Re: Statement by Marantz about CD compatibility

Hi Steve, on Tue, 10 Feb 2004 14:05:48 +0000 you wrote:

> All Marantz Compact Disc players & Recorders comply with the Industry 
> standard of playability as described in the "Red Book".
...
> This is interesting to me; it's the first time I've seen such a 
> disclaimer from a hardware manufacturer. Having seen disclaimers on 
> audio disc packaging to the effect that the enclosed disc will work on 
> "most" CD players, I've always taken the implication to be that whatever
> CD player one buys, the odds are that the deviation from the CD format 
> won't be a problem.  

You're being too trusting of the record companies then :) They would like
you to think that there won't be a problem, but in reality from:

a) reports flying around, 
b) the rise in use of "data-type" CD players and
c) the (apparently) increasingly aggressive "copy protection" employed

then I suspect that increasing numbers will have problems.

Besides, I don't consider any "deviation" acceptable, irrespective of
whether it works in my current players or not. It means they are
deliberately providing sub-standard, damaged goods. I don't see why I
should accept that.

> I know that it's not guaranteed at all, and that 
> the warning is vague in its statement, but until now I hadn't seen 
> acknowledgement from a manufacturer that incompatibilities will arise.

I don't think it's an acknowledgement as such, probably more of a
disclaimer.

> Has anyone seen similar news items or notices from other manufacturers? 

Yes, my car radio (Panasonic) has one. I have a feeling others have also
been posted here in the past.

> I suppose I'm hoping that statements like the one above will help to 
> spread more widely the information that CD players are no longer 
> competing in a market with a single audio standard, and that the 
> particular audio discs bought by a consumer must inform the decision of 
> which player to buy.  

I'd rather it was the other way round (they choose CDs that work in any
player). See below.

> (Case in point: I was considering buying a CD 
> player for my car, but I've come up against an obstacle.  This is the 
> first CD player I've bought since I became aware of the non-standard CD 
> issue, and I really have no idea which player I can buy that is 
> guaranteed to play all the music I've bought.)

That's an interesting take on the issue. I suspect many people, myself
included, would see that not as a reason to choose a particular CD player,
but a reason not to buy corrupt CDs. Although a heightened general
awareness of the incompatibility of corrupt CDs with fully-working CD
players is good, I would really hate to see that fragment the market into
a set of incompatible standards and we have to buy CD players that are
"approved" to play particular types of CD corruption.

> Will the market crystallise to a state in which I must buy several 
> players, one for each of the audio disc formats available?  

Hopefully not, but it's not impossible by any means.

> Every time I bought a new album I'd have to consider whether it was
> compatible with my player, and whether I wanted to buy new hardware to
> go along with it.

Since the introduction of corrupt CDs, you already have to do that really.
Even if a corrupt CD works on your current player, there's nothing to say
it will work on your next/other player (e.g. car CD, computer, whatever).
I don't buy huge quantities of CDs (no, I don't download them either), but
when I do, I actively make sure that it has the CD logo on and has no
indication of corruption (i.e. "copy protection" notices). I refuse to buy
corrupt CDs, because I refuse to play this stupid record label-instituted
game of playability roulette, for exactly the reasons you point out. I
don't care whether they do or don't play on my existing players, I'm just
not going down that road.

> I note in particular the fact that Marantz "strongly suggest that 
> [consumers] use discs, which satisfy the CD standard", which brings home
> to me the fact that the consumer's choice of which music to purchase is 
> no longer a purely aesthetic one. 

Indeed, and it would be good to play up on this. It's what we need the
public at large to understand, though I unfortunately don't see any
imminent likelihood of widespread enlightenment.

> Once upon a time I'd hear a song on the radio (or at a concert, or used
> on a TV show, or however else) and buy a CD if I liked what I heard;

Sure, which is what makes the corruption particularly insidious. Consumers
shouldn't *have* to worry about compatibility; that's why standards are
good, and it's a large part of the reason why the CD market is thriving -
it's a cheap, universal, robust medium. 

Furthermore, if you like Artist X but Artist X's releases are only made in
corrupt format, you don't have any choice - copyright means that there's
no competition, so you have to either buy and risk it not working in
current or future player (or wearing out prematurely), or go without. (Or
obtain through less-legitimate means, and risk the wrath of the record
labels for not buying the product which they wouldn't sell you in a
non-broken format).


In a way, I hope the record labels continue their stupidity and come up
with some ultimate corrupt format that fails on huge numbers of players,
and press huge volumes of discs based on that format, causing a wave of
publicity and people (and consumers groups) starting to demand proper CDs.
I'm not holding my breath though.


Tim