How can I tell if used cd's are authentic?

polkfarmboy
polkfarmboy Posts: 5,703
edited August 2010 in Music & Movies
Hi everyone

I have been buying cd's instead of digital downloads and I love the diff . I have bought some used cd's on amazon and dont know if they are the real deal

I bought every cd by the french tecno group AIR and noticed a crazy diff in bass whilst listening to 10.000hz legend compared to air's other recordings.I put 10.000hz legend on in my car and the bass is way loud and the speakers cant handle it .The same thing happens when I play on my old boombox?

A few other cd's I bought used seem rough around the edges ?
Post edited by polkfarmboy on
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,734
    edited August 2010
    They won't have REPLICA written down the side.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Norm Apter
    Norm Apter Posts: 1,036
    edited August 2010
    polkfarmboy wrote: »
    Hi everyone

    I have been buying cd's instead of digital downloads and I love the diff . I have bought some used cd's on amazon and dont know if they are the real deal

    I bought every cd by the french tecno group AIR and noticed a crazy diff in bass whilst listening to 10.000hz legend compared to air's other recordings.I put 10.000hz legend on in my car and the bass is way loud and the speakers cant handle it .The same thing happens when I play on my old boombox?

    A few other cd's I bought used seem rough around the edges ?

    Used CDs for the most part are dirt cheap these days (unless you're going for rare editions) and thus I don't think fakes on the U.S. market are too much of problem. As long as you're buying from a U.S. seller with a decent rating I wouldn't worry about it. I've been buying used CDs from Amazon and Amazon Marketplace sellers since 2002 and I've never suspected a fake.

    What you are hearing most likely is radically different production/mastering values from one CD to the next.

    If you're really skeptical, flip the CD upside down and jot down the number-letter sequence you find around the inner ring. Then do some googling to verify that the one from the official release matches your's. I don't think most fraudulant producers would go to the trouble to reproduce that identification sequence.

    Now if you were purchasing from a market in China...well, thats another story.
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