What is a good intro to "Mahler"?

FWIW, i have an excellent (by any standard) LP and CDP set up. As time goes on i find myself listening more to music in my CD collection than the LP's. Everytime i put on an LP i have to do that audiophile ritual of cleaning etc the result is that i then try to justify what i'm doing by critiqueing the "sound" which takes my attention away from the performance itself. with CD's i just select what i want to hear and put it on, sit back and enjoy. I'll admit it didn't happen over night but i'm glad it did. Now the only LP's i listen to are the ones i select for the performance itself. The trick is in finding a CDP that does it for you, sonically speaking. One of the driving forces for me it doing the is the lack of software available for me on LP's, the Mahler situation is just a small example. Hope you find some middle ground.

"Good day. May I please introduce you to Mr Mahler?"

You both make good points, particularly from the standpoint of experience. Speaking with "new-comer's optimism," I'm sure my position will change in time. And you're right, it makes no sense to limit exposure to music due to format prejudice. I'll continue looking for new material, with an emphasis on music.

Wow, this Super Analogue is Super Bassy! It's too bad, it would have been a good recording otherwise. I wonder how they spent so much in the recording process and overlooked this?

I've found that a lot of the Super Analogues sound this way, compared to the originals. It's the remastering process, not the recording process; don't know why they're so heavy handed with the bass, and it's not always done on their reissues, either. If you're thinking of getting some of these, you might call Robert Pincus at Cisco next time you want to order, as he's been honest with me about whether the record I'm curious about is a good transfer and worth getting. As far as the Solti, whose performance I like and the recording of which, if you can listen through the bass level, seems decent enough, goes, see if you can find a copy of the original Decca in the used record bins (make sure its his analog, not digital, cycle). It may be that Speakers Corner or whoever is re-releasing a lot of the old Deccas (and doing an excellent job of it, without jacking up the bass levels) will do this title--they've already reissued the Solti Mahler 1 and 2, and I just got his Sacre du Printemps from them, so maybe...?