Slashdot Mirror
Columbia Japan Music On Demand, On CD-R
jwlidtnet writes "It seems as if Columbia Records Japan has instituted a series of 'albums on demand' -- written on CDR media (warning: page in Japanese). Granted, most of the items currently offered are Japanese in origin, but this is indicative of a record label that realizes how to embrace *some* aspect of the technological revolution! Various industry types have been espousing this method for years as an antidote to artificial concepts of media supply and demand (e.g. that Big Record Label cannot support small acts as it must press x copies of the album), and as Columbia seems to be offering mostly old catalogue items, this is an encouraging solution to the problem of the control of out-of-print recordings. One final note: of course, a system like this is only as useful as its retailer support, and it appears as if both Tower Records Japan and HMV Japan carry these CDR releases."
The question I have about this is where will this lead to with collectors assuming this catches on? For example, I collect vinyl, and much of the vinyl I own there are very very limited copies of. Because of this they are worth something. This is not meant to say that CD's are worth money (for the most part they arent worth the plastic they are printed on) but I wonder how labels will go about structuring things to limit them for collectors. I just hope people keep pressing limited quantities of vinyl :-)
Well said. This website can't demonstrate your point any better.
The funny thing is that Japanese people will wear clothing with English phrases and not know what they mean -- one girl wore a t-shirt that said, and I'm not kidding, "Miss Urine Tester." Worth a look.