Friend of mine pointed me here today. Being a Disney record collector, it is right up my alley. I have 2 copies of this set already so I will not be buying today. I will say that Ovation did a nice job on this set as well as the 50th Anniversary of Mickey Mouse record and LP from 1978. I have enjoyed lisening to the set over the years.

For those interested in listening to the Disney vinyl years, I have a record blog where you can hear some of my collecton. Although I do not have this set posted, I do have a wide variety of which I think you may enjoy.

www.mountainears.org

BAWatz wrote:With all due respect, I think that's BS.

First, there is no compression on a CD. NONE. CDs are not MP3's, they are TOTALLY uncompressed.

Second, I don't agree (and I am an Electronics engineer who worked as an FCC licensed Broadcast Engineer in the 1960's in radio stations, and who fully understands both technologies) that vinyl sounds better at all.

Third, even if a NEW, PRISTINE vinyl record did sound better ... vinyl is a physical media that is destroyed a tiny bit (or, sometimes, a LOT) every single time it is played.

Those of you who wax poetically (pun intended) for vinyl are probably mostly too young to remember the realities. When CDs came out, they KILLED VINYL DEAD within 2 years. That was after 50 years of an all-vinyl infrastructure where the entire population had vinyl records, and vinyl equipment. For it to have dies so universally, so quickly, in spite of the massively entrenched infrastructure of the music firms, the distribution channels and the consumers, there had to be a really good reason. And there was: Vinyl is VASTLY inferior to CDs.

With all due respect, the recording, mixing and mastering process has change so much in 60 years that CD sound quality is much different than vinyl. If you knew the difference about how each of these techniques are applied to different mediums, i.e. digital vs. analog, you would know that analog mastering and compression for a vinyl record is a totally different process than mastering a CD. And mastering a vinyl record ALWAYS produced more dynamics at LOWER VOLUMES.

For an amazing explanation as to why:
http://www.prorec.com/Articles/tabid/109/EntryId/247/Over-the-Limit.aspx

And your analogy that the quality of the CD is what killed vinyl makes absolutely no sense at all. It was convenience that killed vinyl (and casette tapes).. just like MP3's have killed CD's.

Anyhoo.. peace out disney luvas!

foetusized wrote:Many years later, recording engineers started trying to make each CD louder than the last, working from a theory that louder sounds better. They do this using dynamic compression (there's that pesky word you falsely claim doesn't happen with CDs) to make the quiet parts louder in relation to the lound parts, among other processing. These crappy-sounding new "loudness war" era CDs are vastly inferior to vinyl, which is usually properly mastered.

But don't just take my word for it:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17777619/the_death_of_high_fidelity
http://newmusicstrategies.com/2008/08/11/whats-the-loudness-war/

By the way: I'm 42 years old, own thousands of CDs and hundreds of LPs & 12" singles, worked in college radio in the 80s when CDs were starting to replace records in the US, and just bought two copies of this Disney box set.

WERD!

Woot! are you just not trying anymore?!

Wow. That was tempting just to have Petes Dragon.

If it shoes up in the next wootoff, I might get one.

ZaxxonPaxxil wrote:
Even Donald Duck on a record sounds better than Green Day on an Ipod.

lol

rbloom wrote:On a level playing field, I fully agree. Exhibit #1: Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos (1968). Wendy was/is more a recording engineer than performer and took much more care in the LP sound than most. The LP was (and may still be) the highest selling classical record of all time.

Then a couple of years ago, Carlos decided to reissue SoB as a CD. This wasn't a mere re-master, she went back to the original recorded tapes and redid the sound engineering from scratch. Even though the LP was and is wonderful, the CD is phenomenal! You greybeards that remember the SoB LP, buy the CD and be surprised.

And you whippersnappers that say it's all because the Moog is a synth - it was an ANALOG synth. :-)

'Course, if the field is not level due to bad engineering then Sturgeon's law applies.

Ummm, what you just described sounds like a re-mastering to me. If she had done all that work on a remake of the vinyl, it would have been even better than the CD. your logic is circular, at best.

pooflady wrote:Everybody gets "It's a Small World" stuck in their head, whether they've been to Disney World or not. It's insidious.

Now I have it's a small world in my head, thank you!!!

wow this is the most craptastic woot I've ever seen.

rkdasgud wrote:that was VERY interesting. nice find.

Thanks!

BAWatz wrote:No, wrong. Stereo came out in the late 1950's, and by the mid/late 1960's pretty much everything and all NEW material was stereo. BUT, much of this material goes back to the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, and so was originally mono. On the other hand, "Mary Poppins" was a 1964 movie, and was recorded originally in Stereo, and pretty much all movie theaters were stereo by that time.

Feel free to point me to information backing your claims up, but I remember when my local theater converted from monaural in the late 1970s.

I did some quick searching, and found that some movies in the 1950s (including Fantasia) were produced with more than one audio track, but most weren't. For example, check this site's entry for 1953.

This site points out that the optical audio track on 35mm release prints was monaural until the 1970s. (70mm prints are also (at least) stereo, but relatively few movies were released in this format, and of course, they can only play on a 70mm projector-equipped theater.)

As an example of the mono versus stereo availability even in the late 1970s, the original 1977 release of Star Wars was released in three formats:
* 35mm Academy mono
* 35mm two-track (four-channel) Dolby Stereo
* 70mm Six-Track Dolby Stereo

Now, given all that, it is certainly possible that the original song recordings for even mono movies were done in stereo. Of course, the company doing this album set may have only had access to the (mono) film version of the songs.

YouCantWootThis wrote:Ummm, what you just described sounds like a re-mastering to me. If she had done all that work on a remake of the vinyl, it would have been even better than the CD. your logic is circular, at best.

Yup, you're right - what I was trying to describe was the difference between AAD and ADD recording and doing it badly.

(aside to the audience: The first letter is the source [analog or digital], second letter is the 'master', and third the product. Old LPs were AAA whereas 'all-digital' CDs are DDD. Cheapie LP to CD transfers are AAD, but it's better to 're-master' the original analog source to a digital master as YouCantWootThis notes.)

The complete SoB story can be found at www.wendycarlos.com. Though not the easiest site to navigate, disc notes is a good place to start. And yes, she gets into the LP vs. CD religious argument, old-time quadriphonic, and how to bake a tape.

OutbackJon wrote:I was 12 when I went to Disney World, and now, 25 years later, I still get "It's a Small World" stuck in my head. That alone is reason enough for me not to buy this.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears
And you get real bummed when you spill the beers...."

Wife made me woot this, I'm going to stop telling her what's on Woot...

However, this will go great with my Disco Mickey (or whatever it's called) LP in the closet.

I had these growing up!! It is the weirdest thing because at Easter dinner I was reminiscing about how awesome they were with family. The story happened in your head, not on TV so great for parents that don't want their kids to actually have an imagination! And LOW and BEHOLD!! There they were!

For all you haters, :P!

These were fantastic and I'm happy to get my set back AND a set for my niece.

Seriously now Woot, first the iPod, now the records.. you can take the bug out of my house now! lol

record player was a woot from a couple of months ago. it was nifty and had usb - my dad bought one so he could rip all his carpenter's records, sadly.

Throdo wrote:I checked sellout.woot.com, but there is no record player there like it says on the pic on the main page. Can someone link me to the record player, or is that a mistake?

Has anyone's records shipped or been delivered yet? I know we just had a holiday, but it's Wednesday now, and I don't think mind have even shipped. Last time I Wooted, I got it the next day.

Thundermutt wrote:Has anyone's records shipped or been delivered yet? I know we just had a holiday, but it's Wednesday now, and I don't think mind have even shipped. Last time I Wooted, I got it the next day.

I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen anything yet.

Yeah, I was hoping to have it already... but nothing.

Thundermutt wrote:Has anyone's records shipped or been delivered yet? I know we just had a holiday, but it's Wednesday now, and I don't think mind have even shipped. Last time I Wooted, I got it the next day.

It's Thursday now and I got my records yesterday. No notice, though. The way Woot had them packed wasn't good. The records are warped. Packing may have had something to do with it, as the shipping box wasn't big enough to hold the records without the album's edges jamming on the sides of the box, pinching them and possibly putting warping pressure on them. and/Or they may have been stacked horizontally in a tall, heavy stack for years. The records' surfaces don't look too clean, either and seem to show some scuffing near the edges. This could have something to do with putting pressure (pinching in shipping) on the album edges. Honestly, Woot, you should take reasonable care in packing.

Checking my account, my order seems not to have shipped yet. Sloppy Woot.

No update in my account either and I too was hoping they'd arrive by today. Maybe in order to go all authentic with the records they're not using technology newer than 30 years ago with this woot. I should check for a telegram notifying me of shipment.

Thundermutt wrote:Has anyone's records shipped or been delivered yet? I know we just had a holiday, but it's Wednesday now, and I don't think mind have even shipped. Last time I Wooted, I got it the next day.

Still nothing. Order status hasn't changed, and I certainly haven't received it. Really disappointing.

Mine *just* arrived. Box was a little mishandled so I went ahead and opened it to make sure I didn't have pieces of 4 LP's...*whew*...they still have a faint "new record" smell.

dest581 wrote:How is shipping done with fragiles like this?

Unfortunately, having just received mine, the answer is "poorly."

I understand Woot isn't an audiophile company. Nevertheless, just as I would expect them to know you don't ship glass in an envelope, so too would I hope they'd realize YOU CAN'T PUT RECORDS IN AN 8x10x14 BOX - SIDEWAYS!

They were all warped. The 22 year-old continuously shrinking shrink-wrap didn't help, either.

WORST PACKING EVER!

Shame on you woot. You ruined the first thing I ever bought from you.

jpciii wrote:WORST PACKING EVER!

Shame on you woot. You ruined the first thing I ever bought from you.

Please don't scare me...

This is my 1st woot too.

And I'm days away from receiving mine cos I'm NOT from the USA

I got mine today, and I love it! It reminds me of my childhood growing up with my great grandma. It was in perfect condition, packed awesomely, and made my night! You people can hate all you want, it takes me back to the more simple innocent times in my life.

i just got mine here in philadelphia and i'm listening to it RIGHT NOW! i'm not a big record expert like some of you guys but these look and sound fine to me.

I got mine today. With the comments I was worried that they might be warped, but they look good. Mine was also packed weirdly. But the case looks good, not damaged. Can't wait for my turntable to arrive.

Well, they *tried* to deliver mine today. Unfortunately, Woot does not give you shipping options, and they'd specified it as "home" delivery.

So Fedex tried to deliver to my office today (Saturday), which is obviously closed. So now I won't see it until Tuesday.

If I get them after 10 days and they end up being damaged, this may be the end of my Wooting. Fingers crossed.

Got mine a few days ago. Finally took the plastic wrap off, mostly because of the complaining about warped records. Mine are fine. Sorry if yours aren't.

Opened up my box from Woot.

Outer box was in fine shape. Inner boxes (ordered two) not so much.

One is completely dented and the other HAS A CHUNK RIPPED OFF THE BOTTOM. Since there is no sign of the missing piece in the box it must have been packed in the damaged state.

Off to write an email to service@woot.com to see what they can do.

Very disappointed that Woot would ship out a visibly damaged item.

Received my records today. The outside Woot cardboard shipping box was in good shape, so i wonder why the item itself looks in such bad shape. Lots of creases and a couple of the corners of the outside Mickey Mouse case are bent pretty badly.
Besides the smashed corners, the Mickey Mouse outside case is also bent inward (the back cover, as if you were looking at the back of a book is bent inward) so I wasn't surprised to see the albums inside are bent/warped also. Yes, my albums came warped!
I'm pretty disappointed and will put them to the test in a bit to see just how bad the warping is on the records when i try and play them.

I don't know if the records were already damaged, or if it was the packaging that did it. It was a terrible way to ship records. It left them angled, not even flat in the shipping box. I'm not certain that a few days in that awful position would warp them, but with the right warm weather i wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly why they're warped. Woot should have tried ordering from Amazon to see how they do it, or the many eBay sellers who do a better job.

I'll be contacting customer support, unless they post some info here first. I imagine this will be a problem many will be complaining about once they get their records in the mail.

My outer box looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to it.

I was horrified when I opened it to see the records laying at an angle inside a box too small for it, with bubbles on top and not bottom.

They are vinyl, the gravity and the angle you placed it at is the issue. I am disappointed with woot's shipping. The records themselves appear to be only slightly warped, the record casing has a bend in it now that may not ever go away.

Woot, get with the program. I want you to sell more vinyl, but learn how to ship it!

Got mine today, box in rough shape, but no damage to records because NO RECORDS IN BOX AT ALL l!!!! Just bags of air for packing nothing else. May not be a bad thing as there seems to be a problem with the shipping when the records ARE in the box. Contacting customer support, know I will not get the records now but at least I should get my money back.

seriously, I'm freaking out just by reading the replies!

My shipment supposed to reach my US address today, according to Fedex's site. And since I am not in USA, the shipment will take another week or so to reach me.

That's a long wait.

I got my record set yesterday. I saw the box and was puzzled. How can you fit records in that? Woot is poorly educated when it comes to shipping records. Not smart at all. It's more like the took a guppy on shipping. But, I only ordered 1 and it was in mint condition. No bent corners and the records were in mint condition and not warped. I have a professional weighted and servo controlled record player with a diamond Shure stylus. They sounded amazing. Just like a CD. The sound was warm and inviting. I had them going through a preamp out the the Onkyo receiver. Overall, I'm very happy with this investment.

I got mine from my parents house yesterday. The outer box was a bit dented, and the inner mickey box was dented in several places. The record sleeves, although slightly bent at the corners, were relatively unscathed, and the records themselves seemed to be strait.

Really stupid way to package them. I thought they might have been 45s at first glance of the box.

I got mine yesterday and opened the box today. The angle it was packaged was horrible. The plastic covering over the box set inside was torn, but the records were intact. I expected them to be terrible after looking at the box and the way it was packaged inside. I looked at the records and they don't seem to be scratched. Upon first glance, they don't seem to be warped, but I'm playing record 4, and it has a wobble. It isn't affecting playback, but it does wobble.