creepy rug shops seems to have everything on discount 24/7/12. I've been wanting to upgrade my stereo though for a long time, and there's this special (French) Atoll Electronique offer (amp + CD player) at the moment which is extremely hard to walk away from.

Asylum? We could call it "our clubhouse". The "back-up HD under the bridge" is a good idea, I just need a bridge long enough to bury 18 HDs beneath. I had gotten a grip on my shopping sprees for a long time, but these past two or three months, the offers have simply been too enticing.

Is it just me, or are there other people out there who completely blow the roof off their budget when sales comes around? Have you ever gotten the shakes because you know you shouldn't have ... but did? Did you ever hope that not a single unexpected bill would pop up because it might have forced you to relocate to that place under the bridge around the corner because you blew every cent on music (= two Beatles boxed sets where one would have sufficed)? Have you ever had that "Christmas" feeling (any time of the year) when a new boxed set, a rare release or just a "goody" appeared on your doorstep? Is there any cure for this affliction? Am I normal? Should I leave the house more often?

Err, no? It really depends on what kind of "jazz buff" you are. I do have quite a bit of Miles Davis' recordings, but a large part of them I had never even considered buying (later period(s)). I have a medium-sized collection with a couple of thousand CDs and Miles Davis does NOT feature prominently therein. Yes, the "classics" are there (50s and 60s, roughly), but I have more Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, Count Basie, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Peterson, Brubeck, Hodges, etc., etc. etc. ... even more Glenn Miller. :blush2: I think what you should have said is "I don't think this is meant to appeal to jazz buffs ... registered here". Besides the fact that this box was a steal for what I paid for it (a laugh, really), I thought this was the perfect opportunity to check out a lot of Miles Davis I haven't consciously explored yet. I love just about all of the "classics" (earlier phase), but I had the misfortune of seeing him live in his "spandex-pants-fuck-the-audience-phase" which annoyed the hell out of me. That time (in Copenhagen) I had to look at his egocentric ass for two hours and although the sound I heard was intriguing, the whole thing just turned me off for two decades. Although, of course, every note he played was interesting, I can't remember him having played more than about 10 or so. That's about $10 per note. I don't want to be too harsh here, because he's recorded so much stellar stuff, but when I was offered the box at that price, I thought it might be the perfect time to drop old grudges and get on with it. And ... ... what I've heard so far tells me I've missed out on some good (also: extremely interesting) shit. My bad entirely. P.S.: I was given another 4 boxed sets (I now have five on my living room table) to assemble one good set from. I have never ever seen such crappy production value (packaging) ... not even the Armstrong Hot Fives & Sevens comes close (and that packing sucked royally)!

There not all solo piano, not at all. Many trio sessions etc.

Not really. Not at 80 cents per CD. Still, I've decided to return the box altogether and go out for a nice dinner, adding an excellent bottle of French white wine, to boot.

Just posted this over on the Steve Hoffman forums (along with a large number of others complaining about identical problems): "Got mine at Euro 60.- (long story). Am still returning it for replacement. Box ripped, most single cover reproductions are coming apart at the seam (about 1 cm of each has already split), up to 12 CDs have glue residue or scratches. What an absolutely shoddy job by Sony/Columbia. This was an original shrink-wrapped copy, so all the mistakes were made by whoever printed/packaged/etc. this set. Yes, the box is cheap, but not really with all of these faults. I'll give one more box a go, then I'll return it for good." :/

Trying to figure out if I should cave and buy this set, it was fun to read through this set ... from initial "outrage" via everyone talking themselves and others into buying it to people jumping on it. I'm still going to wait for some solid reviews, but I'm more than intrigued at the moment.

Thanks for the heads up, Ray! I received mine after having ordered it late and it having to travel all the way across the pond to Germany. It arrived here in pristine condition. Am listening to "Closeup in Swing" right now.

Hm. I do want to support your business (been reading along all these weeks/months and rootin' for you) but having three of these sent to Germany sort of defeats the purpose (for me). So, how about I buy some virtual candles off you (no joke)? I'd like - 1x NAG CHAMPA - 1x KUDZU - 1x MONKEY FARTS Once you have photos ready, I'd like to see each one of these and have a brief description of what these smell like. Once posted, please send me a PM with the PayPal (I hope) details, and $20 (+ handling fee) are yours. Please add "handling" expenses at your discretion. Looking forward to doing business with you. Volkher P.S.: This might be the first example of real "virtual business" in existence once we're done. P.S.S.: I am serious about this.

No kidding ! Especially as it looks as if Blair is not going to be El-Presidente too Hm. Have you looked at who they actually pulled out of the bargain bin? Not sure if that was any improvement.

Ordered mine from jpc.de for Euro 29.99.- yesterday.