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Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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I suspected that they were a bad idea.
I figured it was similar to a pyramid scheme, the first ones in have a chance to make money if they get out in time. The rest of the folks lose.
Insights and incites by Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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People buy into a lot of things that were never logical, pet rocks, ten-dollar jeans that cost one hundred fifty dollars due to some designer name on them. Importance by association...what a concept...lol
People are easily manipulated by sales and marketing ploys.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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It was/is Barnum's business model writ digitally large.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Fads and crazes in general amuse me. One that always makes me smile it ripped up jeans selling as new. I saw a girl recently there was more holes than cloth. I said to my wife I hope the young lady got those “half off”
One person wears something and everyone else has to have it.
I also find amusing what designers pass off as fresh new designs. I saw an outfit the other night in a commercial on TV the young model had a top on with a flowery shaped neck, two sleeves that were different lengths, multiple layers of frilly stuff, and same for the short skirt, and plastic looking boot up to mid thigh. The boots also had a flowery shaped top. I thought if it rained her top and boots would act like a funnel and fill up!
Who would wear that and think they looked cool?!
Last edited by Rob Helms; 09/24/23 02:36 AM.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Fads and crazes in general amuse me. One that always makes me smile it ripped up jeans selling as new. <...snip...> There is profit motive behind that. Problem: Jeans are too durable, they last too long, and the customer doesn't buy new ones often enough Solution: Make holes in the jeans fashionable, the jeans are already worn out, and will have to be replaced at least 4 times as many times as those with no holes. Fashion is all about selling new clothes as quickly and often as possible, and it's all about greed and profit. I read an article a long time ago that stated the fashion industry was invented by the textile manufacturing companies. It was a device to sell more cloth and increase their profits. Insights and incites by Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I said it when it all started that it was "snake oil". But people couldn't buy them fast enough. Crazy world.
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
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Fads and crazes in general amuse me. One that always makes me smile it ripped up jeans selling as new. <...snip...> There is profit motive behind that. Problem: Jeans are too durable, they last too long, and the customer doesn't buy new ones often enough Solution: Make holes in the jeans fashionable, the jeans are already worn out, and will have to be replaced at least 4 times as many times as those with no holes. Fashion is all about selling new clothes as quickly and often as possible, and it's all about greed and profit. I read an article a long time ago that stated the fashion industry was invented by the textile manufacturing companies. It was a device to sell more cloth and increase their profits. Insights and incites by Notes ♫ One of my biggest customers (based on the footprint of their factory) was a jeans manufacturer. They jumped into the "faded and beat up" blue jean craze pretty early. They'd make brand new blue jeans in one of the departments and then simply move them across the factory to the treatment department, and then put them in a washing machine with pumice stones and run them for a certain length of time. At the end of the cycle, they were tossed into a dryer and they came out as "stone washed jeans" and looked like they had been worn for years. They were then marketed at a premium price.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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The very dark side of capitalism. Worn-out overpriced jeans, appliances built to fail in a year or two, new cars with absurd new features and complexity, NFTs, etc.
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Indeed, the dark side of capitalism, and IMO it's gotten out of control.
I think it's time to fix the problem, but I have no idea how. Communism is obviously not the answer, it has even worse downsides.
The problem is this: When the stockholders invest in a company, they expect their stock value to grow. If the stock doesn't increase in value ever quarter, the stockholders will jump ship and bail out.
In order for the stock to appreciate every quarter, the corporation has to make more and more and more profits every quarter. Therein lies the problem.
How do you make more profit?
Increase your market share, which is easier in the early days, but by the time the market is mature it gets more and more difficult until it's impossible.
Increase the population, thus the market, which is something they do. I remember during the zero population growth era, all of a sudden every TV show, comedy, drama, or whatever had a woman saying “My biological clock is ticking”, meaning, I better have children before I hit menopause.
Shorten the product life cycle. Here is where fashion comes in. Jeans that don't last long because we distressed them, you can't be caught dead wearing a style that is soooo last year, here are the new colors everyone is wearing, and so on.
Of course with appliances you can intentionally make them so they don't last long. Or you can add so many features that will eventually break, that you can make money with repair parts. I drove into the service department of new auto dealership to for a recall, and proudly displayed was a sign proclaiming they sold more parts this year.
Same dealership, I told them that the rider's front door wouldn't lock with the key while I was in there. They gave me an estimate of a few hundred dollars to replace the mechanism. I told them I'd come back. I took it to a locksmith, and he replaced a $3.50 part that looked like a bent paper clip. It took 10 minutes, and he didn't even charge a service fee. I've used that locksmith since, whenever I need that kind of service.
With capitalism, it's all about profit, not the customer.
In a small business, all you need to make is enough money to pay the owner and employees. There is no need for perpetual growth. Growth is good, but as long as the profits keep up with inflation, there is no problem.
With a corporation, if the profits only keep up with inflation, the stockholders will sell, and the corporation will go belly-up.
Perpetual growth in a closed system is a recipe for disaster.
Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Spot on, I'd say. Perpetual growth in a closed system is a recipe for disaster. There seems not to be any system that doesn't need growth to function. One of the consequences of that is an ever-growing population. One of the consequences of that is global warming. Another is growing migration.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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I drove into the service department of new auto dealership to for a recall, and proudly displayed was a sign proclaiming they sold more parts this year.
Same dealership, I told them that the rider's front door wouldn't lock with the key while I was in there. They gave me an estimate of a few hundred dollars to replace the mechanism. I told them I'd come back. I took it to a locksmith, and he replaced a $3.50 part that looked like a bent paper clip. It took 10 minutes, and he didn't even charge a service fee. I've used that locksmith since, whenever I need that kind of service.
With capitalism, it's all about profit, not the customer. Notes Norton Don't get me started on car service departments or most of the trades now. I had an ignition coil go bad and a fuel pump that was intermittent. I honestly didn't feel like doing the repairs myself so I took it to the dealer. The dealer wanted $1500 for the ignition coil and $1300 for the fuel pump. They priced the coil over $100 and the pump at $500+. I decided to do the coil myself. Under $40 for the coil and 90 minutes total time including going to the store to get the coil. The pump, I had a local shop replace it. Total for the job was $425 and 3 hrs in the shop. My HVAC coil inside sprung a Freon leak. A company came and diagnosed it correctly. $120/service call. Next day, I called a friend who was retired from the HVAC business and has been a teacher in a tech school. He confirmed the leak issue and gave me an estimate of $850 with 2 guys taking no more than about 4 hrs and no cost for the parts due to warrantee. Due to his age he didn't want to do the job. The company that came out first estimated the repair to be over $2200 with a credit for the service call included in that price. I pointed out that the coil was under a 10yr warrantee and shouldn't cost a dime. They said they could give me a $200 credit and refused to itemize the quote. Calls to several other companies resulted in non itemized quotes of $2800 and $3500+. I contacted the company who installed it originally. They were about 70 miles away and said they had to charge round trip. They quoted around $900 estimate. Final bill was around $925. 2 guys, 4 hrs, handled the warrantee. You really have to be careful these days. People will screw you in a heartbeat and tell you that you're getting a good deal. ADD: if you do the math.... the first company was charging $275/hr per person on the job. The last company was charging $437.50 per hr per man. No wonder they didn't want to itemize the quotes and then there's sales tax on the labor in this state that NEVER shows up in a quote like this.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 10/01/23 08:45 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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My wife and I shop at WalMart. I buy my work clothes there. I get wrangler jeans for $20 Tee shirt for $10 Work Shoes for $25. I have friends who say "I'll never set foot in a Walmart" They head to a department store and pay twice that for the same brand of jeans, or for some whispy thin Tee shirt that won't hold up. I just smile and say to each there own.
I also buy Carhart Tee shirts at Home Depot $20 that anywhere else would be $35 to $40. Those stinking Shirts last for ever I have a couple that are 5 or 6 years old and still look great. Price doesn't always determine quality.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Don't get me started on car service departments or most of the trades now.
I had an ignition coil go bad and a fuel pump that was intermittent. I honestly didn't feel like doing the repairs myself so I took it to the dealer. The dealer wanted $1500 for the ignition coil and $1300 for the fuel pump. They priced the coil over $100 and the pump at $500+. I decided to do the coil myself. Under $40 for the coil and 90 minutes total time including going to the store to get the coil. The pump, I had a local shop replace it. Total for the job was $425 and 3 hrs in the shop.
Here's the other side of the story: Unless your car is has really low mileage, ignition coils don't typically commit suicide. They are murdered. The number one root cause of failed ignition coils is high resistance in the secondary. Usually badly worn spark plugs. I can just about guarantee that it wasn't $1500 for one ignition coil. It was $1500 for all of them and the spark plugs too. A sizeable chunk of that might have been labor, too. Depending on what car you have, some of them are a real MF to get to. No one in their right minds is going to be willing to replace just one coil because they are all the same age and have all been subject to the same abuse. And no one in their right minds is going to replace any coils without replacing the spark plugs too. Anyone who does that is just asking for trouble. Because there is a high likelihood of another coil failing fairly soon. That and the worn spark plugs are liable to take out the new coil as well. The shop has to protect themselves. You're upset about the $1500 estimate? You're really going to be upset if they just chuck a coil in there and send you on your way and a month later your engine starts misfiring again because another coil bit the dust. You'll be back there in a heartbeat wanting them to fix it for free. Either that or you'll go somewhere else and badmouth the first shop because they didn't fix your car right. And on that I'd have to agree with you. They didn't. Because they didn't do the whole job. So any shop with any sense is going to quote you the whole job and decline to do otherwise because they just don't want to deal with the headaches. As far as parts costs, a Motorcraft ignition coil for my car costs $63.79 at one of my preferred vendors while you can get some bootleg aftermarket one for anywhere between $20 and $40. There's a reason for that. Aftermarket ignition parts are garbage. A crap shoot at best If you chucked one bootleg coil at your car and got away with it then good for you but I'm not taking that risk and certainly not if I'm getting paid for it.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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Don't get me started on car service departments or most of the trades now.
I had an ignition coil go bad and a fuel pump that was intermittent. I honestly didn't feel like doing the repairs myself so I took it to the dealer. The dealer wanted $1500 for the ignition coil and $1300 for the fuel pump. They priced the coil over $100 and the pump at $500+. I decided to do the coil myself. Under $40 for the coil and 90 minutes total time including going to the store to get the coil. The pump, I had a local shop replace it. Total for the job was $425 and 3 hrs in the shop.
Here's the other side of the story: I can just about guarantee that it wasn't $1500 for one ignition coil. It was $1500 for all of them and the spark plugs too. A sizeable chunk of that might have been labor, too. ..... You're upset about the $1500 estimate? I can guarantee you that this was for ONE COIL. The estimate was for 1 coil. According to my diagnostic tool, I told them it was cylinder #8... the hardest one to get to. They quoted radiator fluid, intake gasket, and a load of other sundry items. Claimed they had to disassemble the entire top of the engine to get to the coil. Labor was a fairly large part of the estimate. That was total BS. All I needed to do was to loosen the fuel feed rail to get to the cylinder and fish the rubber boot out and remove the coil. A NAPA coil was reinstalled. I've replaced plenty of coils in the past on this and other vehicles. I do them as needed. I'd had all 8 replaced a few years before, by a shop, and that was less than half the quoted cost from the dealer. And yes, that one did include new plugs.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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In my experience it can go both ways! I have seen customers get ripped and I have seen the tech get shredded. Sadly there is a shortage of honesty these day, and a void of integrity. Still there are some great service techs out there. and sadly what we work on today is more complicated, and prone to issues than ever.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
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XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac is Here!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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