Having determined that electronic drums were a viable option, I decided that it was time to do some product research. Since the electronic drum business had boomed from what it was many years ago, there were many companies with many products and many new designs.

Roland, of course, is the market front runner. And, while they have a very nice product, they also are a bit pricey. Convinced that there were other products with similar features at lower prices, I began looking and comparing.

I finally settled on a set of Alesis DM5s. They had all of the features that I was looking for at a price that I could afford. So, I began looking around for the best price on line.

The first place that I checked had a great price on the drums. But, when I went to order them, they were “MD”, manufacturer discontinued. Bah! If I couldn’t get this set, I would have to move up to the next set, a DM10 at twice the cost.

I started scanning websites looking for the drums. I figured that my best chance was to find a site that had a set in stock. But site after site was the same. MD!

Finally, I found a site that would accept my order. Nervously, I put in my credit card information. Moments later, I received an order confirmation from Guitar Center. Great! I found a set and they would ship them the next week.

But, after a few days, I received an email saying that my purchase was on back order from the manufacturer. Rats! This meant that they didn’t have the product in stock and that my order may be subject to MD!

For the next 2 weeks, I received emails saying that my shipment was still on back order. I braced my self for the inevitable notice that my order could not be fulfilled and that I would need to purchase the DM10 set at twice the cost.

Finally, I received a phone call saying that the drum set was no longer available. I braced my self for the next line of questions; would I like to cancel my order or purchase the more expensive DM10 set?

The DM10 set was twice the money. But, if I said “no”, I would have to start all over on acquiring a set of drums. But then, the caller said that they would substitute the DM10s set for the same price as the DM5s.

WOW!!! I could get the more expensive set of drums for the same price as the set that I had ordered. This meant that I was getting the more expensive set of drums for half the price. YES!!!

I told the caller that I would agree to the substitute and asked when they would be shipped. He assured me that the drums were in stock and that they would be shipped the next day. YES, YES, YES!!!