therecordcollector.co.uk

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are the items listed for sale?
A: NO, NO and NO again. Unless they are of the pages specifically marked "items for sale", the items listed on the site are for discography and information only purposes.

Q: Can you tell me where I can buy the bootleg items?
A: No - I don't know.

Q: Can you tell me the value of an item by the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Taylor Swift or whoever?
A: Sorry, no - I don't know - I am not a record dealer!

Q: Do you have all or most of the items you list?
A: Unfortunately, no.

Q: Can you provide lyrics to the songs listed on your pages?
A: No.

Q: Does the site have MP3 / WAV downloads or audio streaming of the songs listed on your pages?
A: No. This would take up too much bandwidth and there would be questions about the legality of doing so.

Q: Will you sell me / can you get me "xyz" (any) item?
A: No. Not unless I have a spare copy (see "for sale" page) or you offer me an awful lot of money (if I have it in the first place).

Q: What are the technical requirements for viewing the site?
A: Most modern browsers should work well including IE, Safari, Chrome and Opera. It should work on both PCs and mobile devices. Your screen resolution should be set to at least 800 x 600 pixels in order to see everything properly (1024 x 768 better). Finally, for best results your browser needs to accept Javascript. If you are viewing on a browser that doesn't work, please let me know the details.

Q: When will the site be finished?
A: Probably never! I intend to update the various pages as and when time allows and when I get information about new or different releases.

Q: I'm sure I've seen this site somewhere else - am I going mad?
A: No - that probably means you visited the site in its previous guise as the Record & CD Collectors Site (at http://www.bradmj.demon.co.uk). This site replaces that one and is far more comprehensive.

Q: I collect the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Taylor Swift or whoever. Are you going to do pages about them?
A: Err.. No! With regard to artists like the Beatles, there are hundreds of Beatles related internet sites already and I don't know enough about them to give a comprehensive listing. The pages you see here will be for artists I collect or follow and for those that I can provide more comprehensive details for.

Q: I have a CD / Record by one of the artists you give listings for , but it is not listed. Why?
A: Probably because I don't know about it. Please contact me with details. If you are able to attach a scan of the sleeve then that would be much appreciated.

Q: The CD / Record I have has a different sleeve or catalogue number to the one you list. What should I do?
A: Please contact me with as much detail as possible (Sleeve design - scan if possible!, country, catalogue number, label etc)

Q: Where do you get you values from?
A: The values given are purely based on personal experience. I read a lot of magazines (I can recommend Record Collector in the UK and Goldmine in the US), visit many record shops and attend a number of record fairs as well as checking online auction values. The prices I give are my personal estimates of what you could expect to pay for an item (if you can find it!) in excellent condition. Don't blame me if you can't get something for near to that price!

Q: But I have item X and it's worth far more than you say!
A: You may be right. I won't claim that the site is 100% accurate, but most of the prices should be a fair guide. If you reckon that any of the items are wildly out, then please let me know - with some background information. However, you should note that a value is subjective - what is worth $50 to you may only be worth $10 to another collector.

Q: Where can I find these items?
A: Besides the obvious internet searches, the more common ones can often be found in large stores such as HMV or Fopp (UK)), FNAC (France & Belgium), Free Record Shops (Holland & Belgium) & F.Y.E. (US). Sadly, many of the biggest stores (Virgin, Tower Records, A&B Sounds etc are no longer around). Also try your local secondhand or collector's shop or a specialised mail order company. If there is sufficient demand I may publish some names and addresses of companies I've used on this site, although I'm loathe to provide actual recommendations.  Finally there is always a wealth of material at record & CD fairs - see your local collectors' magazines for details. The simple answer is you'll have to search a variety of sources to find many of these items, particularly the foreign releases or the older deleted ones. eBay and eBid are online auction sites where you can often pick up some rarities. GEMM and Discogs have online marketplaces.

Q: The pages look a little squashed or I am missing information to the right of the screen - why?
A: Although you can view these pages on any monitor with a suitable browser, they look best at at least 800 x 600 resolution or better. Also the more colours you can display, the better the images will appear. The pages have recently been updated the pages so that they appear better on lower specification machines.

Q: I want to print your lists, but they are too wide for the printer. What can I do?
A: Set the printer to print in landscape mode or if your browser supports printing in a "shrink to fit" mode, then use that.

Q: I have a slow modem connection to the internet and some of your pages take ages to load. What can I do to speed things up?
A: Change your browser settings so that "inline images" are not showed automatically (or turn off the "show pictures" option). You will lose the picture sleeves, but the pages will load much quicker. That said, all should load fine on modern broadband connections or 3G/4G mobile networks. Just be aware that images will consume some of your bandwidth - be aware of this if your monthly plan limits data.

Q: It would be really nice if you could click on the images of the items and open high resolution scans of the front & back covers plus the labels. Are there any plans to do this?
A: That would be nice, but I'm afraid it's not going to happen for these 4 reasons:-

  • - Bandwidth and capacity on the site. More detailed images would take up a lot of space and use much more bandwidth. As I only run the site for fun, I can't afford to buy more capacity.
  • - I don't own most of the items - therefore getting that information and scans of the right items is not easy.
  • - Time. the site already takes much of my free time and I don't have the time to add that level of detail.
  • - Copyright. Other sites that have details of front & back covers and discs etc have been shut down by record companies and artists. All that happens is people download the music illegally and then go to such a site to print out a disc label and CD sleeve. As a collector, I want to encourage people to actually buy the items for real, not to steal them.