Thread: PE'Z
View Single Post
Old 2008.12.26, 11:09 AM   #12
Glathannus
True Final Boss
 
Glathannus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 2,423
Glathannus knows what you did last summerGlathannus knows what you did last summerGlathannus knows what you did last summer
Default

I just wanted to point out that several PE'Z albums are being reissued sometime in Q1 2009:

Kugatsu no Sora
Kiwamari Zuki
Best Stage Zero

These have all been out-of-print. The first two albums were copy-protected before, and are being replaced by SHM-CDs. I don't know if the new Kiwamari Zuki will have the playtime of the first-press or the second-press. I know that original first-press came with a bonus mini-CD with three more tracks, because the main CD was stuffed full at 74 minutes (18 minutes of that was for bonus music tacked onto the end of the final track for first-press). There's no mention of the reissue having a bonus CD, and there's no mention of the playtime being 74 minutes or 58 minutes.

Best Stage Zero is a compilation that went out-of-print not long after it was released before. There's no indication of the reissue being any different than the original. They're both normal (nonSHM) CDs with no copy protection.

------------------

If I knew for a fact that the Kiwamari Zuki SHM-CD was 74 minutes, I would buy it even though I own the original, and even though the 1s and 0s on both discs are supposed to be the same, just because I want to perform some jitter and C1 tests with my PlexWriter Premium, to verify if SHM-CDs are really that much better in CD players than regular CDs. Out of any CD/DVD drive on the planet, the PlexWriter Premium gives the most accurate analysis of how easy or difficult it is for CD players to deal with a particular disc (like if you wanted to compare the 'quality' of a burnt disc versus an original). My first-press Kiwamari Zuki has only been touched once after I got through the shrinkwrap, and only so I could rip it in lossless. That's the best test candidate you could ever pit against an SHM reissue.

I have no personal or longterm use for SHM replacements of any regular CDs I already own, because when you're doing secure rips with Exact Audio Copy, there is no difference between ripping a regular CD versus ripping an SHM-CD - they both have the same data but one of them is just easier to read. My first step-dad has an expensive CD player setup, and he likes PE'Z, so I'll just give him the SHM-CD when I'm through with testing it.

I'd eventually like to get my hands on a Blu-Spec CD and an HQCD. These are all competing 'formats' under different record labels, to enhance the readability of CDs (with the same 1s and 0s as before) with better lasers or better materials. It's not that I take all these gimmicks very seriously, but I just want to scientifically prove that you are better off burning a $5 CD-R with a $200 CD-RW drive (both imported from Japan), than replacing all your old CDs with all these new factory-pressed CDs. If there's an SHM/HQ/Blu-Spec release for an album you don't already own but were thinking about buying, then you might as well buy the special version (kind of like what I'm doing for Blankey Jet City).

------------------

I wonder how long it will be, before EMI releases SHM-CDs for Shiina Ringo or Tokyo Jihen. After they already pumped out MoRA, I wouldn't put it past them. They could have given us SHM-CDs in the MoRA CD box and they probably thought about it, and realized they could get more money in the long run by releasing a box of regular CDs first, then releasing a box of SHM-CDs next year.
__________________
You know Tokyo Jihen is a supergroup, when you can't blame most of the members for wanting to pursue other projects.
Glathannus is offline   Reply With Quote