Billy Joel - Piano Man 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Mch SACD of Quad mix from Sony Japan)

[JediJoker]

...I decided to try my luck and write to CDJapan customer support with a description of the problem. I also showed them this link to the article from the post above.
And you know what? They quickly answered me that they would send me a replacement (whole package) for free and there is no need to return this damage item back for exchange!
This is what I call customer support!

That's fantastic! Thanks for being the guinea pig! I'll have to do the same.

 

[barfle]

Many thanks to sfactor23 for his post! In fact, I examined all three discs from this set and the SACD indeed have scratches. However, I played it once without any problem...

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And yet I decided to try my luck and write to CDJapan customer support with a description of the problem. I also showed them this link to the article from the post above.
And you know what? They quickly answered me that they would send me a replacement (whole package) for free and there is no need to return this damage item back for exchange!
This is what I call customer support!

The translated post noted that the scratches that they were concerned about were through the label and actually damaged the data, which is closer to the label than it is the shiny side. Scratches there may still affect playback, but usually they are a lot less important than scratches thet penetrate the label.

Still, great customer service.

 

[quicksrt]

Just got mine today. Plays fine, no discs have any scratches. I believe they may have ordered up another run as, at the time I ordered, the website declared in bold, red letters: ONLY 3 REMAINING. However, today, that note is gone.

They often have more (at a warehouse) to bring back in stock, and need not repress them yet. Just because a retailer says 3 remaining does not mean 3 left in the world, not usually and especially on a newer released item.

 

[GOS]

So, my original copy had the little scrapes on the disc, yet played perfectly. Because I'm a worry wart, after reading about them releasing newer copies without the scrapes...I ordered another copy and took my chances. As mentioned, my new copy arrived and was clearly highlighted in YELLOW across the barcode.

More amazing, I placed my order July 8, and I received it on July 10!!! From cdJapan. That is fast....

 

[fredblue]

They often have more (at a warehouse) to bring back in stock, and need not repress them yet. Just because a retailer says 3 remaining does not mean 3 left in the world, not usually and especially on a newer released item.

honestly i wouldn't bank on it and would advise folks to go for it now

Sony say these are "limited edition" and they're not bullshitting, several of these Quad SACDs are all sold out at CDJapan, including;

Jeff Beck Group,
Santana "Lotus",
Jeff Beck "Wired",
Miles Davis "Live Evil"..

.. and now these discs are only attainable in 1 or 2 places at inflated prices and/or used at whatever the going rate is on the secondary market.

we've all hesitated before on this kinda stuff and it's been a case of tough ***, "it's too late baby now, it's too late"..!

 

[Bruce00]

More amazing, I placed my order July 8, and I received it on July 10!!! From cdJapan. That is fast....

I ordered on July5th and received my shipping notice/tracking on July 10.........They must have been busy working on your order
Iam expecting mine to arrive Friday, so hard to complain about 1 week

 

[fredblue]

I ordered on July5th and received my shipping notice/tracking on July 10.........They must have been busy working on your order
Iam expecting mine to arrive Friday, so hard to complain about 1 week

they are a wonderful company!!

 

[Bruce00]

They often have more (at a warehouse) to bring back in stock, and need not repress them yet. Just because a retailer says 3 remaining does not mean 3 left in the world, not usually and especially on a newer released item.

CDJapan said 1 remaining of the Billy Joel, I jumped and ordered right away. Now that Iam on their email list, I recieved a notice of some new Jazz SACD's and I saw more Billy Joel in stock

 

[fredblue]

CDJapan said 1 remaining of the Billy Joel, I jumped and ordered right away. Now that Iam on their email list, I recieved a notice of some new Jazz SACD's and I saw more Billy Joel in stock

is any of the new Jazz SACD stuff in Surround?

 

[Bruce00]

is any of the new Jazz SACD stuff in Surround?

I would say NO, but there are members here that are far more experienced in de-coding all the abbreviations and what not than me
here is part of the description........

Features the high-fidelity UHQCD format. *UHQCD (Ultimate High Quality CD) is an upgraded version of HQCD, a high fidelity CD format developed by Memory-Tech.

 

[Bruce00]

I ordered on July5th and received my shipping notice/tracking on July 10.........They must have been busy working on your order
Iam expecting mine to arrive Friday, so hard to complain about 1 week

Walked out the door to do a little food shopping and my CDJapan shipment was sitting on my doorstep. Must be so hard for the FedEx driver to ring the doorbell, like my UPS driver does.....but that's another issue.
So that's 7 days from ordering to delivery from halfway around the world. Shipping container was heavy cardboard box with everything wrapped in bubble wrap...........Great Job CDJapan!!! My first order and would not hesitate to use them again, which I will
Now got to clean the filter on my 75 gal tank, then some Piano Man to end my day

 

[esimms86]

I emailed cdjapan customer support a couple of days ago and they got back to me this evening. They informed me that they could only ship replacement discs to addresses in Japan. Anyway, my copies play flawlessly from disc, plus I have them ripped to SACD.iso and DVD.iso. At this point in my surround journey I always play from digital files so my glass is more than half full.

 

[JediJoker]

I emailed cdjapan customer support a couple of days ago and they got back to me this evening. They informed me that they could only ship replacement discs to addresses in Japan. Anyway, my copies play flawlessly from disc, plus I have them ripped to SACD.iso and DVD.iso. At this point in my surround journey I always play from digital files so my glass is more than half full.

Strange that @vegas had the opposite experience...

 

[vegas]

It's strange, indeed...

 

[esimms86]

Strange that @vegas had the opposite experience...

Yes, I was equally perplexed. Sometimes you get a customer service rep by chance who is willing to go the extra mile for you. That's my guess, not that it matters. The only other potential variable is that @vegas is in Belarus and I'm in the US, though it shouldn't matter given that we are both outside of Japan. Anyway, so goes life.

 

[Bruce00]

Welp my love affair ended as quickly as it began.......LOL, story of my life

I've had alot of life, plus doctors, get in the way the past couple days.........So get up this morning and go to enjoy my first cup of coffee with Billy Joel. Thats were things took a downturn, it seems my SACD's from CDJapan will not play in my Sony X800M2, Iam guessing the members that buy from them have Oppo's. The regular CD in the Billy Joel 3 pack plays fine, so atleast I have that. I pull out the remaining disc, a DVD and slide that into my Panasonic BlueRay hooked up to the TV and I get a NoPLAY from the player......

Guess I should be happy I can play 1 out 5 discs, So....what day do the new Quadios drop

 

[bookofsaturdays]

Welp my love affair ended as quickly as it began.......LOL, story of my life

I've had alot of life, plus doctors, get in the way the past couple days.........So get up this morning and go to enjoy my first cup of coffee with Billy Joel. Thats were things took a downturn, it seems my SACD's from CDJapan will not play in my Sony X800M2, Iam guessing the members that buy from them have Oppo's. The regular CD in the Billy Joel 3 pack plays fine, so atleast I have that. I pull out the remaining disc, a DVD and slide that into my Panasonic BlueRay hooked up to the TV and I get a NoPLAY from the player......

Guess I should be happy I can play 1 out 5 discs, So....what day do the new Quadios drop

The DVD is Region 2 so that would explain that error. However, my X800M2 plays the Piano Man SACD just fine. Very strange that you’re encountering that!

 

[Bruce00]

The DVD is Region 2 so that would explain that error. However, my X800M2 plays the Piano Man SACD just fine. Very strange that you’re encountering that!

I played a Quadio just fine, eject it and tried Billy with no luck. Eject Billy and put a different Quadio in and it plays just fine.
So Iam *** uming my setting are correct.
I'll just rack it up as a $100 education to keep from getting pi$$ed
And just hope Rhino has Piano Man in the next batch or the one after

 

[JediJoker]

I played a Quadio just fine, eject it and tried Billy with no luck. Eject Billy and put a different Quadio in and it plays just fine.
So Iam *** uming my setting are correct.

The Quadio releases are Blu-rays. The Japanese Piano Man is an SACD. Have you tried other SACDs to confirm that they will play?

 

[Bruce00]

The Quadio releases are Blu-rays. The Japanese Piano Man is an SACD. Have you tried other SACDs to confirm that they will play?

Awhhh, you are correct. I "think" some discs I bought off EBay are SACD, but will have to double check. Iam not at home right now, sitting in the car listening to music before walking into gym.
I'll hook up the TV to the Sony and go thru the menu's

Thank you Jedi