Well I couldn't believe it either..

The double album can be downloaded from here for £4.99

http://www.tunetribe.com/product/various_a...5515&aid=19

I think NOW 74 was also the same price...

Although I prefer the physical version... just not got around to buying it (yet!), as have most via pro disc, etc... :/

David

Same here, much prefer a couple of extra beer mats.

Asda price - £12.98 and usually £9.80 in Tesco for a limited time

That's your perogative guys

You want to pay £7 extra for a jewel case and some bits of paper fine

Lower costs = more profit or lower price

I have just about the entire Now collection collecting dust in a box in my garage only to cover me on the dubbing issue. Given the choice I'd rather have the space for some more junk that will no doubt ease its way into my crammed garage

I also prefer the physical item. I got it last week from Tescos.
Even though the resale value of CD's on ebay is very low, I'm very sure you can't sell MP3s....

I was at a record fair at the weekend. It was sad seeing the classic album covers on the wall (rare bits of vinyl for £60+), and then the CD's with much smaller artwork - and then remembering the small thumbnail we get from iTunes...

MP3 is a handy format, but given a few quid extra, I'd prefer the best quality I can get and something physical I can sell on if needed.
Space is currently not an issue though... all the boxes fit under my daughters bed!

Don't get me wrong, I too like the touchy feely option, but (and let me play devil's advocate here) I am a DJ, not a record collector.

If collecting hardware was my hobby then I would gladly pay £12ish for the album.

But I'm not, I'm buying this for my repertoire and my gigs. That means finding the most economic option.

No-one has mentioned the WAV/mp3 issue, fortunately as I don't have an issue on playing mp3s.

The possible resale value of the CD is definitely worth considering but the possibility of making a few quid in a few years time versus saving £7 today - no brainer - bird in the hand etc.

Ten years from now, mainstream CD's will be worthless anyway.

Like it or not downloads will take over from CD's the same way CD's took over from tape/vinyl. My 15 year old son has a record collection almost as big as mine (and his is just for personal use) and he doesn't own one CD.

I'm happy with 320kbps MP3s, but some stores are still offering 224kbps, which is a difference.
Most kids will be deaf soon from blasting their ears with in-ear headphones, so I guess weddings in 15/20 years time won't worry too much about sound quailty.

I'm not into the WAV vs MP3 debate either - good quality MP3 is fine with me.

I guess the point I'm trying (badly) to make, is that its easy to spend lots of money on music (as a DJ) and if the time comes to sell up - I do not think downloaded MP3s are transferable.
There is still life in the old CD yet. Denon/Pioneer/NuMark etc are all still shipping CD based units.
Apart from PC/Laptops, there are not many options for pure MP3 only DJ's (using a large HDD), yet many exist for CD's.
(DDS80 user here).

I kinda see myself as a horder... not a collector, but not just a DJ.
I use MP3 downloads for odd tracks, or albums I can't easily get.
The original post - Now 75 for £4.99 is dammed good value.
Its still sad to see some online stores selling it on download for £12.99 on iTunes when I think I paid a similar price for a physical item.
If all MP3 albums came to a decent low price then fair dos. I'm finding myself still having to pay £7.99+ for some albums (as MP3) That is a rip-off, when the CD version is a similar price.

So for me - if the price is similar, CD all the way. If its much cheaper, or I only need 1 or 2 songs, then MP3.
I do have Now23 onwards on CD, so don't really want to break the collection until I have to, having a hand-written CDR with "Now 75" just wouldn't look right to me! lol

I agree. We are on the same page here..

It's an interesting point about transfering mp3 ownership. It hasn't been tested fully I believe, although this is key..

"The law is clear in that you can't create a business in which you exercise someone else's fair use privilege without a license"

If you sell your DJ's business along with downloads and DON'T keep copies then I can't see how that breaks any useage license laws etc. I would have thought that the new buyer would also need the provenance of the mp3's too.

I hear you on the Now collection, but it was cheaper for me to buy the back catalogue than new every time. If I need to fill the gaps in a few years I'm sure they will still be cheaper on eBay than buyg the hard case today.

Sorry to bang on about CD's but it's taken me a few years to wean myself off them and just like the ex-smoker that I am, I see absolutely no practical reason in buying anything else other than downlads or streaming contracts in future.

Just think of all those Carbon Credits!!!!

Oh yes... (reminds me of AOL CD's)...lol

I don't get the whole Now that's what i call music thing ?

They are a collection of tracks from the last 3 months !
Am i missing something but surely Mr DJ should have most of these tracks in his collection anyway ?
What is the purpose of buying the album (unless you are a collector)?

I agree there and have said it before, by the time the now cd's emerge the majority if the tracks are yesterdays tunes

im still in quandry about keeping up to date with music. I would prefer cd's. my mate andy subscribes to cd pool radio and hits which is 2 x twenty track discs per month. granted the discs are as up to date as you can get but you are looking at possibly no more than 25% of which are top ten hits.

Fair question. I think there is no standard answer but here's my attempt, and although I know what I'm trying to say I'm not sure if I can verbalise it ....

I quite understand why Club DJ's not only need to be bang up to date, but actually also ahead of the charts. Now 75 is a complete waste of time for them.

I think that (with one or two exceptions) Mobile DJ's can actually afford to be slightly behind the times. For me, that means I'm happy to look at recent compilations including Now to show me which tracks are the latest popular ones.

No, that doesn't mean that I don't monitor the charts and no it doesn't mean that I don't buy singles as they come out. I reserve those purchases for the tracks that are outstanding and no brainers to get people dancing (eg BEP or Gaga). If I have a predominantly young gig then I also top up on the key tracks.

I use 'NTWICM' as a sort of a safety net to catch tracks that I may not have thought of buying before. It draws a line on the six months or so previous to its release.

It's not a clear science but it seems to work. I very rarely have to duck a request. In fact, I still get more problems with requests for tracks released decades ago rather than contemporary ones.

IMHO

I use 'NTWICM' as a sort of a safety net to catch tracks that I may not have thought of buying before. It draws a line on the six months or so previous to its release.

It's not a clear science but it seems to work. I very rarely have to duck a request. In fact, I still get more problems with requests for tracks released decades ago rather than contemporary ones.

Same here. think in the last 6 gigs I have only had one request I couldnt do and that was from the 70's

I think it depends on the type of work you undertake. I have a regular Saturday night residency playing to a fairly young crowd and am, therefore, under pressure to keep up to date with all the new releases and get the hot new tunes ASAP. However I would imagine that someone who focuses mainly on wedding work, generally playing to a family crowd and specialising in golden oldies, doesn't need to have every song as soon as it comes out and would only need to update their collection periodically with a handy compilation such as the NTWICM collection.

Same as Flash -I get the Pro Disc, but that misses some. I normally check the top 40 before I've got a gig that may want up to date stuff- and get any that are missing (and I feel they are worth getting), but the NTWICM covers the stuff I'd not normally buy - normally slower stuff.

I don't expect to have every song, that really isn't feasible financially, but as NTWICM is released - most tracks are hits in some form.

I too, look down the track listing thinking "I've got 80%+ of these...", but its only released a few times a year, and its the only CD I automatically purchase.
I've been thinking of ditching the Pro Disc and simply getting single downloads, that would save me more money.

Jason

I for one still rely on these albums. Most of my request lists received from clients include a large proportion of tunes from these albums eg did an 18th birthday party a couple of weeks ago and 10 out of 30 tunes on the playlist were from NOW 74 which was released in November 2009.

Don't forget that a lot of folk don't download and Joe Public buys these albums in large quantities.

Most of my function work only involves a few up to date tunes therefore NOW represents an excellent buy for me

I'm in agreement about Pro Disc, very hit and miss, and out of 20 tracks, there's about 3,maybe 4 that are usable.. Maybe I'm getting old but April's is pretty dire....

NTWICM does seem to include DJ/radio-friendly mixes which just weren't available before (ever). For example on Now 75, 3Oh3 ft Katy Perry - everywhere else you can only get an explicit version..


Cheers,

David, Now 10 upwards on CD (except one which is vinyl).. Now 5-9 (and some later ones) on Vinyl!