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  #1  
Old Oct 30, 2012, 12:38 PM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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Added the price of this (Amazon lists it as in stock at $14.99USD) - mine came out to $17.97USD factoring in shipping/etc.
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  #2  
Old Oct 30, 2012, 01:42 PM
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Is this an actual pressed CD release? Amazon has a bad habit of selling MP3s on CD-Rs. I don't want to pay that much for CD-Rs.
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  #3  
Old Oct 30, 2012, 02:06 PM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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To the best of my knowledge, there is no "Manufactured on demand by Amazon.com" stamp on the case anywhere. It's a 3 panel hinged tray jewel case (the middle section had my third disk in a death grip).

Says on the back of the case art that it was manufactured and distributed by Fontana Distribution and above that it has the 2012 copyright info for Ipecac Recordings and above that it has the 2011 copyright info for Valve Corp.

Last edited by TheMonkofDestiny; Oct 30, 2012 at 02:10 PM. Reason: not quite sure what type of case it's called, best summation is provided however
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  #4  
Old Oct 31, 2012, 09:22 AM
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Awesome!

Better grab one before the resellers get 'em all. Also - that TF2 item code. What do you get?
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  #5  
Old Oct 31, 2012, 07:36 PM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxhack View Post
Also - that TF2 item code. What do you get?
It's a code for the item "What's in the Portal 2 Soundtrack Box?" which, as of this current time, has yet to reveal its contents (it specifies it will be opened at a later date) + a Mann Co. Store gift bag (or something or other, I forget the exact name) that when used gives one random item free of charge from the Mann Co. Store (I got a Rocket Jumper).
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  #6  
Old Nov 1, 2012, 10:59 AM
Fearin Fearin is offline
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Are the portal 1 songs Mike Morasky or Kelly Bailey? We have some of them linked to Bailey from the orange box. Also is the Still Alive named J.C. Mix or Version?

http://vgmdb.net/album/6194

1, 13-19 from Portal
Jonathan Coulton: 1 and 19 (Still Alive, Still Alive J.C. Version)
Kelly Bailey: 13-15 (Subject Name Here, Self Esteem Fund, 4000 Degrees Kelvin)
Mike Morasky: 16-18 (Stop What You Are Doing, You're Not A Good Person, You Can't Escape, You Know)

Mika supposedly got these credits from Mike Morasky himself, do the credits on this CD contradict those?

Last edited by Fearin; Nov 2, 2012 at 02:38 PM.
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  #7  
Old Nov 1, 2012, 01:40 PM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearin View Post
Mika supposedly got these credits from Mike Morasky himself, do the credits on this CD contradict those?
The booklet inside has "Still Alive (J.C. Mix)" along with the obvious "vocals by Jonathan Coulton" next to it.

I am sorry to report, however, that it makes no mention of Mike Morasky or Kelly Bailey. It does mention Ellen McLain and as mentioned before, Coulton but beyond that the only other written credit is "with Valve" which is included when referencing the tracks "Want You Gone" and "Still Alive".

These credits are all on the inside of the cover of the booklet.

As to the validity of those other credits, I would consider them accurate based on things Mike has said in the game commentaries and interviews in the past. He always mentions that his work on the first game was the result of him being brought on after Kelly had finished his tracks on Portal because they made a last minute decision to add to the game itself and there was no music to accompany it. I know Mike is semi-notorious about his privacy (having had to change his official Valve email on more than one occasion) but it isn't out of the realm of possibility that someone made contact with him about the breakdown of the Portal tracks.

The track listings for each disk appear after the pages of the comic and are nothing more than a per-disk breakdown of the tracks. They unfortunately contain no notes on composer(s) or performers, etc.

Last edited by TheMonkofDestiny; Nov 1, 2012 at 01:44 PM.
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  #8  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 03:10 PM
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Does Cara Mia Addio have an exclamation at the end or not?

As TheMonkeyOfDestiny mentioned, there was an interview on podcast17 with Mike Morasky, he mentioned he did the music after the fire pit since that was originally the end, but they decided to add on and Kelly Bailey was busy. Using where the songs appear on the video game, these tracks can be related to Kelly Bailey, while the rest (other than Still Alive from portal 1) are Mike Morasky

Kelly Bailey:
Subject Name Here
Taste of Blood
Android Hell
Self Esteem Fund
Procedural Jiggle Bone
No Cake for You
4000 Degrees Kelvin
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  #9  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 03:53 PM
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... oh what the heck Amazon just pulled the listing!

"Item Under Review

While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page, it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!)

We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible."

Apparently the middle CD tray was causing problems, so they recalled the product. Augh. So much for buying it before the resellers got ahold of it...
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  #10  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 04:12 PM
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MiLO MiLO is offline
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...Before the resellers got ahold of it... Do you mean Amazon had custom made cases just for them?
This makes me think of recent Journey soundtrack release, which turned out to be a lossy mastered CD, and was sold at Amazon over a month early compared to Thatgamecompany's official release in mid November.
Is Amazon getting products manufactured specifically for them? I'm a lil suspicious here...

Last edited by MiLO; Nov 3, 2012 at 04:14 PM.
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  #11  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 04:19 PM
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I think Amazon got a shipment of the CDs, just like other retailers. But Amazon usually has the lower price.

As soon as Amazon runs out of stock, Amazon resellers raise the price quite a bit and it stays that way, sometimes even after Amazon gets new stock. Add to that that this CD will be kinda limited (most of Valve's products are), plus a lot of people will buy it for the TF2 item code (myself included) ... that'll raise the price immensely.

My guess is Amazon noticed the complaints and pulled the item, and will ask the manufacturer to fix the problem.

Other sellers won't really care, but Amazon has the pull to make such a request...

Last edited by Foxhack; Nov 3, 2012 at 04:28 PM.
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  #12  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 04:24 PM
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Efendija Efendija is online now
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But really taking mp3 (or any lossy codec for that matter) / converting to wav and then selling such CDs?! It looks like a scam lol
Damn Amazon & demand stuff...
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  #13  
Old Nov 3, 2012, 04:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Efendija View Post
But really taking mp3 (or any lossy codec for that matter) / converting to wav and then selling such CDs?! It looks like a scam lol
Damn Amazon & demand stuff...
Oh yeah, that's what someone from the RateYourMusic forum told me. (What, do you think I only keep a VGM CD collection? XD)

http://rateyourmusic.com/board_messa..._id_is_3279662
http://rateyourmusic.com/board_messa..._id_is_4223224

They already sell MP3s. The quality of the inserts is kinda iffy too.

They may have switched to WAVs according to that second post, I dunno.

Last edited by Foxhack; Nov 3, 2012 at 04:39 PM.
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  #14  
Old Nov 4, 2012, 10:24 AM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearin View Post
Does Cara Mia Addio have an exclamation at the end or not?
The exclamation is not present in the booklet for it. Similarly, as I had thought this was a goof on Valve's behalf when they released the soundtrack in MP3 format, the "OMG" in "Omg, What has He Done?" is left as "Omg" despite the fact that it probably (logically) would be better off in caps since it is an acronym.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxhack View Post
... oh what the heck Amazon just pulled the listing!

"Item Under Review

While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page, it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!)

We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible."

Apparently the middle CD tray was causing problems, so they recalled the product. Augh. So much for buying it before the resellers got ahold of it...
I don't doubt this one bit. I had a rough time getting my third disc to come loose.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxhack View Post
They already sell MP3s. The quality of the inserts is kinda iffy too.

They may have switched to WAVs according to that second post, I dunno.
If you've bought any of their CD-R on Demands in the past, you'll find it's almost, almost, impossible to distinguish between the item and an "original" CD - package wise. I think in terms of the audio, they use whatever they have available to them which unfortunately could be anything from a set of MP3s to WAV from the studio/etc. Some stuff I have noticed they tend to sell is only available through them in such a fashion (Harry Gregson-Williams' Total Recall score, for example) and the back tray art for that release has a very clear "Manufactured by Amazon.com" above the UPC area.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MiLO View Post
...Before the resellers got ahold of it... Do you mean Amazon had custom made cases just for them?
This makes me think of recent Journey soundtrack release, which turned out to be a lossy mastered CD, and was sold at Amazon over a month early compared to Thatgamecompany's official release in mid November.
Is Amazon getting products manufactured specifically for them? I'm a lil suspicious here...
I think that the Journey matter is a fault of Sumthing Else and not Amazon. Sumthing Else posted on their Facebook that the album was available for sale while Amazon had no availability of the album when buying from them. Marketplace sellers had listings up for it though. Austin Wintory even snapped photos of the ones he was signing when he posted his newsletter update about it and it seems like an identical setup to those sent out through Amazon orders.

I can say with some high degree of certainty that the discs for this Portal 2 set were not lossy masters. Comparisons between the originally released MP3 files to tracks from the disc confirm it. It's a shame Amazon pulled the listing and reverted it into an MP3 page for the time being - I didn't really find the casing to be all that bad but I may be among the few to have received it with no damage (my mailer was beat to hell though - a true miracle) to any of the centers or discs themselves.

Last edited by TheMonkofDestiny; Nov 4, 2012 at 10:39 AM.
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  #15  
Old Nov 13, 2012, 05:25 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearin View Post
Mika supposedly got these credits from Mike Morasky himself, do the credits on this CD contradict those?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMonkofDestiny View Post
As to the validity of those other credits, I would consider them accurate based on things Mike has said in the game commentaries and interviews in the past. He always mentions that his work on the first game was the result of him being brought on after Kelly had finished his tracks on Portal because they made a last minute decision to add to the game itself and there was no music to accompany it. I know Mike is semi-notorious about his privacy (having had to change his official Valve email on more than one occasion) but it isn't out of the realm of possibility that someone made contact with him about the breakdown of the Portal tracks.
I dug out the original email I got as a reply from 2008.
Quote:
Hi Mika,

You are correct in regards to the "principal composers" responsible for
the TF2 and HL2 music.

As for Portal, it's split down the middle. Kelly was responsible for all
the "Aperture Labs" pieces and then I picked up the "behind the curtain"
material. Of course, Jonathan Coulton wrote and recorded "Still Alive".

Regarding the pieces that appear on the CD:

Kelly:
Subject Name Here
Self Esteem Fund
4000 Degress Kelvin

Myself:
Stop What You Are Doing
You're Not a Good Person
You Can't Escape, You Know

In game but not appearing on the CD:

Kelly:
Taste Of Blood
Android Hell
Procedural Jiggle Bone

Me:
No Cake For You
Party Escort

Thanks for your interest.
Mike
As it happens, he also lists the tracks that were not in the Orange Box CD, but are on the 4th disc on this one.

I could try and reach him in the address this came from and ask about this album too, but if he keeps changing his email, it might not be valid anymore.
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  #16  
Old Nov 13, 2012, 12:05 PM
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Turns out that the address I had still totally worked.

Quote:
Hi Mika,
Thanks for writing and the kind words.

P2 was just me. Kelly worked on the first half of Portal 1.

Hope you're well!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mika Heiska
Sent: Tuesday, November 13
To: Mike Morasky
Subject: Songs to Test By Collectors Edition

Hey Mike.

I hope this email address is still valid after 4 years.

With the Collectors Edition of Songs to Test By now out, I was wondering if all of the excellent Portal 2 music was your work, or did you and Kelly both work on it?


Cheers,
Mika
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  #17  
Old Jan 1, 2013, 10:13 PM
TheMonkofDestiny TheMonkofDestiny is offline
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Nice. Yeah, if he hasn't changed it (again) then it's a good sign that not everyone knows it. He used to have an older one that was known to the public but it was closed and he moved to what I assume is the one you have contacted him on. He's also lurking about Facebook it seems but his personal use account there is pretty closed off.
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  #18  
Old Apr 19, 2013, 05:14 PM
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I just got mine in the mail. I waited a month for Amazon to send me one, so there must've been a reprint (with the same contents) recently.

The catalog number on the CDs and spine is IPC134. On the booklet, it's IPC 134 - no dash, just a space. I'll add the DiscIDs after I rip the CDs.
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  #19  
Old Apr 28, 2013, 04:07 AM
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Can anyone upload scans please?
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  #20  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 02:16 PM
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@Marth:
I uploaded the cover at albumartexchange. I still have the original scan though, if you want it in higher resolution.

600x600
600x528
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