Long Live Rock & Roll! This is a guide for the rock & roll collector, I collect CD's. I started out collecting LP's, then 8-tracks, cassettes, and finally CD's. My collection is at 400+, including double and triple cd's, and box sets.

   My first albums were hand me downs from my sister: Led Zeppelin II, and Cosmos Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I cut my teeth on rock & roll from an early age, I remember watching The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, when I was just 6 years old.

   Enough background, on to collecting! I started with Best of, and Greatest Hits collections, which provide more songs for the money, and then added individual albums from the artist. A music club can be a reasonably cheap way to jump start a collection, I recieved 17 cd's for the price of 2 ($30). But for the serious collector, E-bay, and Half.com are the Holy Grail of album searches. You can only find so many albums at local stores, that's where the internet comes in. Finding rare and OOP (out of print) albums, takes plenty of patience. Sure, you may find a copy at a highly inflated ego, (i mean price), but if you shop around, you will eventually find a copy at a more affordable price. Take the album "Voodoo Highway" by Badlands.; It was listed for $30, but with some detective work and searching on e-bay worldwide, I found it for $14. If you have a hard time finding a certain album, try Google searching the album title, such as: Mott, "Drive On", CD, $.

   If you are looking for a particular song, but cannot remember the title or group, or if you heard it on the radio, and never heard the title or group, perform a search with a string of lyrics that you do remember. Example, You remember the lyrics "thought you were crazy, you were one of a kind" a search would reveal that the song you were looking for was "Edison's Medicine" by Tesla.

   Now, some people may be gun shy about online purchases. I have purchased items online over 70 times, with very little problems. With E-bay, and Half.com, your purchases through Pay-Pal are guaranteed! If your order shows up damaged, or doesn't show up..it's covered! I've purchased CD's from England, Germany, Italy, Russia, Australia and Canada, all but one arrived very swiftly.

   If buying used, which can save you up to 99 percent off the new price, be aware of the condition listed, and the cost of shipping, which can be more than the CD! If the jewel case arrives damaged, it can be replaced cheaply from any office supply.

   Some collector's specialize in a distinct sound, such as '80s Hair Bands, like Accept, Cinderella, Tesla, Ratt, Dokken, Poison, etc. Which is great, but let us not forgo the '70s Pre-Hair Band groups like Black Sabbath, Triumph, Judas Priest, and Trapeze, etc. Prog-Rock is also a great group to listen to, such as Wishbone Ash, King Crimson, etc. Alternative rock also rocks! Listen to The Smashing Pumpkins ,  Nirvanna, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Faith No More, etc. Box sets can sometimes provide the group's entire studio album collection in one purchase; Led Zeppelin, The Complete Studio Recordings Box set lists for $130, I purchased a copy for $50. It comes complete with four additional bonus songs on "Coda" that are hard to find elsewhere.

   You should burn a copy of any rare or out of print CD's to play; and save your original copy in pristine condition: a copy that gets destroyed can be replaced, your original most likely cannot!

   One last word. If you come across an album that you like, you should purchase it immediately, if possible. It could be a limited edition, or could go out of print, in which case it will become very hard to find shortly, and the price to own it could double in no time. Long Live Rock & Roll!