a couple of years ago, this discussion aboutrussian cd's was active.

I would like to know you opinions on russian cd's today. Not regarding the print quality of the booklet, etc. but solely the audio quality of the PCM files on the disc.

As many of you probably know, alot of sellers on ebay sell russian cd's, which they claim all to have licenses, and to be legal, but are the quality as good as US/EU/JAP releases?

(are they actually legal? do the artists get paid?)

Thomas

I have about a dozen CDs via e-Bay and GEMM released on Russian label CD-Maximum. Typically twofers (i.e. two albums per CD), they include Arabesque, Boney M., Didier Marouani's Space and C.C. Catch. Not only the sound is indistinguishable for the relevant Western European releases, the artwork is top notch as well. I did a WAV compare in EAC between some tracks off one of the C.C. Catch twofers and the corresponding tracks off Ariola releases, and no differences were reported.

<edit: spelling>

How do 2 albums in wave files fit on a single cd? or is it just very short albums?

well, if you are using an 80min CDR and you have 2 albums less than 40min each (which is normal), than you can burn both to 1 CD.

i do this all the time - it cuts down on the CDRs i keep in the CD case.


later


(ps it also works with a 45min album and a 35min album... you should get the idea)

The other question about artist compensation was not answered. I am guessing they are not compensated, which makes the sale of these CD's a form of theft. And, to stretch it, buying them would be receiving stolen goods. YMMV

I've bought russian CDs on eBay, the ones I bought are original, they even have the record label logo on the the back of the CD near the hole where the all those little numbers are. The packaging even had advertisements about other releases from the label.

Regarding the artists getting paid, im not really sure... The seller of these cd's claim, that "Yes, we sell official Russian issues released under a license from original labels"

If that is the case, the artist should be compensated, though, perhaps not as much as he/she would have been from an EU/US/JAP whatever release being sold...

Never Again is talking about double cds. I have too russian cds. Double cds. For example Boney M - Greatest hits (2 cds)
The quality...
A few years ago i had bulgarien cds. They were better. Now 99% of russian cds are recorded from mp3s. Shame shame shame!!! Of course they are 128 mp3s. And then is the other 1%. They sound...acceptable. Too loud anyway for my taste.

You don't need to guess. Click on the About Us link and read the legal section.

If you took a moment to wake from your "cool" smug righteousness, you would realize what kind of goods you receive when you pay RIAA $16 a CD.

I was not talking about double CDs. Please read my post again.

Those are not Russian CDs, they are bootlegs.

edit: spelling

Copyright infringement isn't theft. If you don't even know that, then you should prob not comment.

sorry Never_Again. I missunderstood your first post. My mistake. Sorry again.

I am not a lawyer. I guess you are. Explain to me how copyright infringement is not a form of theft. Explain also why it is prosecuted in courts if it is not an type of theft. I really want to know.

Thanks.

Most of the CDs from Russia are of the same quality as expensive ones
from EU or US. They just have a low price, and it is absolutely normal.
Apart from the fact that most of them are pirated copies (yes that's true), there are also licensed CDs and they are also, not expensive. Don't know what you're talking about here, but everything seems to be OK, according to the Russian law

I was talking about the legal cd's.
im happy to hear that the discs are of the same quality. However, i've read, that the russian licenced cd's, must only be sold in russia, cis and baltic states.

Really, nothing to apologize for, yulyo!; this is a total trifle. But it is nice of you, anyway =)

So it seems. CD-Maximum discs have For sale in Russia only on them. perhaps someone with connections to Russian Author Society would throw more light on the matter.

Obligatory grammar lecture:
CDs - plural, as in "a lot of CDs"
CD's - possessive of CD, as in "an audiophile is a CD's best friend"
:P

why is murder prosecuted? why is fraud prosecuted? these are also not theft.

Actually manufacturers of CD disks in Russia and Ukraine have improved quality of disks. At present the prevailing majority of disks are issued legally(but piracy disks are present in the market ). A problem of an audio-piracy have solved a simple method - cost of legal disks only a little above cost of a piracy copy (for example 4-5 $ piracy with bad quality or a legal copy 8-10 $ with good quality).

The truth is out there

If the American Supreme Court is anything to go by, then copyright infringement is quite different from theft.
See Dowling v. United States. There are other cases too.

Hint: use your brain. Get a law dictionary, look up "theft" and "infringement" and things should clear up considerably for you.

You're welcome.

EDIT: sorry for the OT, i'm done now

Because murder, fraud and theft are criminal matters which are automatically prosecuted by the state. Copyright violation, on the other hand, is a "tort" - a civil matter between the violator and the copyright holder, at least in most countries.

what does your argument accomplish? boojum said that, since theft is prosecuted and copyright infringement is prosecuted, copyright infringement must be theft. i just debunked that false logic by providing other examples for prosecution which are clearly not theft. but enough of the off-topic now.

I never had any cds released on MaximumCD.
But i can tell you this: i'm from Romania and here we have a company named "Roton" who is releasing LEGALLY some albums under licence.
For example: Scooter - The Techno Stadium Experience. I have the original album buyed form Germany. And a few weeks a friend of mine got the same album released by Roton.
The first thing i saw is that the tracks are normalized @ -3db. So in Adobe audition the treack are all green and the vu-meter doesn't move. It stays at -3db. Of course the original album sounds better. Much better.
Those albums released by Roton have the same "For sale in Romania only" printed on them. And they sound horrible.

All (both) of my Russian CD's were MP3 sourced. Nice artwork, though not identical to the orignal. Kinda like the audio, lol.