Blue Note CD-Rs now on Amazon

[AndrewHill]

I also noticed on that list that they have titles there that are currently available as RVG's like JR Moterose, Hill's Smokestack and Here Comes Louis Smith among others. Why would they make those available at a higher price than the RVG's?

Saw they had Hill's Eternal Spirit available as a CDR. Wouldn't it make far better sense to not offer the currently available Smokestack and make the far rarer But Not Farewell available again?

[Aggie87]

A couple of questions:

One: does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

Two: if anyone has one of these Blue Note CD-R's, would they be willing to scan the cover, tray card and cd, to see what they look like?

Thanks in advance!

HG

If they can be re-sold on Amazon like any other CD, what is to stop anyone else from simply burning copies and re-selling them?

I see this only muddying the whole market, not helping it. Selling FLACs and downloadable art makes more sense to me. Either way, I wouldn't purchase a used CDR or "used" FLAC files from Amazon or anywhere else.

[clifford_thornton]

I also noticed on that list that they have titles there that are currently available as RVG's like JR Moterose, Hill's Smokestack and Here Comes Louis Smith among others. Why would they make those available at a higher price than the RVG's?

I noticed that too and it is idiotic, or seems so.

As for muddying the market, well, the music industry is in the shitter already. What more can it possibly do?

As a vinyl head, I never thought I'd hear myself saying it, but I'm going to miss CD's.

[CSB046]

One: does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

HG

Can't say for sure. What's odd is that a couple of secondary sellers are currently selling CD-Rs of Donald Byrd's Mustang! through Amazon...but this does NOT appear to be one of the group that Blue Note just released.

Wonder if they actually have permission to do so.

(And I have no actual evidence one way or another, so I'm not accusing them of anything.)

[clifford_thornton]

I mean, I have a number of small-edition/artist-released CD-Rs that I have paid for and that is an entirely different thing. On the used market, some of those are kind of expensive, like the Kawabata Makoto stuff... but BN on-demand? I agree that just having these as downloads and dropping them on eMusic or something makes the most sense.

[WD45]

I mean, I have a number of small-edition/artist-released CD-Rs that I have paid for and that is an entirely different thing. On the used market, some of those are kind of expensive, like the Kawabata Makoto stuff... but BN on-demand? I agree that just having these as downloads and dropping them on eMusic or something makes the most sense.

Kawabata! Love me some Acid Mothers Temple. I have a pal who is way into them, and pursuing those CD-Rs can be an expensive proposition, for sure.

[mgraham333]

A couple of questions:

One: does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

Two: if anyone has one of these Blue Note CD-R's, would they be willing to scan the cover, tray card and cd, to see what they look like?

Thanks in advance!

HG

I can asnwer #2 as some discussion about these CD-Rs has been had here.

I posted pictures here.

[AndrewHill]

A couple of questions:

One: does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

Two: if anyone has one of these Blue Note CD-R's, would they be willing to scan the cover, tray card and cd, to see what they look like?

Thanks in advance!

HG

I can asnwer #2 as some discussion about these CD-Rs has been had here.

I posted pictures here.

Wow, thanks so much for those pics and link. There seems to be very few differences between the cdr's and the real deal. But overall, they look quite convincing.

[DukeCity]

Why would Hank Mobley's "A Slice of the Top" in CD-R format be listed as a "LIMITED EDITION"? Isn't the the whole print-on-demand concept designed to eliminate that worry?

Am I missing something (in this particular situation)?

[Chuck Nessa]

Why would Hank Mobley's "A Slice of the Top" in CD-R format be listed as a "LIMITED EDITION"? Isn't the the whole print-on-demand concept designed to eliminate that worry?

Am I missing something (in this particular situation)?

Amazon undoubtedly did a copy/paste of old information about this release. Sloppy work on the webmaster's part.

"CD-Rs on demand" is labor intensive so i understand the pricing (with a couple of obvious errors excepted). They actually cost more to produce.

If you don't want them, don't buy them.

[Soul Stream]

Would there be any sound quality difference between a CD and a CDR? They look good to me..ordered a couple already.

[Chuck Nessa]

Should not be a difference.

[Teasing the Korean]

Should not be a difference.

"Should" being the key word in that sentence.

[BruceH]

A couple of questions:

One: does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

Two: if anyone has one of these Blue Note CD-R's, would they be willing to scan the cover, tray card and cd, to see what they look like?

Thanks in advance!

HG

If they can be re-sold on Amazon like any other CD, what is to stop anyone else from simply burning copies and re-selling them?

I see this only muddying the whole market, not helping it. Selling FLACs and downloadable art makes more sense to me. Either way, I wouldn't purchase a used CDR or "used" FLAC files from Amazon or anywhere else.

I hate it when people give me FLAC.

[Shawn]

Should not be a difference.

What Chuck said. 1's and 0's are 1's and 0's.

[CJ Shearn]

I may spring for the Shaw at some point because I'd really like to hear that music. I noticed they placed a caveat that the packaging may be slightly different, like the Hutcherson has a clear case insert instead of what I presume was the original white tray piece. The prices may be what they are because they duplicate all the original art+ disc label

[hprill0]

does anyone know if these are allowed to be sold on the "used" market at Amazon or Ebay and will they be correctly identified there as CD-R's?

As long as you identify them correctly as CD-Rs, there should be no problem selling them on eBay, as they are legal copies.

As for "will they be identified correctly", I can say "not necessarily". These CDs are shrinkwrapped, and if a seller is not aware of the little details that distinguish them from the regular CD issue, it is extremely likely that they will think these are regular CDs and will accidentally sell them as such. This has already happened to me. After explaining everything to the seller, he did give me a refund, but this can turn into a major headache for eBay customers and sellers alike.

if anyone has one of these Blue Note CD-R's, would they be willing to scan the cover, tray card and cd, to see what they look like?

Can't scan it at the moment, but the features to look out for are:

• slightly washed-out colours, or text that appears unsharp
  
• an uncommon, square "Compact Disc" logo rather than the standard one, with "CD-R Media" printed in small letters below it
  
• "Manufactured by Amazon.com" printed in tiny letters above the UPC bar code on the back
  

I'll upload a scan of these details later.

[hprill0]

Would there be any sound quality difference between a CD and a CDR? They look good to me..ordered a couple already.

The difference in sound quality is audible only on extremely good stereos, but the real problem is that CD-Rs can disintegrate very quickly and can become unuseable after as little as 5 years, whereas CDs will hold up for at least 20 years.

[hprill0]

Should not be a difference.

What Chuck said. 1's and 0's are 1's and 0's.

Yes, but CD-Rs are more prone to read errors than CDs, so your CD player's error correction may have to guess more of these 1's and 0's because it can't read them properly, resulting in an overall poorer sound.

[Claude]

If the copies are done right, there is no difference in sound.

However, because these are CD-Rs which can be damaged more easily, I would back them up on a hard drive (rip the CD with EAC, the compress losslessly with FLAC). At least those who become unavailable (who knows how long this CD-R reissue program will run).

Edited January 15, 2009 by Claude

[Teasing the Korean]

Should not be a difference.

What Chuck said. 1's and 0's are 1's and 0's.

NO, you are at the mercy of the program used in question.

Have you ever extracted a damaged CD with iTunes? It will replicate the damaged parts and not give you an error message. How can you be sure that literally every sample was copied correctly when you don't even know the process involved in making the CD-R?

In addition, CD-Rs can go bad, believe me.

Edited January 15, 2009 by Teasing the Korean

[Kevin Bresnahan]

The difference in sound quality is audible only on extremely good stereos, but the real problem is that CD-Rs can disintegrate very quickly and can become unuseable after as little as 5 years, whereas CDs will hold up for at least 20 years.

I don't see one valid point in this sentence. 5 talking points in one sentence, all with no validity in my real-world experience.

1) If a system is "extremely good", it would have no problems extracting the 1's and 0's from CD-R media. Therefore this "extremely good stereo" would be less able to discern a CD-R.

2) What is the definition of an "extremely good stereo"? An expensive one? Who defines "extremely good"? What piece of the playback chain makes it "extremely good"?

3) CD-Rs don't "disintegrate". There is a slight chance that if one was subjected to high heat and bright light, the dye layer could fade, but the CD will never disintegrate.

4) I have several music and data CD-Rs that are over 13 years old. Not one has failed. I have never had a CD-R fail.

5) Pressed CDs will last much, much longer than 20 years. Where on earth did you come up that number? I have hundreds of CDs that are already well over 20 years old.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

NO, you are at the mercy of the program used in question.

Have you ever extracted a damaged CD with iTunes? It will replicate the damaged parts and not give you an error message. How can you be sure that literally every sample was copied correctly when you don't even know the process involved in making the CD-R?

In addition, CD-Rs can go bad, believe me.

What is a "damaged part" of a CD??

A little CD101 is in order here. The 1's and 0's on a CD are NOT a linear representation of the analog signal. After the analog signal is digitized, those 1's and 0's are mixed up in a special way and moved all over the CD to prevent a small scratch from obliterating the complete string of data. When a few 1's and 0's are "scratched out", the error correction uses the 1's and 0's from other parts of the CD to fill those "blanks" back in.

What that means is that every "sample" does not have to extracted with 100% accuracy. It's better if it is, but it doesn't have to be.

The only other thing I can add is to never use iTunes if you want the best possible copy. Always use Exact Audio Copy. It reads and re-reads individual bits off of the CD to make sure every bit is read accurately.

As for CD-Rs going bad... if this is happening to you, I'd suggest:

1) Keep your CD-Rs away from high heat and bright light. Never leave a CD-R laying on your car dashboard.

2) Buy better blanks. I only buy Taiyo Yuden or Mitsui blanks. Yeah, I pay a bit more, but I worry a lot less about the longevity.

[Teasing the Korean]

A CD-R is only as good as the extraction process that was used with the source, and the quality of the CD-R itself. I'm not paying top dollar when those additional factors can affect the final product.

And, yes, CD-Rs CAN go bad after years, and work on some players but not others.

[Teasing the Korean]

A little CD101 is in order here. The 1's and 0's on a CD are NOT a linear representation of the analog signal. After the analog signal is digitized, those 1's and 0's are mixed up in a special way and moved all over the CD to prevent a small scratch from obliterating the complete string of data. When a few 1's and 0's are "scratched out", the error correction uses the 1's and 0's from other parts of the CD to fill those "blanks" back in.

Depending on the program that is being used to extract a CD. I'm not a psychic, so I'm not paying $20 when I don't know the process that was used.