Out-of-Print Used to Mean Out of Luck
Some years back–I’d say it was around 2001 or so–Universal Classics’ website had an active bulletin board, moderated by a nice fellow whose name I cannot remember. The posts were all related to classical music CDs on either Deutsche Grammophon, Decca or Philips, or any of their sub-labels, like Archiv or L’Oiseau-Lyre. I used to be a regular contributor to this forum, and at that time iClassics, as it was called, was promising something remarkable just down the road: made-to-order reissues of out-of-print CDs.
They were calling it “Classics on Demand”, and it seemed too good to be true. They would take any of the deleted titles from their vast back catalog, and make copies on an individual basis for customers, complete with liner notes. What was promised was a product indistinguishable from the original issue. I was ecstatic, since there were myriad recordings I was dying to get my hands on. The launch date, however, came and went with no word from the moderator of the forum, and it was only a while later that someone asked about the program. There was a problem with the company contracted to produce the CDs, but they were working to resolve the issue, was the response. More time passed, and, with no fanfare at all the project was abandoned.
Fast-forward several years, and another website–a retailer this time called ArchivMusic–has introduced a similar program, this time with success.
The need for a program like this stems from the fact that classical music CDs go out-of-print surprisingly fast. Plus, since the number of compositions recorded over the years is enormous, it is common for a classical music fan to log-on to a website like Amazon, looking for a disc of such-and-such a piece, only to find that the best–and sometimes only–recording of that piece is no longer available.
In the Boston Globe yesterday, David Weininger wrote about this very phenomenon, and ArchivMusic’s efforts to combat it via their ArchivCD program.
There is good news for people like me who have been waiting for ArchivMusic’s technology to catch up. Their early efforts at on-demand CDs didn’t include liner notes, which made the program a non-starter for me. But, since they are now getting better about this, I may be willing to give it a try. The one concern I still have is the “slightly modified” qualification in their description of the album art they generate. It would be very helpful for me to be able to see one of their “ArchivCDs” as they call them.
In any case, it’s a good idea, and one I hope will bring some rationality to the second hand CD market, where coveted out-of-print titles often sell for over $100 per disc.
Filed under: Music, Technology on September 1st, 2007 | No Comments »