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  #1  
Old Aug 4, 2016, 02:22 PM
Andvari Andvari is offline
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Default Sample copies are they rarer than retail

Hey I want to know if sample copies of cd's are generally rarer than retails copies at stores?
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  #2  
Old Aug 6, 2016, 11:37 AM
Rrolack Rrolack is offline
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I'm not sure if they're rarer or not (it may depend on the album), but I believe they're usually less valuable in the secondary market.
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Old Aug 6, 2016, 12:14 PM
Andvari Andvari is offline
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Not always all some copies are only given out in 10 so I think that would be pretty rare.
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Old Aug 6, 2016, 09:37 PM
Boyblunder Boyblunder is offline
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They are 100% less valuable. I've been collecting and buying for 15 years. They leave stickers and stamps which basically "blemish perfection" and people generally don't want this.
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 06:59 PM
smartalex2014 smartalex2014 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boyblunder View Post
They are 100% less valuable. I've been collecting and buying for 15 years. They leave stickers and stamps which basically "blemish perfection" and people generally don't want this.
If they are official, they are at least a little more valuable than the Chinese bootlegs. Bootleg CD's are less valuable.
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Old Aug 7, 2016, 08:30 AM
Andvari Andvari is offline
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___________
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Old Aug 7, 2016, 09:40 AM
Boyblunder Boyblunder is offline
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OK then, very informative post.
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  #8  
Old Apr 21, 2017, 01:02 AM
Jamtex Jamtex is offline
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It does depend on the type of collector and the age of the disc. I personally quite like them as they tend to be rarer.

Newer Sample CDs tend to be easier to find, a lot of them go to reviewers and magazines and if they are not reviewed or use tend to get sold cheaply.

Older CDs (80s and early 90s) on the other hand sample copies are much less common as they tended to get binned.

For some CDs it might be the only way you might find a sealed version.

The sticker tends to put over the barcode or somewhere it doesn't cover text so it doesn't ruin it.
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Old Apr 21, 2018, 06:33 AM
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LuxKiller65 LuxKiller65 is offline
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Yes, they are always rarer than their retail counterpart, for the very simple reason that sample copies are drawn out of production in 1X or 1XX units at most. How would a sample version be printed in larger quantities than a retail version? That makes no sense. It's the same principle for music albums, movies and games.

They come out of the same place, with a sticker somewhere and a mark on the inner ring of the disc(s). There are rare cases where samples differ in other ways, but those are very rare cases, like Power Drift & Mega Drive, where the disc and the back insert are different.

What would be interesting to know is how they calculate how many sample copies to print. Is it a percentage of all printed copies, or a fixed number regardless of all printed copies? And do some albums get no sample copies at all?

For example, I thought more recent Castlevania albums had no existing samples with sticker, but then I saw a sample Curse of Darkness soundtrack (the Japanese double-disc release), so that was a bit of a shock. I guess most if not all albums, at least in Japan, have samples made, but it may be almost impossible to verify, imagine if they make only 10 or 20 of them, and if they get returned or destroyed like they should, then some albums may have no samples existing anymore.

Also today in a shop, I saw some 8 cm singles from Sony Music, they were all samples. They normally keep those on the shelf and give you a retail copy when you go to the cashier. This, or it's their last copies and don't care about the sample marking, although that would be strange, since annoying customers may notice and complain (rightly so to be fair).

Last edited by LuxKiller65; Apr 21, 2018 at 06:41 AM.
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