Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Warning about Sheet Music Plus

I've been plugging away with the Alfred Adult All In One. To help with my learning, I decided to purchase the audio and midi disks. The audio is a couple of CDs. But...

The MIDI disk is a FLOPPY DISK!!! I have seven computers - NONE of them have a floppy disk. Most computers don't come with a floppy any more. And I haven't seen software distributed on a floppy disk in the last decade! It is beyond stupid that any company would distribute files that can't be loaded to the vast majority of modern computers! What's worse that NO WHERE in their product description do they explain that it's distributed on a FLOPPY!

There are a lot of Alfred-lovers in this forum, so I doubt if what I write will have any effect on you. Each to his/her own, but they will never see my money again.

Of course, I will be very happy to share my "wonderful" product experience with anyone who will listen.

Dan.

Have you contacted them and asked for them to mail you a CD with those files or at least an electronic copy via email? You know, give them a chance to fix the problem before going online to complain.

Before long, we will be complaining that we were sent a product on a CD, technology long replaced by.......whatever!

Looks like this has come up before, with some useful answers...

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Forum/32/topic/005623/Number/0/site_id/1

"...There are a lot of Alfred-lovers in this forum, so I doubt if what I write will have any effect on you. Each to his/her own, but they will never see my money again. .."

Dan Clark, I congratulate you on your perseverance with your piano studies--- I know it isn't easy to keep it going.

It happens, with print music editions, that many are not such hot sellers that every copy flies off the shelves soon after publication. In fact, I've seen cases where one music store will buy out the stock of another which has gone out of business, and the individual copies can be quite old. They're not milk; they don't go sour within a few days, so they last and last in stock.

So you have acquired a technological antique. At the time floppy disks were first current, the CD had not been invented nor anticipated--- even the hard drive was an uncommon and unreliable device. So their day lasted for some 20 years or better.

I realize it's easy to fire off an angry post to a website (also not invented in the heyday of the floppy disc, by the way), but Alfred is a good publishing house which, I don't doubt, would prefer to make a customer happy--- and after all, what you are asking for is quite reasonable. Why don't you send your e-mail request to them? I don't see that we are in a position to do anything for you. The title you mentioned is still in print, and Alfred does use CD's these days; I like what they've done with packaging CD's with performance editions, for just the same reason you want one for the book you have--- the mind (mine, anyway) puts it together better if I can both see and hear and play.

In general, a civil tone evokes a more helpful response--- especially when firing your first round. Save the heavy artillery and the phalanxes of bombers until you need them. Sometimes the enemy surrenders the fort without the invader firing a single shot, or losing a single man.

I would imagine the external USB floppy reader would cost as much as the whole book did in the first place, and you would probably use it only this once. Ingenious solution for the techie, though.

I had a similar experience recently, where I ordered an accompaniment / demo for a church cantata, and they sent a - wait for it - a cassette tape. Really? I have no way of playing a tape, and even less interest in making the attempt. (It has been all CDs or digital downloads with all of the publishers I've dealt with for a number of years - replacing the previous all cassette tape technology).

Before long, we will be complaining that we were sent a product on a CD, technology long replaced by neural implant, or whatever!

It isn't a book. It's a midi disk that I bought from Sheet Music Plus. It's the Midi Disk specified here: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title...ourse-Level-1-General-MIDI-Disk/3541299. It says the format is "Midi Disk". The only rational assumption to make would be "midi files on a CDRom".

And it has a copyright date of 1995. I have no idea about the quality of these files.

I guess they got me on this one. Nothing like making a buck at the expense of the customer.

I'm a normal person - I make mistakes all the time. It irritates when I make a mistake. However, I despise vendors that misstate or fail to clearly state what the customer is getting.

So why don't I send it back? Because the time and hassle of calling the vendor, getting an RMA, packing it up, and shipping it back is not cost-effective. For me, it's cheaper to throw that garbage in the trash.

Dan.

But the question remains; did you ask the publisher to fix it for you or was the first thing on your mind to come here to rant and warn us all? It sounds like you haven't even tried.

By the way, disk = magnetic media, disc = optical media.
It's not like they deliberately misled you. The book was written and the notes prepared in 1995 and left as is. I don't see the problem. I don't expect a publisher to go back to change notes and descriptions (and issue notices to retailers) on near 17 year old books.

For me, it's cheaper to throw that garbage in the trash.