Jim and List, To underscore your point, I seem to recall reading somewhere that early in the 20th century, as Steinway carved out its position as king of the hill, many companies making other products wanted to license the coveted Steinway name. (Refrigerators were one example.) No dice. Hence we have (or used to have) the superlative "Cadillac" of this or that (albeit through idiom rather than license). Whatever factors compelled Steinway to maintain the high ground on this issue no longer seem to apply. I, too, think that this development is a pointed commentary on the down side of capitalism as we experience it today. Alan E. -----Original Message----- From: claviers at nxs.net To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 9:32 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] S&S Hearing Aida!? The thing that put Steinway on top for so many years was the "image". "Steinway" meant one thing, and one thing only, i.e., high-quality pianos. Now, as per that magazine, what does Steinway represent anyway? It looks like a conglomeration of all sorts of high-end stuff for people who have lots of money they didn't earn for themselves and don't know what to do with it. I think, for some extra bucks, it dilutes Steinway's long-standing "image", and I think it's a huge mistake! I'm sorry to see this happening! Jim Ellis ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
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