Should you buy or rent musical instruments?

Consider buying if ...

- Your child has played and enjoyed the same instrument for a while. "It often takes at least a year to tell if a child will stick with an instrument," says Kenny O'Brien, president of Music and Arts, in Frederick, Maryland, the nation's largest school-music rental company.

- There's a budding Ringo in the house. Full drum kits are not usually available for rent.

December 17, 2004