Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

Yes, I am fine thanks - hope you are too. The clip you posted pushed me back to Elmore James and then on to Robert Johnson. Which inspired me to dust off my own open tuned geetar and play a bit of slide myself. I have always thought Sunday was a good day for the blues. Though Monday isn't bad and Tuesday is also cool.

....Loni Anderson?

...an image or two of her did cross my mind when WKRP came up.

Willie Nelson's Stardust album, cool stuff.

....Tattoo You. And some Ween.
Needed a Dead break. It happens.

Read this in a post on the Steve Hoffman Forums the-grateful-thread.349350/page-4293.
no one on the thread, a community of frequent commenters like here, have mentioned this post at all since (as of 5/17, the thread is on page 4331). That seems to imply that this problem is not one many people are having.
But I checked mine, and I do have it! I am not a member there, but there are members there who read these threads, so posting here still amplifies his signal, and it spreads word to here....

"…wanted to let everyone know that I have noticed even more deterioration in the CDs from the first year of Dave’s Picks (volumes 1-4). That guy who gave me a hard time about this has been banned so I feel free to bring it up…

Now I have the following problems:
- volume 1 disc 1 only plays with static
- volume 1 disc 2 plays but has visible deterioration or peeling of the edges of the reflective layer
- volume 2 discs 1 and 2 do not play at all
- volume 2 disc 3 only plays with static
- volume 4 discs 1 does not play at all
- volume 4 disc 2 only plays with static

All of these discs worked perfectly after I bought these sets (new, as a subscriber, although volume 4 is an unnumbered replacement sent when my subscription copy never arrived.) I played volume 3 six or so months ago and it was fine but shall check again this evening. I’ll check the 2012 bonus disc as well."

When I checked my 2012 Dave's sets:
on my Volume 1 my disc 1 is like his, and my discs 2 & 3 are like his disc 2.
In my Vol 4 all 3 discs play with static.
My volumes 2 and 3 look and play fine, although I didn't play more than the first 15 seconds of each disc.

So, people, time to listen to those 2012 Dave's. I hope you'all have good ones!

I'm biased because I was there but oh man......... bob t

I too am experiencing this. Noticed it with my DaP 2 - Scarlet Begonias will not play. Thankfully I have everything ripped to FLAC and Mp3. But, it particularly sucks. Goes to show, Nothing Lasts!

....because I had to break out Daves 1 just to prove what I knew all along. It plays.
Half-Step to open. You gotta love that

1974 Grateful Dead is
As if origami were music
so intricate and beautiful.
awwhewh all the layyyerrrs and dimensions, wshshshsh
gotta love this stuff

I have played the first 7 Dave's Picks this year, and didn't notice anything wrong. A bit worrying though. Nothing lasts...but going off vinyl I bought in the 70s and cds in the 90s...it used to last a bit longer than this. 2012 is like yesterday to me.

... Hello, wishing everyone a grateful day today!
I have experienced the same issues with my Dave’s picks as well with older releases including Dicks Picks, Roadtrips, etc and Boxsets as well. It’s a quality issue that concerns me as well. Nothen last for ever,(that’s my two cents lol) I understand that , but I have CDs from Columbia house ha ha , that work just fine.
Sometimes it’s not the cd itself, but what your playback someone uses. Because Technology can be a problem Technology can be a problem For example getting older disks to play on new equipment or vice versa if you get what I’m trying to say... since then I’ve tried & done many experiments on fixing the problem.
I’m not going to write it all, it’s much to long for a single post but I will give you the most effective and best TIP to playback those giving their owners problems.
Now it might sound funny, weird even foolish but this is the way I had the most successful playback results with the CDs that I had trouble with.
Now this only applies to Nonstationary CD players.
#1 after putting the CD in the player & while your “CD Player/ playback loads and begins decoding info on the disk, PUT your “CD player” on An 45° angle with the front/face of the playback machine facing you to the highest degree. it allows the ‘Laser’ to identify/read the information on the disk/CDs.
So much better . It’s all technical gibberish that I’m not gonna get into here because it’s a lot of data to write ;share. I can send messages or an email if need be.but give it a try give it a go. If your first attempt does not work try again you can also change that 45° angle to a different degree so as your playback is reading your CV you can move the CD player either up or down to raise or did the crease in the grease for the laser to scan more effectively.
I apologize for the poor writing skills and grammar it’s not my forte I’m an artist lol.
Well I hope this post will help some of those people having playback issues.
Have a grateful day everyone, peace be with you all! 🙏❤️💀🌹

I keep my collection in a wood cabinet with humidity control, checked my first year copies and no playing or static issues to confirm. However, the foil on Dave's Vol. 1 is peeling for sure on discs 1 and 2. The peeling is only slight pieces on the very edge of the cd and it still plays fine. But I will not be putting it into a CD player that pulls a disc in, stopped that year ago. It may be that's what the damage is from, hopefully it is not from environmental degradation of the physical foil. That would be crushing, still one of my favorite Dave's and it sounds amazing. Not to mention replacement discs are long gone and the CD sets are $350+ on resale, and if the problem is with manufacturing you could spend $600 on a sealed copy and the discs are nonfunctional.

Its a distressing concern for sure, especially considering how much this stuff costs. You'd think they could shell out the extra cents for the foil that's attached with quality. I have CDs from decades ago that came out of gloveboxes and look in better shape than some of the flimsy Dead releases. Interesting how some years the discs look thick and quality with good printing and then others they are flimsy CDs with poor looking quality backings. As time goes by a complete set of releases may become extremely valuable if people's collections continue to deteriorate just sitting on a shelf.

Question is try and stop the peeling with some sort of permanent glue or adhesive and risk it ruining the disc completely or leaving it to mother nature and hope the disc doesn't degrade further? Now I know how the curator and preservationist at Louvre feels.

I DO NOT recommend that any one starts doing this with their CD player or discs to get them to work. This highly "technical" process of leaning will most likely further damage your discs, the CD player, and your self-esteem for trying this ridiculous Fonzi-style method of electronic manipulation.

I was out at dinner once years ago with close friends and the "new guy" from work that invited himself along. After we all got our beers, he asked for a sip of mine to try before he ordered. I obliged being a gentleman and all. Once he finished and returned the glass to me he proclaims, "Oh!!!....my bad let me get that." And before I knew what he was talking about, the guy grabbed my beer and LICKED (yes) from the base of the glass to the rim to catch a drop of beer running down the side. He then promptly handed me the glass with a shit eating smile, looking like "Hey, no problem. You're welcome!" The advice about holding your CD player at odd angles made me think of this guy. Don't be that guy.

I need some new ones.

What does everyone use? Any recommendations ? Music appreciation being the dominant factor in my decision, of course.

I'm not opposed to spending some cheese for quality ones, up to a point. I'll know that point when I see it.

Now is an excellent time to rip them and back them up. Even if you still prefer to play the physical CD vs digital, at least you won't lose the music.

Well I'm by no means an audiophile but i just picked up these headphones
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158MDR1AM2/Sony-MDR-1AM2.html

I got them to go with my Sony DMP and they sound great...I prefer over the ear cups and I don't require Bluetooth (I avoid it) so these seem to be doing the trick...my portable player by the way is a Sony NW-A45 Walkman that plays all files, FLAC, WAV, Hi Res 24 bit files etc....I have purchased a few Hi Res releases, mainly the Deluxe Live At Leeds by The Who and the Deluxe Brothers and Sisters by the Allman Brothers which has a complete '73 Winterland show...they both sound incredible...Music in the time of the plague is the way to go...good luck in the hunt...oh and thanks too for your post, when I looked up the headphones I saw they were on sale for $50 less then when I bought mine three weeks ago...time to call customer service!

first - Your right Dave the Rock, 2012 WAS just yesterday!

I could whine about how you all made me pull out my banker boxes of Dead disc to get out DaP 1 to check it, BUT, I haven't put them away yet from the last time I pulled them out a month ago. And the Dave Collection was on top:-)
I didn't see anything on the playing side of the disc, but I did see a little (LITTLE), piece of the label missing. The silver edge of the label, almost like they didn't shellac the label under. I can't imagine it will affect the play. Maybe some people having these issues, actually use the real disc and the life in a car maybe too much for them.

I agree that some players can have trouble playing some disc, sometimes a software update will do you, my Blu-ray player needed an update once to play some movie.

Furthur agree damn things should last a lifetime. They used to say cassettes were only good for so long, I think the trouble there were "store bought" cassette, I think the tape was thinner and very easy to have stretch or snap. But my Maxwells that I made in 1980 still play AND they were carried around in the car. And we know, short of fire, vinyl IS forever! Hell a paper cone with a pin shoved thru it will play a LP. My collection of 78's are from the 40's, still play. Though can be hard to find a turntable that plays 78's and in my case a turntable to play anything!

quick thought, I could be wrong for sure. I wouldn't use anything blue tooth for audio (but I do sometimes), in any event I believe Bluetooth compresses the data. So if you're a big "audio" head who hates mp3's, don't play your flac/alac/wav via blue tooth, you will be losing data.

I think that's true anyway.

Exactly correct about the Bluetooth connection not playing at quality levels...when I was looking at both player and headphones that seemed to be the general consensus on all the reviews I read, especially on the Hi Res files...also I think you're spot on regarding cassettes, I had a shoe box of FM recordings I had done in the 80's and I sent them to a friend who is an expert at digitizing cassettes and they sound fabulous for a nearly 40 year old tape source...

….. but, I assume everyone seen Neil Young has a "new" album coming out in June(?), Homegrown. Was suppose to be released after Harvest, but Neil was too bummed out apparently. It's been ordered,,,, along with Dylan's new album and Zappa's new collection from 1970. Don't tell the wife, I'm keeping it on the DL. I trying a new trick, I used her credit card to buy, this was she'll think she spent the money! I'll tell ya, my brain is so fuckin' big, it hurts.

Hey Nappy, you ever dive into the audio books?

here in the mountains today, and tuesday's just as bad. Always loved that tune, was listening to the triple lp Isle of Wight from 1970 yesterday and the Stormy Monday came up, by Mountain, very cool version.. Love me some Leslie West. That entire lp is great, with some awesome artists on it, Hendrix, Ten Years After, Mountain, Cactus, Miles Davis, Procol Harum, Sly and the Family stone and Kris Kristofferson, good stuff. There were so many bands playing at this festival, the first great rock festival of the seventies. There was a dvd released also of most of the performances. Hell of a bill, with the above acts plus Jethro Tull, The Doors, Chicago, The Who, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, The Moody Blues, Free, Taste (Rory Gallagher) and more. Spirit was scheduled to play but did not play. Would have loved to have been at that one, any of our English brethren been to the Isle of Wight?

I have a pair of audiophile wired headphones.. they sound terrific, and I never use them. I have settled into a lossless wireless pair that sound good and give me the mobility I need.

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphones-home-audio-rs-175

They are not Bluetooth.. they send and receive a lossless signal. Never really shopped around, I'm sure there's better pairs out there.. but they work for me. There seem to be pros and cons of every aspect.. finding a good pair of headphones is kind of like finding a comfy pair of shoes.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

ROGUEDEADGUY: I rarely post on here, but saw your comment on recommendations for quality headphones, so I thought I'd share since I just purchased these a few weeks back. They are truly amazing headphones for the price.

https://www.audeze.com/products/lcd-1

They are lightweight, but durable that sound amazingly rich and full. I can't get Dave's 34 out of CD player since I bought these.

Yes I did Sir and mucho thanks... had a bit of a problem when iTunes went kablooey on me...I’m slowly rebuilding my library for my classic iPod for spoken word only...I am using my Sony DMP for music...my CD player in my car just stopped working so now I’ll be looking for a new one I guess... I’m about to jump back into Lord of the Rings as read by Rob Ingliss

Talk about lasting power...this Little Richard box I ordered, and have just about plucked up courage to touch, was made in 1989. Nearly as old as the original recordings were when the box came out. The first two cds sound incredible-almost like he's returned from the dead and popped into my living room for a hoot n' a holler.

Sam..Isle of Wight was just before my time, unfortunately.

Maybe it's a pianist thing (I've played most of my life), but when I started the '72 Lille show the other day for the first time, I said to myself, "Self--Keith's pee-yan-er there sounds a might bit diff'rent today . . . " Then I read the liner notes that mention that they couldn't get a Steinway like Keith had had for all the other E72 shows, and that at Lille he played a Bluther. On classical recordings I've often admired the Bluther sound.

Headphones--as we know, wired, open-back are generally best for sound purposes, and I sure love my Grado 325i's. I have a pair of closed-back Ultrasone HFi-780s that I enjoy. Those are going cheap on eBay because there is a new model out.

Used Columbia House and BMG to build an enormous cassette, then CD collection at little cost. In middle school I signed up something like fourteen classmates one year, mostly by offering them one of the four free cassettes that I received for signing them up. My dad eventually got suspicious and asked me just how I was paying for all this music that kept arriving. When I told him how I was hitting up everyone I saw, then offering them a better deal than if they signed up through someone else, he was proud. Our clan is a long line of salespeople.

The CD player thing sounds more like a dirty or dying laser assembly than faulty discs. Try opening the player and cleaning the lens, but plan on a new player. Just had a CD player fail, and it wouldn't play some discs at the end, ESPECIALLY the more recent discs from Dead.net. When it would play some of them, there was the static-y sound you mention.

I went to the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, but only for the Saturday. At the time I was living in Portsmouth, just a ferry and a bus ride away. 50 years ago so my memories are vague. I do remember not enjoying the Doors. I'm pretty sure there was not a word uttered from the stage between numbers. The Who played most, if not all of Tommy. I was sat up on Desolation Hill with a good, if distant view of the stage.

But you probably had already guessed that I was there.

I've been working my way though a new chunk of Star Wars.

I think the next trilogy in the movies will be Grand Admiral Thawn.
(you heard it here first)

Simon - did you go in that tent where Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies played ? For some people, that has become more legendary than the main event. Apart from the Hendrix set, of course.

I am going to go through my other 2012 discs just in case. But, I was noticing it with just that one track when I happened to pull out the physical discs lately (which I don't normally do).

No I didn't find that tent where Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies were playing. I also didn't stay for the Sunday so I didn't see Hendrix either. I wasn't really in a festival mood that weekend and seeing the Doors didn't help.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2e2EKSEvgkyHm9J…

DaP 1 - Mississippi Half-Step has static. Continuing with my experiment and will report results. This is coming from a person that has ripped to digital and stored their physical discs faithfully.

Check your discs.

Promised Land Track 11 playing right now with static.

Check your discs!

I just played Mississippi Half Step and it sounds like shit. Wow, these cds really degraded fast. I've only played this once or twice since I first got it, I have cds that I've played over the years hundreds of times and they are still fine. I wonder if the cds are still being manufactured like this. Makes me not want to purchase anymore.

....and now deteriorating Dave's? 2020 SUCKS!!
edit. I played disc one of Dave's 1 this weekend and it sounded fine. I also played Sgt. Peppers, which was one of the first CD's i ever bought back in 1987 and it plays fine as well.

I definitely won't be buying anymore Dave's Picks subscriptions if this is going to be the fate of my cds. I'm not pissed about this, I've had much worse things happen to me in my life,as has everybody else on this forum. I'm happy for the people who have ripped their cds, I don't. From now on I will only buy alacarte the years that I' m most interested in 1967 to 1971, or shows that I personally attended, at least I can enjoy them for a few years before they degrade. Dave seems like a really nice guy and hopefully he will come on here and address this issue.

Don't hold your breath waiting for that. Rhino don't have a good track record when it comes to addressing problems. We can always remain optimistic and hope things change, but I don't think the odds are that good.

In my first post, I said my Da2 and Da3 seemed fine. Thatw as based on playing the first 15 seconds of each disc.
When I tried saving my disc two of DaP1 (disc appeared damaged but played the first 15 seconds fine), I discoverd the "static" issue was on the disc, starting late in Estimated and overwhelming the second half of Terrapin. After the trouble my computer had opening the Terrapin track, I didn't even try Drums.
Decided I better give complete listens to Da2 and 3. Got through disc one of Da2 last night. Played fine until the last track. That song was ravaged with bursts of static. Definitely gonna save both Da2 and 3 to HD ASAP, regardless of static status...

Takeaway: When investigating disc condition, play the last track on the disc, not the first!

edit: " disc one of Da2" really was disc one of Da3. Da3 is my fave of the first four, and by far the most important one to keep playable for me...

First it was false advertising (72 box), then physical damage and bad discs (1990 and 73 box), and now poor quality is causing disc rot. That's it for me. I'm glad that I did not invest in the 30 trips around the sun. I'm sorry for those that did because of the potential of all dead.net discs having faults with deterioration. What a terrible business.

Happy to help with clean digital copies of damaged discs if anyone wants them. PM me if you do.

KCJ

Disc 2 ok. On Disc 3 Other One right now, sounds ok. Fingers crossed. Like I said before, the opening Scarlet from my DaP 2 was faulty. But, that's on deck and DaP 3 is in the hole (Baseball reference).

I just listened to the first tracks on my Dave's 1, CD1 for the first time since I ripped 'em and, knocking on wood, all was well. Then, after reading Seth's post, I cued up Dave's 2, CD2. I've finished the amazing Estimated and am just about through a laid-back, smooth as silk He's Gone (not Terrapin). The gods must have smiled – no static. I'm still worried though about all my other releases and, of course, for anybody with noise or worse. Yeah, weirder shit has/is happening, but I always count on GD music as a reliable shelter from the storm. Hope it doesn't fade away. . .

To the man who said 21 will be a good year.....let hope. Happy Birthday Pete

https://youtu.be/-Oym_LQCsPc

A little moment in time with Jerry and Pete

Dave s Picks 2 & 4 won't play at all, Dave s #3 extreme static, unlistenable , Dave s #1 , track 1 sounds like you are hearing it played underwater, it plays after that but has static and way to much bass. Maybe it's your CD player. Nope, Dave s 17 & 22 play fine. Oh well, easy come, easy go. I won't spend anymore money here.

I've only test Dap 1, first and last track, both fine.

Big problem though, huh. How the hell can you go back and check every fucking disc. How many disc would that even be? And it's not like it's always song 1, no maybe jimmybob's disc 1 song 5 if screwed, but Maryjo's disc 1 song 2 has got the rot!. Easy to blame on Rhino, but it's prevalent though out any thing corporate, if you can save a penny on a 10 dollar item....

I think you got about as much chance as a fart in a windstorm in getting these disc replaced! Not like they come with a lifetime guarantee! I doubt they come with a week's worth of that. I rip all to mp3 when they arrive. Easy to save make wave copy of every disc you buy, but then you're counting on replacement disc lasting forever or you're ripping to a HD AND hoping HD will never go bad! I can't be the only one with bad HD's in their past, right? Double backups go a long way to protecting your shit, but boy, what a sweat in the ass that would be. You kinda count on a cd being "The Hardcopy Backup". Hate to think about an EMP blast, entire digital collections wiped out! OMG!!

In the meantime I'll keep on storing my disc in a climate control environment and pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that all will be right.

..but They could replace just the discs and not the packaging without breaking the bank.

They could even finance it with a special ala cart release like Nightfall of Diamonds. Think of the goodwill that would produce, and in the end it's the right thing to do.

Three comments:
- They could replace just the discs.
- How much was saved by switching to whatever production decision was made to get lesser quality blanks.
- I suspect this was outsourced and the decision to go cheap was made by whoever they outsourced it to.

This is hard to swallow, what can be done about this? I have every one of these Dave's discs and have never opened them, now what, will they play? will they rot? will the sun shine on my back door someday? I have purchased every box set since the europe 72 box and I think I will put them all up on ebay now. what to do about these Dave's? I think I too have bought my last Dave's subscription, what a shame I do love the Grateful Dead so. Funny, I have disc's I purchased in the early 90's that still look and play great, why have these gone bad in just 8 years? Sounds like an investigation is warranted, can we all get a refund for these discs? can anyone who works here or at rhino check on that for us please. Hey Dave, will you address this, they have your name on them, if I was in this position, I would demand an investigation as to why the greatest music ever made has been put on inferior media. Wow, this is real bad for Rhino and Dead net.
I was right all along, Rhino is a lousy music company. I am done with Rhino. Greed rules again. I guess the only way to keep getting new Dead music is to get a copy from a friend, rip it right away and give it back, that way you get the great music we all love and don't get ripped off in the process. It just doesn't make since, spend all that time to remaster all these releases and then put them on subpar media, who's stupid idea was that? some suit who works at rhino and can only see $ signs? I guess we can all just buy vinyl, or has Rhino put all of that music on faulty media too? Who knows, we might never know but one thing is for sure, Rhino and Dead net just lost a buttload of trust and probably more than one customer. First Trump, then Corona, now Grateful Dead music on shitty discs, the world is truly coming to an end. Oh wait that caveat emptor thing might cover their asses on Dicks picks, is that same caveat emptor on Dave's as well? Don't recall seeing that on any of those.

...I think of myself as pretty cynical but I'm not seeing the reported disc degradation as evidence of some deadnet/Rhino plot to scam us out of our money for an inferior product. Is it possible some of these discs were stored in poor conditions? Is it possible that even a reliable manufacturer has unforeseen problems leading to failure of the product 8 years later? Is it possible deadnet/Rhino did not just find the cheapest fly-by-night outfit they could find to manufacture these discs? Do they deserve any benefit of the doubt? If I'm ever on trial accused of a crime, I hope you guys aren't on the jury.