<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Gerald's posting reminded me of how ludicrous the pricing of books online can be. My theory text, Tonal Facts & Tonal Theories, sells for $67.66 directly from the publisher. If you check Amazon you can buy a new copy for $83.88 from a number of different sellers unless you want to get a used copy, then it is $175.83! Imagine how I felt when I saw that! I figured this must be a hand-signed copy from the deceased author, but I'm still here!! The same is true of my other books, so it really is caveat emptor. BTW, <a href="http://Textbooks.com">Textbooks.com</a> is even worse.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Aug 2, 2011, at 1:04 PM, <a href="mailto:gzar@mail2.gis.net">gzar@mail2.gis.net</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Last year I noticed on Amazon a long out-of-print book I wanted (by Alexandra Pierce), but for a much-too-high, triple-digit price. I could not imagine it was a true market price (especially as this was not an antiquarian item), so I somehow became inspired to write the seller, directly, a sincere note asking whether he might revise the price to something closer to what in my experience academic folks like me might expect to pay for such a book. I added that I had had known the author personally, which I think didn't hurt.<br><br>The seller was happy to have heard from me, responsive to our shared connection with the book, and genuinely willing to consider my suggestion about the price. We made a sale, and, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.<br><br>Now that our List has been told something about how such astonishingly unrealistic sales prices might arise, I could imagine any such seller might be happy to hear from someone personally, not only to respond to a possible heartfelt plea, but maybe more to the point, to be able to unload, even if at "only" a reasonable price, an item whose listed price would likely never result in a sale.<br><br>At the least, the seller might realize why the item is not moving and lower the price to something that is more marketable -- even if still not perhaps for one's own budget...<br><br><br>Gerald Zaritzky<br>Faculty, Department of Music Theory<br>New England Conservatory of Music<br>290 Huntington Avenue (Room JH 325)<br>Boston, Massachusetts 02115 USA<br>617-585-1373; fax: 617-585-1301<br><a href="mailto:gerald.zaritzky@necmusic.edu">gerald.zaritzky@necmusic.edu</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Smt-talk mailing list<br>Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org<br>http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org<br></div></blockquote></div><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Garamond; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Garamond; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Garamond; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Garamond; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Prof. Stephen Jablonsky, Ph.D.</div><div>Music Department Chair</div><div>The City College of New York</div><div>160 Convent Avenue S-72</div><div>New York NY 10031</div><div>(212) 650-7663</div></div></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span></span><br></span>
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