DR. ONIONSKIN Rare CD Album SPLIT PEA SOUP Tested 1996 - Never On LP

Description: Hi, Welcome to my eBay listings! Offered here is a secondhand CD as pictured. I played this CD all the way through on my Sony CFD-S05 (see picture posted) and it played great with no playback issues. Forgive any glare and reflections in my photos. See Seller Notes for details. I use cardboard + bubble packaging for safety in shipping. I see a variety of CDs from estate cleanouts. Some of these CDs are 40+ years old. Scratches on CDs don't 'sound', as in the thumps, crackles and pops going on with vinyl records. But, visually, on the non-clear part of the non-label side, original condition (not yet resurfaced) CDs range from: (A) having an uncountable quantity of scratches (they weren't stored in their cases) to (B) having a number of scratches (they weren't religiously put back in their holders and/or there's arc scratches from crud in a CD player) to (C) having a couple fun days where some scratches occurred (well kept otherwise but may have slight or minor looking arc scratches) to (D) having few if any notable scratches (they were exceptionally well kept). Besides needing cleaning, I'd say the CD offered here is closest to (C). CDs are somewhat overshadowed by renewed interest in vinyl records, although per the $25 million MoFi scandal of 2023, we now know that even the best new records are usually just CDs in disguise (not literally, of course). The 'vinyl revival' has to do with measurable units sold, by retailers like FYE, of new vinyl records. Most or almost all of these LPs were digitally mastered, so it's more like a 'digital revival' of 'physical media'. Unless the music was digitally recorded in the first place (they've been doing that since 1971), today's LPs are mostly a different product than what was sold up until vinyl was phased-out circa 1991. Today's new records can be good to listen to and some are memorabilia items, like for Taylor Swift fans. But, many of these LPs carry a negative connotation for various reasons such as being pedestrian Walmart merchandise, being vinyl "reissues" or repros, not being true to form (people want to think analog = all-analog), just being made to cash-in on a consumer trend, being like the "fake stereo" records from the 60's, etc. Compact Discs, on the other hand, were always seen as exclusive items, so much so that people yearned to find a way to get ahold of 'digital audio' without having to pay the exclusive price. So, Napster came to be, and this led to today's state of affairs: streaming / downloads vs. physical media. You can have a collection of downloaded music, but that collection doesn't consist of collectibles, which are physical items. The average cost to download an album off a site like iTunes is $10. With CDs, you may want, for example, the first 'digital audio' version of the Rumours album by Fleetwood Mac. Those were made in West Germany in 1983 and have sold for as much as $219.78 on the Discogs site. A first edition Rumours vinyl record LP, a 1977 L.A. pressing, has sold for as much as $199.99 on Discogs. These $200-range prices go to show how much collectors appreciate physical media. But, Rumours CDs and LPs made today, as opposed to back in 1977 and 1983, aren't and will never be on that level because we're just too many years removed from the time period. Some of today's new releases of physical media (CDs and LPs) that aren't back-catalog product and don't carry negative connotations (such as being Walmart records) will be collectibles in the future. Investing in contemporary art has always been speculative in nature. Traditionally, record collectors and dealers are looking to get as close to the source as possible, like with seeking out vintage, period, 1960's jazz and psych rock LPs. Even though the vinyl revival is about today's new records, the hype on the street is that "records are back", so prices are up across the board. This doesn't mean everyone is willing to pay up. Also, the vinyl revival has triggered renewed interest in media like cassette tapes. Just like it was with the first wave of CDs (from say 1982-1996), prices are relatively high on new LP albums, so with retail customers feeling the pinch, and now that the novelty is wearing off, some are turning to the secondary market for lower cost alternatives. As people come to realize the truth that new LPs are like 'faux analog', and even if they weren't, these records play with audible distortions (called "colorizations") just like music that's not gone through digital signal processing (audio sampling), some will rethink what exactly it is that they really want. For example, the class action suit participants against MFSL really didn't want the 'not all-analog' MoFi records but they really did want the great sound on them (which turned out to be 'digital' without buyers knowing it at the time). So, now that everybody knows the truth, egos aside, do the disgruntled buyers actually, really want all-analog records or do they really want digitally mastered music? To answer that, it might help to look at the commercial history of how these things are related, which goes back to 1971-72. The digital technology for music on CDs wasn't developed for CDs. It was developed for vinyl records. The first digital music record was released 10 years before CDs even came out. The format of the CD was developed for earlier optical discs, called LaserDisc (LD). Format-wise, CDs are analog just like LDs were. The music on CDs, unlike on the original LDs (had analog soundtracks), was digital, and it got that way per the same technology used for digital recordings that appeared on vinyl records beginning in 1972. It doesn't matter if the music was digitally recorded originally or if it was on analog source tapes transferred to digital per CD pre-mastering (transcription). In both cases, it's just employing the digital-type of signal processing, which is audio sampling. From the early 1970's and into the 1990's, this involved machines (NHK's PCM recorder, Denon's DN-023R, or Sony's PCM-1630, etc.) using a videotape recorder (VTR) and the mastertape such as U-matic (magnetic) tape was analog. With the DN-023R, they could edit music recordings and cut LP discs using the advanced preview head to control lathe-automation. CDs were developed as an advancement and to replace vinyl record albums, which they (mostly) did within 10 years of their introduction in 1982. Years later, the 'vinyl revival' came about for whatever reasons such as nostalgia, larger album art, etc. I posted photos of (vintage) CD instructions that I found on the net. CD cases can be tricky to open, discs stubborn to remove from the tray, and cleaning discs dry / wet usually needs doing too. In eBay's grading / condition-type system (see picture posted), sellers must choose one descriptor like "Brand new" or "Acceptable". In the normal grading system (used on Discogs), standard jewel cases aren't graded because they're replaceable (see pictures posted of eBayers offering good deals on these as of this writing) but the cases ARE part of eBay's grading system. I commonly see dirty, scratched up, broken (cracked plastic, busted hinges, teeth missing from the tray, etc.) jewel cases. I place value on originality and I think replacing cases (or not) should be left to the end buyer, so I, personally, as a reseller, want to leave things as is. At the same time, of course some or all (3) parts of a standard jewel case may NEED replacing. That's a DIY thing but there are YouTube videos people can watch, showing how to disassemble and reassemble the parts. Also with the eBay grading system, there's actually no specific mention of what discs themselves look like. Used CDs have marks like scratches that are usually just cosmetic and removeable. Cleaning CDs can cause scratches. People who want scratches removed can have a disc resurfaced at their expense on a disc repair machine like the ELM ECO-Auto Smart (see picture posted). My friend Vince, who sets up at the Berlin Farmers Market aka Berlin Mart in southern NJ near Philly, has that machine and currently charges $3 per disc or $2 if you give him a minimum of 50 discs to do. See picture posted of Vince's flier. Some eBay sellers also sell this service and so do some game shops and libraries. I don't like to clean CDs and cause more scratches and I choose not to resurface. I feel these should be left for the collector to do as they see fit. Playing devices vary. It's happened to me that a CD played perfectly in my Dell PC but then it played with glitches in my Sony. I've come to realize my Sony is 'sensitive' for some unknown reason (weak laser?), so that's the device I use to test CDs before listing them on eBay. Just like with cleaning CDs, devices need cleaning too. I posted a picture of a CD lens cleaning disc. People can use those, or clean a device's lens with isopropyl on a Q Tip (see picture posted). If people don't do these things, CDs can play with glitches like skipping. Part of eBay's grading system per "Very good" and "Good" (not to be confused with grades of the same name in the normal grading system) condition-types is: "The CD/DVD doesn't skip". I always make sure CDs don't do that in my Sony, but it's unknown to me how any CD will play on someone else's device. An IsoBuster surface scan can be done on discs to check and see if they're error-free (see picture posted). I've found through experience that CDs can still need cleaning anyway or they may not play right. They're operational (able to be used) and not unreadable but won't play correctly unless following CD instructions and cleaning them. I sell all used CDs as being in eBay's "Acceptable" condition, even if they'd be in VG, VG+, or NM condition in the non-eBay grading system (where there's no mention of how a CD in those grades actually plays). I do it this way to be sure I'm complying on eBay. ~Chris in NJ, USA

Price: 18.99 USD

Location: Pitman, New Jersey

End Time: 2025-01-03T20:11:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD