"Better Records" website and their business practices as they apply to our hobby*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by violetvinyl, Jul 14, 2014.

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  1. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    It's not Tom Port that bothers me, it's the outlandish prices everyone on ebay is charging for used vinyl in marginal condition. I may have to go back to buying CD's. Vinyl is way too expensive now.
     
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  2. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    I was at a radio station record swap yesterday and noticed prices were up a bit for the "good stuff." There were plenty of classic rock albums and thrift store fodder but jazz and classical titles were in short supply. I paid $18 for a Coleman Hawkins album and hoped I agreed it was worth it when I got home and a few minutes later I saw the same title with an $80 price tag!
     
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  3. Anton888

    Anton888 Forum Resident

  4. SuperFuzz

    SuperFuzz Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC USA
    " -- and relatively quiet to boot!"
     
  5. violetvinyl

    violetvinyl Forum Resident Thread Starter

  6. Anton888

    Anton888 Forum Resident

  7. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    They may be better records.....but I need a better deal!!!!! :wiggle:
     
  8. violetvinyl

    violetvinyl Forum Resident Thread Starter

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  9. Arkay_East

    Arkay_East Forum Resident

    Location:
    ATX
    This is the thread that will never die :biglaugh:
     
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  10. violetvinyl

    violetvinyl Forum Resident Thread Starter

    It may be the only thing on this topic of which we are getting our money's worth.
     
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  11. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    I heard that Tom's clientele is pretty much the rich and famous. Unless we fit into that category, we shouldn't even be looking at that website. If you the means for a $100,000(or more) hi fi system, spending a few hundred bucks on some select records shouldn't be an issue. I like Tom's site only because I agree with him on some of his observations. I haven't bought a record from him yet though.
     
  12. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    His prices continue to escalate. Though overpriced, once you did not have to be rich to afford them. Let's face it only someone too lazy or time short plus unlimited cash would buy from Mr Port. When I see common pressings going for this money it makes me :realmad:. How many rich people are into vinyl and care about sound quality to this extent anyway?
     
  13. richierichie

    richierichie My glass is always full.

    Better Records? Better Bo_l_cks! :laughup::cussing::realmad::bdance::bdance::bdance::realmad::cussing::laughup:
     
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  14. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    I think what it tells you is that in many cases, a standard issue pressing can sound great. Given that a number of people posting here are willing to spend the time comparing "bin" copies, you can rely on your own assessments, if you have various pressings to hand. And there are some people here (who have posted comparisons) I trust because they aren't necessarily making blanket statements but pointing to strengths and weaknesses of various pressings/masterings/remasters. So, to me at least, I look at this as encouragement to keep doing what I have been doing: I listen to multiple copies, I have no hard and fast rule that originals are always better or that remasters suck. And, apart from total stinkers, there's an awful lot of preference involved, isn't there? Someone may want the more analytical quality of one record, another person may find that a warmer, or more "organic" presentation suits their system and ears.
     
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  15. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Granted that there is some accurate info, but I liken that to the tabloid magazines. A little truth mixed in with a whole lot of hyperbole! And so much of it that you really have to be extremely careful if you don't know what you're doing. But good for him...it's obviously working.
     
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  16. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    A few months ago I was looking around (for fun only...I get email updates from him) and it is clear he is still looking for the price ceiling. He clearly hasn't hit it yet. Amazing!
     
  17. I keep looking at their Bob Marley selection. They have two albums: Live! and Rastaman Vibration. I wonder how "great" they sound compared to my CD's, vinyls. How much better can those be than my records??? $400 to find out is a lot of money so I guess I'll never know
    Plus there are no details on the pressings, US, UK, Japan, Germany, which run, etc... so I am leery to say the least.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  18. 2xUeL

    2xUeL Forum Philosopher

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    This is the most asinine part of the service, that they don't give their customers any indication of which pressing they are buying.
     
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  19. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Since he's mostly catering to the very well heeled, where price sensitivity is modest, I imagine you are right...
     
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  20. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Actually that's just smart business practice. Tom and his crew are only concerned about the sound of a record not about the pressing info. If he gave out hot stamper information you would never buy from him.

    I was very curious about his records and I bought two reasonably priced albums about two years ago. I picked up the Talking Heads, Remain in Light and David Bowie's, Station to Station, both of which blew away any vinyl or CD pressings I previously owned. Confirmation bias? That's not what my amplifiers needle indicated!

    His records are priced as the market would bear. I can't afford those high-priced albums but I bought some cheaper ones to see if his records were better. Well, they were!
     
    Jrr likes this.
  21. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    That's funny. I was thinking the same thing regarding the vinyl version of Exodus from MFSL. I love almost everything they do, but that album goes for almost $200 and I just don't see how it can sound that much better than a good copy of the original. It is a great sounding record, to be sure, but it there just isn't that much going on where it's that hard to press a good copy of that sort of music. Every copy I have ever had is at least really good, and the reissue is fantastic. And Rastaman Vibration is never going to sound all that great as there are not a lot of dynamics going on with that album. His stuff started sounding better after that album though, but I just don't see any reason to go out of my way to search for the very best copy....the domestics are fine if you get a quiet copy.
     
  22. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    You know, after hanging out here for many years and learning so much, there is no doubt in my mind that there are "hot stampers". I recently bought a copy from a forum member here of Supertramp's Even in the Quietest Moments, one of my favorite all time albums that I know well. I have the A&M Audiophile version, plus I have bought many copies on vinyl and none of them including the audiophile have sounded that great to me. A forum member described his as the one to have, and I took a chance and bought it. Unfortunately, it was pretty used...more crackle than I would like. But man, the sound! I could not believe how much better and open it was! Well worth the $15 or whatever I spent, and it's so good I can stand the snap crackle pop. I just need to write down the matrix info and search for a really clean copy. I have over and over discovered this to be the case on many recordings. The difference is that most of us around here know where to find the majority of the hit albums for reasonable prices, and then do our own shootout. Tom is for people that don't have time for that. But I wonder...how many of those "rich and famous" people can even tell how good those hot stampers sound? A lot of people like that just like buying expensive stuff...makes them feel like they are getting the best. Doesn't mean they really appreciate it, or have the education about the produce to even know why it's better. Anyway, I have never had an issue with the service Tom provides. If people don't want to spend the time to do their own research, well, good for Tom. I cannot believe people will spent $750 on an album, but it's fun to see it happen. He's knocking on a grand for some titles lately. Unbelievable.
     
  23. violetvinyl

    violetvinyl Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Do you think he doesn't look at the deadwax or label when buying up his copies? He just doesn't want his prospective customers to be concerned with it.
     
  24. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    He definitely looks for certain pressings, and considers it proprietary information. I'm pretty sure he writes that on his site somewhere. Sometimes you can glean from information on his site which ones they are. Also, before he hit on this business model he was more forthcoming about which pressings he preferred—some of which he may have commented on right here. I think he used to be a member of this forum.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  25. Bigbudukks

    Bigbudukks Older, but no wiser.

    Location:
    Gaithersburg, MD
    A good way to find your own "hot stampers" is to ask on forums like this which pressing of any album are the ones that people with multiple pressings find are the ones they play. It will cost you a lot less and you can still wind up with albums that have music you enjoy with sound and fidelity that make the album that much more precious to you.
     
    MikeyP, Jrr, chili555 and 1 other person like this.
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