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[benn600]

How does everyone handle buying a CD by an artist and then finding out they later re-release the same CD, but with extra tracks--sometimes as few as ONE more--but it's usually a gotta have track.  If I purchased the earlier CD, then I'm usually compelled to buy the new one even if it seems like a stupid move.  In the worst case--say you do have two CDs, one with 13 tracks and the second with 14 (one bonus track).  What do you do?  Of course in some ways, I want to keep both because pushing my library size up is not a bad choice but it's obviously horribly duplicating songs.

[imugli]

I don't know how pedantic you are with your collection / tags etc. but I would simply rip the extra track and change the name of the album to reflect that of the re-released one (Special Edition etc), then get the covers for that...

[Magic_Randy]

I keep them both.

[benn600]

Two good suggestions.  I mainly wanted to "poll" the MC community to see what others do.  I'm leaning toward keeping both.  Then, the old disc would get 1-star album-wide and the newer album would get accurate ratings.  It obviously has some disadvantages but as we all know, duplicates are about the worst problem you can deal with in a media library--there is no good solution in existence.

[Listener]

I seek out re-releases of classical music performances of I really like.  I keep all versions I have.  I created a user field named "Version" that identifies the re-release version.  My classical music view schemes have a pane for slecting the Version.

The Version Pane takes up screen real estate but it works quite well.

Bill

[mark_h]

I only keep the best sounding version.  All bonus tracks are tagged as 'Bonus Track' and don't get included when I pull up a random album to play as I'm only interested in hearing the actual album at that point.

Mark

[malcolmm]

imugli, mark h and others...

so are you saying you buy the two cds? just so you get the new track!

usually the best by a new artist is first - then they get signed and stressed with a lesser output

you sound so casual... as if you can take the second back after ripping the bonus track. do you get a credit?

imugli - give me an example. what album are you talking about.

as a side - back in the days of vinyl (as if it's changed - I still listen to my records - every now and then) I bought 2 copies of Bob Dylan, Masterpieces only to find they were identical - both were pressed from the same "gold" - both had sections of distortion - when the cd came out, I waited with baited breath. it was better, but I was over it - go figure  ?

cheers, Mal from Cessnock

[malcolmm]

I only keep the best sounding version.  All bonus tracks are tagged as 'Bonus Track' and don't get included when I pull up a random album to play as I'm only interested in hearing the actual album at that point.

Mark

so... what do you do with the other version? do you take it back to the shop? if you could be so lucky 

i tag bonus tracks as bonus tracks too! new cd releases of original Bowie, Beatles and others have ring-ins attached. Why do they do this! Grrr

Cheers, Mal from Cessnock

[mark_h]

I've been buying CD's for 20+ years.  Mastering technology improves (sometimes!).  There are plenty of early CD releases I bought that have been improved upon over time.  If the album is important to me I will rebuy.  Not for the bonus tracks, but for the album itself.

Cheers,

Mark

[mark_h]

so... what do you do with the other version? do you take it back to the shop? if you could be so lucky 

Give it away, though people I know generally don't share my taste in music  

Mark

[malcolmm]

remember when they said you could eat your breakfast from them!??

they didn't turn out much different from vinyl anyway - guess you've gotta respect the media when the music is so good

i reckon we can only say we've been buying cds since... say 82 - i remember gettin into it straight away

i'm in Australia who often used to be late gettin on board

cheers, mal from cessnock

[malcolmm]

mark

tell me about last.fm - you wouldn't really know records would you?

(one of the only benefits of being older than you  - my benefit is I've got a nice little library I can play with. nice)

cheers, Mal

[mark_h]

LastFM?  It's a website that counts the tracks you play (Media Center can submit this information) and then compiles charts, compares your tastes with others etc and allows you to listen to a LOT of artists.  You can then explore the site and hopefully discover new music to your tastes that you might not have heard before.

Vinyl?  I have a few hundred albums spanning jazz, classical, rock, pop etc... eg anything were good musicians are making great music!    That experience though is reserved for quality listening.  Low lights (or off completely), a nice glass of red wine and a comfy seat.

During the day, it's JRiver Media Center's job to entertain me with ripped CDs.

Cheers,

Mark

[Alex B]

You guys are forgetting the still ongoing loudness war (even Ben who recently posted about it...).

Unfortunately the re-releases are often spoiled at the final mastering stage, in which they are compressed as much as possible to make them louder.

The original releases (if they are old enough) usually have a lot more dynamic variation. If they have problems with equalization that can be corrected by applying some EQ on playback. For instance, some releases from 80s have slightly thin sound because the equalization was not properly corrected for the CD release.

People often get fooled because the louder and compressed remastered versions may initially sound "better" when they are briefly compared with the more dynamic first generation CD releases. The real truth becomes apparent if the loudness difference is corrected by adjusting the playback volume level (the replay gain system can do this) and the releases are compared on a high quality playback system.

Naturally there are exceptions to this. Sometimes the first generation releases were really bad and a remastered version fixes various problems.

Personally, I would carefully consider if the additional bonus tracks are so important. Sometimes it is possible to find many of the bonus tracks in separate "rarities", "b-sides", etc releases which don't contain the original album tracks.

Though, I have found that the compressed versions are good for listening in a noisy car... 

[mark_h]

You guys are forgetting the still ongoing loudness war (even Ben who recently posted about it...).

Not at all.  I was careful to say "sometimes" above because of issues like this.  I always compare to determine which version is better before replacing.

Unfortunately the re-releases are often spoiled at the final mastering stage, in which they are compressed as much as possible to make them louder.

Yes, it's a very depressing state of affairs.

Personally, I would carefully consider if the additional bonus tracks are so important. Sometimes it is possible to find many of the bonus tracks in separate "rarities", "b-sides", etc releases which don't contain the original album tracks.

Agreed.

Though, I have found that the compressed versions are good for listening in a noisy car... 

And that's part of the reason we get compressed audio - to make it sound good on poor devices or in poor locations because that's how most people listen to music these days 

I've introduced many of my nephews, nieces and friends to my hi-fi over the years and they all go "wow" but none say I want one - they're happy with their iPods    The home cinema on the other hand never fails to capture their enthusiasm - I guess it's harder for an iPod to compete with a 15' widescreen image and full range surround sound 

Mark

[benn600]

I, too, was not forgetting the loudness war.  I find that greatest hits CDs are almost ALWAYS louder.  And I, too, am misled to believe these are better upon first listen.  I always have to choose one to be the good rating with the other being 1 star.  I typically choose the greatest hits version which is probably a bad idea.  But yet, in the car, you sort of want the volume leveled track.  Of course MC could probably add some audio compression...Audacity can for sure.


180" screen?  Geez.  We've got a 110 widescreen and a 130 full screen image previously and both are borderline too big.  Of course we are pretty close in the front row.