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Which Box Set Has Been The Biggest Rip-off?

post #1 of 48
9/21/09 at 8:32pm
Thread Starter 
So I have to be the first one here to state that I'm a sucker for that favorite bands box set. There is a warm comfort in getting one home and keeping the music and extras safe and secure for future enjoyment. Many are total works of art that seem to provide another level of understanding inside of the music. Some have remasters and extra DVDs you just can not find. There are stickers on the outside that let you know only 5000 made. There are really two kinds. One is a complete box with every LP remastered. One has extra stuff you have known about but never saw in one place. I like my box sets. How many are just lame? We all have one right? List them one and all so we can all feel better as a group.
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post #2 of 48
9/21/09 at 8:45pm
Beatles. Its WAY too overpriced. Absolutely not paying that much for 40 year old albums no matter what level of remastering or whatever has been done. Its just money grubbing.

Look at the Van Halen remasters on HDCD for 7 bucks an album. Or the Rush Remasters. Thats the price the albums should go for, and the total cost should be cheaper than buying it seperately. I'd pay 100$ tops for the box. Nothing more.
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post #3 of 48
9/21/09 at 9:11pm
Thread Starter 
Me too on the Beatles box set. My friends have always talked about Beatles in mono. But at that price I will just have to not get it. Cool that the 2 channels are out one by one for $13.00-$15.00 and White Album a lttle more.
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post #4 of 48
9/21/09 at 10:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
. Absolutely not paying that much for 40 year old albums no matter what level of remastering or whatever has been done.
What would be an appropriate age of albums to pay that much for? Is that too many or too few years?
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post #5 of 48
9/21/09 at 11:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by West726 View Post
What would be an appropriate age of albums to pay that much for? Is that too many or too few years?
One good measure would be is the band still together. Are they still recording or touring?
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post #6 of 48
9/21/09 at 11:18pm
A neat box set gimmick would be to release a box set of original masterings that are now out of print. For example, a box set of The Allman Brothers Band catalog from the original CD masterings. Same with Led Zeppelin and some other bands where the remasters are loudnessed. Or do a new remaster for a box set that has no dynamic compression (or no excessive dynamic compression) done if the original CD masters are noisy or in some other way need work.

The only box sets I own are classical music sets. Things like all of Beethoven's symphonies together or all of Bach's organ works. I don't have any popular music box sets.
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post #7 of 48
9/21/09 at 11:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
Look at the Van Halen remasters on HDCD for 7 bucks an album. Or the Rush Remasters.
I wouldn't comment on the Rush Remasters since I have never had the opportunity to compare it with the originals, but Van Halen?!?!?!? I wouldn't want their remasters even if they are for free, it's nothing but loudness war'd garbage. Paying for them would be my defination of a rip-off.
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post #8 of 48
9/21/09 at 11:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
Absolutely not paying that much for 40 year old albums no matter what level of remastering or whatever has been done. Its just money grubbing.
Guess I really got rooked when I bought Duke Ellington's Centenniel Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings and Louis Armstrong's Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens . Some of those are 70 years old. And yes, they do still sound scratchy and pop just like the old 78s. Gotta love digital remastering, but I wouldn't give them up for the world.
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post #9 of 48
9/22/09 at 2:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich View Post
A neat box set gimmick would be to release a box set of original masterings that are now out of print. For example, a box set of The Allman Brothers Band catalog from the original CD masterings. Same with Led Zeppelin and some other bands where the remasters are loudnessed. Or do a new remaster for a box set that has no dynamic compression (or no excessive dynamic compression) done if the original CD masters are noisy or in some other way need work.
It'll never happen, but it is a great idea. People would pay good money for sets where they just took the original (no safety ones or copies for other companies, the real deal) masters and ran them straight through the ADC and out to the pressing plant. God knows I would for Black Sabbath.
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post #10 of 48
9/22/09 at 2:12pm
Quote:
I wouldn't comment on the Rush Remasters since I have never had the opportunity to compare it with the originals, but Van Halen?!?!?!? I wouldn't want their remasters even if they are for free, it's nothing but loudness war'd garbage. Paying for them would be my defination of a rip-off.
I am quite positive that the Beatles remasters arent audiophile quality either. Give it to me in a hi def formate like SACD or DVD-A or Bluray and I'll pay. Same old cd, make the recording louder, and charge the price of a current cd? Are you kidding me? Van Halen albums went through same treatment but the price is right, thats the argument here. Don't make it sound like the worst recording in history, the Van Halen cds sound quite fine, they are indeed loud, but theres much worse out there. I dont see how doing the same thing for the Bealtes is justified but not for the other bands. Its for ppl like you that these labels are charging this kind of money, cos you'll just pay whatever they charge. Heck the box set couldve been 1000$ and still some of you wouldve walked away with one because then it wouldve become a "Collectors" item.
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post #11 of 48
9/22/09 at 10:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
Beatles. Its WAY too overpriced. Absolutely not paying that much for 40 year old albums no matter what level of remastering or whatever has been done. Its just money grubbing.

Look at the Van Halen remasters on HDCD for 7 bucks an album. Or the Rush Remasters. Thats the price the albums should go for, and the total cost should be cheaper than buying it seperately. I'd pay 100$ tops for the box. Nothing more.
The beatles box set is $179 on amazon. For 14 albums. Thats $12 per album, also known as the cost of a new CD. I don't really get why you would expect them to be cheaper than the CDs have been selling for for the last several years in stores. It isn't like you are buying in bulk; you are buying a set.
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post #12 of 48
9/22/09 at 10:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
I am quite positive that the Beatles remasters arent audiophile quality either.
agreed; in that they DID STUFF to the tapes that was NOT NEEDED.

compression? uh, wait; you mean to tell me 1960's tapes won't 'fit' on a cd with close to 100db of range on the cd medium?

come on. this was a cash grab and the loudness stuff was catering to the 'new kids' who perhaps are too young to have ever really heard the beatles.

I find it insulting that they make us choose between the mono side (no compression added) and stereo that ruins things WITH compression.

so, yes, the beatles sets (both of them) are blatant cash grabs.
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post #13 of 48
9/22/09 at 11:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxworks View Post
agreed; in that they DID STUFF to the tapes that was NOT NEEDED.

compression? uh, wait; you mean to tell me 1960's tapes won't 'fit' on a cd with close to 100db of range on the cd medium?

come on. this was a cash grab and the loudness stuff was catering to the 'new kids' who perhaps are too young to have ever really heard the beatles.

I find it insulting that they make us choose between the mono side (no compression added) and stereo that ruins things WITH compression.

so, yes, the beatles sets (both of them) are blatant cash grabs.
Seriously, with a band like The Beatles, unless they go balls-to-the-wall like Neil Young and his Blu-Ray box set*, anything else is a blood sucking cash grab. For a band that "changed music forever", this is a decidedly bland set.

*I am not a fan of him, but I have a lot of respect for an undertaking of that scale as it hopefully will light a fire under the asses of other legendary bands.
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post #14 of 48
9/22/09 at 11:34pm
Thread Starter 
I love box sets. I just feel the mint LP of Revolver, St. Peppers, and Abby Road will have to carry me though the rest of my life. The one side of The Yellow Submarine will be there too. My White Album that I got as gift right when it came out got ripped off in 1981. I have never looked to replace it. I will just make do.

Sometimes even if you are a completest it's cool to have just a few good albums, even if it is The Beatles. I may have Rubber Soul knocking around somewhere, I will have to look for it.


Sometimes in life you get just what you need. Give me the LPs any day, even if you find that one of your LPs is not perfect.
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post #15 of 48
9/22/09 at 11:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08 View Post
For a band that "changed music forever", this is a decidedly bland set.
I wrote a bit about it in the beatles remaster thread; but there is so much they could have done, that was the kicker. they could have released both the stereo and mono on the same set of cd's or gone with dvd and just used pcm for audiophiles and 'more stuff' in compressed mpeg audio for everyone else

some video, some lyrics, lots of things they *could* have done.

this is THE BEATLES. at least, the company. they *could* have done a lot more than they did.

I don't mind the stereo stuff (I prefer it, even strange-channel style like they did) but to *cripple* it by compressing a 1960's era already-compressed tape? uhhhh, WHAT?

oh, to avoid that you have to GIVE UP any semblance of 2 channels, effect or real, and settle for mono being blasted out of 2 speakers or 2 drivers in headphones. pretty ridiculous.

*either* you get partial A and a good B *or* you get good A and partial B. they make you choose lesser or lesser. there's no winner that way, sheesh.

how embarrassing for apple records and the memory of the beatles.

the semi-old joke of 're-buying the white album' is now actually a twisted and sick joke.
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