Richard & Linda Thompson-Hard Luck Stories:Playing/Ripping Problems or Not?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GubGub, Sep 14, 2020.

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  1. Sergius Wegmuller

    Sergius Wegmuller Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire
    Just completed first run through of the box. All eight discs loaded and played back without any problems (Cambridge CXC). If the second attempt is successful then I'll relax.
     
    uzn007 likes this.
  2. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    I ain’t saying there isn’t a problem, but I am glad to see that at least 34% wont have a future headache. Just trying to see brightness through the haze.
     
  3. John D.

    John D. Senior Member

    It could be only certain batches have problems. :shrug:
     
  4. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    "Geo-Locking" to use your term should be illegal. I posted earlier in the other thread how this came about (I was in the industry at the time).
     
  5. Joan the Wad

    Joan the Wad Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    Just reiterating what I posted in the other thread:

    Discs 1 - 3 had multiple ripping errors (clicks and skips)
    Final track on disc 4 refused to rip and actually crashed the drive, requiring me to pull the plug out

    I gave up at this point but will report back if I ever try ripping discs 5 - 8.

    Of note, UMC have yet to respond to the email or tweet I sent on Sunday concerning this.
     
  6. Michael_Conen

    Michael_Conen Active Member

    Location:
    Vlaanders
    Just joined the forums, specifically to report the problems encountered with the cds.

    In short: On first play of discs 1 and 7, there were spots that jumped. Upon inspection and cleaning of the surfaces [most discs showed smudges or fingerprints upon first opening the package, but no deep scratches, just a few swipes on a couple of discs], and reinserting the discs, they played through. The first time hearing "Mole in a Hole" from Disc 3, I thought I heard a minimal error, but told myself it was my imagination. I have not gone back to check on who posted this, but after reading that report, I went back and listened to the track, and indeed there is a digital error in the playback, about 1:38 into the track, as Linda is singing the word "fly".

    Attempts to rip the discs with XLD yielded only one effortless and error-free run, with Disc 3. All of the other discs had problems with primarily the bonus track sections [especially Disc 1, tracks 13 & 14], and I had to switch to iTunes importing, in order to finish most of the discs. Disc 7, the last track was never able to be ripped/imported, and eventually gave up on it. Lots of noise doing so with my ASUS SDRW-O8D2S-U running through my MacBook Pro 2013.

    A real sham(e) on the part of the manufacturer, IMHO, as these were obviously not done with serious quality control mechanisms. Will be attempting the method to copy the disc files to the MacBook, and then do a rip with XLD, to see if similar problems arise, or not. So far, playback of the imported tracks that I have listened to [roughly 50%, have sounded just fine].

    Tis a great pity for Andrew Batt, who spent so much time putting this great project together, and for the artists, whose music is timeless, and shouldn't have to have such ineptitude on the part of the music label, ruin what should have been a very nice celebration of their career together. Hopefully, the label will do the right thing, and replace the discs with repressed hard copies/high quality lossless files.
     
  7. GubGub

    GubGub Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sussex
    Just to get the details of my experience in here too.
    Discs 4 & 7 ended up, to use someone else's memorable phrase, grinding my ripper, taking ages to to complete and making a horrible noise resulting in audible errors on playback. I will play the discs on my regular TEAC AD-800 player today to see if this also reflects problems with regular playback. The other discs appear to be ok for me so far.
     
  8. GubGub

    GubGub Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sussex
    Well, that didn't take long. I went straight to track 14 on disc 4 which was the offending track when ripping. It stops and starts and skips and stalls. There is also a lot of audible flutter. I thought to start with that this was just Richard's guitar effect but it affects the whole soundscape so I think not. So the ripping problems are reflected in regular playback too. Not sure whether the discs that ripped successfully would also have playing issues but it is academic because if two discs of the set are faulty, they may as well all be as it will have to be replaced one way or another.
     
  9. Kiss73

    Kiss73 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    I wonder how many people who have discs that play properly have tried ripping them - and inturn the digital version plays back okay?

    I only appeared to have an issue ripping on the last track of disc 7. The rest appeared to rip perfectly fine. However when I started to play these digital files there were skips all over the place.
     
  10. subtr

    subtr Forum Resident

    That was me, thank you for confirming this. Another member very kindly sent me the 2004 remaster to compare as well, where the issue isn't present.
     
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  11. Bill57

    Bill57 New Member

    Location:
    Bognor Regis
    Such a great set, but so disappointing that these issues have arisen.
    The discs I am having most problems with are 3 and 7, in each case it is towards the end of the discs
     
  12. Flaming Torch

    Flaming Torch Forum Resident

    I will check out my Hokey Pokey disc from the box and listen carefully.
     
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  13. Michael_Conen

    Michael_Conen Active Member

    Location:
    Vlaanders
    Follow-up report, after attempting to copy the disc files (read as AIFF files, on my Mac) to my desktop and proceeding from there:

    Disc 1 = all tracks copied, but external drive was noisy at the end of the process [bonus tracks]
    Disc 2 = completed, but again noisy
    Disc 3 = Smooth completion of task
    Disc 4 = Noisy process throughout, but last track #14 would not complete [lost cause]
    Disc 5 = completed, but again noisy
    Disc 6 = Noisy process, but in the end track #16 would not complete
    Disc 7 = again noisy, but this time tracks #14 - 17 would not complete
    Disc 8 = more of the same, but this time, tracks 9 - 14 would not complete the copying process

    Frustrating, to say the least, in an attempt to move the music to my iPod Classic to make it easier to have extended playing, without interruption.
     
  14. Stan Butler

    Stan Butler Active Member

    Location:
    Belfast
    Ripping problems on all 8 discs. Usually error messages on 4-5 tracks on every disc.
    To anyone who is reporting no ripping problems, are you secure ripping?
    Discs are playing ok.
     
  15. Tim Rylance

    Tim Rylance Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bath, UK
    My name is Tim and I have all the original LPs, all the original CDs, the original Doom and Gloom cassettes, many of the bootlegs, most or all of the boxed sets...

    I have a Luxman D-05u SACD/CD player, a Naim Uniti 2 integrated CD-player/streamer/amplifier with the traditional Naim swing-out CD tray and magnetic puck, and a Macbook Pro with a 10 year old external USB Apple Superdrive (XLD tells me there is a Hitachi GX30N revision RP09 inside.)

    All 8 discs play fine on the Naim.

    On the Luxman I have problems playing discs 2, 4, 5, 7. Always the last track.

    Ripping to FLAC using XLD on the Macbook, I get unrecoverable errors (rip cannot complete) on discs 4 and 7, and recoverable errors (rip completes having retried after errors, and the result plays OK) on discs 6 and 8.

    I voted "Both playing and ripping issues" in the poll.

    My set was from Amazon UK. All discs were in good condition: just a few tiny scuffs, some easily-polished-off fingerprints on disc 2 suggested that the discs may be placed in the cardboard folders by hand.

    Disc 1 (43:12): no problems at all.

    Disc 2 (56:45): on Luxman track 15 Great Valerio live at Rainbow (5:17) breaks up about a minute before the end (not always in exactly the same place) first with short dropouts producing a fluttering effect then with longer silences before the player finally gives up. But the track plays fine on Naim, and rips without problems.

    Disc 3 (43:12): no problems at all.

    Disc 4 (74:15): on Luxman track 14 Calvary Cross live at at Oxford Poly (13:24) breaks up about 30 seconds before the end. Plays fine on Naim. Cannot rip this track at all, XLD eventually spits out the disc without explanation (after 3 hours first attempt, 12 hours second attempt.)

    Disc 5 (69:18): on Luxman track 11 Layla (8:48) breaks up around 3:06, player struggles on for a few minutes before giving up. Plays fine on Naim, and rips without problems.

    Disc 6 (65:41): plays OK on both Luxman and Naim, track 16 First Light [Demo] (4:03) rips OK having corrected a few hundred errors.

    Disc 7 (72:15): on Luxman track 17 Back Street Slide [Rafferty] (4:27) breaks up at 4:06. Plays fine on Naim. But tracks 15 For Shame of Doing Wrong [Rafferty] (4:15) and 16 The Wrong Heartbeat [Rafferty] (3:09) cannot be ripped - after a few hours each track has reached 50% and XLD is predicting that the remainder will take several weeks. For track 17 XLD cannot even read the first sector.

    Disc 8 (63:26): plays fine on both Naim and Luxman. Track 14 High School Confidential (4:29) rips OK having recovered from a few hundred errors.

    It appears that a straight CD player has more success than a fancy modern device that reads SACDs or DVDs and/or writes anything. Other reports in the original thread suggest the same.

    Also when playback problems occur they are usually on the last track of the longer discs. So a quick "is my set OK?" check might be to play the last tracks of all discs except 1 and 3 (leave disc 4 until the end, the last track is long.)

    My plan is to burn CDrs for discs 2, 4, 5, 7 from the rips to play on my Luxman, supplying the 4 tracks I cannot rip from Guitar, Vocal and Rafferty's Folly. If Amazon restock before the return window closes on 12th October I'll request a replacement. Otherwise wait/hope for Universal to come up with replacement discs. I will not return for a refund.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2020
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  16. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Gee I hope Universal redoes and reissues this. IMO, this requires more than just replacing some discs. Realistically, probably won't sell enough to justify the correction it deserves.

    It could be part of a plan to kill physical media. What would you do differently if that was your intent?
     
  17. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Paranoid much?! These physical sets are still a godsend to the big companies. They can do a nice box and book relatively cheaply. Discs - 20 or 30p each? Artists and all those involved get their royalties but the actual production costs will be, what, £7 or £8? Deluxe boxes, while they are selling, remain licences to print money.
     
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  18. dockofthebay

    dockofthebay Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Amazon are selling them once again, due back in stock on 25th September... Bit naff.
     
  19. formbypc

    formbypc Forum Resident

    Can those who have problems maybe post mastering info from the actual discs, to see if it can be established whether only certain batches or pressings are affected? If indeed, there are different batches or pressings for such a small-scale release ....
     
  20. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Ironically, I don't have much reason to spin these discs at all, since I can download them or stream them in FLAC quality from Amazon as it is.

    I didn't vote of course but I've just played disc 4, track 14 in my Oppo and it played just fine. I then played 15, 16 & 17 of disc 7 just to cover some more of the notable problem tracks. No audible skips. I did note that there's no track information on this disc though, which is surely very unusual in this day & age ... I can't remember when I've put a disc in my player and not seen the artist and track name come up. There's very notable sibilance on “Back Street Slide” but of course with archival material that could just be the nature of the track so I double checked against the streaming version and, yes, it's just the track.

    Note, though, that my discs had no visible scuffs ... makes me wonder if not all sets were assembled in the same way. (This may seem unlikely but if they had more orders than they expected - as the problems with retail supply suggest - the sets were probably manufactured in multiple batches.)

    So I don't have any reason to doubt that this is a shoddy pressing (?) job but the errors don't seem to reproduce on my system (touch wood).
     
  21. graeme ewan

    graeme ewan Active Member

    Location:
    uk
    Already added to superdeluxeedition however same issues here with playback and ripping. pretty poor. i await replacement discs being issued. cant see UMC doing a recall on complete boxes etc. incurring double the postage costs etc.
     
  22. They just need to replace the discs.They don’t need to redo the whole package.
    The second part may be a bit paranoid.If this is what they wanted to do the new Taylor Swift album might have been a better Trojan horse than a Richard and Linda Thompson box.
     
  23. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    I just played all of disc four (on a Marantz CD6006) without any problems. I've not been so nervous about getting to the end of a disc without incident since the halcyon days of home taping killing music and praying the last song would end before the tape ran out. Watching the clock on Calvary Cross, saying to myself, "Only three minutes to go... only two minutes to go..." Hardly the best way to be experiencing the music, even though I still enjoyed listening to it (testament to the content, of course). I'm going to play the tracks you've mentioned from disc seven next.
     
  24. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Not paranoid, just cynical.
     
  25. Part of a plan to kill physical media ? That’s a bit over the top I think.
     
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