The price for the keyboard itself is in the ball park but the flash ram board price(s) are exorbitantly high if you ask me. $300.00 for the "1"GB?? So does that mean the "2"GB version will be double i.e. $600.00!?!? And then the FireWire card for another $300.00?? Now I see why Yamaha wanted to keep the price of the XF keyboard comparable to the XS because they're charging an arm and leg for the extras.

Leave it to Yammie to figure out a way to gouge their customers on an already "high-priced" keyboard right? I'm pretty certain they'll still sell a boatload of them anyway though. The carrot stick will be just too hard for many Yammie fans to resist in my humble opinion and the large amount of non-volatile Flash RAM availability is certain to be a BIG draw, even if people end up having to pay "through the nose" for 'em. Yamaha's marketing division sure knows how to bring something to market that has "just enough" curb appeal to make people upgrade to the next model and they should be commended for their "shrewd" business practices - from a business perspective that is. Even though the consumer ultimately ends up getting the raw end of the deal it should be duly noted. At least that's my opinion anyway. I certainly won't fault people for buying or upgrading to the XF since it appears to be an excellent offering on Yamaha's part. But an expensive offering to the consumer I might add - especially when you include the extra add-on's to the equation. C'est la Vie right! Can't take it with you... naked into the world we came and naked we will leave - and penniless perhaps too. Or rather...

Sorry, I'll pass on the XF. But again, I would definitely have considered it a front running prospect if I didn't have a superb workstation already. Which I do, thank you.

All the best,
Mike

PS: I would like to point out that Roland also charges waayyyyy too much for their ARX add-on cards for the Fantom G line as well - just so people don't think I'm singling out Yamaha. Kudos to Yammie for at least keeping the price of the XF in line with XS prices. They could have jacked the price of the XF itself in addition to the add-on extras. So think of it as a small token of benevolence on Yammie's part I reckon huh.