I wanted to lend my perspective on eBay announcements in MMD.  I, for
one, enjoy seeing the announcements, and I think there's value to having
such a brief note appear here.

While I use eBay occasionally to buy stuff, I don't have the time nor
inclination to actively/perpetually cruise it looking for MM items as
I'm not in the market to buy.  While being interested in most things
MM-ish, there are lots of interesting things to see on eBay that I
wouldn't think to search for, and if a brief note appears here, I'll
surely look at it.

A good example is the word "organette".  I've been watching/looking
at "roller organs" in eBay for a while, and until a recent Digest, it
never occurred to me to search for "organette"; when I did, I got to
see one like I had never seen before.  How many of you would think to
search for "Zilotone"?  It's a pretty fascinating toy that you probably
wouldn't find listed under musical instruments.

The value to me is seeing a photo and learning about a new MM item that
I'd never get to see otherwise.  eBay is the poor-man's Treasury of
Mechanical Music, as far as photographs go.  I certainly won't be
buying a huge band organ anytime soon, but I greatly enjoy seeing one
in color on eBay -- I get a photo, and a paragraph about it, plus in a
week, I even know about how much it's worth.  And I'd never know it was
on display (for sale) on eBay unless I saw a tickler in the MMD.

In summary, I'd like to see the brief notes continue, as it draws my
attention to something "worthwhile" to see.  I see an eBay note in the
MMD on some item, I think it's "worthwhile" to check out simply because
it's being mentioned by a MMD member... if a MMD member thinks the item
is noteworthy enough to own and sell, you're pretty much guaranteed to
find it something interesting to look at.

Rick Inzero, Rochester, NY, rdi@cci.com