stormspell

Okay, this is a very interesting topic for discussion. Check this out: http://www.discmakers.com/music/products/cd100.asp As you can see manufacturing of 1000 PROPERLY made CDs (complete package: pro-printed inserts, traycard, 3-color on-disc silkscreen, barcode, shrinkwrapping, FREE distribution on cdbaby.com) will cost you $1.29 each... NOW, if this seems a big quantity for you, you still can make 500 for $2.38 each, or even 300 for $3.30 each Please dont tell me that $1.29 would be "too expensive investment" in a products that retail between $19.99 to $49.99 ! Nope, $3.30 would not be either! Yeah, and how many of those bands sell their CD-Rs for $49.99, or even $19.99 ? And I hope you dont really expect me to believe Sam is paying like 100% royalties to the bands, do ya? Because I DO make diference between "self-released" product a band releases and sells themselves, and licensed release by a record label, in which case the band gets some small portion of the retail price... hope that many of the other forum users make that difference too. Last, but not least: I still keep buying CDs mostly for the sole purpose of getting the REAL, UNIQUE product - nice, shiny, and glossy, with cool pictures, info, lyrics, etc... NOW, why should I pay $49.99 for a el-cheapo CD-R, if I can go and buy the same album for download online from ipod tunes or napster for $10? What additional value I'll get for the rest $39.99??? Anyway, please consider all those questions rethorical and dont bother answering me for the sake of peace and sanity on this board, thanks and have a nice day!

Yep, looks like a punch hole. My guesswould be he probably used a scan from a cut-out CD artwork and didnt fix the image before re-using it... maybe he doesnt have photoshop or other image altering software...

Cool, but would it be on CD-R?????

Checked the mp3 links, thanks. Scary Hariry sounds like a very cool band. Have to order it. I'll check Manila Thrills too one of this days Thanks for the info

He didnt bid, he used "buy it now" on the other auction too, so dont hesitate at all - go and leave him negative for not honoring the transaction!

Mmm, good idea, but how preventing (0) feedbackers on bidding if they use snipper service and place a bid in a very last second?

It's very simple and dont have connection to how fast you ship the CD... James pays and after receiving the goods files non-received complaint with PayPal as he usually does to everyone... NOW, the minute you mail him the tracking # this disrupts his initial scheme, and he immediately pulls off his alternate "raided bank" excuse, hoping that you would accept the CD returned to you and give his money back. THEN he probably will send you a cone package with delivery # and when you get it and find out its just an empty jewel case inside he will dispute with PayPal and they will turn the case in his favor since he will have proof of sending the merch back.

You should know immediately those are Russian pressings after seeing ALL his 7250 auctions go for flat "buy it now $4.99" eh Next time just ask yourself who can retail all Nuclear Blast/Century Media/Sanctuary FULL catalogues for $4.99 and you will see there's something smelly in the air

Yep. Those UV-coated slipcases are very impressive. The inserts are still single-page (or two-folds), but still acceptible package by all means. If they only were official... eh Anyway, my point was that if someone wants to put good all-around package for the fans, it surely can be done! Check out the Sentinel Steel releases for example, they are all very gorgeous state of the art products - glossy multi-page booklets, great custom licensed artwork, digitally remastered by credible sound engineers, fully licensed by the bands, etc. and yet they still cost $12 retail! That's what I call something done by fans FOR the fans! Everything else is just a joke

Yep, he put them on the site, ...after exausting eBay. It takes so much for people to understand those come in qunatities and stop outbidding themselves you know. And do you see anyplace it says those are CD-Rs? I can see a lot of "not-so-moot" points coming out of this. For instance: if one can manufacture the CD-Rs at home on his burner and print the white labels on his thermal inkjet, how the band will know how many copies has been manufactured and sold to get the proper royalties for? Anyway, I'm not scolding at him - it is his business and his selling decisions. I just wanted to know if they are CD-Rs or not. Thanks to Malebolgia I know now. Hey, if there are people ready to pay $19.99 and more for white-labeled CD-Rs and willing to keep the "product" once they see it, ...well, what can I say - more power to Sam!

I wouldn't exactly call HOT METAL "nice packaged" since Panos uses the cheapest plant possible and all their CDs are milky-swirled on the playing surface, but I hear ya and know what you mean. It's not really so expensive to make 1000 proper silverback CDs you know, but in Sam's line of work, given they are made to be sold on eBay one at a time only for the highest profit possible per CD, it's not really worth for him to make more than 100 anyway.... just a different business approach I guess *shrugs*

This weekend they'll have quite some games on Fox Soccer Channel: Saturday: Birmingham vs. Liverpool Bolton vs. Portsmouth West Ham vs. Arsenal Sunday: Chelsea vs. Aston Villa

Huh, is it really? I never looked at it that way...

I know this question will trigger some nasty responses, but I have to ask it, sorry. Are all of the Retsrospect releases CD-Rs?

Actually it was me who told you they didn't have this album on their website (nonexistent anymore). The reason for this was because when the band decided to move on to USA, two bandmembers didnt want to, remained in Russia and ONE of them cut the private deal with Melodya and released this CD WITOUT the consent of the other bandmembers. So basically THIS GALAXY CD may be considered bootleg, since the profit went to only one person who wasnt band member anymore. That's all. The band was active recently (maybe still is) and there were some plans to release some old material they recorded while in USA in early 90-es, but then their website went into limbo and I dont know what happened since then.

Hey George, how's Greece today? I just want to make two comments: First, the Bulgarian plant (DZU) has been under VERY close EU supervision for several years now, and there hasnt been any bootleg pressings recently. Everything nowadays originates mostly from Russia, Ukraine, and Greece. Second, about GALAXY CD. I suppose you are talking about the RussianDVD.com seller on eBay who presaturated the market recently. I got a copy from him too and it was genuine. The booklet is not "cheap photocopy" - it just shows some color misalignement. This used to happen often on offset printing, ESPECIALLY on old machines back in the 80/90es, or if you have to run full-color printing on 2-collor machine (then you have to run the paper through the machine twice). Just get magnifying glass and you will see the dot pattern, which is unique for offset printing and cannot be duplicated by photocopying. Also the LAT numbers on the CD seems genuine to me, so my guess is that those are the real CDs. Cheers

eGay won't do that, since they collect some of the fees from the auctions he "wins" (not every seller goes and requests FVF on screw ups, and eGay does NOT refund automatically you know). I bet eGay secretly enjoys having shmucks like James onboard generating them tidy profits...

It's definitely him. He usually pays for some selected auctions he had won (especially those he managed to snatch for under $4, heh). Just check here: http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?View...rows=200&sort=3 He had bid on 100 auctions for the last 2 weeks and won stuff for $1500+ ... What bothers me is why he got 4 positives from 3 different sellers, and still has only (2)? Damn! I just realized he got the new Asguard CD for $0.99! I was looking for that one too!

Seems like a shill bidder to me. Report him to eBay and they should take care of him. Or just blackmail rbcmp3 to sell you a copy for cheap, or else you would report them for shill bidding

It's okay man, I was just pulling your leg. If it's possible I'd rather prefer not to have my e-mail posted on the net where spam-crawlers can pick it up

I dont see my name

I want the original CD too. Any other places it can be purchased from?

Here is his original e-mail at me: SKELETON CREW - GRIND THE ENAMEL Item number: 4729431702 TAINTED ANGEL / SAY A PRAYER Item number: 4729431842 Hello....MEGA apologies for not getting in touch before now....I have been out of town and just got back this morning...I will not be able to pay for the cd(s) I won from you on ebay until sometime in mid/late June.....and I WILL pay you...I have some important financial issues right now that need taken care of namely my trans going out in my vehicle while out of town,and having a huge towing bill and repair bill....and need some more time to pay you....please advise as to whether or not this time frame is acceptable to you...thanks! This Guy is really funny!!! Joachim : <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've been down this route with him many times... needles to say he never lives up to his word, so save yourself the hassle, go ahead and request FVF (if eBay had fixed the annoying bug with the pulldown menues from yesterday

Okay, what is the website for this Wild Cauldron (CauldrEn?) thing? The only one I managed to find (http://www.wildcauldron.com) did not have merchandise section at all!