An Undiscovered Country of Products

Lately I have been reading a lot of Shakespeare (and watching it too--the Ethan Hawke Hamlet was super intense!) and looking at microphones on eBay (and even bidding on--and winning!--some, I admit). Oh bless (or damn!) my Achilles heel of acquisitiveness. I used to be a simple monk of music-- never buying, never shopping. Now what am I...?


To eBay or not to eBay
That is the question...
Whether 'tis nobler finding deals on the internet
Or to suffer the markups and salespitches of outrageous music gear retail clerks
or dispense with the three year warranty and by opposing thus end their 15% comission?
To buy, to own; own more.
And by own we welcome the home theatre and other gadgets the consumer is heir to.
'Tis a consummation compulsively to be capitalized upon.
To own, perchance to be manipulated--ay, there's the demographic;
That in the manipulations of marketing what dreams may come
When we have shuffled through audio gear catalogs
or give pause to compare the calamity of mp3's to real audio
There's the respect--as recording engineers grunt and sweat under a weary session
But that dread of something other than iTunes
The undiscovered country of products
NO shopper returns, it puzzles the will and
Makes us rather bear the ear fatigue of headphones
Than try others we know not of?
Thus iPods makes silhouettes of us all.