[raif]

Does anyone here know if cds from Columbia House or BMG are of any worse quality than if you bought them straight from a record store. I just spent a bunch of money on a good set of headphones and cd player, it would seem like a waste if it turned out my cd's (mostly from BMG) were all crap.

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Quality-wize, they're no different.

This is in direct contrast to the Columbia laserdisc club. Laserdiscs obtained through the club were made in a different factory from the same masters. So out of the box they were exactly the same. However, the Columbia discs were not sealed as well as the non-Columbia discs, and many of them got laser rot within a couple years. I got burned on about three or four of them, including my copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

But, to reiterate my earlier point -- the CDs do not suffer from the same issues.

 

[legoman]

If I remember correctly, Stereophile (but it could have been a German audio magazine) did a test. While listeners seemed to hear a difference, a direct comparison using the "original" and the music club "copy" and using some wave-form addition / substraction calculations they found that there were no differences whatsoever.

 

[raif]

Cool, thanks for the info. Now it is time to sign up my "friend" for ten more free cd's.

 

[Magic77]

Hello raif,

I've been buying CD's from Columbia House and BMG for a few years and haven't had any problems. The only difference is that they put a different bar-code on the back of the CD's which identifies them coming from the Columbia House or BMG music clubs. But, otherwise the CD's and packaging are exactly what you would get in a retail store.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Quality-wize, they're no different

Yes, they can be...VERY different.

I recall two CD's that got noisy and began skipping 3/4 the way through. I couldn't figure out why, since there were no scratches or damage. I later discovered that they were actually off-centre, wreaking havok with the error correction system and the poor laser trying to read the pits. I turned the disc (play side up) on my finger and I could see the silver edge went back and forth as I turned the CD. They were both Columbia House. The regular issues were fine.

 

[Wes]

One thing to remember about these clubs is that prices are variable and depend on your reaction. I discovered this some years ago when I was a member of BMG.

I became a member and got a lot of freebies and was flooded with the usual announcements of 'spectacular' price reductions. At the same time, I had a friend sign up. He took his freebies and then began purchasing more CD's at once from each mailing. I held back--I had plenty of discs--and my sale prices soon got lower than my friend's in the regular mailings.

A careful inspection of the booklets mailed showed that the price reduction on the cover was separately overprinted so that it could be varied for different classes of subscribers depending on what price they went for, as I concluded.

So, don't be quick. Wait for them to tempt you.