I can only exchange music by sending MP3-files on CD-R media by ordinary mail (post).
All trades are performed in terms of a natural basis. All expences on buying, recording and sending disks each party covers itself. No additional charges collected.
The exchange rate is 1:1. This means that I will exchange 1 my CD-R for 1 your CD-R of the same capacity compound of the files we have agreed on.
New: I usually reject propositions of small trades. 50 albums is a minimum requirement.
Contacts
In case of the interest in a trade, availability of the proposal according to my preferences and acceptance of these rules, the counterpart sends an offer to my e-mail address.
References of other traders are appreciated.
Quick feedback and request processing is presumed.
I am usually available by this e-mail address from 7:00 AM till 5:00 PM (GMT +0000) everyday except weekends.
List
The format of accepted lists is either XLS (MS Excel) or a text formatted so to be able to separate the components from each other.
It is strongly suggested to include bitrate and/or total size of all MP3 files of every album in your list.
Quality
The preferred bitrate is 192 kbps or above. However low bitrates are also accepted, but not less than 128.
If you have information about quality problems with the albums to be traded, inform me immediately. The characteristics of problem files is given below:
Jitter - sound glitches, clicks or drops out caused by incorrect method of extraction from a CD.
Initial/final glitches caused by either use of poor MP3 encoders or incorrect CD extraction method. Appear only at the beginning or end of every or only the 1st track.
Music received from sources other than "CD Digital Audio" or subjected to additional analog conversion, e.g. vinyl discs, tape, MiniDisc, computer soundcard (even if playing directly from a CD).
A coder based on Xing or ISO code was used for encoding. Caution: Most of currently available tools for making MP3s from CD use these very low-quality encoders. Moreover, they use unreliable and sometimes even rough methods of data extraction, especially sound digitizing by means of a soundcard which is intolerable.
For files with bitrate 160 and below, an encoder other than the one made by Fraunhoffer Institute (L3x) was used.
Files was subjected to additional conversion, e.g. re-encoding from MP3 with other bitrate, sound normalization.
Incomplete albums
Files composing an album originate from different sources. The typical signs of this are differences in: bitrate, sound level, quality, naming convention, tags.
If along with MP3 version of an album, there is also the same CD available, it is suggested to make conversion into MP3 anew using Lame 3.91 (or higher version) encoder with the following parameters: 256 kbps, Joint Stereo, High Quality (quality 0-2). For CD extraction the following programs are suggested:
Audiograbber, using ASPI access and 'dynamic sync width' extraction method, while the CD-drive should be locked on a minimum speed
CDex with option 'Enable Jitter Correction' turned on and non-zero 'Read Overlap' parameter
Cover scans and other related information about the album and artist are encouraged.
Composition and naming
The request from me usually comes as an XLS file with a list of albums ordered by priority. This means that you should proceess it starting from the first line going down one by one not missing anything. The process goes on until free space on the last CD-R for at least one full album ends. Thus, it is guaranteed that most important albums which are on top of the list, will be included in the trade.
The following naming convention for folders and files is recommended:
\Artist - Album\## - Title.mp3
It is disallowed in file names to use non-standard characters which are not contained in 7-bit ASCII table. It particularly concerns: the symbols with diacritical signs (umlauts, accutes like ä, é, etc), accute accent (Unicode:00B4) and other characters from non-latin alphabets.
An album cannot be split on parts and placed on different discs.
It is strongly suggested to use ID3 tags of any version.
Before sending the burned discs off, make the contents of every disc. It would be sufficient to execute the command
dir /s/b/a:d x:\ >>c:\cdlist.txt
for every disc, where x: is the letter of your CD-drive, and send me the file c:\cdlist.txt afterwards.
Media
It is categorically forbidden to use CD-R media of doubtful origin and so-called bulk discs, i.e. the ones with no upper protective layer and markup. In case of violation of this rule, the trade will not be considered done.
In addition, the following CD-R brands are totally forbidden: MMORE, BTC, Esperanza, Intenso, TARGA, Durabrand.
By default, I assume using CD-Rs of 700M capacity. Otherwise, the capacity should be discussed not later the moment of sending the request list.
Burning
Try to minimize unused disc space.
Burn on the speed close to half of nominal maximum speed for a given CD-R type.
Every disc must be completely tested after burning.
Packing
The discs should be packed so to avoid possible damages from inside and outside of the package.
The discs should not touch one another directly. As an isolator you may use glossy paper or thin polymer materials. Don't use newspaper and other printing paper.
From outside, the discs should be protected with special safe wrapping with air bubbles. Is is also preferred to use solid package in combination.
Mail
The address is to be written exactly in the way that was received from me without any changes and shortening.
The envelope should have the custom declaration CN22/C1 with all the fields properly filled out. The package kind should be set to "Gift/Cadeau", the contents - "CD (n items)", custom value - less than $10.
Don't put in the package any other enclosure and don't make additional inscriptions.
Other Liabilities
If any defect like physical damage during the transportation or another problems appeared before the disc have been received were found, the counterpart is engaged to send the copies of the defect discs.
Privacy
It is forbidden to disclose to third parties and publishing in open sources any private information that concerns myself like real name, location, alternate e-mail addresses etc.
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