17 year old Stacy is home alone curled up on the couch on a stormy, thunderous night. Blinding lightning flashes outside the window and suddenly…the lights go out! Scared stiff, she looks for solace and safety in her bedroom. She slowly opens the door, walks inside and sits down on the bed when suddenly…the lights flicker back on! For a brief moment Stacy feels at ease and then she realizes the terrifying reality of what is right behind her…her computer hasn’t turned back on!! She quickly tries to turn it on, but it’s no use. The hard drive is fried from the direct lightning hit on the house! That’s when shock sets in…because Stacy never backed up her thousands of photos that she took with her digital camera!! They’re gone!! FOREVER!! AAAAAAUUUUGGHHH!!!!

Ok, I admit, that was a bit dramatic. But let’s talk seriously for a sec. We’ve all had some sort of crisis where we once thought we lost, or actually did lose a whole lot of files, photos, videos, documents, etc. It’s a terrible and sometimes frightening feeling. The remedy though, is regularly backing up your files. And there are lots of ways to do it. USB flash drives and memory cards are so inexpensive these days, and the price of memory has dropped so much that even an external hard drive with hundreds of gigabytes is within reach of most peoples budgets. Get in the habit of backing up your files, and let Abe’s of Maine help you. Believe me, if you don’t…you’ll regret it! MWA HA HA HA! (sorry, got caught up again).

Do you have a “backup” story? Let’s hear it. Maybe its a horror story, maybe you have a great and efficient system to backup your files. Share it with us. (The first 100 commenters will receive a promo code for $15 off of your next purchase of $100 or more).

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

Plasma TV’s historically have been able to be manufactured at larger screen sizes although LCD technology has been able to keep up and that may no longer be an issue soon enough. Plasmas are able to offer better contrast ratios and color accuracy, while LCD’s offer increased color brightness over plasma screens. A very important factor is that plasma screens do not perform as well at higher altitudes while LCD’s do not have any issues at higher altitudes (so those of you that live in Denver, for example, may want ot go with the LCD). LCD’s also run cooler than plasmas and are generally lighter than their same screen-size plasma counterparts. Plasma screens however are better at tracking fast moving objects while LCD’s may show a little lag.

Obviously technology is constantly changing and getting better and many of these differences may not apply someday soon. But for now, those are some things to keep in mind. Let Abe’s of Maine help you choose which TV is right for you. What are your experiences with using a Plasma over an LCD or vice-versa? Feel free to recommend or give each other advice.

(First 100 people to comment will receive a $15 coupon towards any purchase of $100 or more).

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

As a bonus, the first 100 people to comment and post response will receive a promo code that will get you $15 off any purchase of $100 or more! Make sure you type in your e-mail address correctly so you can receive the code in your inbox! We can’t wait to hear from you!

*All comments will be moderated before posting. Make your purchases at Abe’s of Maine.

***Late breaking news! If you’ve been looking for some Pro Audio gear, here are a couple of great deals: Get $50 off select Zoom products using promo code 50OFFZOOM! Also, get $20 of any AKG product that’s $100 or more using promo code AKG20OFF! These codes won’t work for long so make sure you take advantage now!

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

FREE 4GB USB FLash Drive with your purchase of $150 or more - USE COUPON CODE CRUZER4GB at Checkout

FREE 4GB Memory Card with purchase of selct Digital Cameras 

FREE Rode Boom Pole with the purchase of the BRAN NEW NTG-3 Shotgun Microphone - No Promo Code needed!

Purchase any Amplifier combo, head or cabinet for $499 or more and receive a Stadium Tele-Style Electric Guitar absolutely FREE! 

Purchase the Rode K2 Studio Condenser Microphone and receive the M3 microphone + a $50 Abe’s of Maine Gift Certificate absolutely FREE!

Purchase almost ANY Rode microphone and receive a FREE Abe’s of Maine GIft Certificate!

Receive a FREE Abe’s of Maine Gift Certificate with your purchase of any AKG product $100 or more (some products may be excluded)

Get a FREE $25 Gift Certificate with the purchase of any dishwasher! - No promo code needed.

Purchase the Olympus LS-10 Handheld Digital Recorder and receive a FREE $50 Gift Certificate - OR - a FREE Case, 4GB SD Card and a $20 GIft Certificate - OR - a FREE Tripod Stand, 4GB SD Card and a $20 GIft Certificate

Do all of your shopping at www.abesofmaine.com. Stay tuned to our blog, as in our next post we’ll make a special offer to all those who post a comment!

(All comments are moderated before being approved and posted to the blog. Opinions expressed in comments made in response to a blog posting are solely those of the commenter and not Abe’s of Maine or any of it’s employees).

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

*All comments will be moderated before posting. Make your purchases at www.abesofmaine.com

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

SanDisk 4GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card - 59.95

Nikon 10×25 Trailblazer Waterproof Binoculars - 89.95

GLD Bull Blaster Dart Board - 27.99

Dean Vendetta XM Electric Guitar - 99.00

Krups Sandwich, Panini and Waffle Maker - 73.99

LifeSpan Heart Rate Ring - 39.99

Peavey Audition Guitar Amplifier - 47.00

Danelectro Fab Chorus Guitar Pedal - 19.95

Behringer C1 Large Diaphragm Studio Condenser Microphone - 45.00

Behringer AC-108 15 Watt Vintage TUbe Guitar Amplifier - 65.00

Of course, check out www.abesofmaine.com for more great deals every day!

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

We here at Abe’s want you  to be able to experience pristine digital recording in the palm of your hand so we’re making an offer. We’d like to know how you would (or already do) use a portable handheld digital recorder. Tell us and our readers your thoughts and we’ll give the first 30 people to post a comment $50 off ANY one of the handheld recorders listed below. Please be sure to use your real email address so that we can send you your special promo code. Your comments must pertain to the issue otherwise it will not be posted and you will not qualify for the promo. This offer will only be good through Tuesday, August 5. And lastly, please keep it clean as Abe’s is a family oriented business. All comments will be moderated before posting. Good luck!

Zoom H4

Edirol: R-09HR

Korg: MR-1(currently also featuring a $200 CASH BACK rebate from Korg through 8/31/08)

Sony: PCM-D50 & PCM-D1

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

To get you started, here are some of the hottest products that we’re currently offering in our Closeout section at prices or as specials that need to be seen to be believed!

Digital Cameras: NIkon Coolpix S52 in Red, Kodak EasyShare Z721 IS Zoom, Pentax K100d SUper with 18-55mm Lens Kit

Fitness Equipment: Proform GT 85 Upright Bike,Proform Razor 400 Elliptical, Proform 465 Recumbent Bike

Large Appliances: Whirlpool Stainless Steel Gas Cooktop, Sharp R320HK Countertop Microwave

Musical Instruments: Vox DA10 Guitar Amplifier, Dean Acoustic/Electric Guitar Package with Amp, IK Multimedia Stomp IO, Danelectro and Korg Pedal and Tuner Bundle,

Pro Audio: Cad Trion Microphone Bundle, Peavey PV215 Loudspeaker, Alesis iMultiMix8USB, Sennheiser MD421II Studio/Live Microphone

Home Audio: Pioneer Infrared Wireless Surround Sound Headphones, Crosley Nostalgia Autorama

Be sure to check back often as we will be posting on this blog at least twice a week. Our next post will include a special offer to commenters! 

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

The Nikon Coolpix series of cameras are a bargain for the price. The S550 and S600 series give you 10 megapixels (1 megapixel = 1 million pixels) while the P5100 has a whopping 12.1 megapixels. There is also the Canon PowerShot SD770IS and SD790 IS both offer 10 megapixel with a nice big 3″ screen. Pentax features the Optio S12 and A40 models, each of which give you a staggering 12 megapixels in a small package. Panasonic offers the Lumix DMC-FS20 which gives you 10.1 megapixels and 4x optical zoom while the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W170 gives you 10.1 megapixels and 5x optical zoom! The best thing about all of these cameras is that none of them will cost you more than $299 while some of them are even less than $199.

There are many other compact digital cameras from the likes of Casio, Olympus and Fuji but the bottom line to remember is: Megapixels don’t have to equal mega-bucks.  

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics

For this first installment we’ll talk about one of our hottest new departments, Pro Audio and Musical Instruments. Abe’s of Maine offers thousands of products that cater to all our friends in the music industry, from the seasoned pro to the beginning student. While there are dozens of different roles one can play within the music industry, these days more and more people are finding themselves playing more than one role, especially with the explosion of the home studio market. We’d like to offer some tips to help facilitate efficient and great sounding sessions in your home studio.

Many home studio owners find themselves limited by the small space their studios are situated in. Whether its a bedroom, a basement or a garage we can feel limited by the lack of space afforded to us. The most important thing to remember though is that while our studios may be situated in one area, that doesn’t mean we can’t use ALL of our surroundings to our benfit. It just may require some longer cables. Here are some suggestions with regards to tracking guitar amps:

1. Need an echo chamber? Want some natural short reverb? Your bathroom is all tiled up and ready to go! When recording your next guitar track try this: Place your guitar amp in the bath tub and tilt it upwards. Place one mic right on the grill and place one up in the air. For the close mic using a directional dynamic mic like the Shure SM57 or the Sennheiser MD421 II will allow you to capture the amp without a lot of the room sound in it. For the room mic using a condenser mic like the RODE NT2000 or the Audio-Technica AT4050 you’ll get all the sound bouncing off al those tiles. Once you get that perfect take, go ahead and blend the two tracks together to taste! Another option is to throw a ribbon mic (which are incredibly popular on guitar amps) like the CAD Trion 7000 close to the amp. A ribbon mic is bi-directional so one side will face the amp and get that direct sound while the other side will be pointing upward and capturing the room sound. Just be sure to listen first and get the placement right as you won’t be able to separate these two signals later on.

2. What if you’re looking for the opposite? Lets say you want a really dead and dry guitar track but you don’t have a vocal booth or small isolation chamber. Make use of what you do have. Go into your living room or den and grab the cushions off of your sofa. Build a little room around your amp or cabinet and place the mic inside of it. Voila! Instant isolation! There are other methods too which can prove useful. Products like sE Elctronics Reflexion Filter are normally set up on a mic stand in order to deaden a vocal track and take the room out of the recording. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t take it off the stand and set it on the floor in front of your amp. A real fun one is using a hardshell case as a gobo. Usually a hard case has a hard reflective outside but inside its lined with a plush, more absorptive material. Open up the case and stand it in front of your amp. If you want to deaden the sound a little face the the inside of the case towards the amp. If you want to increase the reflectivity of the sound in the room, face the outside of the case towards the amp. Be creative!

3. Lastly, hallways can be very useful. Sometimes we want to capture the sound the of the guitar amp as if it were in a very large room. But what if your house has low ceilings and no really large rooms? Place your amp at one end of the hallway and a mic all the way at the other end, up in the air. While you may not have a large room, the length of the hallway may add some distance and surface area to give that “large room” sound. Experimant with putting the amp in the middle of the hallway and a mic at each end. If it’s an open-back amp like the Peavey Bandit 112 or the Vox Pathfinder the mic behind will pick up a little different sound and the two tracks can be blended together. Just make sure to adjust the mics to eliminate any phase issues, or see if swapping the phase of one mic will help.

We hope this first installment has been informative and fun! Don’t be afraid to experiment with what you’ve got available to you. Remember, the first rule of recording is: There are no rules! Be sure to check back often for more tips and features.

Cameras, Video, Televisions, GPS, Pro Audio, Musical Instruments, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Fitness Equipment, Car Electronics