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Chris, let me know about the "marking disks" part. That is my main pet peeve with the audit and the reason I'm holding back right now. Thanks!

@Chip: From what I gathered, if you are disk based it's only a one time fee of $125 and yes, you have to sign an agreement which basically allows Sound Choice to mark the disks (again, major pet peeve) and that they can audit you once per year if they want, with a week's notice. The rest of the agreement is mostly common sense.

Audit Complete.

I brought my entire disc library as well as my Stellar and Chartbuster certs and asked the auditor to take pictures of the whole thing. They also grabbed a few pictures of me with my rig.

All of my SC discs are in a carry case and ordered sequentially with the exception of my Foundations 1-2 and Bricks 1-4. Which are in the original binders.

We used a blacklight ink to stamp every Sound Choice CD. I suspect this process will get refined. With so many different types of silk screening, finding a consistent location for the ink to stick is a bit of a chore. About 1/2 way through we had it mostly figured out and we stamped them assembly line fashion.

We found a handful of fakes with very high quality labels applied to them. A little embarassing since I have gone through the collection several times in the past few months to ensure I had things in order and that my digital library matched up.

We also found a couple of discs that were not in my digital library that I need to rip and add.

A painless process, though time consuming since every disc must be stamped. Remarkably enjoyable since the auditor was a karaoke singer and the guest he brought with him was also in the industry. Excellent casual conversation over the approximately 2 hours it took for us to complete. I have approximately 400 SC discs.

For those who want to know the gorey details, the auditor did not have horns, was not carrying a pitchfork, did not request my first born (though I did offer up my ex-wife). He also gave me a pass on the planned goat sacrifice to Kurt Slep because of the heavy rain (something about the blood needing to be untainted before we drank and bathed in it). I haven't quite memorized the requisite daily prayer to Sound Choice, but in my defense, the 70's and 80's really did a number on my short-term memory.

Seriously though....It was a truly pleasant experience.

I won't consider myself certified until I get the final paperwork, but all indications are that I am finally done with the Big 3.

@chip - you asked me to "Please let us know what the restrictions are, whether there is a yearly fee and if you are/have been required to sign any agreements."

I won't have all of the information until I get the final paperwork and certifcations. I will be happy to comment once I have that in hand.

-Chris

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-Chris

Chris,

"For those who want to know the gorey details, the auditor did not have horns, was not carrying a pitchfork, did not request my first born (though I did offer up my ex-wife). He also gave me a pass on the planned goat sacrifice to Kurt Slep because of the heavy rain (something about the blood needing to be untainted before we drank and bathed in it). I haven't quite memorized the requisite daily prayer to Sound Choice, but in my defense, the 70's and 80's really did a number on my short-term memory."

Thank you I really needed the laugh this morning...it amazes me how many people need to say this before people realize SC are really people and easy to work with?

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
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"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Every single disk was stamped?? Wow... if yours took 2 hours with 400 disks I'm expecting 4 and half hours for my audit, IF I go through with it. I just can't get over the marking part.

What if I wait to get sued?
a) I wouldn't have to pay the $125
b) They would not be able to stamp my disks
Am I correct here? Just asking

Sevrin,

Just a question because I am curious, why do you object so to having your disc marked with a stamp? I could understand the objection by some to the "nick" but why the problem with the stamp?

Athena

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

I can't answer these questions because I asked for an audit.

Every single Sound Choice Disc was stamped. Other brands were left alone. I simply brought all of my discs in an effort to demonstrate that I do in fact have physical media for all of the ~40,000 tracks in my library. I do not want there to be any doubt in anyone's mind that I am 100% compliant as 1-1 even with the companies that don't audit.

Also, I have a number of duplicates on many Sound Choice discs. The duplicates were not marked because they are not in active use at that location. I also have a number of addition Sound Choice discs at home that i did not bring because they are also duplicates. When I start a second gig and have a sufficient number of discs to warrant an audit, i will talk to SC and get those discs marked.

-Chris

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-Chris

Pic of me with some of my discs at the audit -



-Chris

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-Chris

Because I see this as a devaluation of the value of some disks. I have some very rare disks I spent a lot of money for and even though I use those tracks for my shows, I also see these disks as a collector's item. So everything that changes the original state of such an item is bringing the value down. You may have heard of this in other collector item areas, let's say for instance action figures (I know, stupid example). The more original they are, the higher the value... for instance original packaging, never opened will get you a higher price than an open item, or even worse used, etc etc...

I told SC I have no problem with someone coming to my house and going through every single disk, even none SC disks. But marking them, only over my dead body.

And what's the point of marking them at all? (<-- sacastic question)

Because they want to make sure that any KJ's they SUE don't "borrow" discs to appear compliant in a discovery action.

Do you really think that SC will someday simply show up on your doorstep and -- holding a UV flashlight -- demand to see your discs in a "surprise audit?"

Of course not.

It appears as though they only want to mark them to cover their buns in the case of legal action.

But I still don't quite understand how even that will help. Let's say that Chris sells one or more of his marked discs to someone in the area who gets sued (Joe Schmo).

In discovery, SC whips out their flashlight and finds a number of discs that are marked.

So?

then they go back and sue Chris for running PC shows without owning the discs any longer

Sevrin,
Thank you for the answer now at least I can understand your thought process. Personally I dont see it as such a big deal to have a marked disc but I can understand where you are coming from.

Athena

_________________
"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

So does Sound Choice by the way. They're thinking about an alternative that would work. And that's where I'm at right now in the audit process.

I too understand where Sevarin is comeing from. I have a small comic book collection. Not going to mark those under any circumstances.

I am personally not concerned about it on CD+G's though.

Sevarin - Would SC8125 with a UV mark associated with me be worth less to you than one without the mark? or would it only be worth less under certain lighting conditions?

-Chris

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-Chris

So, what were you told about the fakes they found in your collection? Were you told that you can not use them in your digital library, or can you continue to use them since it must be quite obvious (from the rest of your collection) that you purchased them in "Good Faith?" Were you told to destroy them? Did they destroy them? Knowing that a lot of SC discs are OOP (and the retailers can not restock on a lot of those discs), if you have to destroy them (or SC destroyed them), did they make any offer to help you obtain legit discs to replace those identified as fakes?

I wasn't told to do anything with them. However, I did pull them from my catalog. I retained posession but I did toss them out today once I re-verified I didn't have them in my library.

Since I bought the discs in bulk from individuals, I know that some percentage of discs I obtain will be counterfeit. I have no expectation of Sound Choice to get me legal discs for something I should have done a better job of verifying.

Also, keep in mind, the person I worked with was strictly there for an audit. Not to represent Sound Choice sales, marketing or anything else.

-Chris

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-Chris

Chip, If they don't mark the disk somehow, all or part could be used numerous times... The one family of DJ's I had mentioned down here, uses one set for them all. If they spread out their audits over time, who's to tell...Hum, I still don't like the marking part. I personaly don't care, but others that have pristine librarys of CD's I see there point...

Jon

I am officially Sound Choice certified as of now -

http://www.soundchoicestore.com/certifi ... pg-69.html

I have a tracking number for the final info being sent to me. It is out for delivery right now from UPS. Once I receive that info I will do an unboxing and post it

-Chris

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-Chris

Do they mark the tracks, or the hard drive?

I mark my discs already with my name on them with a Sharpie, a little invisible mark isn't going to devalue a disc anymore than what I already do.

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...and then there's military time.....

Now where the heck did I put my cesium clock.....

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