How To Tell If Your Beatles Stereo Box Is A Fake

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by linclink, Dec 30, 2009.

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  1. linclink

    linclink Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I've seen a lot on this & did some research, so here are some telltale signs...many are pretty obvious, but if this saves someone time in deciding to take action, and/or anxiety in understanding what they did or didn't get then it's well worth it...
    Feel free to add to this. There are now tons of these out there & lots of folks are getting ripped off, whilst others are making lots of $$$...too bad. I even saw a local (Rochester NY) ad for a bootleg set where the person admits he got ripped off & is taking best offer/trade for it. He said there were even pauses in the actual music (he'd only listened to MMT)...Sad really...


    - It has the two thin nylon ribbon red pull tabs in the cardboard box trays
    to lift out the two stacks of albums.

    - Very thin cellophane-like cd sleeves inside the individual albums which
    usually are stuck to the inside of the cardboard album sleeves for the
    purchaser to physically yank out the cds causing the cellophane sleeves to
    rip.

    - The box tray divider is cheap flimsy cardboard.

    - The slick glossy black paper lining on and in the box is peeling and
    creased and crushed from poor quality binding.

    - Printing quality on both the booklets and the discs is noticeably of poor
    quality and faded, especially the DVD disc art.

    - Printing errors on the backs of some of the album sleeves. For example,
    on the back of REVOLVER, the Beatles names are misspelled, the track
    listings on the backs of the "White Album" and "Past Masters" have mistakes.

    - The DVD of the mini documentaries opens up with a logo in Chinese(!)

    - Once opened, the box and the contents have a *very* strong odor of
    turpentine or some similar printing ink chemical.

    The DVD Mini Documentaries has a large "Region 0" printed on the face-- the official disks do not and are a red Apple logo.

    The PAST MASTERS digipak doesn't have slots for both disks--instead you have to put both disks in one slot, increasing the chance of scratching them. The official version has two slots, one for each disk.

    The digipaks in the counterfeit set are made of much flimsier cardboard, very easily comes unglued. The officials ones are sturdy and well-made.

    As mentioned before, the counterfeit sets have thin red pull ties in the box, whereas the official box has 1/4" wide black ribbon ties.
     
  2. Thanks that's helpful. I'm not surprised that these have been pirated just that it is so fast!
     
  3. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Counterfeit stereo boxes? I believe it, but I'd like to see pictures.

    If folks are counterfeiting the stereo box, then fake mono boxes can't be too far behind.
     
  4. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    And...be suspicious if the first song on the Please Please Me CD is "Glad All Over".
     
  5. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    Helpful thread.

    How can you tell from the outside, for a sealed box?
     
  6. Of all the things to bootleg!
     
  7. TVC15

    TVC15 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I suspect most of those $100 sets on ebay are fake...
     
  8. SirDrexl

    SirDrexl Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    This is why I never buy CDs or DVDs/BDs from eBay. Unfortunately for the legitimate sellers, you just can't be sure.

    I will buy PS3 games there though, as they can't really be bootlegged unless you have a hacked console (and I don't think it's been hacked yet anyway).
     
  9. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    That's a good question, I would like to know this too..
     
  10. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member

    I think we should be careful. There are many "too good to be true" deals on eBay but the ones I've seen are being sold by sellers in China. It's possible that some US and European sellers will pick up deals from these pirates and resell them but if you're buying from reputable sites (Amazon etc) you're not going to get a fake.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Beatles-Rem...mdZViewItemQQptZMusic_CDs?hash=item2558021504

    As with anything, if the deal seems too good, it is. That's the first sign you got a fake.

    :agree: I buy lots of CDs on eBay but I'd never buy this set there and I almost always avoid sellers in China (sorry to any legit Chinese sellers).
     
  11. vinyl diehard

    vinyl diehard Two-Channel Forever

    IF you buy your boxset from a trusted seller (either a local store or online), would you really need to worry about all of this?
     
  12. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Hmm. Could someone show me a picture of the legit DVD and the past masters set - I have a horrible feeling...

    I have very thin inner sleeves on the discs, only one slot for pastmasters, and the glue comes unstuck very easily. Misprints all over the place including: beatles.cam web address and misprint on the white album track listing.
     
  13. stevef

    stevef Senior Member

    Location:
    Irvine, CA
    What seller did you purchase your stereo box from?
     
  14. Pictures please.
     
  15. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Revolver is riddled with errors on the back BTW.
     
  16. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    Someone else reported in another thread that Amazon and Best Buy were selling fakes. so it's not just limited to ebay and other third party sellers (assuming he's correct of course)

    Just curious - are the fakes pressed CD's or CD-R's? Did they use the new mastering, or did they copy from an older source?
     
  17. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Oh dear. When did these counterfeits surface? I pre-ordered my copy from Barnes & Noble and received it around September 15th. Were the counterfeits around then?
     
  18. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    I would say that is a very big assumption (that legitimate (r)etailers are selling counterfeited The Beatles stereo boxsets). So far there hasn't been any proof of this.
    I'm still awaiting my stereo boxset from Amazon.com (which will hopefully arrive in a few days), but I'm not worried that it's a fake.
     
  19. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Does the box (and its contents) match the description of the original post?
     
  20. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Of course, I'd like to know that, but I can't check my copy right now.
     
  21. Feisal K

    Feisal K Forum Resident

    Location:
    Malaysia
    Could they be legitimate Chinese releases? I mean I have, a few CDs that were released for the China market but somehow found their way to Singapore retailers at US$7 (as opposed to normal releases at US$15). Some had nice packaging too. Of course the pressing isn't the best...

    Eventually they released some (popular releases) made for Singapore CDs at US$8
     
  22. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Mine have new mastering, and say they are pressed by optimal media production on the disc! Not CD-Rs.
     
  23. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Can someone post a picture of the two slotted Past Masters please?
     
  24. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    some pictures:
     

    Attached Files:

  25. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    one more for now:
     

    Attached Files:

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