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From: jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson)
Newsgroups: net.music,net.audio
Subject: Re: Compact disks: A rip off?
Message-ID: <1737@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Nov-85 11:45:03 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1737
Posted: Fri Nov 29 11:45:03 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Nov-85 14:34:53 EST
References: <484@sdchema.sdchema.UUCP>
Reply-To: jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson)
Distribution: na
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 40
Summary: 

> 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
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