Annoyed with recent CD-R purchases

[Chisel Chin]

I have just bought two new CDs from Amazon UK, and they've turned out to be CD-Rs.

 

These weren't "manufactured on demand" like Amazon USA provide.

They were normal stock supplied to Amazon by the labels.

 

They are:

 

- Crashdiet "Rest In Sleaze"

- Jettblack "Get Your Hands Dirty"

 

Although they are on the Stockholm Records and Spinefarm labels, both also have "Universal Music" on the back cover.

 

I can't see any mention of them being CD-Rs on the Discogs website, so I'd like to know if I'm late to the party, and missed out on original silver pressed CDs when these albums were first released, and all that's being supplied now is these CD-Rs?

 

Can anyone who bought these when they first came out tell me if they got proper pressed CDs?

 

I haven't bought early albums from relatively smaller bands for years, so wasn't expecting this, and it's somewhat put me off getting any others.

[heavyharmonies]

I cannot imagine Spinefarm releasing something on CD-R. Were these fulfilled by Amazon or a third-party seller via the Amazon Marketplace? If it is the latter, it's always a crapshoot as to what you might get. It could be some guy pumping out boots in his garage.

[Chisel Chin]

It was Amazon themselves. Even the back cover inlay wasn't cut straight on one of them.

 

I can still send them back, maybe ask for replacements to see if I get the same again.

 

I bought newer albums by these bands which are normal discs, and decided I'd then get those early albums. This has now made me wonder if maybe they're just too obscure to warrant pressing current stock onto proper CDs. I accepted the first one, but it was the second one in quick succession which has now aroused my suspicion.

[Dead Planet]

They should be silver pressed.....

[Chisel Chin]

Interestingly, after checking the Amazon product pages again, the Crashdiet CD is also listed as Spinefarm, even though it doesn't mention that on the actual CD sleeve.

 

So they potentially have Spinefarm commonality, which would make more sense for them to both be like this.

[kourosofsteel3]

Buddy, are aware of the fact that there's a Russian "unofficial" pressing of that crashdiet title?

 

And more over you got it from amazon where the sellers very rarely mention anything about the pressing you are getting.

 

I'm sorry, but you have only yourself to blame for.

 

 

Moral of the story is: screw amazon forever. And all those sellers who never mention details of the pressing or the brand of the t-shirt they are selling.

[glam_junkie]

can you post some pix of the crashdiet?

[Chisel Chin]

And more over you got it from amazon where the sellers very rarely mention anything about the pressing you are getting.

 

I'm sorry, but you have only yourself to blame for.

It was Amazon itself, as already mentioned, not one of the third-party sellers.

 

And besides, most of the marketplace sellers are businesses, which I've never had any problems with as they only sell official products supplied to them by the manufacturers. It's the individuals selling their own personal items which you have to be more careful about, but again I've never been conned by them either.

 

Which is why I think these are from the actual record label, where it appears they have chosen the cheaper CD-R option to make these old albums still available on CD if they are deemed unlikely to sell in sufficient quantities.

[Geoff]

 

And more over you got it from amazon where the sellers very rarely mention anything about the pressing you are getting.

 

I'm sorry, but you have only yourself to blame for.

It was Amazon itself, as already mentioned, not one of the third-party sellers.

 

And besides, most of the marketplace sellers are businesses, which I've never had any problems with as they only sell official products supplied to them by the manufacturers. It's the individuals selling their own personal items which you have to be more careful about, but again I've never been conned by them either.

 

Which is why I think these are from the actual record label, where it appears they have chosen the cheaper CD-R option to make these old albums still available on CD if they are deemed unlikely to sell in sufficient quantities.

 

 

Yeah, George, read the bloody text for christ on a crutch's sake! How many times does the man have to say he got them from Amazon itself?!

 

Anyway, mate, this seems really shit to me. I wouldn't be hesitating for a second to get Amazon to replace them with proper silver pressed CDs. They were, obviously, both silver-pressed (even I have these ones!) and you shouldn't be paying anything for some shitty CDR versions. Hope you get it sorted right away.

[shamus]

Yea. Send them back. A cdr is not a cd proper which is what you expected to get at the purchase price.

 

On an aside. make sure you are reading the entire advertisement before purchasing anything from your cart.

 

Amazon does print up cdrs "on demand" for certain titles with the artist's permission. I found this out the hard way when my SR 71 Here We Go Again arrived and it was a cdr. Poop!

 

Here's their blurb about this service:

About CD-R and DVD-R Media

CD-Rs and DVD-Rs (the "R" stands for "recordable") look like the discs you're used to and offer the same audio and image quality. This recordable media is used to manufacture titles on demand, as fully authorized by the content provider.

CD-Rs and DVD-Rs (the "R" stands for "recordable") look like the discs you're used to and offer the same audio and image quality. This recordable media is used to manufacture titles on demand, as fully authorized by the content provider.

Through manufacturing on demand, CreateSpace, part of the Amazon.com group of companies, enables Amazon.com to offer music and video content that might not otherwise be available. Each disc comes fully packaged, with artwork, in a standard jewel case for audio and an Amaray case for video, although for reissued products the artwork may differ from the original.

CreateSpace works with many of the leading music labels, television networks, film studios, and other distributors to make these titles available to Amazon.com customers. All products are manufactured from original source materials (e.g., for audio products, uncompressed CD-quality audio).

By eliminating inventory, waste, and inefficiencies in the distribution system, on-demand manufacturing provides the added benefit of helping preserve the environment.

When shopping, you'll see CD-R or DVD-R on the product detail page for such products. Amazon.com's standard return policy applies to these purchases.

[Chisel Chin]

 

Anyway, mate, this seems really shit to me. I wouldn't be hesitating for a second to get Amazon to replace them with proper silver pressed CDs. They were, obviously, both silver-pressed (even I have these ones!) and you shouldn't be paying anything for some shitty CDR versions. Hope you get it sorted right away.

 

 

They're going back to Amazon, but they're not likely to know what they're selling to the extent where they can re-supply a proper pressed CD as a replacement. I've just requested another of the same item, which no doubt will be a CD-R again, and if that's the case then it can go back as well.

 

That's the main reason I was asking on here, as you Geoff seem to have proper originals of these CDs, presumably obtained long ago when they were the proper versions. Whereas I am unfortunately buying them now for the first time, and getting a second-rate alternative.

[Chisel Chin]

 

Yea. Send them back. A cdr is not a cd proper which is what you expected to get at the purchase price.

 

On an aside. make sure you are reading the entire advertisement before purchasing anything from your cart.

 

Amazon does print up cdrs "on demand" for certain titles with the artist's permission. I found this out the hard way when my SR 71 Here We Go Again arrived and it was a cdr. Poop!

 

 

 

I'm aware of Amazon USA's "on demand" service, but this isn't something that Amazon UK have adopted. But those are presumably made "on demand" each time a customer orders one, whereas this current situation looks like the label is making batches of cheaper CD-Rs to send out to the retailers to sell.

 

I know it costs more money to make pressed CDs, and sometimes the manufacturing plants demand minimum quantities (e.g. 500 pressings at a time), but if a label doesn't think it's cost effective when there's a cheaper CD-R alternative, then I am of a similar opinion in that I don't want to spend my money unless it's a proper CD.

 

But I think this is the way some items are being produced if they don't expect sufficient sales figures to warrant the cost for a proper CD (or they just want to maximise profits). For example, the film soundtrack market is quite small, and Sony Classical only press some of their titles onto proper CDs for the European market. If you want the same product (which has the same barcode!!) from Amazon USA, it's a CD-R.

 

If those two albums that I just bought had been advertised as CD-Rs, then I wouldn't have ordered them in the first place. But as I didn't know until I received them, that's why I thought I'd ask on here as I presumed I could get some responses from people who bought these albums when they first came out.

[kourosofsteel3]

 

 

And more over you got it from amazon where the sellers very rarely mention anything about the pressing you are getting.

 

I'm sorry, but you have only yourself to blame for.

It was Amazon itself, as already mentioned, not one of the third-party sellers.

 

And besides, most of the marketplace sellers are businesses, which I've never had any problems with as they only sell official products supplied to them by the manufacturers. It's the individuals selling their own personal items which you have to be more careful about, but again I've never been conned by them either.

 

Which is why I think these are from the actual record label, where it appears they have chosen the cheaper CD-R option to make these old albums still available on CD if they are deemed unlikely to sell in sufficient quantities.

 

 

Yeah, George, read the bloody text for christ on a crutch's sake! How many times does the man have to say he got them from Amazon itself?!

 

Anyway, mate, this seems really shit to me. I wouldn't be hesitating for a second to get Amazon to replace them with proper silver pressed CDs. They were, obviously, both silver-pressed (even I have these ones!) and you shouldn't be paying anything for some shitty CDR versions. Hope you get it sorted right away.

 

 

 

Buddy, since the original poster didn't provide a link of that advertisement amazon's practices and prior knowledge of them (which I don't have) are irrelevant.

 

Not that I would ever trust a site which doesn't accept paypal these days...

[heavyharmonies]

Wait, what?

You don't trust Amazon because they don't accept PayPal...

 

[kourosofsteel3]

Wait, what?

 

You don't trust Amazon because they don't accept PayPal...

 

 

 

 

Well, at least I don't have to send back crappy cdrs!

 

 

Edit:

 

The sites I frequently use to order stuff operate on this ethic:

"sorry about that. will send you an XL tomorrow. you can keep the L one, since it was my mistake, give it to some friend.".

[Chisel Chin]

I'm not blaming Amazon for anything... It's the label making these particular CDs that is supplying unacceptable goods to Amazon, who is just the retailer.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

I'm not blaming Amazon for anything... It's the label making these particular CDs that is supplying unacceptable goods to Amazon, who is just the retailer.

Perhaps not. It may be that Amazon UK has adopted the same practice as its American counterpart, but have neglected to advertise it.

[Nightrain]

Amazon carries like 30.000 titles or more so it's understandable if there are some slips from a bad supplier.

You can always return the items and they will always refund.

I'm 100% satisfied with Amazon's service so hopefully you'll get your money back, and if you're lucky, they will just refund you fully without asking you to return

[Chisel Chin]

Amazon are fine regarding returns, no problems in that respect.

 

But labels flooding the market with indistinguishable CD-Rs makes it a bit pointless trying to obtain a proper one elsewhere, so in that respect I'm less likely to bother.

[Chisel Chin]

To those who were interested in following this thread, I'm now sorted with proper pressed CDs of both these albums.

 

Thanks to kourosofsteel3 above for mentioning the Russian version of the Crashdiet CD, which I have managed to obtain in mint condition from a seller on Discogs.

 

And most surprisingly, Amazon sent me a proper replacement of the Jettblack CD, so I guess they maybe had a mixture of stock on their shelves, and I'll put that one down to being lucky the second time around.

 

Great music, both of them.

[simo]

To those who were interested in following this thread, I'm now sorted with proper pressed CDs of both these albums.

 

Thanks to kourosofsteel3 above for mentioning the Russian version of the Crashdiet CD, which I have managed to obtain in mint condition from a seller on Discogs.

 

And most surprisingly, Amazon sent me a proper replacement of the Jettblack CD, so I guess they maybe had a mixture of stock on their shelves, and I'll put that one down to being lucky the second time around.

 

Great music, both of them.

Great to hear everything worked out in the end

[kourosofsteel3]

To those who were interested in following this thread, I'm now sorted with proper pressed CDs of both these albums.

 

Thanks to kourosofsteel3 above for mentioning the Russian version of the Crashdiet CD, which I have managed to obtain in mint condition from a seller on Discogs.

 

And most surprisingly, Amazon sent me a proper replacement of the Jettblack CD, so I guess they maybe had a mixture of stock on their shelves, and I'll put that one down to being lucky the second time around.

 

Great music, both of them.

 

 

So you replaced a cdr with a bootleg cdr of the Japanese version?

[kourosofsteel3]

Let's laugh again at this amazon worshiping topic.

 

Even a dude was trying to make a joke of me for not adopting a friendly attitude towards them , like we share a common purse.

 

 

"1 Out of Every 4 CDs Sold on Amazon Is Counterfeit"

 

 

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/10/31/amazon-counterfeit-cds/