Okay, maybe some of you will think this isn't a very technical tip, but as your inSync editor I was quite taken by this quote when it arrived in my e-mail box. Frankly it's a tip that's substantially more important than most of our more technical tips. It sums up a lot of the Sweetwater philosophy and is a very good point to keep in mind when shopping for equipment. Remember that price is only one aspect of value, and value is what really matters.

"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better. There is hardly anything in the world that someone can't make a little worse and sell a little cheaper - and people who consider price alone are this man's lawful prey."

John Ruskin
1819-1900