My recent experience with 7 digital - resolved

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Steve G, Jan 30, 2018.

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  1. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    I bought some ABBA tracks from them that were supposedly redbook FLACs and not only do they sound terrible (they no way sound like redbook unless I just haven't been listening to redbook files enough lately) but they also *skip* - and not in the same places each time, either. I tried downloading twice with no improvement, and I wrote to them and haven't heard back yet, but boy they are selling terrible quality product over there. I don't even know how a digital file can skip but I imagine they are corrupted somehow.
     
  2. c-eling

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

    Are you sure they don't sound terrible because of the remaster's they are using? :winkgrin:
    Hopefully you get refunded. I haven't had any issue with other titles from them, but I always check to make sure from anywhere that they aren't selling me re-packaged mp3's in a flac container. I caught Tidal doing it, hence they will never receive another dollar from me ever again.
     
  3. Deaf_in_ LA_1974

    Deaf_in_ LA_1974 Forum Resident

    maybe they ripped from a record, in hi fi redbook specs
     
  4. c-eling

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

    It'd sound better than the remasters :laugh:
     
  5. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    They probably got the files like that from the label. It's not like they rip their own CDS.
     
  6. c-eling

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

    No but they offered 'Lossless' at a premium price next to the lossy. They refused to refund when I showed them proof. F@#*'&^%
     
    Bubbamike and Steve G like this.
  7. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Skipping in different places each time indicates a corrupted file. The source is irrelevant if the file itself is damaged.

    I've not used 7Digital, but I was planning on getting a rare track that's only available in lossless from them, but it's UK only. Maybe for the best if the files are corrupted in the system...
     
    c-eling likes this.
  8. nuclear_error

    nuclear_error Forum Resident

    I haven't bought a ton from them but i haven't had any issues with quality.

    I did have one issue with a missing digital booklet. I contacted them and they resolved it within 24 hours.
     
  9. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    I guess my question would be - if I convert them to .wav from FLAC can that correct the errors? Does anyone know?
     
  10. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I don't know for sure, but this is my guess:

    If the file is corrupted, which is my guess based on your description, converting it would create a "stable" file - I think - but any errors that occured during the conversion would be permanent in the new file. Meaning, if during the conversion, it detects an error at 1:28, the new file would forever have a skip at 1:28. I don't know for certain. Again this is entirely a guess based on my (somewhat limited) knowledge of computers.

    You could do what I do and convert it 10 times and use Audacity to patch together a seamless, error-free rip, or do something that actually makes sense and contact 7Digital directly. If they care about their customers, they'll deal with it.
     
  11. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    That won't correct the errors. If the original file is corrupted then the resulting file will also be corrupted.

    There are programs that you can run that will run a verify check on your FLAC files. That might help to confirm they are indeed corrupted. Should be some free software out there that can do that.

    I'd wait to hear back from 7Digital. If you're having this problem then other people will be experiencing it too.
     
    Dave likes this.
  12. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    Sure that's no player issue? What software do you use for playing those FLACs?
     
  13. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    And that is the real issue. And a valid one. If they sold you bad files they should refund you for them.

    I highly doubt it. You could try, the cost in time for experimenting with one file is minimal. But that's the way I try, just convert one. Good luck. It sucks that 7 Digital are such jerks.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 1, 2018
    c-eling likes this.
  14. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    thanks everyone - it's funny because for sure those files are ALL corrupted and it's only the FLACs from 7Digital - I have lots of other FLACs that play fine and none of them ever skip, including lots that I made myself (I make FLACs because they can play gapless). Anyway, the 7Digital tracks don't skip EVERY time, just a lot of the time, so I think I'll take InStepWithTheStars's advice for now and do rips and see if I get lucky. If I get a clean one then that's one less song to worry about (although there's nothing I can do about the lousy SQ...). I've never heard of a skipping .wav file in 20 years of .wav files so maybe I'll get lucky - but those are really shoddy files at 7Digital. Unless they are just slow and take their time answering emails and get back to me and send me fixed files and everything winds up groovy which would be nice.
     
    c-eling likes this.
  15. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    Have you tried downloading the tracks again? If you log in to 7digital, click on "Your Music" and the tracks should still be there to download. Were the files zipped? Maybe something happened when they were unzipped?
     
  16. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    Yes I downloaded both ways zipped and unzipped. No difference.
     
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  17. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I don't know the intricacies of conversion very well, but if you get a smooth track in WAV, you should be able to convert that back to FLAC and it should play fine. Again just a guess.

    I recommend using Audacity for this - click and drag the FLAC in, test to see if it plays with no skips, export as WAV. Test WAV using the same method, convert back to FLAC. With Audacity, once the file is loaded (provided you select "make a copy of the file"), it will be immune to changes until the program is closed without saving.

    But again I've never dealt with this so it might not work at all.
     
  18. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I should clarify that by "immune to changes" I mean the file that was loaded will play the same way every time. It's essentially creating a temporary lossless copy for editing purposes. You can fiddle with it as you like or directly re-export it as-is.
     
  19. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    I got one rip that sounded good so I saved it. The next one I tried sounded TERRIBLE and I tried both the one from the zip and the one I downloaded unzipped. Holy moly. Theses are some terrible files!!
     
  20. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    I have something interesting to report. I opened them in Audacity and there was all sorts of crazy robot noises and digital spikes and just general gunk. I exported them as .wav and at least when I playeed them back in iTunes they were fine. I'll have to see what happens when I play them on my Oppo but it really seems like the glitches were all on the FLAC wrapper. Hmmm.... curiouser and curiouser.
     
  21. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    Update: 7digital finally wrote me back said that they had tested the files and acknowledged that they were defective and offered me an exchange or a refund. So I would like to change the title of this thread if possible to make it known that they do take care of their customers.
     
    stereoptic, Bubbamike and scobb like this.
  22. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    thanks to the gorts for fixing the thread title and and extra thanks to 7Digital who, when I asked for 7 tracks from an album which had about the same cash value as the faulty FLACs, send me the whole album just to be nice!
     
    stereoptic likes this.
  23. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    los angeles
    That turns out to be what happened
     
  24. ChrisOV

    ChrisOV Well-Known Member

    Location:
    California
    Interesting - I recently used this service for the first time and my experiences with it were mixed.

    Firstly, they claim in the following article that their files can just be imported into iTunes

    https://7digitalhelp.force.com/cust...add-tracks-from-7digital-to-my-iTunes-library

    However they are only available in FLAC format and must be converted by 3rd party software prior to import, which I find misleading....

    Also had a few corrupt files which could not be downloaded for which I ultimately received a refund....so all in all not great.

    That said, they have a decent-ish library and for some new remasters and EPs are the only online source of FLAC downloads.
     
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