Trading Guidelines


"The first bump you learn is to turn down bad offers ...

... the second - harder - bump is to learn to turn 
down GOOD offers ..."
- Paraphrased from author Larry Niven

The purpose of this site is to provide reviews, setlists, cover art and information about various recordings found in the trading community. I always look forward to hearing from fellow traders and collectors and making new friends. Trade offers are always welcome, but please understand that due to the constraints of time it's simply impossible to respond to all requests for trades.


Personally I'm not much of a "rules" guy and frankly it's quite discouraging when one sees a disclaimer on a trade site that reads like a legal document, or even worse, Vogon Poetry. But unfortunately things seem to have gone rather downhill in the trading community so in the case of all new potential trades I will have to spell out a number of conditions that must be met. The goal here is not to be pedantic or troublesome, simply to ensure that a pleasant time is had by all - and, after all, this is supposed to be the point - having fun!
  • I strongly prefer to deal only with those who use secure audio extraction methods such as those found in Exact Audio Copy, or who use comparison software to ensure clean extraction.
  • Burn DAO (Disc at Once) only - No TAO discs under any circumstances.
  • No MP3 sourced shows. I really, really hate MP3s - and use headphones. I'll know.
  • High quality discs only - I use Japan/US produced brands (Kodak, Mitsui, Maxell, T/Y) and expect the same in trade.
  • I do NOT want discs that are in any way corrupted by clicks, pops, diginoise, microgaps, or other flaws (unless of course these flaws are in the original recording). I cannot claim that I have listened to every single second of every single disc in my collection - however I have listened to the vast majority and immediately remove any disc with flaws from my collection. I will do my best to provide quality and expect the same in return.
  • Above all be honest, have fun, and enjoy the music!
Most importantly, I have very strong feelings about the quality of recordings being shared in the trading pool, and have no interest in poor copies. (Please note, I'm not referring to the sound quality of the source material - which can be horrible - but to the quality of the copies.) The hardest point to get across seems to be the one reflected in the quote above from one of my favorite authors. Since my eyes and ears only work at 1x (versus the higher speed of copying) it is impossible to keep up with all the potential trades, performances, emails, and the like. So, simply put: people who waste my time with bad burns and bad discs take away time I could better spend on other material, as well as other interests. So please don't waste my time and I won't waste yours! Fair enough?


In closing, I would like to point out that that here are those strange, twisted individuals in the world whose enjoyment isn't derived from music but instead from listing on their websites nice recordings that they refuse to trade or share with others. That is not the case here. Instead the goal in this case is to provide reviews and information so that others can be aware of what is available in trading circles and then make an informed decision about the worth of locating and trading for those performances. Due to the time constraints I've mentioned, it simply is not possible to reply to every trade request. In a perfect world, every good recording would be immediately and freely available to all, but unfortunately we aren't quite there yet. It's certainly frustrating to see items of interest listed if one can't accomodate the majority of trade requests, but the only alternative would be not to make the information available - and that isn't the way to go!

So, dig in and enjoy!