Where do you go to get your musical instruments and gear? I have tried a variety of stores, catalogs, and web sites over the years, from places around the world, and these are my favorites:
Elderly Instruments is a national treasure. The folks in Lansing, Michigan offer a treasure trove of instruments, strings, straps, and other items, as well as CDs and music books. Always friendly, always knowledgeable.
Musician's Friend is where I go for my electric instruments, amps, and gear. Great selection, good pricing, a catalog to salivate over -- and don't forget to check out their Stupid Deal of the day!
The House of Musical Traditions is a wonderful folk music store in Takoma Park, Maryland -- well worth a visit if you're ever in the area, but they also sell via their web site. Lovely people who really care about what they sell -- I enjoyed buying my new Eastman 504 mandolin from them.
And then there's the music. These days, I buy almost all my music via the Web, in digital format. I never go anywhere without my iPod classic, which holds my entire music collection (Side question: When did "old-fashioned" mean that I prefer an iPod classic to the Touch or Nano?), but I rarely buy from iTunes. Instead, I rely on two main sources:
Amazon MP3 offers a good (and expanding) selection, with easy downloads that have never failed me. Easy, fast, and often a little cheaper than iTunes. Make sure to check out their Daily Deal (most at $3.99 or $2.99) and Free Song of the Day.
eMusic is simultaneously frustrating and inspiring. They may not always have what your looking for, but you will instead invariably stumble on music/musicians that you love, but would never have found were it not for eMusic. I dislike some of their recent changes to their subscription packages and methods of pricing, but continue to find great deals on great artists/albums/songs. Worth exploring, to see if the gain is worth the occasional irritations.
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