Will CDR damage the CD player?

I just wish the record companies would put their efforts into improving quality and finding new talent instead of pumping out 'old fart greatest hit volume 25', or the next 'we have no talent but have nice arses' CD. Greedy greedy greedy. And why are Beatle recordings first released nearly 40 years ago still at full price when contemporary recordings can be had for £1.99? There are no costs involved for them now except manufacture and distribution, they could sell them for £1 each and still make a profit. Greedy. greedy. greedy, and then the reps come on TV and bleat about how copying prevents them developing new talent etc. What bollocks.

Thank god for Linn, Naim, and several others who show what can be done with a little care.

Anyone who would like an example of great music AND fantastic sound quality should check out Eric Bibb's 'Painting Signs'.

Rant over. now doesn't that feel better.

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And why are Beatle recordings first released nearly 40 years ago still at full price when contemporary recordings can be had for £1.99? There are no costs involved for them now except manufacture and distribution, they could sell them for £1 each and still make a profit. Greedy.

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I agree, a total rip off, and the quality of the Beatles digital masters is absolute shite too. So, to recap, absolute top dollar price being charged for old material that has made millions for all concerned is still being flogged to Joe Public in the form of outdated crap quality early digital masters. The current vinyl is no better, it is mastered from the same appalling digital masters, and as such is total overpriced crap. The Beatles produced some fabulous music, and if EMI got their act together I would happily fill out the many gaps in my collection, but as the current issues sound so fundamentally inferior to the original vinyl I am staying well clear. It appals me that the majority of Beatles fans don't have a clue as to how good the original vinyl was. I would not buy these crap CDs even at £1.99! As a consumer I am more than prepared to pay for a quality product, though will not pay top dollar for crap, if EMI get their product pirated as a result of this then that’s fine by me…

Tony.

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they help fund the other bands that dont make much money for emi

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I'm sorry but this just isn't true. EMI only invest in stuff they think is going to pay off for them, anything that doesn't is dropped like a hot brick. That's why we get all these 'greatest hits' rehash of safe product - minimum outlay, maximum return.

Tony is right about the quality of the original Beatle recordings, I once was fortunate to hear some of their original master tapes at Abbey Road studios - they were incredible, but the re-mastered CD's are criminal.

Has more bandwidth or something, which gives you more highs more lows and better seperation. Something like that anyhow. I have a version of inca roads by Zappa on HDCD and on my cdi (sans HDCD capability) it sounds rather thin but on a CDX it sound rather good, but of course I havn't heard the original to offer any comparisons.

It would be interesting to know just how much better this format is, as naim CDP have the capability but none of my Naim CDs have HDCD on the logo....

BTW I bought Natalie Unbrellas latest album this weekend, apparantly its had some sort of encription to stop it playing on Applemacs. Well it don't work, it loads straight up the dicks.

The recording is very brittle and crappy. But again I don't know if this is to do with the encription or the general quality.

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Originally posted by Martin C:
I just wonder whether the CDR will damage the CD player, I doubt it, just need to reconfirm and have a peace of mind.

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Martin,

I have no idea if this is really an issue, but CD-R's have about 30% less reflectivity than pressed CDs.

I don't know if the laser strength is boosted to compensate for this and, if so, whether it would have any effect on it's longevity

cheers, Martin

However the more recent lighter blue/green and silver discs play perfectly happily with no such problems.

Probably to do with laser intensities I would imagine.

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i have a friend very near the top in parlaphone, i know that his team will push for the smaller bands (look at all the smaller labels in the emi roster). but people like the beatles and kylie (considered a risk when she was resigned) give them the ability to push for the less comercial acts. how do you think they managed to keep radiohead going in the early years? or why are the beta band still in a contract with their relatively low sales?

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I think it is quite interesting to make a few comparisons with the music industry now vs. say where it was during the mid 70s. Lets start off with some carefully chosen categories, and some artists I would personally stick in those categories:

Cutting edge / groundbreakers
70s
Can, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Stooges, Brian Eno, Lou Reed, Pink Floyd, Tom Waits etc.
Now
Sigur Ros, Godspeed you black emperor, Pan Sonic, Plaid etc.

Quality Mainstream
70s
T.Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music etc.
Now
Radiohead, Coldplay, Mercury Rev etc.

Total shite
70s
The Osmonds, Bay City Rollers, David Cassidy etc.
Now
Steps, 5ive, Boyzone, Westlife, Atomic Kitten etc.

Ok, now to the point of my argument - in the 'Quality Mainstream' and 'Total shite' categories nothing has changed, they are still completely the domain of the major label, but in the 'Cutting edge / groundbreakers' area the independent labels are now the only ones taking the risk, not the majors. This was not historically the case, all the 70s acts I list in this category had major label deals. It seems that the major labels now only invest in new music once a independent has taken all the risk and broken a band into the mainstream. I see this as a significant change in the industry.

Tony.

Teenagers don't want to be like the 'old gits' like you and me

perhaps the point is that they don't want you to be able to spot the differences, and then they can laugh at you for being 'stupid' when you think you're being 'cool'

Stop whinging.......either buy the disc or don't.

CD's like everything else are priced to sell, if no one buys it, the price drops.....thats the law of the market.

The reason the price stays "high" is that there are plenty of others out there buying the stuff, so it cannot be that overpriced. You may think they are fools, they probably think you are stingy.

No one is forced to buy and if you don't like it, buy something else. Thats far more effective than whinging in the forum.

Regards

Mick

I understand that to produce a Beatle's Cd including printing and case costs you 45p, and that you have already made 100's of millions of pounds for yourself out of it in addition to the money paid to the artists who created the music. Since you have so much money you are obviously good at looking after it, so would you please take another £17 of mine, oh and I don't mind if you send 'the boys' round if I make a copy for the car, after all, even though I have paid you £17 for it, it still belongs to you.

Yours truly
Mr. Parry

ps. would you like to sleep with my daughter?

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No one is forced to buy and if you don't like it, buy something else. Thats far more effective than whinging in the forum.

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Mick, you misunderstand, regarding the Beatles CDs I am not buying and I am whinging on the forum. This is not an either / or situation. So, EMI do not sell me their product, they also have me pointing out how shite I think it’s mastering quality is to tons of people on the Internet. If enough people did this in enough places we might actually get the job done properly one day…

I whinged loudly for years that the Neu! albums were not available other than as crappy bootlegs, now they are available (and they are good), and whilst this is a total coincidence my whinging did absolutely no harm whatsoever.

I shall now whinge loudly that Ash Ra Temples first few albums are not available as anything other than dubious quality CDs and vinyl that has been mastered from original vinyl (you can hear the clicks and pops). The world needs decent copies of these albums, otherwise we can not be considered truly cultured as a species.

Tony.

Or it could be becuase there is a relatively small number of very large companies selling a resource that is essentially a natural monopoly and operating as a cartel.

Matthew

Come on...you know as well as me, if something does not sell, the price comes down. Cartels only flourish where there is a captive market who have to buy the goods irrespective of price. CD buyers are not captive.

With CD's, there are loads of outlets, even downloading from the net, so walking away will bring the price down.

Regards

Mick

You say there are 'loads of outlets for CD's' - lets park that for the moment as most have either HMV or Virgin signs outside, but there is only ONE source for the recorded work of the Beatles - EMI.

Anyhow it's not the price as such that is the problem, but the fact that they have a monopoly means they can adopt a couldn't care less attitude to quality and still rip off the customer. Contrast this with Naim who charge very, very high prices, but their quality of product and service is world class.

My stance still remains unchanged, if enough people stop buying EMI, then the price will drop.

Maggie Thatcher once said "you cannot buck the market" when her Chancellor was taking on the speculators in order to stabilise the Pound. She was right and he was wrong.....the market rules supreme.

Cruise Liners are dramatically dropping their prices because of over supply and fewer passengers...I aim to get myself a bargin.

Cruisers or CD's...it's all the same.

Regards

Mick

eyesss a goin!

If we walk away from cd purchases, the price could actually go up if the labels try to capitalize on hardcore fans who will buy a hard copy at expensive prices while everyone else downloads for free.

--Eric

If you walk away the retailers will reduce their prices because they need to sell in order to survive. A few dedicated buyers will not keep the market going.

When the prices drop to a sensible level, the buyers return and the market stabilizes.

There will always be a retailer who will undercut the other guy just to get a sale.

I bet you can buy the Beatles CD cheaper from America via the net........so do it and scare the retailer....thats business.

Regards

Mick

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Originally posted by Jez Quigley:
so would you please take another £17 of mine

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Jez,

you'd have to be daft to pay £17, when you can buy, say Sgt Peppers, from A&B sound for £8.40.

This is the best way to protest at high UK shop prices, and North American pressings often sound better than UK ones, too.

cheers, Martin

As for the Beatles, there are 24-bit stereo bootlegs of at least the titles through Rubber Soul circulating. Someone sent them on cdr to me. They are quite excellent-about as good as the 70s Parlophone's I have. Perhaps for next Christmas EMI will actually release the improved transfers. I just got a mono Capitol Sgt. Peppers this weekend, and most people don't know what they're missing with the cd transfers. But then again, most people don't know what they're missing with vinyl, with Naim, with anything better than a rack system.

--Eri