David Bowie - Five Years box - Is it supposed to be this loud?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Tripecac, Jul 30, 2017.

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  1. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Well.... after this tread has successfully been turned into "The Chinese Counterfeit Appreciation Society" I don't think critical words will sit too well with people that are rather stunned by the "quality" of these replicas ("And I got it really cheap too!").

    DEFINITELY one of the most bizarre Bowie threads in here. Which is quite an achievement :targettiphat:
     
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  2. joachim50

    joachim50 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Some months ago I bought the Five Years box FULL PRICE from a reputable seller.

    It turned out to be a VERY well made fake( only "anomalities" were silver instead of gold discs and major printing issues with the booklet) coming from ----you've guessed correctly---China.

    When I bought the item it was still shrink-wrapped,so accusing the seller of sending me a counterfeit was impossible.I opted for a resale at ebay,and got almost the price I had paid for it,although I had placed pics in the desciption showing(not explaining!!!) clearly the item's anomalities.

    The buyer thanked me enthusiastically for my perfect(!!!)item.

    Some weeks later I stumbled across another box at a considerably cheaper(!!) price than the first one,and it------bingo------turned out to be "the real deal" which is absolutely perfect(gold discs,faultless booklet etc etc).

    This "made in China" stuff is so well made that if you don't know what the anomalities are AND where to spot them non-eagle-eyed buyers will not notice that they have bought a counterfeit but will congratulate themselves that they acquired a searched for item for small money.

    This also works the other way round as my example shows.
     
    deredordica likes this.
  3. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    The seller knew he was selling a fake. I bought one and the seller made up some story about getting them from a store closing, but when I pointed out that every item he had listed for sale was a counterfeit he instantly refunded my money.
     
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  4. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Well.... maybe he got all his items from the same store closing :angel:

    This thread reminds me of Blonde Redhead: "Fake Can Be Just As Good":righton:
     
  5. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    Maybe, but you or I have no way to determine that. China plus cheap doesn't necessarily mean counterfeit. If it is fake, they did a truly remarkable job. Not knowing something, therefore, "aliens did it"--I've heard that before.
     
  6. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    How do spell obtuse?:help::cheers:
     
  7. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Must admit I dont like the recent box sets packaging covers.
     
  8. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    You win. [shrugs]
     
  9. LonesomeDayBlues

    LonesomeDayBlues Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    The official release isn't that great to be honest regarding the artwork. I found the booklet to be quite dark and hard to read (purchased from Amazon). Some of the pages and facsimiles they used look like poor scans. To me it felt sorta like a budget release.
     
  10. joachim50

    joachim50 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    May I ask you to be more specific,or is it simply possible that yours also is a counterfeit???

    Could you also please provide facts that support your "budget release" claim?????
     
  11. LonesomeDayBlues

    LonesomeDayBlues Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    I don't think Amazon sells counterfeit copies. No facts needed because it's my opinion that it felt like a budget release especially paying over a hundred dollar plus for a box set. Book was small and hard to read. Go ahead and look at yours and tell me different.
     
  12. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Good way to tell, unless somethings changed in recent years.
    Authentic will have IFPI and usually a four digit/letter variation on the compact disc center hub. A magnifying glass usually helps.
    [​IMG]
     
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  13. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    How can you know what he bought without looking at it?
     
  14. GlobalObserver

    GlobalObserver Observing The Globe Since 1964

    [​IMG]

    Yeah, you're probably right. Battling pirates looks like it would be more trouble than it's worth.
     
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  15. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    He bought it from a Chinese seller for $15. That already gives you a 95% probability that the item is a counterfeit. Add to that the sloppy packaging (discs switched, incorrect discs, bad folds, etc.) and that makes it pretty certain the item is pirated. The chance that this is a false negative (i.e. a genuine copy despite all the evidence to the contrary) is negligible.
     
  16. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    So, in other words, you don't know, you are just guessing? I don't know (or care!) if the item is pirated, I just find it amusing that the assumption is that it is a counterfeit item, when nobody has actually seen the item. Pretty easy to tell if you look at the disc, no?
     
    deredordica likes this.
  17. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    Thanks for this; I will check later.
     
    c-eling likes this.
  18. scobb

    scobb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Let's face it, if a CD comes from China and is half the rrp or less then it's almost always a counterfeit so I think we can assume that it is and be very VERY surprised if it isn't! If it's a rare CD and half the going price and it comes out of China, again, it's almost certainly a counterfeit. I have a couple of discs that look, sound and feel authentic but, because they came from China, and the seller has multiple copies (I didn't know when I bought them) then I'm pretty sure these are counterfeit too. What amazes me is that they even have the correct codes printed on the actual silver part of the CD's and these are not high selling CD's. They are sophisticated criminal groups and it's upto individual buyers to make the choice if they wish to support them.

    In the case of these Bowie boxes (and the Beatles) it would have been nice if they had them made on SACD hybrids (include the hi rez download versions) as this would make counterfeits more obvious!
     
  19. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    I checked, and they do not have "IFPI" on them. I compared one of the Re:Call discs with my genuine Pinups disc, and the orange printing on the Re:Call disc looks cheaper, and printed text is of lesser clarity. I now believe it probably is counterfeit.
     
    c-eling likes this.
  20. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Well.... some people here are definitely under Japanese Chinese influence. And their honor's at stake.

    :biglaugh:
     
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  21. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    The problem with the counterfeit sets is two fold: Physical aesthetics, and quality.

    Why would I not buy a counterfeit Bowie? a) Because I'd read reports on them, and what I saw noted the booklets were not printed and bound all that well. b) You don't know what you're getting. What master did they use for the CD's? How sure are you that the counterfeit discs are the new masters? How do you know they're not going to rot over time?

    Now, for some people, saving a few bucks makes it a no -brainer to get the counterfeit. For me, I want a product that is precisely what it says on the tin. I don't want to waste my time looking at waveforms to satisfy myself that I have the new masters without tinkering. I value my time. I want the book to be good. I'm paying for it, so quality is appreciated. It's not a moral question for me, it's about the music and quality. These sets will be cherished in my home for years, so I want them right.

    A couple of other points though. There is an argument that those who willingly buy these counterfeits are making is more difficult for people to find the real deal for themselves. This is what happened to me when I tried to buy the sets on Ebay - it took weeks of emails back and forth to find legit copies. Again, my time. There are/were so many counterfeits. Secondly, a lot of these counterfeit sets are sold on the pretense that they are, in fact, legit. Setting aside whether you agree with copying music or not, the seller has set out to deceive you about what you're buying. I don't want to do business with people who are lying to me. If they'd lie about that, who knows what else they're lying about?

    One final thing. The OP let's us in on the fact that they've bought counterfeit copies before. I guess that's fair enough. For me, like someone else has suggested, it's pretty clear that buying from China is a crap shoot at best. I'm sorry, that's just based on what I've seen. I won't buy from China, just as I won't buy from Eastern Europe unless I know the seller. For example, I was suckered into buying some "Japanese Mini LP's" a few years back. The quality was appalling. It was deceitful. Should I have known better? Yeah, probably. But that doesn't change the fact that a deceitful seller was trying to scam people out of money by lying on Ebay.

    I think some people just want cheap. I sympathize, I too want value for money. But value for money, and cheap, aren't the same thing.
     
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  22. Smegman

    Smegman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
    You do realize that you don't have the boxset, right? You bought a counterfeit item from China, sourced from whatever.
     
  23. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    This, 100%:righton: People that find it acceptable to lie in order to make a quick buck are nothing but a**holes. Why would I want to support them???
     
  24. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Only probably? There's no IFPI code, therefore it was not made in an official plant.
     
    deredordica likes this.
  25. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    Okay, "definitely", then. You're the expert! I don't even know what "IFPI" is.
     
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