Re: Statement by Marantz about CD compatibility

Hi Tim,

[Apologies if this message doesn't appear as part of the main thread; I
hadn't set my subscription up properly to allow a normal reply]

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 14:32:58 +0000 you wrote:
> I don't think it's an acknowledgement as such, probably more of a
> disclaimer.

You're right, of course.  By "acknowledgement", I meant to say that at
least Marantz are putting the information out there (although it's not
exactly being broadcast to everyone) that there's a problem.

> 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.

I agree with you in principle, and where I've personally found that I
had a choice between corrupt discs and actual CDs I've chosen the CDs.
Unfortunately I'm coming around to the realists' perspective that the
majority of consumers are not going to be aware of this distinction and
may only be affected by it when buying that expensive new player that
mysteriously doesn't work.  Having said that, I'll admit to feeling
slightly hypocritical that I can espouse taking the moral high ground
(regarding the avoidance of corrupt discs) but then go on to buy safe
hardware "just in case".

And then there's the times when I don't have a choice.  Well, let me
rephrase: I always have a choice. It may not be between a CD and a
corrupt disc, but there's always the fundamental choice of buying
something or buying nothing.  Again, the part of me that wants to stand
up for a principle says that I should just "vote with my wallet" and not
buy anything in this situation... but then I remember that, ultimately,
I'm a music lover who wants to listen to music.  (I can justify this to
myself by saying that it's better "for the cause" for me to be an actual
dissatisfied paying customer, rather than an almost-customer who wants
to tell a record company why they lost a single sale.)  I probably sound
rather defensive :-)

I'm not suggesting by any means that everyone compromise their own
principles on what they buy; I'm just saying that the hardware issue has
become a consideration for me (because I'm too weak to say "no" <wink>),
and I hope that it might become an avenue through which support from the
public can be gained.

> 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.

Perhaps this possibility will be seen as more of a problem by the
general public than the largely-ignored issue of the discs themselves
(aside from a piece on Watchdog a few years ago, I've seen very little
attention paid to this issue in the media).  I'm guessing that a market
so fragmented would be seen by consumers as obviously bad.

Then again, hoping for that to happen would be like starting a fire in
an office to persuade those in charge that insufficient fire-prevention
measures have been taken -- they'll notice eventually but by the time
they do, the building has burned down.

[I've snipped some of your email here; I agree with most of what you say]

> 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.

Along those lines: last year The Darkness released "Permission To Land",
a successful album which was initially sold as a corrupt disc.  Many of
the fans (well, that subset who had access to the Internet and the
inclination to post on a relevant bulletin board) were vociferous in
their disapproval.  There were people who had been supporting the band
while they were relatively unknown, and who had laid down their money to
buy this album and come away with something they couldn't listen to. At
first I had hope that the reaction would cause a change of heart by the
label (I was forgetting how this group of people were surely a
minority), and I added my voice as I couldn't listen to the disc through
my computer (I spend most of my day at this keyboard so it's my primary
music player) -- but I was swiftly brought down to earth by the response
of those who told me that I should just buy a stereo!

It's an uphill struggle, to be sure.

Thanks for your reply.

Cheers,
Steve

-- 
Steve Tregidgo