The Opinion Review

I used to buy music gear for my house back when I had money. I would usually look around locally but could always seem to be able to find a better price at musicians friend…  - Sad but true…

I always thought it would be very weird to buy a guitar online without ever playing it but here I am with 2 of em that I bought at musicians friend …

Oh I had some problems with one of them…A blue acoustic electric. The guts to the electronics fell apart after just a few weeks and it wouldn’t work… I took it to a local shop but they said to simply “cut those guts out and use it as an acoustic only” -thanks buddy…

The guitar plays well but to get in there and fix that electric part seems impossible  as the sound hole is just too small…The parts just were not tightened up enough at the factory… And it is a cheap guitar which is the kind of gear I buy anyways…Cheap stuff… I figure only rock stars can afford $2000 guitars.

For the most part however I seem to have had pretty good luck from Musicians Friend… It’s fun to look around in there at all the goodies…And if you buy regularly they will send you a catalog that you can read like the Sears Wishbook… But hey! I need to start using the gear that I already have…Finish my newest project and post it on my free music website .

You know here at Today I always write reviews. The things I review are typically the things that I use…That would be the best way to review things huh?

So today, I have decided to review my vehicle. It’s a 1996 Jeep Cherokee Country.. Now first off I am certainly not any kind of Jeep (or any other car) enthusiast. I simply want something that is going to get me from point A to point B with little or no problems. But to say that your vehicle wont give you problems is the understatement of the century

But my Jeep that I bought over 6 years ago has given me few problems. It runs like a champ. I bought it used and it had about 30000 miles on it. For me, a car that new was somewhat of s badge of success. I had no idea that it would still be going strong.

I have had to make a few repairs on top of regular maintenance. And ignition switch went out and a couple of difficult to diagnose “sensors” but other than that no major problems.

The interior has been solid and takes a licking but cleans up real nice very easily. The 4 wheel drive works great after I learned how to drive with it engaged because of the bizarre turning behavior.

It has a v6 engine and get’s as good or better gas mileage than many of my past cars…

The only complaint : the fact it doesn’t have any cup holders. Sure… You can “buy” them at wal mart but those things that hang from the window are always weak compared to a cup holder that is installed in a car by the factory.

The back seat is a bit small but hey, That’s where the kids sit anyways right? They are little people and can handle being cramped in there like that… Let’s ROLL on and offroad!

I was looking for a digital machine that was cheap and as easy to use as the 4 track tascam cassette recorder I had used for years. I always have tons of song ideas laying or spinning in my head and it’s good to just turn on a recorder and form it into a song…Track by track.

That’s how I operate… I don’t have time to sit and carfully craft a song start to finish.. I have done this many times before but often songs are created by simply recording something off the cuff…Then adding to it later…

The Fostex MR8 sounded like the perfect machine to do this… It was $300 at the time I bought it (back when I actually had some money to spend) and was supposed to be easy to use. It has many in and out jacks and was the first to be able to simply plug into a USB and export to a computer… It also has a built in mike so you could record on the fly…And it could be run on batteries… It all sounded so great…

A problem I had with it is that you couldn’t record very long… It recorded on a compact flash card. 128MB. When I tried to use another card it wouldn’t work. Then the machine crashed completely. I still have it because it will come on once in awhile and “tease” me like it’s gonna work and allow me to throw up some tracks… Then it simply shuts down by itself… I tried to take it to a shop but of course no one around here works on things like that… “You have to send it to the dealer” - No thanks…

As far as being as easy to use as a 4 track cassette? Not so… It is digital and therefore has “computer like language” that has to be learned in order to get the one song recorded that the memory card can hold… I found myself sitting with a manual much of the time trying to get the one song recored start to finish..

Did that one song turn out good? Sure… But I like to record a LOT of songs..So… I have moved on…Still, it sits there staring at me… Telling me I could take it to the park and record a song… I would if it would just stay powered up…  Geeze…