Sony denies Internet Sales?

[SteveDallas]

Heh. Nice thread.

Well, first of all, I will highly recommend the Sony 7600GR. I have one and it's very nice. There are better shortwave radios, but they are not as small and much more expensive.

Secondly, I will highly recommend Universal Radio. Both of my radios (the Sony and the radio it replaced, a Sangean ATS-803A) were acquired there. A nice place, they've been in business a long time, helpful advice, etc.

Thirdly, I will highly recommend Sony and some of their reseller. Specifically, I will recommend that they be taken out back and smacked around a bit. I don't know what's up with this. There are certainly no problems buying some Sony items online, like cameras--though as I went to Amazon to back this up, some Sony cameras are listed as "price too low to display". I once bought my wife a portable cassette recorder. I was very picky about what I wanted, and I only found one that had a feature that I really wanted, a fine-tuning control for the tape speed. And it was a Sony. And I wanted it quickly, so I went to a local store that had it in stock. (This was not an item likely to show up in Circuit City!)

I ended up at Nathan Muchniks, in the 1700 block of Chestnut St. in Center City Philadelphia. I was familiar from this place from years back when they had the most extensive, best-priced selection of classical music on compact disc in Philadelphia and probably several other cities. (I was told they killed it because they couldn't find somebody to manage it, which sounds like a copout, but I digress.) Anyway, they also sold, and still sell, video and stereo equipment. The prices will never compete with mail-order, but they carry quality stuff and the staff knows what they're doing. I did not expect a steep bargain off the Sony MSRP which I saw on the web site. I also did not expect to pay MORE than the MSRP, but sure enough, that's what the price was. Or the regular price, I should say.. it was on sale for $30 off so I bought it. If I had had time to track down one at J&R or something like that, I would have passed.


Irony time: my wife actually got the Sony radio for me, as a birthday present last year... literally the first thing I heard when I turned it on & started tuning around, was the BBC World Service announcing its plans to discontinue shortwave broadcasts aimed at North America.