(no subject)

[the_rck]

We decided to go for the roof company with the highest bid since that bid includes costs that the other two admitted we'd have but didn't include in their estimates. The difference between the low bids and the high bids is explained entirely by those costs and seems to be reasonable. This outfit is also willing to do a little work that needs doing that nobody else offered, namely replacing the not up to code pipe that connects our bathroom ceiling vent with the roof. The fact that this company offers financing was the other deciding factor (the closest the other two got to talking financing was one of them saying that they take all major credit cards). Around nine, I'll call to tell them that we want to hire them and to see about setting up financing. I have the name of the person we need to talk to.

Cordelia's still begging to be allowed to quit soccer. She's offering all sorts of bargains, from giving us all of her money to not playing softball next summer (why she thinks we'd want that, I don't know). She says she thinks the money we spend on sports is wasted, and I don't think she believed us when we explained that we get a lot out of that money. She does want to play sports at school if they do sports she's interested in (there's supposed to be some sort of survey coming out where we can specify what sports we're interested in). She didn't believe me when I said we'd have to pay for her to play sports at school, too, but I can't imagine we won't have to. I know the middle schools charge for sports (with some sort of scholarship option for those who can't afford it).

Scott's working twelve hours today, three to three. We don't know yet about tomorrow, but he's pretty much expecting another three to three day. I'll have to e-mail around and see if anyone can give me and Cordelia a ride to the soccer game. Not that Cordelia wants to go.

I cooked last night instead of Scott grilling because Scott needed time to pay the bills. It was a bit late for bill paying, but hopefully nothing was actually past due. I leave the bill paying to Scott because it tends to freak me out (isn't anxiety wonderful?), but I really ought to learn how he does it so that I can step in for months like this when he runs out of time. I haven't paid bills since we still wrote checks and put them in the mail every month. I know Scott does everything online now.

On a completely different topic-- What sort of alternatives are there for online purchasing of CDs, new and used? I'm also interested in places around Ann Arbor that sell obscure CDs (or that are willing to order things on request). I've been buying from Amazon, but I'd like to have an alternative. I have brick and mortar alternatives to Amazon for books (and I don't buy many books anyway), but I haven't found a good place to buy CDs.

Even though I generally put my music on my laptop, I still prefer to buy CDs because I like having something physical as a back up. Right now, I won't buy music if it's only available digitally. I know that makes me old fashioned and that I won't be able to hold to that for much longer, but it's the way I prefer to operate while I have the choice.

Comments

[wyldbutterflies]

As far as used records and cds, I used to go PJ's Records and CDs to every time we went down to Ann Arbor. You'd have to check if they are still there though...the shop is off of Packard Street and I don't know how close that is to you though.

I've also heard that Underground Sounds was good, but I am not sure if they just specialize in vinyl or if they sell CDs as well. I think their somewhere out near the university, but have never been myself..

[the_rck]

PJ's is apparently still there, but somebody on LJ tells me that they mostly sell vinyl these days. The same person said that Underground Sounds sells 'extremely trendy and hip music,' and I'm interested mostly in bluegrass, 1960s folk, and Top 40 from the late 70s and early 80s, so I don't think that would be a good match for me. Maybe if they're willing to special order things. He did suggest a place called Encore for used CDs, and I'll have to look into it.

[loligo]

Whenever we visit my mom in A2, my husband is just counting the minutes until he gets to go to Encore. He has one other store he likes, but I can't remember what it is. (He's mainly looking for second-hand obscurities from the 70's and 80's.)

[kyrielle]

I don't have a brick and mortar for CDs. There's CD Baby, or in some cases buying from the artist's online store.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've bookmarked CD Baby and will poke around there later.

[heavenscalyx]

I wonder if there's something else going on behind her desire to get out of soccer, other than a dislike for running. Could there be a bullying issue she's not talking about? Or a personality problem with one of the coaches? She's starting to sound a little desperate here, in that not-entirely-connected way kids get.

[the_rck]

I think that the dislike of running is a symptom of the coaches taking the game way more seriously than Cordelia does or wants to. She started to hate basketball when she had a coach who did competitive drills with things like pushups for the losing side. Practice has always been something she puts up with for the social interaction, and she only knows one girl on the team. In the past, she's usually known about half the team at the start of the season.

Some of it may be, too, that the team has seventh and eighth graders on it. Cordelia's in sixth grade, and this is the first time she's played on a team with older girls.

If there were bullying, I don't think she'd tell us. If there is bullying, it started really fast. She'd only been to one practice when she started asking to quit.

[kyrielle]

Also, I have no idea if you would like this music. But you can check it out on YouTube if you'd like.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CarillonBellsMan

http://www.castinbronze.net/

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I am sure that Ken of the many thousand CDs will chime in here, as he has many many sources of CDs, both obscure and arcane, but I can tell you where I get CDs -- while Amazon.us is okay, and I use it if I just want a cheap backup copy for something that's used and popular-ish, I also use CD-baby. CD-baby is good for getting folk/indie artists, including some filk performers, and their service is decent. I've also ordered once or twice from folks like Elderly's in Lansing and Amazon.uk (if I really really want something that is a British release and I can afford it, which is not often, alas).

[the_rck]

Someone on DreamWidth recommended CD-Baby, too. I've bookmarked it and will take a look.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

About a year ago I switched to preferring to buy all-digital music. I figure it's less clutter around my house, I'm good about making backups, and I buy the music at Amazon, which means that if I do somehow lose it all, I can re-download it again anytime as long as Amazon still exists. (As always, different things work for different people. This is just what currently works for me.)

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I have a huge huge huge library of digital music, but I like having physical copies of things I do not wish to lose when the power dies or my hard drive fails (which happened at least once, and I am still recovering things which were lost). A lot of music, meh, but there are always those five thousand (or maybe ten thousand) songs that I WANT to keep forever.

And I buy my digital music from several sources -- Amazon, CD-baby, iTunes, eMusic, artist's websites, Bandcamp, etc. etc. etc. So there is no easy way to re-download it all. I have paid for the iTunes Match 25gigs of cloud storage, but I have more music than that. Sighs. My life, so hard.

[the_rck]

I've read that the quality of digital music is considerably poorer than the quality of music in other formats. I don't have a trained ear, and I haven't tried any comparisons, so I can't tell. I'm hoping though that when the next format comes along my CDs will translate in a way that mp3s won't.

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry C isn't enjoying soccer as much this year. I think I'd probably tell her that she needs to finish out the term and that she won't have to play anymore soccer after that if she doesn't want to. However, your mileage may vary and I'm sure that you all will make the choice that is right for all of you. :)

And yeah, there's probably fees associated with playing at school too. At the very least, uniform and equipment fees; you might have to buy things to practice with on your own as well.

[the_rck]

Oh, I'm sure there are fees involved for playing at school. There are fees at the regular middle schools, and I don't see why Cordelia's school would be any different.

With soccer, we're thinking that the coaches are overzealous. Apparently, the other teams at this age level are only practicing once a week while Cordelia's team is practicing twice a week.This is probably a great team for kids who want to play seriously, but it's not so good for someone who's doing it just for casual fun the way Cordelia is.

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can imagine that it would be annoying to be going to practice more than once a week if you weren't really planning on going "pro", playing in high school, or being uber-competitive at the level you were on.

[ken-3k.livejournal.com]

Online CDs: Amazon is the major seller, with something like 20% of the entire USA music retail business, both digital and CD, online and in stores. I don't know a good general-purpose alternative to Amazon. www.tower.com, which was another online business which bought the Tower Records website, is still out there. For used CD sales online, I don't have an alternative to Amazon marketplace sellers. For imports, I usually end up going to amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, and amazon.de.

Online alternatives to Amazon are generally aimed at niche genres. For your bluegrass interests, look at County Sales (www.countysales.com). There's also Elderly Instruments up in Lansing, though their CD stock is down to about 5% of what it was around the peak of the market 14 years ago, and they are mostly concentrating on new releases. (www.elderly.com) Other sites I use: Arkiv Music for classical, Music Scotland and Coda Music for UK folk, CD Roots for world music-y things, Bandcamp for artists who are releasing their own CDs. There's a music store in Poland I have bought some folk downloads from, but I doubt that would interest you.

Ann Arbor brick-and-mortar CD stores: For used CDs, for most interests, Encore is the best, a world-class used CD shop. Wazoo has a few things, and PJ's is oriented towards vinyl and I haven't been there in many years. Wazoo sells some new CDs and may be willing to do orders.

Unless you are interested in the extremely trendy and hip music sold by Underground Sounds on Liberty, there is little available in new CD retail in Ann Arbor. (I don't know what Underground Sounds would do with special orders.) Barnes & Noble carries an ever-shrinking selection of hits and a sad little section of classical/jazz/folk/etc. I don't know what B&N might be willing to order. Best Buy's selection might be a little bigger in pop genres but Best Buy has no meaningful stock outside of pop. Probably the main place I see new CDs for sale in Ann Arbor is Whole Foods.

The closest old-fashioned, all-genre CD store to Ann Arbor is Dearborn Music, about 40 miles away.

The graphic on this article shows the rise and fall of CD sales and explains why there aren't better CD shopping choices in 2014.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/08/26/music-industry-1973-2013

I still prefer to buy CDs, because they sound better. However, we are flat out of storage space for them, and I am also having problems with losing them Also, for British Isles folk imports, MP3 albums usually cost roughly 1/3 as much as import CDs. On the other hand, my iPod is full, so everytime I want to add some albums, I have to delete some albums. Poot.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I have moved to buying CDs only for the albums that I want to be sure I never lose and/or things that I get straight from the artist. But I feel your pain about imports. Augh!

BTW, did you ever pick up that new Richard Thompson we were discussing?

[the_rck]

I will look into Encore. I'm unlikely to get a chance to check it out any time soon as Scott's working massive amounts of overtime until the end of October (cider season is a big time for plastic bottles). It's probably just as well. I'd want to save up some money to spend so that I can indulge if I find CDs that appeal to me.

I use my iPod exclusively for audiobooks. I haven't tried putting music on mine yet. I may get there, but the point is to have distraction while I walk on the treadmill, and I find that audiobooks work better for that.