About buying more than one format...

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)]

Vickie here. Steve Williams says:

> Leaving aside religious vinyl vs. CD debates, what do people think is
> the way to go as far as "collectability" goes -- records or CD?  Again
> skipping the religious aspect, which way as far as *sound* is
> concerned?  Is anyone (besides myself) crazy enough to consider
> getting the box set in both formats?

Well, even though our finances are in major league "ouch" mode because of
the convention, all the great upcoming concerts and other things (oh, like
bills & such) we ARE getting both the album and the CDs. We'll buy the
albums before we go to England and the CDs in a couple of months, unless
we find we can get the CD set cheaper in England. 

The album set is GEORGEOUS! I saw mine last night. I went to the store
where they're holding it for me and the manager (also a Katefan) let me
see it. I bought some of those handy plastic album sleeves and put every-
thing (even the booklet and the stickers) in them. I couldn't actually
buy the set because I don't get paid till next Wednesday and we have 
about $10.00 in our checking account. It was painful to give it back to
him, but soon it will be in our possesion.

The album set is ***GEORGEOUS***!!! I'm buying a pair of gloves to keep
in the box and I'm not letting anyone touch the booklet or albums without
wearing them. Fingerprints will be a MAJOR problem unless people are very
careful. When you try to wipe them off scratch marks appear no matter what
you use--paper or cloth. Thank goodness I had my gloves with me and I put
them on as soon as I realized what was happening.

It's hard to explain why I feel the need to buy both sets. I badly want
the CDs to be able to easily play the b-sides. That's very important to
me because our singles and 12"s are getting worn. It will be nice to hear
them without the pops and ticks. The CDs are an absolute MUST to own.
Why the album set too? Well, for one thing, I do support vinyl and this
will be one of the last MAJOR things to appear on vinyl. That alone will
make it a collector's item. That's not important to us though because we
only buy things for our own collection and wouldn't ever sell anything
we have. We usually buy two of everything we get in case Chris & I should
ever break up (highly unlikely though) but rarely buy more than two.
So, since we're not "collectors" we'd just consider it a personal rarity.
Also, this may seem minor to some but to us it's very important: The 
booklet is full album size and if I had had any doubts about buying both
they were cleared up last night when I compared the LP booklet with the
tiny CD booklet. The photos are glorious and beautiful and their impact
is definitely diminished when looking at the CD booklet. The full size of
the color "Dreaming" cover alone was enough to take my breath away. Bill
at the store was highly amused watching me and hearing my "OH MY GOD!!s"
and "AH JESUS!!!s" while looking at the LPBS booklet. So I suppose I'm
paying $149.00 for one booklet. Yeah, I guess I am. Stupid? Maybe, but
in a couple/few years we won't have the regrets of passing it up. We're
willing to feel the temporary financial pinch now for things that we'll
have the rest of our lives. That's the way we look at it anyway.

As far as which will be more "collectable"---definitely the albums.
As far as which "sounds" better---definitely the albums.
As far as which are cheaper---definitely the albums.

More compact? The CDs.
More convienent? The CDs.
More durable? The CDs.
Quieter? The CDs.

It's a tough one. Most people aren't crazy enough to buy both formats.
Hey, at least we're not getting the cassettes too! We're crazy but we're
not completists. 

OK, I will admit that I'm a tiny bit disappointed about a few things.
1) The butchered version of "Be Kind To My Mistakes" is included instead
   of the original. In the front of the booklet Kate writes: "I hope you
   will Be Kind To My Mistakes--because I'm not." I'm willing to forgive
   her almost anything but that's one mistake that I just can't deal with.
2) All the albums have lyric sheets, but it's a darn shame that the lyrics
   to the b-sides were left out.
3) Too bad about the missing tracks. ESPECIALLY "Dreamtime", one of my
   all-time favorites. 
4) Too bad a biography wasn't included. If it was left out because it
   was assumed that people buying the set already knew her background
   then why wasn't it assumed that those same people already had all
   the regular studio albums too? Even for those who DO know all the
   background info it could have been written up and presented in a
   very nice and classy way. It would have made a nice addition.
5) Though I LOVE most of the photos, I could have done without the
   stills from the videos. They're not even identified so what good are
   they to people who've never seen Kate's videos? For those of us who
   have seen the videos they're useless. If I want to see a scene from
   "The Big Sky" all I have to do is pop in TWS video and still-frame
   a particularly nice section. Besides, if she were going to include
   anything from TBS I wish it had been the one where she's standing
   with the Falcon and the fire is in the background. Nitpicking, yes,
   but the video shots take up space that could have been used for even
   MORE of the photos we're not familiar with. 

6) An interview disc would have been nice but then so would a lot
   of other things that were left out.

Even with my minor nits, I still am awed by the BxSt and am waiting with
impatient anticipation until I can bring that baby home.
 

Btw, the album of Lionheart in the set is NOT exactly like the original
English copy we have. On the TWW version there's the word "fame" up in
the top right-hand corner. Bill says that Fame was/is? a discount 
distributor in England. That was the only thing I noticed immediately.
I'm sure a thorough side-by-side examination/comparison would reveal
more differences. Not that it really matters. Unlike the Singles File
Box Set, it's highly doubtful that anyone would break open a TWW Box
Set to sell albums individually. 

  
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@world.std.com