MickyDolenz said:

Yeah, what kid didn't rip off all those 8-tracks or records back then...

Chose from records, 8 tracks, cassettes....and was the last one reel to reel? They put albums out like that?

VinnyM27 said:

Chose from records, 8 tracks, cassettes....and was the last one reel to reel? They put albums out like that?

Some of my older relatives had reel-to-reel tape players. If you bought blank ones they held a lot more time than 8-tracks or cassettes. Usually audiophile types bought reel tapes, not the general public who bought the records and 8-tracks. Cassettes weren't really popular until the 1980's when the Walkman came out. There also used to be 16 speed records too. They were mainly used for speech and spoken word releases. Not many people had the record player/turntable that could play them, which generally had 33, 45, and sometimes 78 RPM.

[Edited 7/9/11 20:52pm]

MickyDolenz said:

VinnyM27 said:

Chose from records, 8 tracks, cassettes....and was the last one reel to reel? They put albums out like that?

Some of my older relatives had reel-to-reel tape players. If you bought blank ones they held a lot more time than 8-tracks or cassettes. Usually audiophile types bought reel tapes, not the general public who bought the records and 8-tracks. Cassettes weren't really popular until the 1980's when the Walkman came out.

Yup, I still have a Walkman that works although I got rid of most of my cassettes. But in the 70s it was all about 8-tracks and records.

Ahhh...the good ole days. Well, not that old. I joined in 1992, senior year in high school

sosgemini said:

Ahhh...the good ole days. Well, not that old. I joined in 1992, senior year in high school

I guess the reel-to-reel and 8-tracks were gone by then.

Here's some reels.

Had an 8 track player like this LOL

They got the new Boz Scaggs?!

A DOLLAR?

[img:$uid]http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/columbia-ads.jpg[/img:$uid]

Michael Jackson - Off The...eel | eBay

One person at a time!!!

Here's a 1968 ad from the RCA Record Club.

I guess that Prince was not a fan.

^^^Maybe because record club albums are not counted as sales. Used record stores generally won't accept them either, at least not the CD versions.

MickyDolenz said:

^^^Maybe because record club albums are not counted as sales. Used record stores generally won't accept them either, at least not the CD versions.

Really? There's a difference?

sosgemini said:

MickyDolenz said:

^^^Maybe because record club albums are not counted as sales. Used record stores generally won't accept them either, at least not the CD versions.

Really? There's a difference?

The clubs lease the recordings, and they have different bar codes than the "real" versions. They also have the club's name printed on the back and sometimes don't have any lyrics or credits, even if the regular version does. The cassettes from the Columbia Club just has a picture of the front cover against a white background. Acts used to complain about the clubs, since the sales don't count, they didn't get paid from them. Let's say that an album sold 1 million, and the record club version sold 2 million. Only the albums from the record company are considered sales, and so is only a platinum album, not triple platinum. The RIAA doesn't consider the clubs as a real sale.

[Edited 7/10/11 10:32am]

I joined a few of these clubs back in the day

MickyDolenz said:

sosgemini said:

Really? There's a difference?

The clubs lease the recordings, and they have different bar codes than the "real" versions. They also have the club's name printed on the back and sometimes don't have any lyrics or credits, even if the regular version does. The cassettes from the Columbia Club just has a picture of the front cover against a white background. Acts used to complain about the clubs, since the sales don't count, they didn't get paid from them. Let's say that an album sold 1 million, and the record club version sold 2 million. Only the albums from the record company are considered sales, and so is only a platinum album, not triple platinum. The RIAA doesn't consider the clubs as a real sale.

[Edited 7/10/11 10:32am]

Yup! A lot of old-school artists got screwed because of that industry standard back in the day.

Do those clubs still exist? I used to see advertisements in magazines all the time but I haven't seen one in years.

^ I had quite a few of those flimsy LPs myself.

After being acquired by BMG, Columbia House is isolated to DVDs at this point.

BMG still has a "Music Service Club": http://www.music.us/bmg.htm

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

The CDs I have, from the 90's, look just like their retail counterparts. Either the artist I bought weren't popular enough to get their own pressing or something changed.

We have a notorious one called doubleday, which used to sell Music as well, but this stopped in the mid 90s as the ads were rigged "6 albums for a $1 each" and then underneath in microscopic print "You will also be charged $3.95 for EACH selection postage and packaging" and then it turned out the 4cds you had to buy were all at standard prices ($24.95 to $34.95) plus a one off joining fee of $29.95, so in reality, you made few if any real savings unless you bought dozens of albums. Oh and did I forget they raised the postage and handling to $5.95 per cd or tape. In reality it got into trouble for sending the debt collectors on people who had not paid the postage and packaging fees and Fair Go our consumer rights show got involved, as they also sent out sevral junk mail catalogues and people who bought off Doubleday were automatically added to Readers Digest mailing lists (Dodgy sweepstakes and offers for Condensed books). They also had a book club but it got shut down too, duew to complaints, and it turned out that the music and books, were special club editions, usually inferior book binding and lower quality CDs and tapes that wore out.

It transpired that the postage and handling fees were actual costs for the product, so the refund meant, that they had already made their money as all refunds excluded postage and handling. In 1995, a CD cost 80 cents to post, yet they charged $5.95.