Amazon is selling CD-Rs now...

This isn't some expose thread or anything, just a curious informal query of preference.

When seeking used copies of The Dungeon Family's album, I noticed that Amazon had the following text underneath it, as apparently it is not in print currently:

"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.
"

Occasionally I'll buy MP3 albums from Amazon and burn them, but I had never seen this before. Has anybody used it? I know some full mp3 downloads come with booklets -- do they basically just send you high quality versions of the booklets/artwork and burn the image on the CD? Would there be potentially sonic reduction with this (serious question, I'm nowhere near an expert)?

Would you pay full price for this? Just wonder as the mp3 albums are always cheaper, but this doesn't appear to be.

sounds like they burn and send you a CD-R version of the album, with full facsimile packaging. i.e., with a physical booklet/cover and j-card, etc. only difference being that you're getting a CD-R, not a CD inside. sound quality should be identical to CD audio. i'd pay full price if i wanted to support the artist (rights holder, label, whatever). but i'm not so concerned with owning the object that i'd seek something like this out.

i wouldn't pay more than a dollar for one.

basically, if you sell me that shit for full price I will hunt you down and punch you in the throat until you lose the ability to speak

In my case, I opted not to go this route and I bought a used version of the album which I know to be the real thing.

Depending on the disc/artist, would pay more than a dollar, would NOT resort to throat punching.

Twin/Tone Records does this for their back catalog, and I like the business model of not having to press/warehouse large quantities of a limited-demand item, but I have had enough CD-Rs go wonky and unplayable that this is a concern to me.

i'm with dan here. though on-demand CD printing offends my limited-print-run-hoarding, vinyl-collecting sensibilities, it makes sense for smaller artists and less in-demand titles. michael hurley and sir richard bishop both sell CD-Rs of their OOP catalog titles, and i'm cool with that. nice for them to have something to sell at shows, nice for fans to have something to take home.

If its cheap, then why not. But I will not pay more than £3 for a cdr.

presumed impermanence?

aye

surely the impermanence is not 'presumed', but pretty much certain? I've bought a couple of limited-run CD-Rs from small labels, but find it tough to justify anything approaching full price for them. The advantage over MP3s is the packaging. You can always rip them straight away for longer-term storage.

am i the only person who owns old CDRs that no longer play anymore? they must be cheap ones.

I have had a few that stopped playing properly.

It's like they're selling you a car where the bodywork is made from cardboard instead of steel, but charging you the same.

I bought one new and it wouldn't play. It played on my computer so I had to rip it and burn another copy to play in my CD player. I would also never pay more than £3 for one (knowingly, I've paid more for a few I didn't know were CD-Rs)

basically, if you sell me that shit for full price I will hunt you down and punch you in the throat until you lose the ability to speak

Local man gets his dollar back in gruesome fashion - we'll have hat story plus Dylan Dreyer with the weather, tonight at 11

that story obv but I guess with me that's gotta count as a Freudian slip

am i the only person who owns old CDRs that no longer play anymore? they must be cheap ones.

Oh hell no. I've had a number of CDRs go south on me in recent years, all of them no more than 10 years old. I've ripped just about all of them and don't worry about it, but y'all should rip yours pronto. I suspect the lifespan of CDRs is much less than advertised.

I did forget, in addition to ruining your larynx I will also be shoving fedoras so far up your ass people will start calling it "Indy"

"Yeah it was weird. 'Cause he'd lost, like, three dollars total on the deal, max. He ate the guy's heart right there in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue."

xp "Throw me the Anusol and I'll throw you the whip!"

I suspect the lifespan of CDRs is much less than advertised.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 3:16 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark

^^^ truth bomb - if you are backing your shit up on CD-Rs or DVD-Rs, you'd better get that stuff onto hard drives/the cloud pronto

let us not gloss over the "full price" modifier that accompanied the start of this thread

I mean, of course we can in the name of lols but let's not forget the context in which this started

I thought that but then I wanted my imaginary assbeating recipient to be getting a full beatdown for lower profit, the closer to pure relentless principle the beating the higher the lol-per-blow ratio

assbeating aside, i have a lot of old CD-Rs that play fine, and a few that don't. maybe i've just been luckier than most...

anyway I don't think I have a problem with this. regular CDs can go wonky too - a lot of them can start to desilver and once you scratch one deeply it's as good as gone. if you're not keeping your physical media backed up on your computer or in the cloud these days, well...

you'd better get that stuff onto hard drives/the cloud pronto

but don't forget to back up that hard drive, too, before it dies of old age four years from now.

If I am giving you $13 - $16, you are giving me something that has had artwork professionally screened onto it with a professionally printed booklet, or else I am also giving you fists

basically, I will be the high heel and you will be the cassette tape

HI DERE portrayed by Tony Jaa

but don't forget to back up that hard drive, too, before it dies of old age four years from now.

― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 3:37 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

well that's why I said the cloud, with the caveat that the back up company you choose won't also be belly up 4 years from now...

really I am just waiting for the day Google opens Google Storage or w/e. I guess in the meantime getting an account with Amazon S3 wouldn't be a bad idea if they handled storage.

To be fair about the whole thing too, Amazon has this in big, bold letters all over the place on the page so there's no way you wouldn't know you were buying a CD-R and the accompanying price unless you put sardines in your eyes

so what you're saying is I'm still at risk

it's not necessary to put sardines in your eyes in order to read the nutrition nazi thread btw

Amazon rep: Thanks for calling Amazon, how can I help?
HI DERE: I want to know who.
Amazon rep: Who what, sir?
HI DERE: Who did this...
Amazon rep: Did what, sir?
HI DERE: The offenses Amazon has committed in the name of my family...who is responsible?
Amazon rep: Sir, we didn't force you to buy that Jedward t-shirt...
HI DERE: I'm not talking about that. I mean who charged me full price for a CD-R?
Amazon rep: Sir, if you'll take a look with me at the page in which the item is listed...
HI DERE: I am not interested in your "pages" with "words" and "disclaimers". I just want to know whose skull will soon known the earthshattering pain of my fists of fury.
Amazon rep: But we made it very clear...
HI DERE: Let ME make something clear. I would have paid one dollar, maybe two for that CD-R, and when it arrived in the mail, I would have explained to little Timmy why it was so, and things would have been alright in his little heart. But how can I look in his innocent eyes and explain why I overpaid for a CHEAP COPY!
Amazon rep: Sir, I promise...
HI DERE: Here's what I promise YOU...for refusing to release the name of the perpetrator of these crimes of passion, I consider you an accomplice. You won't know it, but I'll be lurking in the shadows. Behind your footsteps will be my silent footsteps. And one day you will know what it feels like to live without a head.
Amazon rep: Anything else I can help you with today sir?

one day you will know what it feels like to live without a head

this could be my mantra

Decapitated by a sharpened CD-R throw at high velocity like a shuriken.

failed to dodge high-velocity sharpened CD-R due to presence of sardines in eyes

HI DERE how do you plan to remove people's heads yet keep their lives intact? where will their brains go?

you will not trick me into divulging my secrets so easily

People who sell CD-Rs in place of CDs have no souls.

What's the best kind of external hard drive to use for this, and how big? I get more and more promos as downloads, and burn the ones that are any good, because I write a lot of show previews, and never know who might be in town six months-two years from now. One of those tetrabyte thingies maybe, or something cheaper that might do for the next year or so (which might mean about 35 albums-worth, say 2450 minutes, pluse maybe some CD-Rs I've already got)(still haven't backed up my new computer's hard drive, though I made recovery DVD-Rs, yes they might go wonky too)

Mainly asking about something for downloads of albums now (they're almost always mp3s)

I just bought two Western Digital Elements 2TB drives, about $130 each. I think WD externals are probably the best deal out there right now, they are the same price or sometimes cheaper than the OEM bare drive equivalent.

for 2450 minutes, even if you encoded straight from the CD w/o converting to mp3 would only take up 24 gigs, probably around 3 gigs if you just stored it as mp3 files. that would leave you with like 197 gigabytes leftover.

has anyone used mozy.com for backup? it seems cheap. is restoring unbearable?

dan patrick speaks highly of mozy

Hey thanks guys, I'll check out Western Digital and Mozy. Consumer Reports mentions Clickfree and Rebit (spelling? I'll check again). Prob go back to vinyl whenever possible, since we know that lasts. I'm not looking fwd to being forced to rely on ebooks either.

I don't use them but one of the podcasts I listen to always touts Carbonite as an easy online backup solution.

the main reason to backup online is that if you ever lose all your possessions including the shirt on your back in a fire, you will at least have your data...somewhere...online.

If I am giving you $13 - $16, you are giving me something that has had artwork professionally screened onto it with a professionally printed booklet, or else I am also giving you fists

― HI DERE, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 3:38 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

basically, I will be the high heel and you will be the cassette tape

― HI DERE, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 3:38 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

trust dan to make a fisting comment

http://www.amazon.com/DNA-Repair-528-Brian-Baxter/dp/B001MS7IQI

wtf??

THIS ENTIRE CD IS ONE SOUND.
IT IS NOT A PLEASANT SOUND, IT REMINDS ME OF THE 12 NOON WHISTLE THAT GOES OFF THE FIRST WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH.
I PLAY IN ON ONE PLAYER WHILE I LISTEN TO ANOTHER HEALING CD, WHEN TREATING ILL PATIENTS, THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT IT IS ON.
I HAVE NO RECORDS TO INDICATE THAT THE DNA IS REPAIRING AT THIS TIME.

"Yeah it was weird. 'Cause he'd lost, like, three dollars total on the deal, max. He ate the guy's heart right there in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue."

― les yeux sans aerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Tuesday, July 20, 2010 3:20 PM bookmarkflaglink