PCXT
Very Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2016
- Messages
- 277
- Age
- 36
You remember that I restored the audio player and speakers some time ago? So, well, I decided that I will buy some CDs if they will be cheap in a flea market.
The good thing is that I have a complete information what I like, so I know what to look for, so I bought a dozen of CDs. And here is what I learned:
- There are two kinds of CD sellers in these markets. Those who specialize in CDs have it usually in good shape, but much more expensive. Those who sell in bulk, with lots of other junk from emptied attics and basements, may have literally everything, even very rare CDs, and they will be much, much cheaper (like, quite rare 1990s Gothic metal band from Sweden, CD bought for 1/15 of the average price in specialized CD sellers). On the other hand something usually has to be done with them - casing has to be fixed or dampened cover restored.
- While these CD sellers may offer a few genres for different prices, these "junk peddlers" may have totally unexpected things and it costs per piece. Like literally a pile of CDs from an old film studio, containing everything from soundtracks, generic melodies for ads, a 400 CD set of sound effects, to a nice dark ambient, which I had no idea it was ever released on CD. Yes, I bought the dark ambient.
- There are, but rarely, original CDs in envelopes with information like "Demonstration purposes only" or "For promotional use, not for resale". These have been usually played and re-played so many times that the data part is almost transparent and may be hard do play on older player. Loosely estimating hundreds, of not thousands of play hours, causing thermal decay of the layer.
- There are various CDs of the same band and title. And they differ. The cover may be the same. The CD may look the same. The more-or-less reliable thing is the code in the inner ring of the CD. But it may not be at all.
- There are also 1980s and 1990s CDs released in Post-Soviet countries. Some are considered pirate, some not. Usually these totally pirated copies have significantly worse CD quality and no cover, cover combined of the original one and track list, or xero copy of cover so they are easily distinguishable. And there are also things looking like a strange editions of originals - I found out that the thing with these was MUCH more complex than ordinary piracy. For example, I found the doom metal CD which had a proper quality version of all songs... but with frequency characteristics like tape mastering version. Definitely not a cassette rip, but made from different original "matrix"! And I think the story is really interesting.
So generally in these countries piracy was de facto legal, but many western publishers tried to sell there after the fall of USSR by dealing with small, one-person publishers. However, the post-soviet law stated that up to some number of copies put to market it is totally OK for a small one-person company to do, but selling more CDs required the license to be made not between the western studio and eastern one man publisher, but through the national "Artists association" (there were different names for it in Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Latvia). So even when there was a west-east deal, the eastern side could not press more than some number of CDs. Then, usually the eastern one-man publisher signed a deal with Association. That could be worse or better for them - some music was even subsidized by the association. However, having such deal with Russian national association signed by western company was treated in the market like signing a pact with a devil, so they rarely signed the deal too. This caused an interesting situation - eastern publishers could press as much CDs as they wanted, and western publishers could theoretically get gains from it through Association, but then their respect would be then lost so much that they may not get any new artists in the west.
- There are also mostly late-90s Turkish pirated copies which really look like originals. The noise analysis returns MPEG compression-like characteristics in about 50% of them. Can be distinguished because publishers of these put their contact info or shop address somewhere in the back cover, usually with small, 8 or 9 point font.
The good thing is that I have a complete information what I like, so I know what to look for, so I bought a dozen of CDs. And here is what I learned:
- There are two kinds of CD sellers in these markets. Those who specialize in CDs have it usually in good shape, but much more expensive. Those who sell in bulk, with lots of other junk from emptied attics and basements, may have literally everything, even very rare CDs, and they will be much, much cheaper (like, quite rare 1990s Gothic metal band from Sweden, CD bought for 1/15 of the average price in specialized CD sellers). On the other hand something usually has to be done with them - casing has to be fixed or dampened cover restored.
- While these CD sellers may offer a few genres for different prices, these "junk peddlers" may have totally unexpected things and it costs per piece. Like literally a pile of CDs from an old film studio, containing everything from soundtracks, generic melodies for ads, a 400 CD set of sound effects, to a nice dark ambient, which I had no idea it was ever released on CD. Yes, I bought the dark ambient.
- There are, but rarely, original CDs in envelopes with information like "Demonstration purposes only" or "For promotional use, not for resale". These have been usually played and re-played so many times that the data part is almost transparent and may be hard do play on older player. Loosely estimating hundreds, of not thousands of play hours, causing thermal decay of the layer.
- There are various CDs of the same band and title. And they differ. The cover may be the same. The CD may look the same. The more-or-less reliable thing is the code in the inner ring of the CD. But it may not be at all.
- There are also 1980s and 1990s CDs released in Post-Soviet countries. Some are considered pirate, some not. Usually these totally pirated copies have significantly worse CD quality and no cover, cover combined of the original one and track list, or xero copy of cover so they are easily distinguishable. And there are also things looking like a strange editions of originals - I found out that the thing with these was MUCH more complex than ordinary piracy. For example, I found the doom metal CD which had a proper quality version of all songs... but with frequency characteristics like tape mastering version. Definitely not a cassette rip, but made from different original "matrix"! And I think the story is really interesting.
So generally in these countries piracy was de facto legal, but many western publishers tried to sell there after the fall of USSR by dealing with small, one-person publishers. However, the post-soviet law stated that up to some number of copies put to market it is totally OK for a small one-person company to do, but selling more CDs required the license to be made not between the western studio and eastern one man publisher, but through the national "Artists association" (there were different names for it in Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Latvia). So even when there was a west-east deal, the eastern side could not press more than some number of CDs. Then, usually the eastern one-man publisher signed a deal with Association. That could be worse or better for them - some music was even subsidized by the association. However, having such deal with Russian national association signed by western company was treated in the market like signing a pact with a devil, so they rarely signed the deal too. This caused an interesting situation - eastern publishers could press as much CDs as they wanted, and western publishers could theoretically get gains from it through Association, but then their respect would be then lost so much that they may not get any new artists in the west.
- There are also mostly late-90s Turkish pirated copies which really look like originals. The noise analysis returns MPEG compression-like characteristics in about 50% of them. Can be distinguished because publishers of these put their contact info or shop address somewhere in the back cover, usually with small, 8 or 9 point font.
