jeff@tesla.UUCP (05/28/83)
Relay-Version:version B 2.10 5/3/83; site mhuxt.UUCP Message-ID:<82@tesla.UUCP> Date:Sat, 28-May-83 15:08:00 EDT Any CD`s available in Champaign IL or Boston? Planning trips there soon and would like to get some. Also, Washington DC? Thanks for any info provided. Jeff
jeff@tesla.UUCP (06/02/83)
Jordan Marsh in Boston has a Magnavox CD player on demo. They sold the only one available for sale within the first hour they had it on demo, for $800. And that was before they had ANY CD`s to sell with it; the person who bought it only had the demo disc packed with the player to amortize is investment with. BUt JM now has about twenty-five CD`s, all European pressings (DG, Philips), at $20. Incidentally the Philips/Magnavox literature that JM has says the A/D in the player is 16-bit. Will some information-theory expert out there please go and study up on that Philips Technical Review issue that summarized CD technology in 1982, and explain why they think they can make that statement, and what`s the difference anyway? No dilettante answers, please--professionals only, so we don`t distribute misinformation, rumors, etc., on this net. Jeff
lindsay@uiucdcs.UUCP (06/03/83)
#R:tesla:-8200:uiucdcs:22700022:000:161
uiucdcs!lindsay Jun 2 16:24:00 1983
Any CD's in Champaign,IL? I am from Champaign.... what IS a CD?
This is the boonies bub, we still use 78's here!
The Donz (an Illini)feldman@ccvaxa.UUCP (06/05/83)
#R:tesla:-8200:ccvaxa:4800001:000:191 ccvaxa!feldman Jun 3 17:30:00 1983 August Systems on N. Prospect in Champaign, IL does have a CD player (not Sony, but a (Japaneese?) brand I've not heard of before. They also have 4-5 disks. Mike Feldman Compion Urbana, IL
akhtar@uiucdcs.UUCP (06/06/83)
#R:tesla:-8200:uiucdcs:22700024:000:247 uiucdcs!akhtar Jun 5 21:49:00 1983 Talked to the people at Good Vibes (Champaign) the other day. The guy claimed that there 140 titles available in CD's. Of course they only have approx 15 currently in stock. The classical/popular split was supposed to be 80/20 %. uiucdcs!akhtar
jeff@tesla.UUCP (06/08/83)
Thanks for the messages on CD's in Champaign. Unfortunately I only checked that record shop on 6th st, and got the mail when I returned home. However, yet another helpful soul on the net put me in touch with Record & Tape Ltd, on Wisconsin Ave. in D.C., who have about forty titale\\\les their own buyer imports from England. They sell them for $20. (The English price is $15.+), not a bad markup, will send by mail-order, and are helpfu.\l and informative over the telephone. I ordered some CDs last Thursday and got them Tuesday, by parcel post. I am, however, getting tired of such LOUD stuff. Anyone passing through Ithaca is welcome to hunt me up at 256-4075 and share the experience. Jeff
jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) (08/20/83)
During my last CD Hunt in NYC this week I found several places stocking them, at prices from $22.95 down to a marked $17.95. The last was at Tower Records` new store in Greenwich Village, where they had the best selection I saw (although far from exhausting the list of CDs now available in Europe and Japan). The checkout clerk subtracted an additional $1/disc, too (an unpublicized sale?) so the 16.95 price (+ tax) was about equal to an order from Britain. Tower has a super cut-out selection too, including some 4-channel SQ records. Jeff
spaf@gatech.UUCP (08/29/83)
I just made my biweekly record buying trip. At the store I frequent they
have added a number of large bins of CD disks. These are right next to
the audiophile records (half-speed masters and the like). I saw a very
large selection ranging from the new Asia album to Telarc classical.
They were all priced at about $17.99. The store offers an across-the-board
10% discount to customers with a valid college ID on Sundays, and they
give their own trading stamps which work out to another 4% discount.
Thus, CD's for about $15.65 apiece.
For those of you in the Atlanta area, that's the Northeast Plaza
Turtles (Buford Hwy). Note that if you don't have a college ID,
Wednesday is double stamps (equivalent of 8% discount).
Now if only I had a CD player....
--
The padded cell of Gene Spafford
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf.GATech @ UDel-Relay
uucp: ...!{sb1,allegra,ut-ngp}!gatech!spaf ...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!spafakhtar@uiuccsb.UUCP (08/31/83)
#N:uiuccsb:5700006:000:369
uiuccsb!akhtar Aug 30 15:49:00 1983
I noticed in my browsing that our local record store (Record Service)
now has some CD's, approx a dozen titles (rock (as opposed to classical)).
The price on most was $16.99 with a couple of them at $19.99. Price
seems pretty good, especially compared with OMR's running only a
few cents less.
....decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!akhtar
in Urbana-Champaign, ILswr@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Scott W. Roby) (07/15/85)
I recently bought a CD player, and have been having trouble finding discs. The local record stores carry a very limited supply. I am mainly interested in pop/ rock, and am wondering whether the shortage is due to nationwide shortages, or whether the local stores are underestimating the demand. I have a feeling that the stores continue to carry classical, jazz and "oldies" as their primary stock because of the mistaken belief that the typical CD owner is older, upscale, with more conservative tastes. This may have been true two years ago, but can no longer be taken as gospel with the advent of players under 200 dollars. Also, I've noticed that all my discs are made either in Germany or Japan. Are there no US plants manufacturing CDs? Could this be the cause of the generally high (and unacceptable) price of discs here in the US? One last question: Digital recording technology has been with us for some years now. Why are the vast majority of records still being recorded with analog equipment? I can understand a little known artist using cheaper equipment, but most "major" artists are still using analog. Why is this? Scott Roby (swr@ngp) *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
doug@prime.UUCP (Douglas A. Hamilton) (07/16/85)
> I recently bought a CD player, and have been having trouble finding discs. > Local record stores carry a very limited supply. mainly interested in pop/ > rock, and am wondering whether the shortage is due to nationwide shortages. > Stores continue to carry classical, jazz and "oldies" as their primary stock > because of mistaken belief that the typical CD owner is older, upscale, with > more conservative tastes. > I've noticed that all my discs are made either in Germany or Japan. > No US plants manufacturing CDs? Cause of the generally high > (and unacceptable) price of discs here in the US? > Why are the vast majority of records still being recorded with analog > equipment? > Scott Roby (swr@ngp) It's true that more of the CD's currently on the market are classical rather than pop/rock; the sudden explosion of the CD market has very much surprised the record manufacturers who had been thinking (until recently) of the typical CD owner as just as you've described. The NY Times reported that in the first three months of this year, CD's shifted from roughly 10% to roughly 30% of the record volume. This was just too much too fast for the suppliers. There are now something like 3,300 titles available, however, so you should be able to find a few you like (-:. Last Sunday's NY Times gave a couple phone numbers you could call to get a free catalog of all the available CD's: 355-0011 (New York) or 800-872-5565 (anywhere else.) Currently, there is only one CD factory in the US: CBS's plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is still not up to full capacity and having yield problems. Denon plans to build a plant in the Southeast, but that won't be for a while. Presumably, other record manufacturers have plans... For now, there are six plants world-wide, including the CBS plant. There are two plants in West Germany and three in Japan. No doubt this is a factor in the high price, but I suspect the real problem you're facing is lack of retail competition. The street price for CD's is down to $11.99 in NYC; where I live (outside Boston), $12.99 is pretty achievable at sales, which are now routine. As to many records being still analog, I draw your attention to the fact that most of what you're listening to is popular. Classical albums have been routinely recorded digitally for the better labels for a good 5 to 10 years. My own guess is that because popular music is so much less demanding (few quiet passages, less dynamic range), record companies have simply not felt the improvement in sound quality for pop would justify the cost of the scarce digital equipment. Final comment about pop vs. classical: I can certainly understand your preference - until I bought a CD, I had perhaps a half-dozen classical albums compared to several hundred pop/rock/CW/etc. What I've found, however, is that a CD makes all the difference. The hiss, etc., that to my ears made classical unlistenable on vinyl is totally absent on CD. I recommend you at least try out some classical (e.g., Mozart's Eine Kline Nachtmusik) even if only to reconfirm your preferences. Regards. -- Douglas Hamilton Prime Computer,Inc. 617-626-1700 x3956 Video Products Group 492 Old Connecticut Path Framingham, MA 10701 {seismo,ihnp4,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!prime!doug
dave@rocksvax.UUCP (07/16/85)
Make that 7 - My new OMD 'Crush' CD is made in England.
Dave
arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {allegra,ihnp4,rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!daveben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (07/18/85)
>As to many records being still analog, I draw your attention to the fact >that most of what you're listening to is popular. Classical albums have >been routinely recorded digitally for the better labels for a good 5 to 10 >years. My own guess is that because popular music is so much less >demanding (few quiet passages, less dynamic range), record companies >have simply not felt the improvement in sound quality for pop would >justify the cost of the scarce digital equipment. What you say is true, however I don't think it is the primary reason that classical artists have been the first to record digitally. I believe it is primarily due to the way the two styles of music are recorded. In a classical recording session, the microphones are set up, the recorder is turned on, then the work is performed. There is minimal editing, and the work can be recorded in two track stereo. On a pop album, first a rhythm track is laid down. Then other instruments are added. The performer might then decide to sing harmonies with himself. By the time the recording is finished, there are some 24 tracks to be mixed down to the two track stereo needed to cut the master. Time on a digital console capable of doing the mixdown is very expensive, and engineers used to analog are reluctant to relearn their craft to suit the new technology. Ben Broder ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben