Prime Cuts/Hit Disc Overlap?

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Sounds To Go

Sounds To Go

DJ
Dec 22, 2008
2,473
12
52
Roseville, CA
www.sounds2go.com
Question for Prime Cuts MP3 subscribers.

I just signed up with PC MP3 and have, for now, let go my 5 year subscriptions with Promo Only.

One question I have is that I have already noticed a good deal of "overlap" from the "supplemental" Hit Disc folders on each CD and other Prime Cuts CD's.

My question is, how prevalent would you guys say this is? In your experience, will all or most HitDisc selections be duplicated across either previous or future Prime Cuts releases?

Keep in mind, I understand the differences in versions/editing/etc per the disclaimer included in the discs - I'm talking strictly titles though.

WHat's your experience with this for those who have been with them for at least a couple years?
 
i can tell you i've only been with them for a number of months and in the couple of months there has been overlap between the prime cuts discs themselves and the hitdisc folder. And as you mentioned the only difference is that those in the hitdisc folder aren't going to be as extremely edited as the primecuts disc version which could be beneficial to some? I'm not really sure though.
 
Thanks. I welcome the feedback of others as well. Where Im going with this is that it was a really tortured decision for me as to whether or not I should go with the MP3 option or the weekly Disc option, and as far as I'm concerned, from a programming standpoint, the only thing that is going to keep me from switching from weekly mp3 to weekly cd at this point is if there is enough unique programming in the HitDisc folder that never makes it's way to Prime Cuts itself. Beyond that HitDisc folder offering more expansive programming, I perceive no real plus - for my application - to the MP3 series so far.

Anybody else have any feedback or experience that would help sway me either way?
 
I'm close to pulling the trigger myself...from TopHits to Weekly Prime Cuts w/ Latin and Jazz.

More info from past users, please.
 
Yes, there's some overlap. Sometimes the versions are different, but most of the time they aren't. I find that the amount, timeliness, and drag and drop convenience of the mp3 service far outweigh the downside of a few duplicates. When I was with Promo Only for my music needs, I'd find duplication on MONTHLY discs, because in order to meet my needs, I had to subscribe to multiple formats. So, a song might be on the Urban disc one month, and the following month show up on Mainstream Radio.

The advantages I find are in the smooth jazz tracks, and aaa, where I find good ideas for contemporary cocktail music.
 
djsarge said:
Its too much music. lol
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I'm wondering. :tricool:

For me, the "extras" such as found in the soft jazz, latin, and christian (esp.), are simply "extras" I won't ever be likely to use, so trying to use that as justification for charging the same rate for a mp3 weekly as a cd weekly becomes shaky at best, and the only real way to combat that for me is is there is little duplication (even if eventual) across the series' over the course of the subscription. That AND, as Zac said - the sheer convenience of getting it first on the HitDisc folder - that's one I hadn't thought about, so I'll have to keep an eye on that to see how far ahead and relevant those tracks tend to be.

Out of the extras found on the discs, only the Adult Contempo holds interest for me as being stuff I could easily work into my rotation. Maybe the soft jazz if a client requested dinner or cocktail music in that vein, but I'd never whip it out of my own accord. They say "jazz," I'm thinking JAZZ! But of course I do clarify by asking them what artists, etc they have in mind when they ask.

Before it gets misconstrued or takes any wicked turns, this is not a bashing thread, and I love the Prime Cuts service so far, especially as it relates to Jim's hands-on service approach.

I'm just trying to brainstorm regarding my format options, and appreciate the advice or experience of other longer-term users of the service.
 
Steve Sharp said:
Yes, there's some overlap. Sometimes the versions are different, but most of the time they aren't. I find that the amount, timeliness, and drag and drop convenience of the mp3 service far outweigh the downside of a few duplicates. When I was with Promo Only for my music needs, I'd find duplication on MONTHLY discs, because in order to meet my needs, I had to subscribe to multiple formats. So, a song might be on the Urban disc one month, and the following month show up on Mainstream Radio.

The advantages I find are in the smooth jazz tracks, and aaa, where I find good ideas for contemporary cocktail music.
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Precisely Steve, thanks... You are right. I dropped my Urban PO subscription after the first year for that very reason. While I would have liked to flesh out my library with the entire sub, I can't recall ever turning down any urban requests that didint find themselves on Mainstream as you said. The timing for it to GET there may have left something to be desired, but thats the nature of the beast I suppose.

As for drag-n-drop, I find that aspect only so convenient right now because I have to re-tag the genres anyway. I also miss the time spent each month ripping because that is when I would actually listen to the tracks and familiarize myself with them as I genre-tagged 'em, entered them into my database, etc.

Sticking with MP3 will alter the way I manipulate my library for sure, but no part of my decision to start with MP3 centered around time-savings for ripping/tagging, etc... just that I would get more (quantity) relevant music for the price.

Just thinking out loud as I said before... not complaining at all.
 
Wow.... just because it's smooth jazz doesn't mean it's soft jazz trust me.... I use it all the time for cocktail/dinner especially when they simply say Jazz/Big Band.... as for the AAA and AC some of the Top 40 type tunes do end up in these Genre's you'd be surprised at the gems you will find.... never say, never.
 
jokerswild said:
Wow.... just because it's smooth jazz doesn't mean it's soft jazz trust me.... I use it all the time for cocktail/dinner especially when they simply say Jazz/Big Band.... as for the AAA and AC some of the Top 40 type tunes do end up in these Genre's you'd be surprised at the gems you will find.... never say, never.
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Sorry, I personally listen to a lot of jazz and for my tastes consider this stuff "saccharine jazz." Jazz-lite, less filling, tastes great, whatever :p

I'm not saying never to anything, just trying to find my place with the service. It's still too soon to tell anyway, though Jim did hook me up with some goodies, so I have had quite a few discs to play with.

One thing I do like about the MP3 option is that it is cross-platform compatible with my Denon dually deck, which is mp3 compatible as well.
 
Sounds To Go said:
I'm wondering. :tricool:

For me, the "extras" such as found in the soft jazz, latin, and christian (esp.), are simply "extras" I won't ever be likely to use, so trying to use that as justification for charging the same rate for a mp3 weekly as a cd weekly becomes shaky at best, and the only real way to combat that for me is is there is little duplication (even if eventual) across the series' over the course of the subscription. That AND, as Zac said - the sheer convenience of getting it first on the HitDisc folder - that's one I hadn't thought about, so I'll have to keep an eye on that to see how far ahead and relevant those tracks tend to be.

Out of the extras found on the discs, only the Adult Contempo holds interest for me as being stuff I could easily work into my rotation. Maybe the soft jazz if a client requested dinner or cocktail music in that vein, but I'd never whip it out of my own accord. They say "jazz," I'm thinking JAZZ! But of course I do clarify by asking them what artists, etc they have in mind when they ask.

Before it gets misconstrued or takes any wicked turns, this is not a bashing thread, and I love the Prime Cuts service so far, especially as it relates to Jim's hands-on service approach.

I'm just trying to brainstorm regarding my format options, and appreciate the advice or experience of other longer-term users of the service.
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As Rob has pointed out, it's SMOOTH jazz, not soft jazz - at least not most of the time. I liken much of it to old school funk, but often without vocals. Before the mp3 disc option, I also got the Prime Cuts Jazz discs.

Also.. the ONLY Christian cuts you'll find are on the Prime Cuts discs, and not in the bonus folders, so you can't "opt out" of those either way, which brings me to my biggest point, which I've made many other times to others: YOU'RE NOT PAYING PER SONG. Please get that model out of your head, because it doesn't apply. It's more analogous to an "all you can eat" buffet of all this new music set before you, every week. If you don't like something, don't eat it (or play it). The rate you pay is for the SERVICE, and not the songs, or the amount of songs.
 
Here's some info that might help anyone trying to compare the two services (some of this might've been covered already):

- First & foremost, the primary service is PrimeCuts. Meaning, whether you get the CD or the MP3 disc, the service you're paying for is what comes on the regular PrimeCuts CD subscription. Everything else that comes on the MP3 disc is basically a bonus.

- Often times, a song starts on HitDisc and then is on PrimeCuts later. However, sometimes they are on HitDisc the same week as PrimeCuts (a good way to compare is the Top 30 charts: http://www.tmstudios.com/charts.asp)

- Formats that are specific to HitDisc and therefore not part of PrimeCuts are: Smooth Jazz, Urban AC, AAA and 12 Latin genres. That means they are only on the MP3 service & not the CD service (except for songs that crossover into a genre on the CD subscription).

- With the exception of Dance remixes, we very rarely will run an alternate version/mix/edit of a song on PrimeCuts. Subscribers say they don't want to get duplicates and consider different versions duplicates. So we usually just service 1 version of a song on the CD service. However, we often run multiple versions of songs on HitDisc, meaning they will be on the MP3 disc.

- The biggest difference is the amount of songs, but there are also some features people like on the MP3 disc: songs already encoded to MP3, tagged (song title, artist, genre, year & BPM), database on every disc and top 30 charts on every disc.

My personal opinion--if you DJ from computer, go with the MP3 service (unless you're a hardcore audiophile who wants an uncompressed version). The MP3 service will save you time and gives you more content for the same price. With that said, that doesn't mean you necesarrily need to load all that on your computer, which is why we separate it out by PrimeCuts & HitDisc. I only copy the PrimeCuts content to my computer. I know some subscribers only copy certain genres. That's the nice part, just grab what you want and if you need something later you can always copy it over.
 
Jim Weisz said:
First & foremost, the primary service is PrimeCuts. Meaning, whether you get the CD or the MP3 disc, the service you're paying for is what comes on the regular PrimeCuts CD subscription. Everything else that comes on the MP3 disc is basically a bonus.
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Somewhat along the lines of what Steve was saying - good way to readjust expectations.

Jim Weisz said:
With the exception of Dance remixes, we very rarely will run an alternate version/mix/edit of a song on PrimeCuts. Subscribers say they don't want to get duplicates and consider different versions duplicates.
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Well I'm not that pigheaded (I hope)... :tribiggrin: I definitely welcome different mixes if it puts on a new spin or a new way to present a popular song.

Jim Weisz said:
The biggest difference is the amount of songs, but there are also some features people like on the MP3 disc: songs already encoded to MP3, tagged (song title, artist, genre, year & BPM), database on every disc and top 30 charts on every disc.
Click to expand...

Definitely a fan of the charts! The tagging as well, though I do go through and re-tag genres to integrate into my existing schema, but that goes without saying.

Jim Weisz said:
My personal opinion--if you DJ from computer, go with the MP3 service
Click to expand...

That right there is the crux of it for me... I'm in a transition of being disc-based since day-1, and am starting the conversion to digital, so playability and cross-compatibility with my existing cd-based rig is a plus. It's not an indictment of the quality of the service or of the service itself that I am in the particular transitory phase I'm in and trying to find the solution that works best during that transition. I'm sure the weekly MP3 option will be just fine once the switch is thrown fully to the digital side and I'm not carrying around a cd coffin any more - I'm just not there yet, so the challenges of maintaining a disc-based, and an mp3-based library in the interim is where I'm at, so I'm just trying to vet out which particular series/format is the best for that.
 
Yeah, if you're using CD now, or even both CD & computer, I recommend the CD until you become completely computer based. My personal opinion, and the feedback of other DJs I've talked to, is that the CD is more user friendly when actually playing from disc. The main reason being is that the songs are organized by genre on the CD but not on the MP3 disc (that's beyond our control--has to do with the way data CDs work). So it's a lot easier to find songs when you know what genre the song is that you're looking for.
 
Jim...for clarification--

The Jazz CD can be shipped as either CD or MP3 format?

The Latin CD can be shipped as either CD or MP3 format?
 
I get the following:

Top Hits as MP3 DVD and the actual T series CDs as well. There is much overlap on their MP3 disc as well. But All I care for are the Dance versions and Instrumentals.

I also get the weekly TMC along w/ Latin and SMJ on CD, not MP3.

While the MP3 DVD are convenient, like Jim said above, I prefer having uncompressed backup. Plus ability to tag to my standards.

When VDJ finally supports FLAC completely, I will be glad I have all the originals uncompressed.
 
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