That's just a misprinting, which happens from time to time. The last one of these I got was a
factory sealed CD from Playtime and they exchanged it without hesitation.

coma, June 14, 2007; 6:55 PM

It is truly a first for me.

And just curious coma... why the fingerprints on the playing side it if it was a factory sealed cd soundtrack with even the safety sticker across the top on the jewel case underneath the plastic wrap which makes it even more official I guess?

Are cd's placed in jewel cases by machines or by human hands? How about the inserts?

It is not the only time I have opened a sealed cd that had fingerprints.

This particular Ararat cd was definitely factory sealed though.

I received this cd soundtrack from Screen Archives back in September of 2006 and just opened it today. I wonder if they will still exchange it for another.

I also wonder if this sort of defect has any type of collector's value.

serifiot, June 14, 2007; 7:27 PM

The packaging of CDs is mostly manually operated and quite costly - one of the reasons why
many labels nowadays prefer digipaks. Only the sealing is mechanized, so there are enough
chances for fingerprints to be left on the product.

There is an awful lot of misprintings around. The most stupid ones are those that bear a
wrong printing on the CD or even CDs that contain a completely different recording. But I
never heard that any of these really caught a collector's eye yet... ;-)I'm not sure if SAE will offer a replacement copy. It depends on their customer friendliness.
But you should consider that they might ask you to return the "defective" item and this
could take some time and money as well.

coma, June 14, 2007; 7:50 PM

Well... I hope so, since I am a regular customer.

What a hassle though.

The manual way of placing cd's and inlays does certainly expalin the fingerprints and also the reason why my recent acquisition of ''The Changeling'' from another reputable US retailer had literally a mutulated booklet as if the person who was doing whatever they were doing decided to chew on it before they placed it in the jewel case.

The people who do this should wash their hands more often or wear gloves and certainly not eat inlays.

I thought the latest trend of digies, at least in Europe, is because of environmental reasons.

I would like to think that the environment is at least one reason why manufacturers prefer disintegrating digies besides their profit gains.

Thanks for the input!

serifiot, June 14, 2007; 8:24 PM

I suppose coma explained the situation pretty near perfectly.
For what it's worth, the non-playing side of my Milan CD of Ararat carries the same art as on the booklet cover: the mountain with the burnt-orange A in front of it.
Love this score.

sowhatsplanb, June 15, 2007; 2:26 AM

The last time I checked, the non playing side had the artwork the last message has stated. I only posted this message to re-enforce that the non playing side is not blank.

TheSaint.786, June 15, 2007; 4:42 AM

My mom owns a Billie Holiday CD that has an elvis presley album on it, although Billie Holiday is written even on the disc!

philkws, June 15, 2007; 8:09 AM

Thanks for the input guys!

Unfortunately Screen Archives supposedly does not have this cd soundtarck anymore since it is OOP even though when I checked before I had sent Craig Spaulding my initail email concerning this matter (I have no idea who he is) I am certain I noticed a copy was still available at Screen Archives'website for USD $19.95 instead of the USD $14.95 I had paid originally.

I'm not imagining things!

After I received an immediate brief email response from Craig stating that the cd is out of print and to stick with what I have and simply enjoy the music, I checked Screen Archives' website once more and the cd soundtrack ''Ararat'' was not there.

hmmm....

I sent two emails asking if I could return the cd and get a refund or credit... no response!

I'm a little pissed to be honest.

Anyway, I 'm stuck with a strange looking Ararat cd soundtrack.

The music is of course what counts but I would like to have the cd printed including the inlays as they were intended to be.

Damaged jewel cases I don't mind. I can change those.

I guess I'll enjoy the music as I always do which is wonderful as well as the movie by the way and perhaps get another copy later on from another retailer.

Once more, I am pissed a bit!... grrrrrrrr!!

PS

Lesson learned....

1) Shit happens and 2) open the cd's once they arrive, not months later even though I prefer to keep them sealed until I decide to play them as if I was treating myself with something new purchased that day for a quick fix!

serifiot, June 15, 2007; 8:50 AM