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Topic: With or without Barcode

16th Dec 2021, 12:21 PM
	Magic Marmalade If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3773 Points Moderator	Yes, the club editions are to be separate, ...Because they different information, not simply additional, or extra information: Club Editions (Typically Columbia House, or BMG - which you will see printed on there somewhere, and not on the standard commercial release) were "sold" through direct marketing schemes / catalogue thingies, or like Britania music club type of schemes here in the UK, and they are almost promo like, in having the barcode removed, and where that ought to be, you'll see a noticeably sparse white rectangle, with the club catalogue number there instead: "D - - - - -" or such like. The absence of the barcode and replacement with club catalogue number... (Albeit alongside record label catalogue number, which will be the same on barcoded commercial release) ...makes it unique to that club as outlet, and shouldn't therefore, be found in a retail outlet / shop new. They do similar things with books. The reason I personally like these do to be separate, is to distinguish them from earlier issues that initially came out before barcodes, and are a method of dating the release... whereas early on, I myself thought: "Ooh, this one has no barcode, it must be early!" - when in fact, it's not, it's actually a later one that has no barcode because it was sold through the club. This is important, in that CDs do not yet have quite the comprehensive knowledge base that vinyl has, in terms of collectability, but there are pockets of collectability growing for that format, for different reasons, and in this case, one that has been around for a while, is to identify early, pre-mastered issues "flat transfers" of albums, so that, how it appeared / sounded on the original vinyl, is how it would sound on the more convenient, and cleaner sounding CD format. The absence of a barcode does a lot to help make that determination, along with the ADD etc. box, and CD face designs: Targets / Philips Blue face / Philips Blue Arrow / Mercury Green arrow etc. So keeping these on separate pages helps identify which you might have. But, as I say, if there's something wrong, we can always shift the furniture around until it looks right... but only if there's something entered to move around / work with in the first place. Any member can submit a correction request if they spot something, as well as mod activity, so the onus is not on you to get it totally right straight off the bat. The site is designed to accommodate this. So keep 'em coming!