I remember the first boot I saw was the original "Jewel Box" at BB's Records in Greensboro, NC, somewhere around mid 1993, I guess. My friend Tom, who was more die-hard a fan than I was at the time, ponied up the $$$ for the set, and we listened to it at work for weeks. BB's was run by some serious music-o-philes, as I got several import and boot CDs from them over the years I was a customer. And once I eventually got into Prince boots, I went nuts for a few years. I've since ripped them to my hard drive and given the physical CDs away as gifts to friends.

(BB's closed down several years ago. Even though I now live in Los Angeles and have access to Amoeba, the world's greatest record store, I miss that place terribly. My friend Burt and I spent countless hours and dollars there. We could do an entire thread just on favorite music lairs that have long since gone out of business, I bet...)

udo said:

Yeah, I remember that one! Imagine that, a shop actually named after something Prince said in a film...

I think the situation with bootlegs today is similar to the general situation with music. Now that everything is available at the click of a button, collecting isn't any fun. No more having to choose between this one and that one, buying expensive discs without knowing how they would sound. It was kind of mysterious and exciting, and if you got that rare gem you really wanted to hear it felt very special.

Even just trading cassettes through the mail was more tactile - I got great letters from people I barely knew, and it was so exciting to come walking toward the house and see the mailbox sticking open slightly for all the packages inside it. Now I hardly say anything to the people I "trade" with on torrent sites besides "thanks for posting, sounds great!"

I don't think I'd wanna go back. I like having access to lots of stuff for free - if it sounds like crap at least I didn't waste money on it - but I do get a little nostalgic for the days when music was more precious & hard to find.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Mexico?! That MUST have been a dream! I didn't find ANY Prince records when I was there.

I bought prince sign' o the times there the live dvd. THey have a ton of bootlegs in mexico mostley hard rock and heavy metal. i was in mexico city though ur not gonna find that stuff in cancun or tourist areas.

^Aren't we talking about pirate rather than bootleg records here? I do remember getting some cheap illegal versions of Beatles and RHCP albums on a street market in Mexico City. None of them lasted more than a few years!