Experiences with Arkiv CDs?

[Todd]

When Arkiv started offering CDRs of out-of-print recordings as part of the Arkiv CD program a while back, my curiosity was piqued.  So many fine titles, or potentially fine titles, are out of print that I thought Arkiv would be doing the world a huge favor by reissuing them, even as a CDRs with minimal (or non-existent) liner notes.  Credit must also be given to Vox for coming up with and implementing the idea first, though their prices were way too high.  That and a lack of a deep, interesting catalog killed that program.  Arkiv's deals with an assortment of labels seemed to bode well for collectors.  3400+ titles as of today seems a cornucopia of goodies just waiting to be heard.

I recently ordered four Arkiv CDs – all old Vox titles, ironically enough – of Walter Klien playing Beethoven and Schumann and Abbey Simon playing  Schumann.  I figured the Simon was especially worthwhile since Joanna Nickrenz had been involved in the production, assuring fine sound.  Alas, all four discs have unacceptably high numbers of data errors.  There are drop outs, garbled notes, bunched and sped up sections, digital chirps – in short, everything that can go wrong with ripping and burning did go wrong.  I didn't even bother listening to more than a few moments of three of the discs because the errors were so numerous.  My experience in making CDRs indicates that Arkiv used little or no error correction and ripped and burned at high speed.  (That's why I prefer to use Exact Audio Copy set to its highest error correction setting for copying while limiting burn speeds to 8X.)  While such an approach may be fine when prepping  a disc for a friend or what not, it is unacceptable as part of a commercial undertaking.  All four discs are heading back to Arkiv.

Anyone else tried Arkiv CDs?  Are the newer issues better with respect to data errors?  Perhaps I just got a bad batch, though having all four discs fail seems to indicate this is more than just an isolated case. 

[George]

An old music history professor of mine has tried it and he was impressed.

I haven't tried it because to me, I'd rather just borrow from a friend, library or download for less.

[Don]

I have about 10 Arkiv CDRs and haven't noticed any problems.

[Todd]

I have about 10 Arkiv CDRs and haven't noticed any problems.

Maybe I just got a bad batch.  I think I'll still opt for my money back rather than new copies, at least this time around.

[johnQpublic]

Tough break, Todd.

I've stayed away from ArkivCDs so far because of lack of prgram notes. I like program notes even though many are worthless. Somehow I consider them to be part of any CD "package".

[Don]

Tough break, Todd.

I've stayed away from ArkivCDs so far because of lack of prgram notes. I like program notes even though many are worthless. Somehow I consider them to be part of any CD "package".

As it happens, Arkiv has started including program notes in their CDR packages.

[PerfectWagnerite]

An old music history professor of mine has tried it and he was impressed.

Why is he impressed? Any idiot can burn a CDR.

[Holden]

Well, here's one idiot who struggles to make the EAC copying system work. I just can't figure it out (yet I've mastered Feurio which I still use). Anyone like to give me a tutorial?

[PerfectWagnerite]

Well, here's one idiot who struggles to make the EAC copying system work. I just can't figure it out (yet I've mastered Feurio which I still use). Anyone like to give me a tutorial?

Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. What I am saying is that I just use a program like RecordNow that comes with my Dell computer. I have NO idea how it works but I just click on where it says: make exact copy of audio CD and it prompts me to insert the CD. After a minute it asks me to put in a blank CDR and just makes an exact copy. No files to convert, no check-sums, no nothing. I think it just does it the brute force way, write bit by bit everything on that audio CD into the CDR. I am sure there are other fancy stuff out there that people use, but why mess with something if it is that simple.

[Solitary Wanderer]

I've ordered my first Arkiv cd of an OOP title.

I'll see what happens

[Holden]

Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. What I am saying is that I just use a program like RecordNow that comes with my Dell computer. I have NO idea how it works but I just click on where it says: make exact copy of audio CD and it prompts me to insert the CD. After a minute it asks me to put in a blank CDR and just makes an exact copy. No files to convert, no check-sums, no nothing. I think it just does it the brute force way, write bit by bit everything on that audio CD into the CDR. I am sure there are other fancy stuff out there that people use, but why mess with something if it is that simple.

Sorry, it wasn't a criticism of your comment but more of a tongue in cheek remark. What version of EAC do you have and where did you get it from? I'd really like to use the program because I've heard it's so good.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Sorry, it wasn't a criticism of your comment but more of a tongue in cheek remark. What version of EAC do you have and where did you get it from? I'd really like to use the program because I've heard it's so good.

I have a free version of this (RecordNow version 7.3, I think now they are up to version 9). It is incredibly easy to use.

[George]

Why is he impressed? Any idiot can burn a CDR.

He was impressed with the fact that we can now buy many OOP titles through archiv.

[M forever]

Well, here's one idiot who struggles to make the EAC copying system work. I just can't figure it out (yet I've mastered Feurio which I still use). Anyone like to give me a tutorial?

Huh? Feurio is really very "technical" too, at least as "complicated" as EAC, maybe even more so. If you have already figured out Feurio, EAC should not be a big hurdle for you. Just take it step by step, look at the options, look them up (e.g. in the online help at the homepage) if you don't know what they are. When you install EAC, it offers you to start with an "advanced" or a more "basic" user interface (which you can switch later if you want). If you start with the simple interface, it is really very easy and intuitive. The latest version of EAC is available from the homepage http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

[beclemund]

I only own one; it works flawlessly. I am unlikely, however, to order another for the same reason jQp cites--no notes. About 40% of my purchases are opera, and no libretto is hard to bear unless I already have another version of said opera.

Often, I can track down a used copy at a lower price point if I am patient.

[Anne]

I only own one; it works flawlessly. I am unlikely, however, to order another for the same reason jQp cites--no notes. About 40% of my purchases are opera, and no libretto is hard to bear unless I already have another version of said opera.

Often, I can track down a used copy at a lower price point if I am patient.

Arkiv announced in an email several months ago that they would henceforth be issuing liner notes.  Don't know if that included libretto or not.

[dtwilbanks]

Now here's an idea: the online liner/program notes database. Look up the liner notes for any OOP recording. I suppose there are copyright issues.

[Gurn Blanston]

Now here's an idea: the online liner/program notes database. Look up the liner notes for any OOP recording. I suppose there are copyright issues.

In fact, there are. I helped a teaching friend to get permission to quote some liner notes in a classroom. You would think that you could just ask, oh, Naxos for example. But no. They will give you the name of the person who wrote the notes (not necessarily how to get hold of them) and you have to get permission from them, too. They invariably gave it, but sometimes it took a long time to happen. However, for a non-classroom situation, and with disk piracy obsessing the powers-that-be, I suspect getting permission to post online would be... difficult! 

[karlhenning]

Gurn, expect e-mail a little later to-day 

[prémont]

From this website:

http://www.cd101.net/

I have acquired a lot (maybe 25) costumer CD-Rs containing old Vox recordings. I haven´t listened to more than half of them so far, but I haven´t met any problems at all. On the contrary the technical quality has been uniformly excellent, the sound much much richer than the original Vox-LPs, which I in most cases own or used to own.
I don´t konw the relation between this website (who´s director claims to own the copyright to the old Vox-recordings) and the Archiv website, but I can recommend the cd101 website without reservations.