Ok, I just bought IR Legends and i'm very angry....

[keyman_sam]

OK, when my brother went to India, i specifically gave him a HUGE list of cassettes and CDs to buy. He bought everything i asked him to - cool. Most of them were in CD format. Only 2 cassettes. Cool.

One particular collection he bought was LEGENDS ILLAYARAJA. Its a 5 CD collection, comes in a hard-shell cover and includes a little booklet about IR's biography. Very cool.


Now, i play CD 5 from this collection because it has one of my favorite songs - andhi mazhai. To my unbelievable horror, the song skips like HELL. It skips exactly at the same time, everytime. Keep in mind this is a brand new CD i just bought, and i've tried it in many CD players and computers.

It just skips through certain sections - it is UNBEARABLE. I cant take it.

One more song from the same CD that it skips - "Alli Thanda Bhoomi". This is song No.4 in CD 5 and it skips in certain sections too, though not as much as Andhi Mazhai. I'm super pissed. This collection cost me 1000 rupees. I even have the receipt for all CDs and cassettes i bought.

This is just unbearable. Im not in India to go to the store and demand a refund. I dont WANT a refund. I just want a damn CD that plays fine. What should i do? Any advice? Any advice on what i CAN do? I'm in U.S.

It is unacceptable for people making CDs to make these little mistakes that frustrate the customers very much.

Is this the price we honest customers pay for buying legal original CDs? Isnt it unfair that we honest people have to pay 1000 rupees for a collection of CDs and not ENJOY the music, while the people that download songs enjoy their music without paying for it? :roll:

There are other frustrations i have against another collection series (A.R.RAHMAN'S 40 GREATEST HITS), but it plays well, so no complaints for now.

[keyman_sam]

Ok, add one more song to that "skip" list : Illamayennum Poongatrae from CD 3.


I dont know what to say. Illamayennum is an all time classic. And unfortunately that happens to skip too.


Please suggest on what i should do, or how i could send this CD to get a replacement.

[keyman_sam]

ayya, yaaru paa titlea maathna? Dissapointmentnu ezhuthuna, enakku IR albums pudikallunnu nenachukuvaanga.

Enakku IR's albums pudichirukku, adhukuthaan CD vangnean. But the damn CD is not working properly. Athanaalathaan titlele "pissed" (angry) appadeenu ezhuthirundhen. Change it back please.

[RR]

keyman_sam

Well, had to edit. But your alternative is better. Edited again now.

[kameshratnam]

This is the price we pay for buying originals. IR will say everywhere that we shd buy originals only but he wont or is not willing to see to that all his albums are available in the market.

I cant a buy a Guna or Eera Vizhi Kaviyangal audio cd today..thats the poor state and in case i get it..the cd quality is bad..

[kiru]

They were probably recorded from LPs (vinyl record). The LP must have skipped during playback. That is why you probably feel it skips. Listen with a headphone and see whether you hear the surface noise of a LP record.
I actually collect the original LPs. Many are badly scratched. But after cleaning with a Record Cleaning Vacuum, they are a bit bearable. But certain LPs are so good, they beat even CDs, (ofcourse, some amoutn of surface noise will still be there). Best analog recordings are - geethanjali, thanikattu raja and a few more. Best digital recordings are thEvar magan (only two songs :-)), marupadiyum and one kamal movie that I dont remember (with the bam chikku bam chikku kid's song).

[keyman_sam]

Yeah the songs are probably recorded from an LP.

However, the skipping is totally unacceptable. I mean, dont they CHECK these CDs before sending them out to stores? :x

I'm thinking of contacting "Sa Re Ga Ma" - the company that made the CDs - to ask for a working set of the CDs.

If I had bought this in U.S., i could have easily asked for replacement, and i would have gotten one. Sa Re Ga Ma doesnt even have a contact address. Guess i'll have to contact them through phone (costing me more :roll: )

Any other solutions? Is there a place you report problems regarding companies, or anything like that?


The most annoying thing is, the songs in the CDs are good, and it HURTS my ears when it skips. Its making me twitch.

[Osho]

I have the same legends, and not one song skips. Could it be a CD problem?

[keyman_sam]

yes, it IS a CD problem. My question is, is there a way i can ask for a working copy to U.S.A. for free shipping? I mean, i dont want to spend anymore money on this. well, maybe 2 or 3 dollars max, but i want the CDs replaced.

[kiru]

yes, it IS a CD problem. My question is, is there a way i can ask for a working copy to U.S.A. for free shipping? I mean, i dont want to spend anymore money on this. well, maybe 2 or 3 dollars max, but i want the CDs replaced.
Have you tried ripping the CD on your computer with something like EAC (Exact Audio Copy) ? and testing whether you are able to play the WAV files properly ? If yes, then you can burn a CD-R again with it.

[Dragun]

I didn't know there was an IR Legends set from Saregama. How is the song selection, and how is the sound quality?

[njv]

Since it is stuck at the same place, I doubt if the CD will be good again.

When you talk to Saregama, if they dont come up with any creative idea to replace the CD, ask them if they can burn a cd (which they do through www.hamaracd.com, which is part of Saregama).

My advice, if you want original IR cd (mainly the 70s and 80s) you are better of getting Echo or oriental records CD. Saregama has very less collection of IR and whatever they have is probably remastered from thattuvadai (lpr)

[njv]

keyman_sam, also see your PM.

[vijayr]

Is a good CD version of "enakkaaga kaathiru" available with Oriental or anyone else? If anyone knows some info, pl let know here, thanks. Looking mainly for "pani mazhai vizhum" along with "dhaagam edukkura neram" and "oh nenjame". Or if they are avilable in some assorted collection CD of IR songs that would be good too.

[app_engine]

Probably 'enakkAga kAthiru' was originally released by inreco and I think they may continue to have the rights...I have an inreco CD of assorted Raja songs and `O nenjamE' is included. Very poor sound quality:-(

(The same CD has `ennuyir nee thAnE' of Priya, excellent sound quality, `germaniyin', 'ninaivO oru paRavai', `azhagiya kaNNE', 'en kalyANa vaibOgham' all of decent sound quality. Poor sound quality includes `abhishEga nEraththil', `vAzhu mattum nanmaikkAga' etc.)

I think expecting `good sound quality' old Raja songs is probably `too much'...

[vijayr]

inreco? OK, thanks. I am not expecting super duper quality, just a decent hiss/noise-free version. I have some other songs in mp3 from films of that era that are in good quality, but Enakkaaga kaathiru(along with few ther albums) has been elusive

[njv]

I didn't know there was an IR Legends set from Saregama. How is the song selection, and how is the sound quality?
Same here. Surprised to see IR legends set from Saregama. They have MSV, AM Rajah, MGR, Susheela (have all of them) but never saw/heard abt IR Legends. Is it a black lengthy box or whilte small box (or while lengthy box)

[Dragun]

NJV, I didn't know about the ones you listed either! The Indian stores in my area don't stock stuff many South Indian CDs, and I haven't noticed them at any e-tailers. The "digitally remastered" stuff from Saregama is either not remastered or it is No-Noised to death, so I'm hesitant to buy them anyways.

[rajasaranam]

I didn't know there was an IR Legends set from Saregama. How is the song selection, and how is the sound quality?
Same here. Surprised to see IR legends set from Saregama. They have MSV, AM Rajah, MGR, Susheela (have all of them) but never saw/heard abt IR Legends. Is it a black lengthy box or whilte small box (or while lengthy box)

njv,

It was one of the first sets of the LEGENDS CD and is available ion market for the past 5 years or so. I bought it for RS.800 3 years back and now the rate is revised to RS.1000

[crvenky]

njv,
Its a black lengthy box of 5 CDs (release: 2003). I have bought this set couple of months back in Chennai. All the CDs work fine.

[kamal133]

Some of personal CD's got damaged when i place the CD in such a way, it got exposed to aiport security scanner. It wont spoil the whole CD but part of it.

[njv]

njv,
Its a black lengthy box of 5 CDs (release: 2003). I have bought this set couple of months back in Chennai. All the CDs work fine.

I missed that one. Thanks for correcting. i bought all black lengthy box of other combo I mentioned (same 1000 rs but he gave 10% discount since I got 4 of them plus another 10K worth of CDs). I missed IR one. Will try when I go to India next time :)

[njv]

NJV, I didn't know about the ones you listed either! The Indian stores in my area don't stock stuff many South Indian CDs, and I haven't noticed them at any e-tailers. The "digitally remastered" stuff from Saregama is either not remastered or it is No-Noised to death, so I'm hesitant to buy them anyways.

Indian stores anywhere dont have SI collection. You can get pirated stuff, including TIS in NY area but not originals. whenever i got to nj or india i get the originals (:

[app_engine]

"Some of personal CD's got damaged when i place the CD in such a way, it got exposed to aiport security scanner. It wont spoil the whole CD but part of it."

That's funny...I don't think they use that kind of `rays' that selectively corrupt the CD:-)) Looks like a case of `scientific superstition':-))

[kamal133]

"Some of personal CD's got damaged when i place the CD in such a way, it got exposed to aiport security scanner. It wont spoil the whole CD but part of it."

That's funny...I don't think they use that kind of `rays' that selectively corrupt the CD:-)) Looks like a case of `scientific superstition':-))
It happened long time ago. 2 of my original cd (jeans & uyire) got spoiled and still now i have problem listening to few tracks. There is no scratch in it. May be the scanner in india is not as good as in other place at that time. It may be corrected now.

[keyman_sam]

Ok, i've been talking with the person from SaReGaMe, and he's been real helpful. Lets see how this goes. I"ll post an update pretty soon...big thanks to the forum folks!

[eagle]

We have to keep this thread alive and kicking :). Most of us in search of gud quality audio CD's of old raaja songs. If anybody come across a source or something pls share...

In my opinion oriental and inreco is doing a very gud job in bringing out the quality audio cd's. I am not sure if others like AVM still making audio cd's.

also my advice is that dont ever buy the best of some collections.

[Sureshs65]

I had a similar problem with the 'Innathe Chinta Vishayam' CD. This also had songs from Rasathanthram. I bought this CD and it got stuck in some places and skipped in some !!! So I decided to buy another one. The same thing happened with that CD as well. This was surprising since I bought the CDs in two different shops, one in Bangalore and one in Chennai !!! Wish these guys check the CD before they ship it out. Now I have no choice but listen to this movie songs in mp3.

[eagle]

There are some CD's not available here in chennai. I wrote a mail to oriental records they are very helpful. I reproduce the reply given to me

We are trying to collect all the CD's that you need
and send it without additional cost. We are also
checking the custom formalities at your end. Please be
assured that we will take care on a priority basis.
Best Regards,
Robert Palmer
P.S. Are you a musician / Fan of Maestro Illaiyaraja /
or a computer genius?

In nutshell we fans should support them. One more thing i found that the project GEM CD's having same movies like oriental CD's ( GEM i searched in the web no site is active as of now) any ideas?