Best place for an audiophile or videophile to live?

[kach22i]

Well, my little Ann Arbor, Michigan has made the top five best places to live in the USA again, or so I just heard. One of the things included in the ratings is the quality of life. This includes our public libraries which as a whole are ranked number one or two in the nation.

I just borrowed 14 CD's today form the main branch (walked there). Mostly I borrow DVD's though, can't remember that last time I paid or rented a DVD. Years ago they used to loan out vinyl records, I did that for my first few years out of college.

If you are into live music, there are often free concerts at Borders Books before the main concert at the Michigan Theater. The Ark is world famous, great live music of all kinds. The Hill auditorium, the Power Center, the Blind Pig...............all within walking distance of my house.

This is a good town if you are broke (like me these days) and an even better town if you have money.

I have these 14 CD's for two weeks, could of took much more. I can re-take them out on-line if I can't get back there by the due date, so I can avoid late fee too. Life ain't so bad when I look at the bright side of things

So, can you rent free CD's and DVD's ?

We have Blueray too.

And you can rent art, large real original paintings..............funny to see people walking in and out with them.

 

[soundofvoid]

Dear George,
i would really love to live at such a nice place!
Your description about the records on loan reminds me of a small quantity of records that i bought from a place in Amsterdam some years ago.
Fine pressings of 60's jazz albums that were a little tired on the outside (artwork) but sounding very good.
Most of them were gatefolds and each one had a gold sticker saying "property of the public library" of a small american city.
I was amazed at the fact that you could actually get records to listen in your house and then return them...
Just the fact that these records have been played thousands of times in different turntables with different tonearms and cartridges,
and still produced creditable results, was a mystery to me!Vinyl must be much more robust than we give it credit!
But renting art?Very interesting!These art pieces really communicate their creators' message!

 

[es347]

Soundofvoid...good luck over there. From what we have seen on the news recently you need to be careful. Hang in there.

George...my wife and I love MI and visit Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, Harbor Springs...etc. ever so often. In my humble opinion, MI is one of the most scenic states in the country. As far as best places to live for an audiophile, I would have to say "anywhere USA" in a basement with a fridge and toilet nearby and enough space under the stairway door to slide plates of food under.

 

[soundofvoid]

Thanks es347!IMF is here calling the shots but i have the impression that the news out there are a bit exaggerated.Nobody is starving (yet)!
I hope they don't turn us into Argentina...

 

[MylesBAstor]

I was thinking living next to a nuclear power plant -- or as far away from civilization -- for the purest AC.

 

[es347]

I was thinking living next to a nuclear power plant -- or as far away from civilization -- for the purest AC.

Next to a nuke plant is good...you could be your own nightlight

 

[kach22i]

Go solar/wind and run everything off batteries.

 

[kruppy]

I have to agree with George, Ann Arbor is a great place, with trendy shops and resturants. The downtown night life is great. It has the urban life that Detroit is somewhat void of.

Unfortunately a couple of our friends/families that lived out there moved, so we don't get there as much as we used to.

A number of years ago when I was in college, I would drive out to visit a friend and spend hours at School Kids Records. Not sure if it's still there or not..... Tower Records was there too, before they really turned in to a mega-chain.

Saw Cowboy Junkies at Michigan Theater and Power Center, Luka Bloom at the Plind Pig (awesome show).

Nice memories.

 

[kach22i]

Ann Arbor.......... School Kids Records. .... Tower Records

SKR's closed out of their big double sized store on Liberty about 12 years ago. They then emerged in the basement of Bivouac outdoors store a year later and as of two years ago are now just an on-line store.

The big chain Tower moved out about 10 years ago, they had a great comics and book section.

Liberty records (used) is better than ever, PJ's records is still at Packard and Hill, and Wazo records with everything in wood crates which snags your clothing is still above Ashley's pub. There are also a couple of independent fly-by record/CD stores on South University. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but oh well.

I think college towns in general have an advantage when it comes to music, live or recorded. I mean even PotBelly subs has live music on Friday evening for free. My buddy used to play there.

 

[amirm]

I knew my time would come to get even with you all . 10 best places to live according to Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine:

1. Austin, Tex.
2. Seattle, Wa
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Boulder, Colo.
5. Salt Lake City, Utah
6. Rochester, Minn.
7. Des Moines, Iowa
8. Burlington, Vt.
9. West Hartford, Conn.
10. Topeka, Kan.

This is what it says about my hometown:
"Rain City? We'd say Brain City. Home to a well-educated workforce, a world-class research university, über innovators Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, and a host of risk-taking, garage-tinkering entrepreneurs, Seattle crackles with creative energy. "We only have two products here: smart people and great ideas," says Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington"

Never mind that Mark Emmert has resigned his job and will become President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. I guess he thinks there are more smart people in Indiana .

 

[JackD201]

Manila! Okay, I'm biased and unabashedly patriotic :lol:

I'd have to say New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco for the sheer bulk of available quality LPs as well as the amount of quality gear that can be auditioned.

I'd love to live in Southern France or the Balearic Coast of Spain. I think I could do with an iPod over there

 

[kach22i]

FYI: saw John Hiatt for free on Border's Books second floor last weekend. He did four or five songs, the chatter and crowd interaction made it seem like more.

Article on it:
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/john-hiatt-preview/

Next weekend:........................

http://www.annarbors107one.com/

BORDERS AND 107one PRESENT NATALIE MERCHANT
Join us at Borders on Liberty for Studio A2 On The Road with singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant on Tuesday, July 27th at 2:00 pm. Natalie will play selections from her latest album "Leave Your Sleep" and sign copies after the performance! If you can't make it out, be sure to listen live on ann arbor's 107one.

 

[JackD201]

Life ain't fair. I'm the 10,000th maniac and I miss out on this.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I knew my time would come to get even with you all . 10 best places to live according to Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine:

1. Austin, Tex.
2. Seattle, Wa
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Boulder, Colo.
5. Salt Lake City, Utah
6. Rochester, Minn.
7. Des Moines, Iowa
8. Burlington, Vt.
9. West Hartford, Conn.
10. Topeka, Kan.

This is what it says about my hometown:
"Rain City? We'd say Brain City. Home to a well-educated workforce, a world-class research university, über innovators Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, and a host of risk-taking, garage-tinkering entrepreneurs, Seattle crackles with creative energy. "We only have two products here: smart people and great ideas," says Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington"

Never mind that Mark Emmert has resigned his job and will become President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. I guess he thinks there are more smart people in Indiana .

Austin? no ocean, no mountains, no Victoria or Vancouver B.C.

I think Seattle reminds many people of the U.K. in terms of climate and topography and how green it always is. and 20-30 miles from downtown Seattle you can be in wilderness. in the summer in an hour's drive you can be in a high desert climate in Eastern Washington, in 3 hours you can be on the Oregon coast, the most scenic in the U.S. multiple great Ski resorts within a half days drive in the winter and one 45 minutes from downtown Seattle. 90 minutes from Seattle is Mt. Rainier, the premier Everest training spot in North America. world class pleasure boat cruising on Puget Sound into Canada.

i would say that the traffic can really suck because of all the beautiful lakes, rivers, canals and Puget Sound.

it does not have the aggragate wealth of some other places, but for it's size it's got lots of people with the means to do things. and once people come to Seattle, they tend to want to try and stay there.

OTOH my beloved pristene Studer A-820 was found at a CD remastering studio in Austin.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Austin? no ocean, no mountains, no Victoria or Vancouver B.C.

I think Seattle reminds many people of the U.K. in terms of climate and topography and how green it always is. and 20-30 miles from downtown Seattle you can be in wilderness. in the summer in an hour's drive you can be in a high desert climate in Eastern Washington, in 3 hours you can be on the Oregon coast, the most scenic in the U.S. multiple great Ski resorts within a half days drive in the winter and one 45 minutes from downtown Seattle. 90 minutes from Seattle is Mt. Rainier, the premier Everest training spot in North America. world class pleasure boat cruising on Puget Sound into Canada.

i would say that the traffic can really suck because of all the beautiful lakes, rivers, canals and Puget Sound.

it does not have the aggragate wealth of some other places, but for it's size it's got lots of people with the means to do things. and once people come to Seattle, they tend to want to try and stay there.

OTOH my beloved pristene Studer A-820 was found at a CD remastering studio in Austin.

Actually Mark may find himself in the same situation that Byron Scott finds himself in Cleveland: powerless With these new "super" conferences, the NCAA is losing more and more power and authority.

And actually Princeton, NJ ain't no slouch either when it comes to standard of living and brain power.

 

[cjfrbw]

Don't mean to "rain" on the Seattle love-fest parade, but didn't the Kiplingers article talk about business innovation and jobs prospects, not necessarily the best place to live? That's why Washington DC made it, mainly because there are no recessions in DC due to the government job market there. California has probably seen its day, no economic miracles to fish us out this time.
Back to the topic, New Orleans is a great city for music and audiophilia. That's where my music and audio bug took off. Lot's of free stuff all the time, it is part of the fabric of the city, and a lot of eclectic interest in music in general.

 

[amirm]

Don't mean to "rain" on the Seattle love-fest parade, but didn't the Kiplingers article talk about business innovation and jobs prospects, not necessarily the best place to live?

Well, there are no shortage of people jealous of where we live . Here is Money's best place to live list for 2010:


Rank Place
1 Eden Prairie, MN
2 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
3 Newton, MA
4 Bellevue, WA
5 McKinney, TX
6 Fort Collins, CO
7 Overland Park, KS
8 Fishers, IN
9 Ames, IA
10 Rogers, AR

Bellevue is on the other side of the lake, near Microsoft:

"Top 100 rank: 4
Population: 124,000
Unemployment: 5.8%

If forested cityscapes are your thing, this is your kind of place. Bellevue's compact downtown bristles with new skyscrapers that seem to hover above Lake Washington -- and when the clouds part, mountain views loom.

Real estate isn't a bargain, but the town's jobless rate is more than two points below that of the Seattle metro area, thanks to a recent influx of jobs from such employers as Microsoft (which has moved 6,500 positions here), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Expedia. In fact, Bellevue has more jobs than it does residents.

And the population is diverse: Nearly a quarter of residents are Asian, and nearly a third are foreign born.

The town's high schools consistently land at the top of state rankings. There's also an embarrassment of arts and entertainment, including a philharmonic orchestra, fine arts museum, botanical garden, youth theater, annual jazz festival, and 74 (!) parks. --Jessica Levine"

 

[cjfrbw]

Well, Amir, there are THREE whole places that are better than Bellevue on that list, and Bellevue is BARELY above McKinny,TX. (joke alert, this is a joke)

 

[MylesBAstor]

Well, there are no shortage of people jealous of where we live . Here is Money's best place to live list for 2010:


Rank Place
1 Eden Prairie, MN
2 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
3 Newton, MA
4 Bellevue, WA
5 McKinney, TX
6 Fort Collins, CO
7 Overland Park, KS
8 Fishers, IN
9 Ames, IA
10 Rogers, AR

Bellevue is on the other side of the lake, near Microsoft:

"Top 100 rank: 4
Population: 124,000
Unemployment: 5.8%

If forested cityscapes are your thing, this is your kind of place. Bellevue's compact downtown bristles with new skyscrapers that seem to hover above Lake Washington -- and when the clouds part, mountain views loom.

Real estate isn't a bargain, but the town's jobless rate is more than two points below that of the Seattle metro area, thanks to a recent influx of jobs from such employers as Microsoft (which has moved 6,500 positions here), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Expedia. In fact, Bellevue has more jobs than it does residents.

And the population is diverse: Nearly a quarter of residents are Asian, and nearly a third are foreign born.

The town's high schools consistently land at the top of state rankings. There's also an embarrassment of arts and entertainment, including a philharmonic orchestra, fine arts museum, botanical garden, youth theater, annual jazz festival, and 74 (!) parks. --Jessica Levine"

It seems that this list is more a geography lesson. And what actually qualifies as a city? 100 people?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Well, there are no shortage of people jealous of where we live . Here is Money's best place to live list for 2010:


Rank Place
1 Eden Prairie, MN
2 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
3 Newton, MA
4 Bellevue, WA
5 McKinney, TX
6 Fort Collins, CO
7 Overland Park, KS
8 Fishers, IN
9 Ames, IA
10 Rogers, AR

Bellevue is on the other side of the lake, near Microsoft:

"Top 100 rank: 4
Population: 124,000
Unemployment: 5.8%

If forested cityscapes are your thing, this is your kind of place. Bellevue's compact downtown bristles with new skyscrapers that seem to hover above Lake Washington -- and when the clouds part, mountain views loom.

Real estate isn't a bargain, but the town's jobless rate is more than two points below that of the Seattle metro area, thanks to a recent influx of jobs from such employers as Microsoft (which has moved 6,500 positions here), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Expedia. In fact, Bellevue has more jobs than it does residents.

And the population is diverse: Nearly a quarter of residents are Asian, and nearly a third are foreign born.

The town's high schools consistently land at the top of state rankings. There's also an embarrassment of arts and entertainment, including a philharmonic orchestra, fine arts museum, botanical garden, youth theater, annual jazz festival, and 74 (!) parks. --Jessica Levine"

i've worked in Bellevue for 30 years. lot's of very passionate audiophiles in Bellevue and adjacent communities.