Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (12/08/90)
Really-From: derek%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) CD sound quality: It has already been mentioned that some of the boxed set CD booklets are printed on thinner paper than the non-box import CD booklets (LH and TD are most noticeable). Has anyone tried to make a concerted effort to determine if there are sound quality differences as well? I sometimes wonder if I search too hard for such differences :) but I want to make sure I keep the best sounding KaTe CDs. I do not believe that discs of the same album always sound the same. It depends on which company pressed them. That is why I specialize in import discs for anything I get thus flouting these parallel importation "rules". Aren't I wicked :) If you have any comments about the discs please let me know what you have deduced or noticed. Personally, I suspect that the box LH and NFE are slighlty inferior to my other import pressings. Prices for the box set: I have noticed that prices for the boxed set vary all over creation. Some places are probably profiting very little, others a lot. What bothers me most is that the price in Canada and now New Zealand are half that in the UK - and they are identical sets!. Did EMI really mean this to happen? I would like to collate a table of how much Love-hounds have seen the set for, and at what locations. I am not interested in who paid what just what stores are asking for it and where the stores are. If you have posted such info before please could you email me with it again (especially those incredible Canadian prices unless I have them listed below). I will tabulate and post the findings at a later date. Please send it in the following form : price in your currency, sales tax rate if not included in price, store, city, country e.g. So far I have $US 174.99, 7.25%, CDSounds, San Diego CA, USA $US 199.99, 7.25%, Off the Record, San Diego CA, USA $US 169.99, 7.25%, Lou's Records, Encinitas CA, USA $US 152.00, ? , Midnight Records, New York, NY, USA $NZ 140, ? , ? , Wellington, New Zealand (would poster please fill in gaps) $CDN 83.94, ? , A&B Sounds, Vancouver BC, Canada (ditto) It would be nice to get info from around the world. I wish to write to EMI asking why UK and US fans are paying much higher prices and whether they are conscious of these extreme price differentials. A separate 2 disc release of TWW: I disagree with Jon Drukman regarding a separate CBS release of the boxed set's extra track discs. I don't think they should do it even if they could (don't forget CBS own the rights to only 5 of the 29 tracks - but then again I see there is a new Stranglers' Greatest Hits CD import with a selection of EMI and CBS songs ;-|). I am not sure they would pay the necessary amount to EMI America/Manhattan to get the rights to those rather obscure-to-the-average-American-music-buyer material. Myself I would be very angry if they did appear having bought the full box and already owning the import CDs. I am not so interested in the set as a collector's item rather than just having the music on CD. Even worse would be a separate EMI release of the two discs in the UK. It would be such an insult to her fans who have already purchased the sets. I would expect EMI to get a lot of VERY angry letters if they did. I would certainly send one. Please send info you have to offer to me at the address below. Thanks Derek derek@sunstroke.sdsu.edu
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (12/08/90)
Really-From: Jon Drukman <jsd@gaffa.MIT.EDU> >Really-From: derek%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) >Prices for the box set: I'm getting one for $130 Canadian (about $115 US) plus tax. My friend says it will work out to $123 US in the end. >I have noticed that prices for the boxed set vary all over creation. I think it's called "what the market will bear." Boston people are complete idiots - hence the continued existence of BCD, surely the greatest slap in the face to the educated consumer ever. They *can* order any import, they claim. I'd like reports on their efficacy, and prices. I suspect they charge $25 per CD. Clear highway robbery. Also, Newbury, Tower and BCD seem to have the lock on specialty items (although |>oug got his Box Set at Second Coming Records). There must be price fixing going on, because in Boston, it's $200 everywhere. On the other hand, my Canadian buddy says he called four stores (I assume they were all in Quebec or wherever the hell he is :) ) and they all said $130. >$CDN 83.94, ? , A&B Sounds, Vancouver BC, Canada (ditto) I called them this morning to order a set from them. No go. Sold out "for weeks now" and order coming in "some time." That's the best I could get. Of course, the first time I called, they said call back at nine. I asked a few questions and they said the same thing. Why bother answering the phone in the first place? :) >I disagree with Jon Drukman regarding a separate CBS release of the boxed >set's extra track discs. Oh pooh on you! I think it's a great idea, nacherly. >I don't think they should do it even if they could >(don't forget CBS own the rights to only 5 of the 29 tracks - but then again I >see there is a new Stranglers' Greatest Hits CD import with a selection of EMI >and CBS songs ;-|). I am not sure they would pay the necessary amount to EMI >America/Manhattan to get the rights to those rather >obscure-to-the-average-American-music-buyer material. I'm sure the licensing arrangement would be trivial for a large company like that. With proper marketing, it could be a great success. >Myself I would be very >angry if they did appear having bought the full box and already owning the >import CDs. That's called being cheap. I was planning on being cheap too but I changed my mind. >I am not so interested in the set as a collector's item rather >than just having the music on CD. Even worse would be a separate EMI release >of the two discs in the UK. It would be such an insult to her fans who have >already purchased the sets. I would expect EMI to get a lot of VERY angry >letters if they did. I would certainly send one. An INSULT to the fans? Oh come on, that's totally ludicrous! They put out a hurried set with minimal thought, charge a bloody fortune for it and you don't think THAT'S insulting? It's like "we know you're all rich and desperate. You'll buy it no matter how shoddy it is. Cough up, sucker!" They're renting the rarities CDs separately in Canada already. Whether this is because the shop got them separately or just broke up a set for renting purposes, I don't know. I suspect it is the latter. Well, it's only money. -- +---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ---------------------+ | | |\ | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | ZIK ZAK - We make everything you need, | | \|on |/rukman | -Fight The Power- | and you need everything we make. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (12/09/90)
Really-From: Paul.Gillingwater@actrix.gen.nz (Paul Gillingwater) In article <9012072301.AA27289@sunstroke.SDSU.EDU> Love-Hounds@gaffa.MIT.EDU writes: > Please send it in the following form : > price in your currency, sales tax rate if not included in price, store, city, > country > $NZ 140, ? , ? , Wellington, New Zealand (would poster please fill in gaps) The price was NZ$149.95. This *includes* sales tax of 12.5% (GST). The exchange rate is US$0.61 = NZ$1.00. Note that this was for the box set of CD's (eight), which works out to around US$10 per CD, not including sales tax, at full retail. The store name is indistinguishable on the credit card voucher, sorry. But the price is consistent with other stores in Wellington. Two stores I visited before finding the box set complained that all of the box sets they were able to obtain (on a very strict quota) were sold out by the next day, with *no* publicity. I'm beginning to think She really IS! :-) -- Paul Gillingwater, paul@actrix.gen.nz