J.A.W.

I think you and I were posting at the same time--it just took me a few minutes to get the formatting correct in my quotation box. Maybe the two threads can be merged. I PMed the moderators about it.

I posted that message earlier today, here

Just got this e-mail from Mosaic: Mosaic Records has not been immune to the shrinkage of the music industry and the ailing economy. Over the past two years, this has forced us to make some tough decisions and tighten our belt on more than one occasion. In February, survival required us to close our warehouse and outsource our fulfillment to an excellent operation nearby. Like any new relationship, there will be bumps in the road initially but we are doing everything possible to insure that the quality of our operations maintain the high standard to which you have become accustomed. Please bear with us during this transitional period. Our goal is to continue to mine vaults and issue definitive box sets of great jazz. The setbacks in the record industry have only made us more committed to the Mosaic Records mission.

The winning bids ranged from $22.50 to $56.55.

An eBay search produced this page within a few seconds I can't access that, Hans. You have to be a member or something. MG Yep, you have to be an eBay member and sign in to see that page. From what you said I gather you're not a member and didn't bid on any of the sets.

An eBay search produced this page within a few seconds

Not all revamped boxes from Amazon U.K. come with the shoebox-type lid. I got mine from Amazon U.K. with the "old" box (which is still intact), but with glue-free CDs. I immediately put the CDs in Japanese "cloth" inner mini-LP sleeves.

You can find all info here. They're highly recommended.

I bought many of those TOCJ-6xxx CDs ("TOCJ24s") when they came out and after extensive listening I found them very fatiguing. I compared some of them to their McMaster and "Blue Note Works" counterparts and the "TOCJ24s", which were mastered by Japanese engineers, were much less dynamic/much more compressed and too loud to my ears; they also sounded pretty harsh to me. Not my cup of tea. I have heard the CD-layers (I don't have an SACD player) of a few Hoffman-mastered hybrid Blue Note SACDs and no XRCDs (yet). The Hoffmans sounded good, but there was no big difference with my "Blue Note Works" discs and I can't really justify shelling out big bucks for them.

I assume you know that most of the Mosaics you're looking for usually go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

In my experience Ray Mizutani (Mundo) often lists CDs on his site that he can't really supply because they are no longer available. Besides, his prices (in U.S. dollars) are pretty high compared to what others, like Hiroshi and CD Japan, charge. Hiroshi Tanno and CD Japan are both legit (why wouldn't they be?) and reliable; they offer excellent service, with reasonable prices. They're nothing like Caiman. By the way, on Hoffman's site someone posted a message from Tower's president, which stated that Tower had broken off all relations with Caiman.

Hiroshi apparently forgot about the 1987 Japanese CD reissue in the 32XD series and the 1992 CD reissue, MCA/Impulse! MVCI-23061; I have that one (and am not going to sell it). I think it was also released in the later 20-bit remastered MVCJ-19xxx series and maybe also in the MVCZ series. I don't know if there was a mini-LP sleeve version in the UCCI series. There are several copies on Amazon Japan, here. Maybe someone in Japan or Hiroshi can help you get one; why don't you mail him the link to the Amazon Japan page and ask him.

Hiroshi Tanno is based in Fukuoka City, Japan. Here's his website; his e-mail address is hiroshi@earlyrecords.com. Hiroshi's prices are the Japanese list prices. He takes PayPal and his overseas shipping rates are very reasonable. He can supply all jazz LPs and CDs that are currently available in Japan, and sometimes also OOP items. His service is excellent.

For the record: I was comparing the 1993 Japanese CD reissue of the Rowles album and the same tracks on the Mosaic Select.

Just listened to it for the first time in ages and you're right, it doesn't sound very good. Also listened to the same tracks on the Mosaic Select and those don't sound much better, so I'm guessing the recording is to blame or the source isn't in a very good state.

I have the 1993 Japanese CD reissue of Jimmy Rowles' Liberty album Rare - But Well Done (TOCJ-5442). It's a straight reissue of the original album and the two extra tracks are missing.

Funny, Hoffman posted the same warning over on his forum at about the same time

Nope.

Taiyo Yuden is now JVC.

Not only this board, I think. Those Mercury sets sound pretty good and I assume some Hoffman board members are also keen

Good grief! $80 a set! Bollocks to that! I'm a professional cheapskate; average price I pay for CDs is $7-8. Maximum ever (when I was at work) was about $60 (for an LP). Thanks folks, but I'm clearly out of my league in even thinking of this. MG If nobody else bids on these sets (not very likely, but it has happened) you are smack-dab-in-the-middle of your league. Set a maximum amount you're willing to pay, snipe ... and hope you get one/two or more. I don't do eBay anymore, but in the past I've been extremely lucky with some of the auctions there. At least give it a shot! You'll be frustrated if someone else gets these for $20 per box. Volkher is right - remember that these are 3CD-sets, so I assume your price range for these would be $21 - $24.

MG, I edited my post above

All 7 volumes are up on eBay at the moment with 4 days to go. No bids yet (but probably snipers in the wings). I managed to get mine from all around the globe and I have the complete run now (wasn't cheap), but whoever is interested in these might be able to get them cheaper than what they usually go for. No idea. Give it a try. Thanks. How do I find them NOF? MG I searched for "Complete Dinah Washington Mercury" on eBay and found these in a few seconds If you plan to bid on these, my advice would be to wait until the last few seconds of the auctions and then place bids. If you bid early on eBay you're only inviting others to try and outbid you, which will drive the prices up. Better still, if you're bidding on several auctions that, like these ones, end at almost the same time, use a sniping service: you can place your maximum bids with them anytime you want during the auction and they'll do the bidding in the last few seconds for you.

link

Many of the members of that forum were booted off the Hoffman forum. Among others, I'll bet..... I lurked at that forum for a while, but I found it quite uninteresting and I didn't appreciate the many foul-mouthed posts.