HW: (non)-availability

[K Henderson]

Nick sed...

>It intrigues me that online stores can get away with this.

"This" being publishing (esp. online, but also in print) ridiculously
inflated catalogues of stuff that they have no intention of keeping in
stock, and for which they really have no idea (until an order comes in)
whether they can actually attain for you.

The answer is...they get away with it only if people keep ordering from
them.  Personally, I put up with this exactly once, and then I recognise
them for what they are, and they are on my shitlist thereafter.  I search
GEMM.com regularly, and invariably whenever a particular title comes in with
8 or so responses, I can bet that 6 of them are the same group of vendors
(allstars is one that claims to offer *everything*...there are others) that
are worthless dead ends (well, I never actually *tried* allstars, esp. since
they're in Europe...but I can guess the outcome)...and overpriced to boot.

Of course, I just put in an order (which I fully expected to end up as it
did) with cdnow.com for Weird #6, and the backorder lasted about 10 days
before the order was outright cancelled.

And so now the question is....who the hell *has* Weird #6 (if anybody) in
the US.  www.cdnow.com *had* been able to get a few rare-ish things for me
in the past (even with the wait), but obviously not this rare one.

So, what's the deal with this one, anyway?  Why is it already deleted and
ridiculously hard to find when it's only been out about 6 months?  Did they
print fewer copies, or is it just so much more fabulous than the others?
I'm baffled.

Grakkl (FAA)