But who are these people in the world who lose manuals?! It is ridiculous that an adult cannot keep an 8 x 11 " object without losing it. There is nothing worse than buying some used equipment and the choad on the other end is like "no manual". Where could it possibly be? Did you throw it away? Did you leave it at your friends house because you were to high to remember it, and then your friend was too high to give it back? (not the weed's fault, btw), or is it that your unit is stolen property?...Or did you just misplace it somewhere in your meaningless life, and it became so burried by the other mundanity that you could never locate it? If so, that is sad - you need a psychological evaluation. However, if you never plan on selling the item again, then it's somewhat excusable, free country. But when you are scrambbling around to sell gear because you are poor, and you don't have the manual, you are costing yourself $20 easily. The manual indicates that the previous owner was at least sort of responsible.
People always want the manual. The manual helps society use the item more effectively. People who choose to not take care of the manual as an extension of the unit itself are bascially watering down society with their own brand of ambivalent stupidity.
How do you buy a 3000 dollar synthesizer and not keep the manual? Any gear for that matter. But still, if you can get 3 grand together, you must have some understanding of value -wait... no...thats not true...maybe some people are just careless fools.
Personally, I keep the boxes, packing materials, manuals, software, All of IT!, becaue I know that that stuff alone could be worth 10-15% of the total price. But also, it just feels better knowing that at anymoment, I might read up on something in the manual and learn a new trick I didn't know before. The whole experience can be passed on to the next buyer, even if it's 20 years later. I have purchased some 30 years old gear before, it had all that stuff - and I felt like I had a new item - and I paid just a little more for it. Mainly because I knew the guy wasnt some heathen who used his gear to collect all the dust and fluids of his mortal life. But even if he did, the box was a sheath that symbolically kept that guys life out of my new (used ) synth.
I don't expect every one to keep the boxes because that can be a large storage issue. But a manual can be kept under a mattress and never touched until you are evicted again.
The absolut worst vioulation, is that gear you see in the pawn shop, that has just been beaten, and left out in the sun, and every knob, button and slider is just held together by singular molecular thread. Paint is knicked off...but even when it's that bad, if the person has been smart enoguh to keep the manual, you can still run the thing through a series of tests and
see how well the unit functions.
Who's with me on this? I welcome the jack-mule who brings that argument that - it's their money, if they want to crap on the manual then it's their right. And while that's constitutionally true - it wont change your idiot status.
I am not sure how the drug references apply here though. Not all musicians like, use or even care about them. Also, some people are simply forgetful without any drugs. Others are also just morons... 