Well, I got the 1st Japanese pressing of INVISIBLE TOUCH by Genesis in the mail today. It went to my sister's address, but I was actually at my sister's house when the mail came...I listened to it on my mom's sound system, and enjoyed it. I don't think a DVD player, with or without speakers, would reproduce the kind of sound that a system dedicated to audio would...I mean, I don't even think a Home Theater System would do a 1st Japanese pressing of a CD justice; Home Theater Systems are designed with the intention of watching DVDs with...believe what you will, but a DVD is not simply a CD with video added to it. They may LOOK the same, but they're very different in terms of how they work. How do I know this? It's simple; if you look on eBay, you'll find various formats of discs; an example is: VCD (video compact disc). Is this the same thing as a DVD? NO. How do I know this? Because I've seen sellers on eBay warning people of that fact. I've seen the term VCD used in instruction manuals.
--- if you wanna prove me wrong, buy a laserdisc player that also plays VCD and try putting a DVD in there and watch in horror as your laserdisc player spasms and dies...$50 down the drain...---
But as I was saying, a home theater system isn't designed for Audio CDs, although I'm sure my copy of INVISIBLE TOUCH would sound better with one of those than with the system I'm currently working with, which is a DVD player hooked up to an old fashioned style TV (non HD). Not only is a DVD player not dedicated to reproducing high quality audio from a compact disc, but old fashioned style TVs just aren't designed to wow anyone. They've been around since the '50's; in the '50's they wowed people 'cause they were new. In the '90's and since then, they simply get the job done. My mother says TVs these days actually have lesser audio quality since just about everyone is dolling out for the home theater system; why put anything into the sound of a TV when the owner of the TV is just gonna add a seperate speaker system anyway?
In short, I can't tell much - if any - difference between my old copy of INVISIBLE TOUCH and the one I have now. I played it in my Mom's CD player and it sounded great, but I've never listened to my old copy in her CD player, so there's not much telling what kind of a difference there is between the two.
But yesterday I found a REALLY GOOD system, the same brand my mom has, which has lasted her almost a decade, and it's a 3 way speaker system with 230 watts power (I've seen $30++ shelf systems with only 50 or less watts), and the avg price is apprx $150. It's a bit less than that at circuit city (dot cooooom!). I swear, I'm glad they're offering free S&H, 'cause I WAS fortunate to have a Circuit City in my town of current residence, but people in this town are so dumb, they have no respect for a place like Circuit City. BestBuy's thriving, 'cause they play on people's affinity to trendyness, instead of emphasising quality. I go to BestBuy's website looking for something and I hardly ever find it. I go to their store and it's the same thing. I was looking for Blink 182's self titled album, which at the time was a few years old maybe, but they didn't have it. Instead they had like 10 copies of their ENEMA OF THE STATE, which I respect as having brought pop-punk as we know it today (not the old fashioned Ramones/Green Day style pop-punk...) to the forefront of people's attention, but it simply just isn't as good of an album. But I guess the 15 year olds who make up BestBuy's core audience don't notice or don't care...everything's too new and fresh for them to find subtle flaws with. I guess that's good for them, I sure wish I could be 15 again, but I'm not; for me, it's mostly "been there, done that" and nobody caters to people like that.
I only have $25 to spend this month, so here's hoping May will come and go quicker than April did, and June will be here and I can have my Sharp 5-disc changer...or here's hoping it'll still be available for purchase for a decent price at that time...
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