Scott Dolan

Because when you purchase something and are told it's going to ship in 5-7 days, and it doesn't, and you receive no communication as to why? Nor a tracking number? That's not obssessive. That's simple consumer vigilance. Stop this bullshit of painting it otherwise. It's intellectually dishonest.

That would be all well and good if we hadn't seen several reports of shipping issues that happened prior to the "oh no's" plea.

I don't think any of us are, Rod. Even if some here want to paint us as such.

Well, we've seen a lot of testimonials here, and on the erstwhile thread that started this all, outlining exactly those kinds of problems. And those are the kinds of problems that will quickly kill off any small to medium size company. And you can kindly shove your bullshit about me being more concerned with shipping than I am with the music. That's complete and utter nonsense. But whatever way you need to spin it to serve your agenda. But that's the way conversation flows in the digital age, isn't it? State facts, and there will be someone there to twist what you're saying as though you are trying to sink them or something/someone they love.

And there is the money quote. No pun intended. This entire thing started when J.A.W. started a thread that had everyone honking in their hankies because poor ol' Mosaic... Well, come to find out, after testimonials and personal experience, it seems as though "poor ol' Mosaic" is in trouble due to their own negligence! Stories of lost orders, orders shipped to the wrong customer with said wrong customer either being instructed to simply keep the product, or return it at Mosaic's cost. That can get incredibly costly, and damn near overnight! Then there's the customer service issue surrounding it all. And why? Because they farmed out that part of their operation. So do they put a posse together and ride down to the shipping company and demand to know WTF?! OR, and stop me if I'm being too logical here, find ANOTHER shipping company?! One that might be, you know, competent at what they do? Nope, they'd rather continue to hemorrhage money, and risk alienating loyal customers. Oh, but it's the final sin to mention any of THAT! This should be an absolutely swinging wake! R.I.P. Mosaic! You were the best! Until you actively chose not to be and nobody was allowed to talk about it.

Again, what in the hell does any of that have to do with SHIPPING?! Read Steve's post above yours, because he completely gets what is being discussed here. This is 100% about shipping. Absolutely nothing else!

I purchased, what was at the time, an almost impossible CD to track down. The last recordings of Eric Dolphy (Naima and Unrealized Tapes). Finally track a copy down at a little boutique business in England. I was listening to it five days later. Shipped...from England. That's how companies that are actively looking to stay in business operate. By all means, let the hagiography for Cuscuna and Co. continue. But there are realities that cannot be ignored, and that they are responsible for.

What does that have to do with purchasing a product, receiving an email the next day saying your order has been sent to the shipping warehouse, that the order should ship within 5-7 days at which time I'll receive a tracking number, while two weeks later I've heard nothing nor received a tracking number? This is about customer service, not the overall business model. The customer service seems to be a leading factor in why Mosaic found themselves in trouble in the first place. What they sell is of no consequence.

Ah... So we should hold smaller companies to different customer service standards than we do large companies?! I'd love to say that makes sense, but it doesn't. Not even a little.

Get the fuck over it. They are business people, not personal friends. If any of you fearless defenders were to order from ANY other company and not receive any shipping information after two weeks time, my money says you'd never use that company ever again. So save you moral outrage and apologies, because NONE of us are even going that far. We're just noting existing issues.

I had no idea what it was, nor did I care. Although, I did see a story talking about how Amazon is starting to kill off Black Friday. That's a good thing, IMO.

Not according to many accounts posted here. Even my recent shipment had me sending an email two weeks later to find out if it had been shipped, and if there were a tracking number for it. I'm not sure what you're accustomed to, but no shipping information two weeks later is not good service, for ANY company. So hat in hand apologies aren't really helpful here.

I'm always late to the party, but I'm currently lisening to Ms. Allen on Oliver Lake's Expandable Language. Though I was familiarwith her name, I'm fairly certain this is the first I've ever heard her play. What a monsterous talent! I definitely need to check out some of her albums as leader.

They're not much for talking on the phone these days. I called two days in a row trying to find some information on a shipment to a friend of mine in Australia. Scott finally replied to a nearly week old email from said friend, so I didn't need to call any more. Still kind of disappointing.

The End

I agree with all of that. And Dio was really the only one to combine synths with Metal and not have it sound cheesy. Vinnie Appice was one of my favorite drummers from that era. I thought he was far more talented than his brother.

Agreed. iTunes was never great to begin with, and has gotten slightly worse over the years, IMO. I love Apple's hardware, but their software, for the most part, is just short of abysmal. Unless it's iPhoto. Which is the biggest software tragedy that has ever been visited upon mankind.

To answer the main question: it is as clunky as they come. Pointers? Just keep trying every combination of group/album name you can think of. It's about as user unfriendly as I've ever seen. Apple Music is just as bad.

Seems as though the neo Swing thing here in the U.S. came and went in the 90's. Maybe I'm just missing out... ?

Kinda similar to the old piece of cardboard in the 8-track player trick.

Yeah, I believe we had those as well. I guess Perkins is the neo Howard Johnson's.

Yeah, they were very popular in the 70's and 80's, but slowly started disappearing in the 90's. Seemed to coincide with the rise of monster chains like Applebees and Chilis.

It's a nostalgic resurgence for older listeners that still think all digital files are 96kbps mp3's, and a retro hipster thing for those too young to have been around when you could still buy LPs in record stores that were seemingly on every street corner.

Actually, there's no Howard Johnson's anywhere. That chain has been defunct for quite some time. We had one in Lake Buena Vista right outside the Walt Disney World property that we'd stop and eat at when I was a kid. I don't remember much about the food, though. It was also one of the largest hotels in the area at the time. I wish they'd expand eastward. I'd LOVE to have them here in Missouri.

It's a little smoke and mirrors allowing them to baffle you with bullshit. The loophole being that downloads have been greatly diminished because most people have turned to streaming. Either way, if you compared all digital consumption to LPs the latter would be crushed like a grape under a steamroller.