This won't help for discs with the extent of damage that you had on your disc, for invisible factory defects I have had good luck with using CueTools to repair them: CueTools to repair files It's a real shame that dbpoweramp won't submit to CTDB
Subjective opinion... overall I prefer Rostropovich´s EMI Recordings (now belonging to Warner and all included in the "Cellist of the Century" box) over his Deutsche Gramophone ones, but that´s is subjective Would "both" be a valid option for your question?
It is worth mentioning, of course, that the Warner box isn't really complete as it doesn't include Rostropovich outside of his cello work (as pianist or conductor). The DG set does include his work in other capacities as well as cellist. Ironically, I would argue that his best work as conductor was under EMI (now under Warner).
amazon.it are offering Martha Argerich Complete Recordongs on DG for 59.17 € today: https://www.amazon.it/Complete-Recordings-Deutsch-Martha-Argerich/dp/B011WEVWYA/
I've been having a lot of trouble submitting tagging info that I've edited to FreeDB via DBpoweramp. It always used to work, and for several (?) months now, it has not worked. I did a little research and all I remember coming up with was "it's a problem on FreeDB's end". That's too bad: I like DBPA more than EAC just for flexibility and ease of use. A terrific program. I wonder what's going on there?
Another factor to concider is if you want more of the traditional repertoire (=DG) or more of newly commissioned works by 20th Century composers (=Warner). Both also include recordings made in the USSR, often in mono.
Great price for a great set. I paid something similar when it came out, I'm glad it's available at a reasonable price again. The best classical mega set I ever bought, except for maybe the Mozart 225 set.
I sprang for the DG box yesterday -- and the price at ImportCDs is pretty good by the way, around $73. If you're also interested in the 20th century stuff in the Warner box, an inexpensive way of getting most or all of that without springing for the whole Warner box is: John Fowler's review of the Warner box on Amazon spells out the complicated details
And I received the Warner box as part of a 3-for-2 deal from Amazon.de yesterday, and already had the DG box from another similar deal a year or so ago so I'm covered! While the Warner box is bulky for its content and thus harder to store, it's beautifully put together with a solid hardcover book.
Camel indicated that while the three boxes I obtained were not at their "lowest ever" prices, they were priced at the lower end of their price-histories. In fact, two of the boxes, DG 111 Violin & Esa-Pekka Salonen, have each increased about €30 over their pricing during the 3/2 sale. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to Amazon's pricing structure.
That certainly wasn't my experience. Two out of my three were at their absolute low points and the third was about 11% higher than its recent lowest point.
I may be late to the game on this one, but Amazon UK has the Menuhin Century Luxury Edition for 88.28 USD shipped. That's a bargain in anyone's book.
I may not have been clear. The price increases occurred after the 3/2 sale concluded. Today, the two boxes are significantly more expensive than they were during the sale.
My last four shipments from Amazon have been bullet proof. Amazon US bubble wrapped my George Szell box! Next, they left Rostropovich Cellist of the Century in the cardboard box from the factory. Amazon UK left the Bach Hanssler box (at the steeply discounted price mentioned earlier) in the factory box. And now my Rachmaninov box was left in the factory box as well. I hope all of my orders from Amazon.de are packaged the same ...... I am still hesitant to order Bach 333 from Amazon.fr. Great price but big risk at the same time.
Unless Amazon France is 100% confirmed to be shipping the Bach set in the factory packaging, I don't think it's worth the risk. They told me they would reimburse me for return shipping, but I may never be able to take them up on it, my return never made it out of French customs and I'm out the cost of the set and return shipping. Hindsight, I should have just sold it on eBay as damaged, I probably would have gotten close to what I paid for it.
Did you notify Amazon France that you had returned the item? This afternoon I sent back the damaged James Galway set I had received (post 6491 above). When I got home from the post office, I e-mailed Amazon France that I had shipped the return, told them how much it had cost ($64!), included the US Postal Service tracking number, and about 20 minutes later got a reply saying my reimbursement was being processed. Now, if the box never shows up in France, they may decide to un-reimburse me, but it's looking OK for now.
They should reimburse you as soon as you provide a receipt of the shipping. Amazon.ca did that for my return of the Perahia box -- and it was $75 in that instance! They won't un-reimburse you either...in fact, they gave me a refund the second I shipped it back and sent them a PDF of the receipt.
These are wise words! Many of us are probably serious types who do tend to make things into homework, and that'd be such a giant loss with these boxes. I think I've groped my way to a similar practical approach to listening. Namely, I keep maybe five or six different genres of big box open and in progress at a time, for example one conductor and one pianist and one violinist and one vocalist and one set of Bach cantatas. And I let my mood steer me to whichever box I feel like I'll enjoy most at the time. Sometimes a box flunks out altogether and hey, oh well. I kept not wanting to listen to my (non-mega) Earl Wild box, so, into the spare bedroom he went!
I received both Melodiya Russian Anthology of Symphonic Music boxes, I had these two on my wish list for a long time. It was the Melodiya Shostakovich/Kondrashin box that really made me fall in love with Russian symphony music (and in general Russian performers) and after that I would buy CDs from lesser known Russian composers when they turned up, but I rarely bought anything online. So these two boxes will have a lot of music that is new to me (as did the Volume 3 Cantatas/Oratorios box), I plan to listen to these in order of roughly composition date.
I think it becomes more of a factor as the library grows. There's this nagging sense of, "This is taking up space and I really should do something to justify that." Ironically, I've never seen someone angst to that level over a large library of books...
I have given up with the space issue. Now all of the card sleeves are out of the boxes and filed on a shelf alongside other classical CDs in alphabetical order. Regular jewel-cased CDs basically act as indicators of which composers are where, which is rather useful. The boxes are stacked up in the bottom of a cupboard out of harm's way just in case I need them for some reason, or if finances mean I have to sell one of more of them - which is thankfully less likely now, but I've had to in the past. Meanwhile today, I've gone back to my favourite pre-CD megabox. The sound and performances have held up so well over the last sixty years, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one who would like to see this on CD!
