Anyone Bought Commercially Released CDs That Seem to BE CD-Rs?

Which company is selling this album on CD-R only?

 

Jasmine's CD-Rs are professionally silkscreened and manufactured, but the data is still burned.

 

I've been recording CDR's since the very 1st Phillips decks were introduced. I have CDR's that are, if not 30 yrs old, pretty darn close and they play as well today as they did on the 1st day!

 

So far have not found this to be so with jazz on PD labels Fresh Sounds/Lone Hill, Membran, Avid or the 'other' Real Gone. Have picked up several new jazz comps by Real Gone and they are still manufactured discs.

Will the Japanese market pioneer SHM CD-Rs?

 

This is good news so far.

 

I hope that JSP and Proper's PD stuff still uses pressed CD as well.

 

The ONLY commercial CD I bought, 10+ yrs ago, that turned out to be a CDR is one I'd bet nobody on this forum has ever heard of; Annette Aguilar & Stringbean - No Cheap Dates. Amazing Latin Jazz! I remember being ticked off when I realized it, but never considered returning it!

 

Same here, but the concern about CDR longevity is legitimate. I've found that cheap blanks and those with adhesive paper labels can and do fail, even if not at a rate of 100%. CDRs with silkscreening don't run the same risk as ones with labels attached, but we don't know what quality of blanks are being used.

 

I've had great success recording CDR's. I'm no tech-head but I always felt that a) recording in real time and b) using stand alone CD recorders has contributed to that success. Most times that I've heard of CDR failures it's with discs recorded on computer's at accelerated speeds. Than again, maybe I've just been lucky!

 

If you're saying that you've NEVER experienced a CDR failure, then I'd say yes, you've been lucky. But mind you, I'm not talking about CDRs that don't burn properly; I mean a disc that eventually deteriorates, displaying digital noise or becoming unplayable altogether. And again, in my experience, these issues are almost always due to to low-quality blanks and/or adhesive paper labels.

I have yet to experience a CDR failure from any that 1) are recorded on high-quality blanks such as Taiyo Yuden or Mitsui/MAM-A, 2) have writing on the label done with a Sharpie, 3) have a slikscreened label, or 4) have a thermal or inkjet label printed directly on the disc. Well, I've had ONE thermal label failure but I chalk that up to just weird random ****. I've got many others that have no issues.

Since the CDRs being discussed in this thread utilize silkscreened labels, I'll say that we don't know what quality of blanks these companies are using. And it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they're using the cheapest ones they can possibly get. So they might well develop issues over time.



Oh, and to be fair, it's also my experience that cheap blanks don't ALWAYS deteriorate. I still have many from before I knew any better which are still fine. So I really think it's a crapshoot, although there are steps one can take to minimize the risks. But you can't take those steps when you're buying an already-recorded CDR.

 

No matter what CD-R's you end up buying, always back them up when you get them. It's too risky.
I usually dub off another CD copy and keep it in the same case and also back up to hard drive(s).
Especially it's is hard to get stuff and that's expensive to repurchase. A lot of times they are done
in small quantities and repurchasing is not possible. Usually 500 copies or more, it is actually cheaper
to get discs pressed than the time and effort to burn 500 discs.

 

If you ever get a CD-R or DVD-R from an Amazon marketplace seller just send them a message via Amazon going ****less and asking for a return address. They will ALWAYS refund you, and tell you to keep the disc.

 

BTW, the Jasmine CD-Rs are CMC Magnetics discs. I have one Retrospective UK release using a Sony CD-R and another using a TDK CD-R

BTW, Nero InfoTool version 5 has the manufacturer of the discs in detail (worded and numerical form) while InfoTool 11 only has the CD-R manufacturer ID in numerical form.

 

Amazon sells CD-R copies of stuff but tricks you into thinking it's the original release; on the item record page, look for the fine print that says, "When buying from Amazon, this item is created on demand." Every aspect of it will be of lesser quality, and sometimes it will be terrible quality. What they don't seem to understand (or maybe they do) is that what they are selling isn't the real thing; it's a cheap copy of the real thing and they should represent that accordingly. I think it's pretty shady of them. I failed to notice the disclaimer several times over the years and ended up disappointed. When I complained, they basically gave me a refund and said, "Keep the item."

 

In the case of Exile's Mixed Emotions, there were pressed CDs sold at some Walmarts very briefly but otherwise, this is a CD-R only title from Curb Records. I was lucky to score a pressed CD.

 

Right, it's usually at the bottom of the description. It will say "this disc is created on demand".

The problem I have run into is they forget to print out the tracklisting on the "generic" inserts when they run them off, and they just leave them blank. Cheap and shoddy!

 

Iris Music (I believe that is Alan Lorber, the original producer). The product page at Amazon used to state "CD Recordable media created on demand", but now the CD tracks are just available as mp3 download purchases.

The 1997 pressed CD was on Big Beat [UK]. Of course, Amazon has the different issues of "Mystic Soldiers" hopelessly co-mingled (even a 2014 lp), since they have the same title by the same artist.

 

Is that a good thing? This is all new to me.

 

I still have CD-Rs I burned myself on computer drives from the mid 1990s that work perfectly well today. I used high-quality blanks and always properly stored them away from heat and humidity.

 

I've bought a bunch of Jessica Williams (jazz pianist) CDs that were printed in her studio on a "professional" CD printer. After a couple of years, the CDs faded away into nothingness and became unplayable. It's unfortunate since I do want to buy more of her music to support her.

 

CMC Magnetics manufactures a huge chunk of the CD-Rs sold in OfficeMax, Best Buy, etc. under multiple well known brand names.

 

Thank you... So, they're your generic, run of the mill CD-Rs. That's disheartening.

 

You can install Nero InfoTool on your Windows PC and it reveals who is the real manufacturer of the CD-R

 

A Nero InfoTool report on the Jasmine Hank Locklin CD-R:

 

The InfoTool report on the Vintage Childrens Favourites Retrospective Records CD-R reissue: