Richard And Hallmark CD'S

[karl]

I never doubted Richard when he spoke of the poor quality of recent Hallmark cd's, just that I had never noticed it. Sometimes when I play a cd I am moving around the house and not sitting listening intently.

Having recently found a Black & White Minstrel album in the loft in pefect condition but in Mono I searched on Amazon to see what cd's I could find, I ordered the companion CD to the LP I own. The cd arrived today sealed and looked great, I played it and at first it sounded fine but then I noticed in between tracks the pops and crackles and also on quieter parts of the music. I can make better cd's myself from my old albums but it's nice to have the sleeve etc:

I know Hallmark are cheap but so are Spectrum and so was the much missed EMI cheap label MFP (Music For Pleasure), EMI Gold are also cheap and the qualithy is great. Why do Hallmark do this? They are part of the Pickwick group and they were always quality products. I would rather pay another pound or two to get a decent cd than burned from inferior albums.

I will send Amazon an email to voice my displeasure, as I said from a distance it sounds fine, it's close up you notice the faults.

Just noticed HMV are charging £6 for the above disc ,and yet we are getting a quality disc from Matt for much less. Considering the Minstrels were on EMI's HMV label why don't they release the cd's themselves?

[Rmoore]

The Pickwick group are an independent company these days and not affiliated to any other record company - hence all the public domain material.

[karl]

They may not be in business much longer then Richard as I have read several bad reviews on their products.