For those of you who read the comments on this blog, you will know that there is an Anonymous poster that has made a number of his complaints known. Here is what this person doesn't like:
- Me (or at least the way in which I write)
- The fact that I'm making these albums available free of charge
- Which therefore is cheating "legitimate copyright owners" and putting record stores out of business
Let me do what I can to reply to these complaints. First of all, the way I normally write this blog is not a put-on. Like it or not, I really talk like that. (I also use words like "Jinkies!" and "Great googly moogly!" Yes, really.) And to answer a previous question you asked, I'm 45 years old. Judging from your somewhat rude comments, I have no idea how old you are.
As I state in my disclaimer, all the albums I make available here are either out of print on CD or have never even been issued on CD. Most of the stuff you find here is 30 years old or more. Despite the popularity of it amongst my small readership here, I don't see anybody racing out to make these things available on CD or on iTunes, which is a pity. Believe it or not, I would like nothing better than to replace a download link with a link stating where an album can be bought this way. Until then, I'm doing what I can to keep interest in these albums alive.
Your third point is somewhat contradictory. If I buy an album at a record store or on eBay, it's used. The "legitimate copyright owners" make nothing from that either. And if you think my little blog here is what's putting record stores out of business, than you're either severely overestimating my readership or I'm severely underestimating it. And speaking for myself, I've bought more record albums in the last year to use for this blog than I have in the last ten years before that. On the vast majority of records I've bought from online auctions, I was the only one who bid on them. Plus, we actually have a record store locally, and while they don't have a lot of the kind of stuff I put here, I have bought a number of albums from them specifically to use on this blog. So in a way, I'm actually helping these stores and the people who sell these albums online because nobody else seems to be buying the stuff I'm buying. And I believe I have bought an album or two from the guy you mentioned as well. Once again, if I remember correctly, I was the only one who bid on the ones I got. He's not selling multiple copies of these albums, so he made money from me on the ones he sold to me.
I don't do this to make money. In fact, running this blog costs me money, not only from the albums I buy but from the file space I pay for on my own. In fact, I'm even taking off the Paypal Donation button. Firstly, because I don't even want there to be an implication that I'm making money from this. Secondly, because nobody ever used it anyway.
All right, Mr. Anonymous, here is my challenge to you: I think I pretty well covered what you don't like about this blog. Now tell me what it is that you DO like about it. There must be something, because you keep coming back. Now give me some constructive criticism to tell me how I can make this blog better. (Not the type of comments you normally put on here, but reasoned thoughts on what I can do to improve.) I will then take your suggestions into consideration, and incorporate them if I can. If for some reason I don't think I'll be able to follow your suggestions, I will do my best to suggest a blog that I think you'll like better than this one. If however the comments you normally leave here are all you've got, they will be removed by me from now on.
AND NOW A COUPLE OF REQUESTS FOR MY OTHER READERS: While this was directed at our Anonymous colleague, I'm more than willing to accept suggestions from any of you here on how to make this blog better. Also, I know that quite a few of you may not agree with Mr. Anonymous's attitude, but please don't take this as an opportunity to play "Dogpile on Mr. A.". Just as I will remove any comments from Mr. Anonymous that are insulting and add nothing to the discussion, I will also remove comments that do nothing more than insult him. I don't want any flame wars going here.
Thank you all for reading this. And Mr. A., the ball's in your court now. I hope to hear from you soon.
(And for those of you who have waded through this, I'll be putting up another album hopefully later today. I just want to write a couple of things about it.)
* I actually don't know if this Anonymous poster is male or female. So to the person in question, you are welcome to substitute Ms., Mrs., Miss, Dr., Sgt., or whatever form of address is appropriate. For the sake of convenience, though, I'll refer to this person as Mr. Anonymous.
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UPDATE: Once again to my regular readers, keep in mind that I was the one who initiated this debate. Disagree with other posters if you like, but please try to do it without resorting to insults and foul language. Thanks!
