I now trade only for The Beatles. So, if I get an email stating "Man, I know you're a Beatles trader, but I've got a fantastic boot by Lynyrd Skynyrd you've got to have!" that email will go straight into the trash. I have few "rules," but they are important:

1. Please provise a setlist/songlist, either through a trade page, email, or with the disks themselves.

2. For concert CD-R's, use disk-at-once (DAO) only. For new traders, this means no gaps between songs. The show should flow naturally. Disks not recorded DAO will need to be replaced before the trade is considered to be completed. Mistakes can happen, so as long as this is admitted and the bad disk is replaced it's no big deal.

3. Please do not use cheap CD-R's! If I receive any generic "white label" disks (or any other "no name" cheap generic disks) they will be sent back to you with a request that you use decent disks. I've received some in trades, and have had more problems with these damn things popping, skipping, and not playing at all than anything else. I just ask that you use something of good brand-name quality, and that you record at a reasonable speed - 8x's is as high as you should go. Disks recorded on cheap CD-R's at 36x speed may play OK for a short while (3-4 times), then many of them go belly-up. What's the point of spending good money on a CD burner if you're going to use crappy CD-R's that aren't dependable and probably will not last? What some traders are doing is buying the high-quality disks for their own personal use, and then buying the cheap crap for trades.

4. Quick delivery!!! When you agree to a trade, you should be able to have the disks burned and mailed out in just a few days. The longest a trade should take for completion (and this is allowing for the U.S. Postal Service) is 2 weeks. Of course, overseas trades are different. Also, don't agree to a trade and say you will mail on a certain day, and then wait until I let you know that I have mailed your disks to start with the excuses ("I - had computer problems, ran out of disks, have been working late, have been out of town, baby's sick, wife's sick, cat's sick, etc, etc") because you are waiting on my disks to arrive before you mail. After you've been trading for a while, it doesn't take long to sense when someone's bullshitting.

5. If you have nothing to trade, I collect books about or by the Beatles, and will trade 1 CD-R for each $5 a book may cost. For example, a $15 book from Amazon will get you 3 CD-R's. A $20 Beatle book from your local Barnes and Noble will get you 4 CD-R's. And so on. This is all before taxes, or shipping and handling. I never sell my disks, so please don't frustrate yourself by asking. And also - I do not do B/P trades.