Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

I still see VNYL ads. So clearly they are either doing well or got some kind of cash infusion.

yeah lots of dollar bin reisues blah blah blah but Friday Music reissues sound really AWESOME, no lie.

And MFSL Nevermind is one of the greatest sounding CDs ever.

MFSL wasn't just about the "gold", they were mastered differently

the only decent cd issue of deep purple in rock is the Audio Fidelity gold cd, fwiw.

I knew a guy who bought the DSOTM gold disc, and I remember something in the liner notes about how the CD laser was able to read gold better/easier or something.

That's true about the mastering, though (at least for MSFL -- dunno about the Sony/CBS gold stuff).

When I first saw this in a store, I assumed it was a joke. But it makes sense: if you're gonna dig through the murk, get the best engineers to do the digging:
http://www.24-karat.de/mfsl/udcd-724.gif

yeah, the (supposed) improvement on those CDs is not the gold layer but the mastering. Some are better than others.

you've never really heard sister ray til you've heard it in 24kt

The STEVE HOFFMAN mastering, you guys.

"It's like you're Waldo Jeffers and Sheila Klein is actually in the room with you running that sheet metal cutter through your head!"

you can really hear the tiny red arcs pulsating

you'd think there wouldn't be much you could do with sister ray, but something like for instance the "swan mix" sounds significantly different from the standard version...

i took the bait once and bought a gold cd by the jam and it sounded like shit.

Was that the MFSL twofer of Sound Effects and (iirc) Setting Sons? I used to see that one and their Marianne Faithfull Broken English/Strange Weather edition all the time when I was first buying CDs. They were like $25 at Best Buy, and usually the only titles they had for those artists.

If I ever see unopened classical CDs I'm going to have to pick them up from now on.

MFSLs are generally regarded as superior by even novice ears.

i think the thing with the gold was better reflectivity/fewer dropped bits.

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gonna miss the twitter-shade for shitty VNYL hauls.

or are they giving out shitty new rekkidz? it'd be funny if now the new sealed vinyl was shit like, uhh, some local lounge singer's giveaway promo copy

lol andrew

VNYL has invaded my FB feed with 'Sponsored' ads!

They're onto you. #VNYL #PodPeople #NeverSleepAgain

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Not sure if this is the right thread but I just got dosed by a discogs seller whose "VG" copy of More Specials includes a Side B that appears to have been steeped in mayonnaise for the last six years. Is there any kind of record-cleaning goo or gizmo or method that *isn't a shady scam, and will let me hear Stereotypes Pts 1&2 in its proper glory?

I use this:

http://www.spincleanrecordwasher.com/

a lot of ppl I've seen on FB are reporting success with the wood glue method

Wow, $80? You could almost buy two new LPs for that.

Glue is a miracle worker, it definitely does the trick.

$80 won't even get you one new Neil record

i had several MFSL CDs over the years (and AudioFidelity/DCC Hoffman masters). some of them are amazing and some aren't as amazing. I sold most of them in the past few years for bank because I stopped caring.

Only MFSL I have is Tommy. It does sound great, and "Eyesight to the Blind" uses an alternate vocal take unavailable anywhere else.

I feel like my local Best Buy had the same MFSL copy of Dark Side of the Moon sitting out in the special items/box sets area for like five years. Who knows, though, maybe it was a steady seller. Anyway I think it's the only one of those I ever saw much in stores.

I've heard hand washing with dish soap in warm water works OK.

XP If you never saw a MFSL Atom Heart Mother in a shop in the late 90s you were doing it wrong.

Xx doesn't "VG" pretty much mean it skips and jumps? That's what I thought.

Hell no! Even regular Good records shouldn't skip, hopefully not even Fair

mayonaising is permitted iirc

VG means surface noise audible in quiet passages as a general rule. Wood glue is great for cleaning, but 9 times out of ten using a fresh sponge and lukewarm water with detergent will do the job.

You might try calling local record stores and asking if they have a VPI machine they clean records with and if they'd do one for you... seriously going to get a better result than (shudder) dish soap. And wood glue I'd leave as a last resort.

Thanks all - am gonna attempt gentle soap to begin with because tbh i could throw it in a wood chipper and it couldn't sound any worse!

Shudder all you want but I’ve cleaned a lot of records with washing liquid (Ecover brand is great) and have got great results. If it was a fairly valuable or rare record I might go straight for the wood glue. It is a bit more of an involved process, but at most is a one day job per side and is honestly the best way of getting a record as free of deposits as you can get.

This is...nuts. But apparently effective (shampoo/conditioner):
http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=79003

yeah,i use a spinclean. which is great if you have to clean a lot of records. which i do. just water and a liberal dash of isopropyl for me.

The Spinclean is surprisingly good, actually, to the point that we only use the VPI like once every six months now for really hard cases.

ah cool i've been really curious about the Spinclean, VPIs are so expensive

all I've had for ages is a DiscWasher brush, but it definitely doesn't get the deep-down trouble stuff. Something is oddly tempting me about the Spinclean today.

I highly recommend a Spinclean, it has done me right

More VYNL clusterfuck news please! I want something to happen to the perpetrators so I can get my schadenfreude on.

They've changed the wording of the FB ads from three "sealed" albums to three "new" albums, which is probably nothing, but one wonders if they're becoming a clearing house for unsellable new crap destined for remaindering/cut-out.

In other news, VinylMePlease just dropped a spiffy color disc with inserts edition of A.M. by (Love,) Wilco

this new business model is certainly less scammy than the old one.