At 11:36 AM 10/30/99 +0100, you wrote:
>This is exactly the sort of thing that will ensure MD survives in the medium-
>long term. More major publishers deciding MD is a viable format for their
>music titles rather than the current "release it on CD and MC".
Maybe. Certainly flies in the face of that fat lady singing on MD. But MC
is hardly dead, and I can't see three formats being used for any more than
the most popular of releases. And don't forget SACD, DTS CD and DVD-A are
coming into their own now. Hm, how long before we see MP3 ROM memories?
>Thats the good news. Now I would if I could poll list members and ask them
>
>1. How many CDs have you purchased in the last year
>2. How many pre-recorded MDs have you purchased in the last year
>3. If the same album was available in both formats- which would you choose
>4. What proportion of your MD collection are pre-recorded discs
Well, Gaz, I think you are gonna get a lot of similar answers. I've only
been buying prerec MDs since 1999, CDs since 1995, prerec tapes since 1992.
I have about 20 prerec tapes bought over three years (none since CD,
whaddya know?) and about 250 CDs bought over four years. And guess what, in
the past few months, I've only bought 2 prerec MDs.
For most of my tapes, I have an equivalent CD (except the odd comedy and
compilation album). And half of my prerec MD collection has an equivalent
CD. The two MDs I bought I imported via CD NOW, because no-one locally
sells prerec MD. Heck, only a handful of stores sell blank MD.
As to why I got an MD of an album I already had on CD... Well, call me
crazy. I could mumble something about the MD possibly being of better
quality, because of it being a 1998 release, they could have used a 20-bit
master (or better) and used some whizz bang ATRAC. But that wouldn't be the
reason. It was clearly the novelty factor. Compression is compression,
after all.
These tape reminiscient cases are funny, man. So much packing for such a
little media. (A medium smaller than tape gets a bigger case... WTF?) And
would you believe, because the MD was pressed in Europe, it actually has
more songs on it that the equivalent US CD. (Which doesn't bother me,
because I've got the Australian version which pushes the 80 minute barrier.
Actually, that's probably another reason why I got the MD- I'd have needed
an 80 minute blank to dub my disc anyway, and in my neck of the woods,
those things are pretty scarce.)
Anyway, believe it or not, I am planning to buy more prerec MDs for the
novelty factor. And one of those is a new release which I am also planning
to get the CD for. Again, call me crazy. Would you believe my main reason
is so that I can actually set up a shelf with these weird cases on? Two is
just not enough to warrant building a shelf.
Hm, do I have a point in confessing my mental illness? Probably not. I
think what I am saying is that I am a rare breed, and most people will keep
buying CDs even if they have MD. I can't think of anyone who would have an
MD player and not a CD player, and that is the key. Sony woke up recently
and realised that if MD was gonna crack it at all, it was going to crack it
as a home recording format, not as a minature portable competitor to CD.
And so it shall be.
This Warner abberation is a flash in the pan. Heck, these are the guys that
gave you Alanis Morissette. :-) (Apologies to AM fans. I dig some of her
grooves, but I can't make it through a whole album.)
Yours in insanity,
Kade.
--
Archer
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/6413/
End.
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