[Music Alchemist]

  To be honest free mp3s were often the only way I could attain certain rare music. Especially if it was old.

 
Same here, but that accounts for well under 1% of music.

 

[LNuneek]

1% nah, maybe 1% of what you listen to, but not the entire world of music. I think most people completely under estimate just how much music was even released on vinyl alone in countries all over the world that have never been ripped to a digital file. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  1% nah, maybe 1% of what you listen to, but not the entire world of music. I think most people completely under estimate just how much music was even released on vinyl alone in countries all over the world that have never been ripped to a digital file. 

 
Good point, I guess.
 
Even with popular stuff like TV shows, I hate when they don't release all the music!

 

[LNuneek]

   
Good point, I guess.
 
Even with popular stuff like TV shows, I hate when they don't release all the music!

It would be nice to have all the music that was ever released commercially at our fingertips. That would be a dream come true! 

 

[BarbecueGamer]

   
Oh, sweet. I used to collect lots of rare music. (Selling much of my collection right now, as you can see in my sig.) I actually want to start a digital music store that licenses and sells unreleased soundtracks from movies, television series, video games, etc., but would also sell normal albums.
 
Is it this Berserk soundtrack? If so, I hate to break it to you, but it's available right now from CDJapan for like $21. If it's a different one, here is a list of others.

It's likely that it's a repress version. For that price I think it's too good to be true. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  It's likely that it's a repress version. For that price I think it's too good to be true. 

 
All the data matches the original release. Looks legit!
 
The only other version listed on VGMdb is a bootleg, and they do list reissues separately.
 
That being said, it likely is a repress -- but that just means the pressing plant made more of the same thing. It's a common practice, and different from reissues that are different from the original release. More importantly, the audio is bound to be identical. Only hardcore collectors would care about the other (likely nonexistent or undetectable) details. To make a headphone analogy, my Sony MDR-7506 came out in the early '90s, is still being produced today, and is no worse than it was back then.

 

[BarbecueGamer]

   
All the data matches the original release. Looks legit!
 
The only other version listed on VGMdb is a bootleg, and they do list reissues separately.
 
That being said, it likely is a repress -- but that just means the pressing plant made more of the same thing. It's a common practice, and different from reissues that are different from the original release. More importantly, the audio is bound to be identical. Only hardcore collectors would care about the other (likely nonexistent or undetectable) details. To make a headphone analogy, my Sony MDR-7506 came out in the early '90s, is still being produced today, and is no worse than it was back then.

You're probably right, and it's not that I'm a collector or anything. So I'm totally fine with a repress. It's just that I've been told that the repress may not even be of the original wav tracks. And believe me, I'm usually not the kind of guy who needs FLAC audio. In fact, 90% of the music in my library is 320kbps MP3. It's just that for this particular instance I want to make absolutely sure that I'm getting the most out of my music for this soundtrack. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  You're probably right, and it's not that I'm a collector or anything. So I'm totally fine with a repress. It's just that I've been told that the repress may not even be of the original wav tracks. And believe me, I'm usually not the kind of guy who needs FLAC audio. In fact, 90% of the music in my library is 320kbps MP3. It's just that for this particular instance I want to make absolutely sure that I'm getting the most out of my music for this soundtrack. 

 
What reason do you have to believe that they used different audio for the repress? If it's different audio, it's not really a repress, anyway. It would be nice to know that you got the music in the highest quality available, but most of the time, you have nothing to worry about.

 

[cel4145]

Read about how CDs work. It is not converted to binary code (ones and zeros) until after the physical bumps on the disc are read. (Though technically, the hills and valleys on CDs are their own type of binary code.)

I don't find that differentiation particularly useful. The CD is not "technically" binary code. It is binary code; just the representation is different. Thinking of binary code as only 0's and 1's is sort of overly an simplistic way of understanding it.

 

[Music Alchemist]

I don't find that differentiation particularly useful. The CD is not "technically" binary code. It is binary code; just the representation is different. Thinking of binary code as only 0's and 1's is sort of overly an simplistic way of understanding it.

 
You and your technicalities.

 
Technically = literally, much of the time.

 

[cel4145]

You and your technicalities.

Technically = literally, much of the time.

Precision and accuracy is important when it comes to the audio hobby, isn't it

 

[Music Alchemist]

Precision and accuracy is important when it comes to the audio hobby, isn't it

 
We need to put some glass over this conversation. It will help us more accurately communicate and avoid timing errors. XD

 

[mrscotchguy]

I thought I would chime in. A local hifi shop tried to convince me to purchase a high end cd-ripper/music server because it's the best in the world.

... then he goes on to tell me he uses this device to rip all his cds. The device and computer are plugged into a power conditioner, connected to a separate breaker, that uses a premium audiophile-grade wall socket. Meanwhile, to ensure no noise from his house gets into his music, all his hardware is on isolation platforms, and he unplugs all other devices from that room and turns the lights off while he does his ripping. In fact, his he even unplugs his monitor once it all starts. To make sure he gets the highest fidelity rips, he uses this specialty devices that removes static from the cd, and just to be safe, sprays "laser lubricant" to make sure no "0"s or "1"s are lost.

... I really wish I were making this up. Not sure which one step makes his music better than mine, but I wasn't about to ask him his opinion on Spitify!

Nothing special for ripping on my end... I just look up the offset number of the bluray player in my pc, and set foobar to paranoid. It takes for..evvv..errr, but works without errors almost every time.

I have tried comparing my rips to cd playback, but I always get this loud whining nose in the background. My noise floor is no longer black. Funny thing, this only happens with my open back headphones and not my closed cans... not sure what that's all about.

 

[LNuneek]

I thought I would chime in. A local hifi shop tried to convince me to purchase a high end cd-ripper/music server because it's the best in the world.

... then he goes on to tell me he uses this device to rip all his cds. The device and computer are plugged into a power conditioner, connected to a separate breaker, that uses a premium audiophile-grade wall socket. Meanwhile, to ensure no noise from his house gets into his music, all his hardware is on isolation platforms, and he unplugs all other devices from that room and turns the lights off while he does his ripping. In fact, his he even unplugs his monitor once it all starts. To make sure he gets the highest fidelity rips, he uses this specialty devices that removes static from the cd, and just to be safe, sprays "laser lubricant" to make sure no "0"s or "1"s are lost.

... I really wish I were making this up. Not sure which one step makes his music better than mine, but I wasn't about to ask him his opinion on Spitify!
 

I dunno, but that guy sounds beyond audiophile and more OCD. 

   
You and your technicalities.

 
Technically = literally, much of the time.

Kind of an ironic reply considering you've been the main stickler for technicalities for most of this thread. 

 

[kdava]

Although this article claims the glass CD does sound better, I'm really not convinced... Even if I was, $2000 per cd? Give me a break
 
Also, here is an interesting article about cryogenic treatment of CDs, which allegedly helps sound quality the same way glass discs do (by reducing birefringence).
 
I say these are just very expensive placebos, or bring very very marginal improvements. But I'm not that much of an audiophile, nor did I listen to these special discs.
 
Either way, for the price of a few glass CDs, you can build a high-end vinyl system and buy most of your music on vinyl. And a car.