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Topic: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original? (Read 3348 times) previous topic - next topic
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Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Hello folks,

How are you?

My question is about being a collector and how this can suck big time, sometimes.

There you go.

For example,  I want "Depeche Mode - Violator CD."

The best sounding CD to me, is the original made in UK (CD Stumm 64). Then you have the USA version of this record, on CD, which has a different master: about 3 dB louder - and CD face sucks hard (very different from the UK, very silly decisions made by Sire Records). But then, now looking for the UK CD to buy, everything I find is:

- The CD is very very expensive and not 100% in mint condition.
- The CD is in quite good condition but even sealed some copies have spots of mold and foxing in sleeve.

So we have now releases and more releases of a new remaster done by 2006 (of this album) which is - to my opinion - inferior to the original. But going that way, the products are newer and packages are clean and neat. CDs are new and easier to find.

So this is where I ask whether one has to have the exact copy intended, or is it alright to own a remaster, for instance, and have a digital copy of the same record but different version (not LP, though). Count that the track listing is the same (I know there are cases in which it wouldn't be fair to own a reissue with more tracks). Or should one have the exact same original sounding record in hands?

I know this sounds pretty anal, but it's nearly impossible to meet some copies of old classics that are repressed and remastered "a million times".

Any ideas?

Thank you!

-- krafty

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #1 –
I have the US Sire/Reprise 926081-2.

If you're not passing it down to someone, it doesn't matter if you mix and match the CD.   ;)
EZ CD Audio Converter / FLAC or WavPack

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #2 –
It will mainly depend on the applicable laws in your country. In most cases downloading (from illegal/unknown sources) is not allowed, even if you are downloading something you already own physically. In my country you are allowed to make a copy of a CD and give that copy (physically) to somebody else however.

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #3 –
This thread might be binned due to site policy, but anyway:

"Laws" and "ethics" are not the same thing. In certain jurisdictions, lobbyists have successfully gotten a ban on copying your own CDs.
If they are deleting the good version and sold you a crippled one, I don't have any ethical qualms about getting the former.
Oh, I have that version of Death Magnetic. Stop whining Larz, I bought the one you ruined.

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #4 –
Thanks.

Well pointed by folk that in some countries, you cannot even make a copy of your own disc.

In my case, I have some national pressings which are not quite good when packaging comes along. The UK/Japan/US/Germany are quite better. They usually are bit identical. But these new remasters make me cry. They totally ruin the work. And last remaster for Violator was a butcher job -- this is the one that's been getting pressed all reissues since 2006.

Thanks for your contribution.

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #5 –
Laws and ethics aside, and in all honesty not encouraging the practice, but many people share stuff and few if any have any issues doing so, especially if they use a VPN. Then there's the philosophy that copyright itself has become corrupt and needs reform and one way to do that is by defying the laws.

"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." ~ MLK
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  ;~)

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: krafty on
So this is where I ask whether one has to have the exact copy intended, or is it alright to own a remaster, for instance, and have a digital copy of the same record but different version (not LP, though). Count that the track listing is the same (I know there are cases in which it wouldn't be fair to own a reissue with more tracks). Or should one have the exact same original sounding record in hands?

An example: In the UK it is even illegal to rip a CD, so downloading something that is exactly the same as the CD is as well. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, ripping or copying a borrowed CD is perfectly legal.

Downloading a different remaster (which will have additional copyright from the people who were involved in remastering) will be illegal in most countries.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #7 –
Do it anyway. You'll find that half the population commits a felony almost daily without even knowing it.

Re: Is it OK to have a CD edition and download a copy of a original?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: kode54 on
Do it anyway. You'll find that half the population commits a felony almost daily without even knowing it.
… and the other half does so knowingly.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  ;~)