GUEST,leeneia wrote:

I no longer want to buy a recording if I haven't seen the performer. Mere fossilized vibrations aren't the same.

I understand what you mean but at the same time, I would never ever have had the chance to meet Joseph Taylor who died in the early 1900s but Percy Grainger's (and others) recordings of him send shivers down my spine.

I agree with Pip Radish though, listen to as many people as you can while you can. Even the younger ones can walk under a bus!