MISSING THE POINT?

If it's got an ECM number I buy it. It's like putting oneself on a subsription - and almost like stamp collecting haha. In so doing I've been turned onto lots of interesting stuff. And believe it or not 'classical' music is still being written by 21st century composers. But I can dig the idea of hearing familiar 'old' pieces in new ways. Good art is timeless. When I crave pop I only buy it used because the shine wears off pretty quickly.

When I put together my first decent system that's when I started to be much more particular about what I listened to. Before that I had my preferences to classical but would give anything a listen. Now over the last ten years I find my tastes growing . I'm much more particular about what I play. I have to watch that I don't get into the habit of just playing ''off the favorites shelf'' . Sometime I pick out a piece at random and if I dont care for it any more and don't think I'll hardly ever play it, it will go to the trade in shelf. I dont like keeping dics that will never get played. Ive recently been buying a lot of latin jazz but probably because its a trend and lots of good pieces are available. I used to browse the record stores and buy what might be good based on intuition from the cd cover. However,I collected lots of duds. Now my favorite store has really good sampling stations with nakamichi cd players headphone amps and acceptable phones. I listen to everything before I buy now. I rarley have a dud and found myself having to set a limit of how many I buy. But I also listen to lots of stuff I have no intentions of buying but just exploring. If I' patient enough I always make good finds. Recomendations are good but tastes are very particular. We have a very good radio station here in Alberta that brodcasts province wide and the have a web site with posted play lists. So if you take note of what time you heard somthing you can look it up. In fact they brodcast on the net . www.ckua.ca I think. In a direct answer to your question ben campbell I limit myself to two a week. I am more carfull about what I buy and my life is busy with young kids so my listening time is limited. FYI I made a find this week Patricia Ocallghan. On Marquis distribued by EMI called Real Emotional Girl. One of the best voices I've heard in a long time. Very modern, classicaly trained and a little bit of cabaret in her style. Im totaly in love. cheers steve

If anyone wants to heck out the ckua play list the correct address is www.ckua.org and if you have real player 7 they brodcast on line. cheers steve

I've used Napster a lot lately, and it is a terrific way to listen to new music. In the last 3 years, I've spent roughly $4000 on music software, and feel I am justified in being tired of "buying" music. I like Rock, Classical, and Jazz in that order. As far as "new" music goes, I'm still trying to catch up on all the music that has gone before. I don't have a 50,000 unit collection like many of you do, and haven't yet aged enough to accumulate such.

I'm constantly on the lookout for new artists and finding a new artist (rather than just new releases) is what I find most exciting about this hobby. This year I've "discovered" Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, Mai're Brennan, and Dave Hole. Dave Hole is a high NRG blues/rock slide guitar player from Australia. He plays the most wicked slide guitar I've ever heard-- with his left hand and steel slide over the top of the guitar-- great blues/rock. He made his way to Chicago and records on the Alligator label-- not for everyone, but if you like slide guitar, this is some of the best. He has 5 CDs out, and the recordings are good. I seldom buy "audiophile approved" music. Good "new releases": Emmylou Harris "Cimmaron", Cowboy Junkies "Waltz Across America" (available only at www.cowboyjunkies.com). Craig