Comments on: Ebays top picks state holidays

By: Mangrum

Mangrum — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:16:54 +0000

The holidays have never looked so horrifying. But the rubbernecker in me will not put down this wonderful examination of corporate manipulations of our holiday revelry. Beautfully designed, smartly written, funny, sincere and cynical. Also nice to see a publisher actually sew their books, ensuring they last for generations to come.

By: Shiou

Shiou — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:06:40 +0000

This book is a marvel for the eye and mind. A charming yet wise critique of the culture of holidays in America, the volume is lavishly illustrated in color and serves up platter upon platter of wonderfully written commentary about holiday custom, lore, and consumption. Maud Lavin draws upon the many quirky and fascinating details of material culture that constitute Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. From traditional mashed potatoes to scary costumes, Santa to the Easter Bunny, Lavin and her collaborators show us how we consumers depend on the holidays and how the holidays depend on us. A very entertaining and handsome book. Highly recommended.

By: Frost

Frost — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:56:15 +0000

I was first mesmerized by Lady Day’s voice and style when I heard “The Very Thought of You” in a movie, and have been under her spell ever since. Her feelings and emotion flow through every lyric and have influenced countless musicians the world around. You can read the reflections by those artists who were most moved and inspired by her by checking out the jewel case insert. Overall, this compilation is beautiful and moving, a timeless piece to add to your album collection.

By: Frederickson

Frederickson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:18:00 +0000

All I miss is the energy on the live recordings.

The studio classics are a little lame.

By: Gellinger

Gellinger — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:55:21 +0000

This is not a good demonstration of Billie Holliday. First, too many songs squeezed into each side. Sound not good. For me, it was a waste of money. One of her best is the Billie Holiday-Lester Young CD ” a musical romance”

By: Rosenberger

Rosenberger — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:21:28 +0000

Disappointed in CD–not what I expected. Have heard better of hers. Just doesn’t do her voice justice–no power, and these are suppossed to be the best of Billie Holiday. Don’t think so.

By: Thornton

Thornton — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:15:40 +0000

Just because a recording is remastered, that doesn't mean it's been remastered well. Columbia's remastering of these Billie Holiday recording is a case in point. If you listen to Columbia's Quintessential Billie Holiday series that came out in 1989, you'll notice that those albums (with the same recordings that are on this CD) had infinitely better sound.

Simply put, these remastered versions sound awful. There's a constant, loud hissing in the background of every track that should NOT be there. It's amazing that such bad remastering work could come from Columbia (and on these legendary recordings, no less).

I'm surprised that none of the reviewers on this site seem to have noticed the shoddy sound quality on these remasters, but if you compare these recordings to the originals, the difference is glaringly obvious.

It's a real shame! Because if you want to hear the genius of these Billie Holiday recordings, you'll have to dig up the The Quintessential Billie Holiday series from '89 which is pristine, gorgeous, and mostly out of print now.

By: Shinnick

Shinnick — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:16:52 +0000

It took about 1 month before the product reach where I worked in Singapore. And in the transition, the tracking with USPS was not very helpful. It is scary when such an expensive product disappeared during the delivery and no one else can tell you where the items is.

There were many times that I almost panicked and tried to cancel the order but decided that if I wanted this item so badly, I should religously wait for its arrival. Finally, after 4 weeks, it showed up on tracking that it is in the Singapore custom, but it took another 5 days before they send me a letter telling me that I have to pay goods tax.

After taking it back home it is just a breeze, it installed on my Dell XPS M1330 without any problems. I run the ubuntu boot cd and it detected the whole drive with 230 something GB. I choosed my partition and it installed very fast (15min or less). After installation, it also boot up very fast (1min or less) and shutdown just as fast. I am writing this review 3 weeks after I got the SSD and I have not had any errors.

Just trying to get used to the speed, things just flash by, it has become difficult to see what exactly is going on.

By: Sheikh

Sheikh — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:24:33 +0000

I know that spending $600 for just a hard drive seems high. However, I feel the Crucial 256GB was a great choice for me. I have an "old" MackBook core duo notebook that was purchased in 2006. I replaced the 200GB hard drive with the Crucial 256GB SSD and what a difference. My MacBook now boots in about 1/3 the previous time and applications seem to load instantly (no more bouncing on the dock). I also run Windows on my MackBook and it seems to perform better also.

I did have one moment of panic after installing the new SSD. I was booting from the new Snow Leopard disc and it did not see the new SSD as a possible installation location. I realized that the new SSD had not been formatted. The solution was to run the disk utility on the new Snow Leopard disc and the problem was solved.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the Crucial 256GB SSD and Amazon. I anticipate getting another couple of years out of my MackBook, so I think $600 was a value for me.

By: Rochester

Rochester — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:59:08 +0000

Best map of USA I have ever seen. Very up-to-date. Tons of information. This map is a must have for USA trips…