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As some may know (I didn't until recently), hdtracks.com sells The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" in 24/96 flac, but doesn't disclose that it's a 5.1 mix with huge amounts of information missing/mixed out from 2-ch playback. I told them--- and then found that many others had also done so. I discovered posts from ~2 years ago with the same complaints via simple google search.
hdtracks replied by stating that if the mix were wrong, more people would have complained. They are apparently refusing to even verify my and others' contentions. As far as refunds go, they initially refused to refund my purchase _because my order included other albums apart from "Yoshimi"_. They claimed that for some legal reason(s), I could not get a refund for an album (Yoshimi) if I bought that album with other albums as part of a larger order. Nevertheless, after some bad noise, they did refund my purchase.
They are continuing to sell this broken mix of "Yoshimi", so it's only fair to warn everyone. If I had done a reasonable web search, I could have avoided the mess myself. hdtracks.com seems quite content to exploit the ignorance of the purchasing public at large- and when they're called out on it, they make no effort to verify or resolve the issue.
Buyer Beware,
-L
Follow Ups:
Hello LarryLR,
your experience is a great example to (not) download music.
In the future, as tech gets better, downloaded music will probably sound good- we are not there at this time.
"In the future, as tech gets better, downloaded music will probably sound good- we are not there at this time."
BS. There is much good sounding music that can be downloaded today from HD tracks. The same is true for other sites, including Linn Records and eclassical.com. Over the past three years I have purchased hundreds downloaded albums from these and other sites. Most of these sound good.
Of course there are "duds" but the same can be said for any medium. Usually the problem with albums that I don't like is with the musical performance rather than the sound quality. eclassical.com is particularly nice in this regard because they allow you to preview as much of an album as you wish providing you don't mind clicking the mouse every 30 seconds to resume the music after it's briefly paused.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
I do not trust hdtracks nor do I do business with them.
EVER.
Fortunately for me I'm a big classical fan, so I've done a LOT of business at eclassical.com. Great music, great prices, great service. Specials every day. If you don't like it you can 'return' it for a full refund.
They are the gold standard for service and quality with downloads.
"Lock up when you're done and don't touch the piano."
-Dr. Greg House
I am sorry to hear that!
I have had great experience with them - though I haven't downloaded the Flaming Lips - I'll be sure to buy the CD and rip it.
Love the convenience of it - and got all kinds of great rolling stones, etc.
I agree with the poster that said get music you love in better quality ... and not just great quality sound. It has taken 10 years of audiophilia for me to come to that conclusion.
Thank goodness Classic Rock sounds great on Vinyl and when ripped to AIFF! :-)
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
that HDTracks is part of Chesky Records?
I'm not making any point here, just passing along information that might be of use. Or not, I don't know.
Jim
Is their somewhere else to download Hi Resolution FLAC files from?
Linn Records.
HDTracks are a bunch of cowboys, there is so much bad feedback for them
Not that I'm aware of. Is that important?
that's why I said that I really, really wanted to have a good experience with hdtracks. i would love to tell you that there are several other options, but I cannot find them. itrax, others offer a smattering... but hopefully someone else will get into the biz so I can spend some money.
-M
Crappy 2nd rate musicians, playing crappy second rate music.
Just my opinionated opinion: after all, - it's only art.
Chesky taught me the bitter lesson to not spend money on good sound quality, - but to try and get my favorite music on better quality.
Truly, - Chesky deserves the failure that is coming to them.
"In this land right now, some are insane and they're in charge. To hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
"Chesky taught me the bitter lesson to not spend money on good sound quality, - but to try and get my favorite music on better quality"
WOW- This is one of the best quotes ive seen on an audio board in 15 years!!!!
perfect too the point and correct
There is some excellent music on small labels, including Chesky.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
to judge, but I don't disagree.
Jim
yes i did, and i am fairly disgusted by that fact. i have patronized Chesky Records for more than a decade. i really, really, REALLY wanted to have a good experience with hdtracks- but instead discovered the same disturbing trend in hdtracks' "customer service" as at least several others have (check the web).
maybe they should try listening to their customers and checking their assertions instead of hoping that they can pass off bad mixes and not get caught.
anyone can do a google search and find more info on this issue...
-M
I really don't think HDTracks is the one deliberately selling the bad mixes and hoping no one will notice. They sell what they are given by the record companies, who have rarely been friends to the audiophile community. What HDTracks IS guilty of is not taking more initiative in rejecting albums that are either badly mastered and/or not truly from hi-res masters.
I think their hesitation has to come from the fact that once downloaded, the music is DRM free. There is no way that they can guarantee that you actually return the tracks (or delete them). It isn't like a physical medium (like vinyl) so it involves a lot of trust - and convincing if they think the files they sold you are fine.
It would surprise me greatly if they are deliberately selling bad tracks. Chances are the record company that uses them as a reseller may have done that, though. In any event - realize that this is likely an isolated incident - I have bought dozens of HDTracks that were both great sound quality delivered without incident (with the exception of one or two individual tracks where it was clear the mastering engineer was going for a "particular sound" that wasn't accuracy based - no worse than SACD, CD < DVD-A or Vinyl).
Now, I have not attempted to get refunded for any of it. I saddens me that you didn't get a satisfactory experience even after they refunded you the money because you had to be forceful about it.
Given you got the outcome you were after, I am not sure why you are complaining as if you did not?
Seems to me that this is acting in bad faith, and may make them more reluctant, not less, to refund for material that doesn't meet our standards ...
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
"I think their hesitation has to come from the fact that once downloaded, the music is DRM free. There is no way that they can guarantee that you actually return the tracks (or delete them). It isn't like a physical medium (like vinyl) so it involves a lot of trust - and convincing if they think the files they sold you are fine."
It probably comes down to the people involved on both sides of the transaction. It would be somewhat impolitic to speculate on why this might be.
One could rip CDs and then return them as "defective" were one so inclined. But if one were that type of scam artist one might find it more convenient to frequent the Torrent sites.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
to fulfill our consumerist desires.
Today I bought the 50-CD boxed set of Mercury Living Presence CDs (not SACDs) for $99 from Arkivmusic.org. I expect to get tremendous pleasure from them despite the format. The Sousa marches will no doubt drive my wife up a wall, but I will enjoy even them.
No, they are not 24/96.
Jim
I'm heading over to the Arkiv site with my credit. 50 Living Presences CDs for $99? I'm in.Now - HDTracks is a quiet scandal in the industry. They have been caught repeatedly by denizens of Computer Audiophile issuing tracks that are simply upsampled material. They have responded that they have to trust their source houses for quality checking. More than one member of Computer Audiophile has proven that said quality checking could be done, part time, by a high school kid with a $600 software program. Their response is beyond disingenous. That best way to deal with such folks is with a market response: never buy anything from HDTracks, or, for tht matter, Chesky Records. The Chesky's should be ashamed of themselves.
Edits: 03/06/12
back to my vinyl ;D
(trying again ~couple years)
Sorry to call "sour grapes on this"
But
Aren't you throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
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