marcos@sdchema.UUCP (Marcos Hatada) (11/28/85)
Has anyone else out there come to the realization that compact disks
are, at least on one level, a way for the record companies to gouge the
customer? Specifically, why was the standard disk format chosen to hold
only 77 (?) minutes of music. Supposedly, this is long enough to hold
Beethoven's 9th on one disk. But it is clearly not long enough to hold
the standard double album (average running time about 84 minutes). Net
result: we are forced to shell out double bucks for double albums.
$24.00 (on sale) for the Who's Quadrophenia or Floyd's The Wall does not
seem like a good deal, especially in light of the fact that double LP's
are generally priced at a discount per album from single pocket sets.
Something is rotten in the state of CD-land, me thinks...
David ("Dr DAP") Pearlmanjeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (11/29/85)
> Has anyone else out there come to the realization that compact disks > are, at least on one level, a way for the record companies to gouge the > customer? Specifically, why was the standard disk format chosen to hold > only 77 (?) minutes of music. Supposedly, this is long enough to hold > Beethoven's 9th on one disk. But it is clearly not long enough to hold > the standard double album (average running time about 84 minutes). Net > result: we are forced to shell out double bucks for double albums. > $24.00 (on sale) for the Who's Quadrophenia or Floyd's The Wall does not > seem like a good deal, especially in light of the fact that double LP's > are generally priced at a discount per album from single pocket sets. That is annoying, but on the other hand, there are some double albums that are short enough to fit on a single CD, so in those cases we get a double album for the price of a single CD. One thing that annoys me probably more than double albums at double prices is not putting the extended versions of songs on the CD. They sometimes do, but it's the exception rather than the rule. Obviously they think a lot of people will buy the 12" single if that version of the song is not on the CD, but I think that by doing it they may be hurting CD sales more than they're helping 12" single sales. If an album has, say, two songs for which there exist 12" versions that I like much better than the album versions, and the 12" versions aren't on the CD, then I'd figure those two tracks on the CD were useless to me and I'd be much less likely to buy the CD. If, on the other hand, I had the CD but not the 12" singles, I probably wouldn't buy the 12" singles because I'd enjoy the better sound quality of the CD versions more. In other words, I'll almost never buy both CD and 12" singles of the same song, and I assume a lot of other people feel the same way. (Tell me if you don't!) So they might as well make the CD's more attractive by including the longest versions of every song, since there's plenty of room for them. After all, if you're shelling out that kind of money (CD's are about $20 Canadian here, almost 3 times as much as an analog LP), what you get should be pretty complete. If anyone could send me a list of CD's they know about that actually do include extended versions, I'd be very grateful. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsri!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (11/30/85)
[] ...But even 84 minutes would not be long enough to handle the standard C-90 cassette of which there must be billions. Are YOU trying to rip us off with YOUR proposal? But even a 90 minute disk wouldn't be long enough for TWO C-60 cassettes, of which there must be millions. Who is ripping off whom here? But even a 120 minute disk wouldn't be long enough for TWO C-90 cassettes. And they would have to go to maybe 6 hours for some operas. On the other hand, they did it with Video tape, why not CD disks, eh? -- "It's the thought, if any, that counts!" Dick Grantges hound!rfg
guy@fluffy.UUCP (One Hip Dude) (12/03/85)
The commodity you are paying for is not the plastic the
disks are composed of, it's the efforts of composer and
performer. If you pay more money for more music, what
difference does it make how many disks it fills?
I heard that Grolier's Academic American encyclopedia
fits on one disk (uses ~40 Mb?). They charge about $200
for that!
--
-- guy k hillyer
{decvax,linus,allegra}!genrad!enmasse!guy
enmasse!guy@harvard.arpa
"Reality is a sandwich I did NOT order." - Zippydavida@umd5.UUCP (12/03/85)
> Has anyone else out there come to the realization that compact disks > are, at least on one level, a way for the record companies to gouge the > customer? > result: we are forced to shell out double bucks for double albums. > $24.00 (on sale) for the Who's Quadrophenia or Floyd's The Wall does not > seem like a good deal, especially in light of the fact that double LP's > are generally priced at a discount per album from single pocket sets. > > Something is rotten in the state of CD-land, me thinks... > > David ("Dr DAP") Pearlman Well, it's not so bad, if you think about it, since you pay more for a double album than a single album also. I'm sure that as the forum 'matures', there will be improvements along those lines. Eventually they're supposed to manufacture a disc and player that will be able to play BOTH sides of a CD. Of course, we'll have to buy new players, but hey, we all want to upgrade anyway, right? :-) -- David Arnold University of Maryland usenet: ...!seismo!rglvax!cvl!umd5!davida ARPA: davida@umd5.ARPA