[78-L] Nimbus

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Bunting" <alanbuntinguk at yahoo.com>
> --- On Fri, 17/7/09, Thomas Stern <sternth at attglobal.net> wrote:
>> I thought NIMBUS was defunct. Saw a listing of LEE WILEY on NIMBUS
>> RETROSPECTIVE 4147. Is the label active, or is this an old item?
>> Thanks, Thomas.
> Nimbus is now owned by Wyastone Estate who issue and distribute several 
> other labels including Retrospective and the much respected Lyrita.
> With a couple of exceptions, the 35 or so Retrospective issues to date 
> (many of them 2 CD sets) are based on material originally issued on the 
> Living Era label, although some have been updated with tracks which were 
> still in copyright when the original Living Era CDs were issued. They are 
> compiled by Ray Crick (responsible for many years Living Era) and, thanks 
> to improvements in sound restoration techniques, many of the tracks sound 
> better than the original issues (well, I would say that, wouldn't I?).
> As David Lennick says, they are indeed CD-Rs using Wyastone's "on-demand" 
> process, as are all the labels distributed by Nimbus. Although I know that 
> some people refuse to (knowingly) buy CD-R issued recordings, it's a sad 
> fact that they are rapidly becoming the only way that small companies can 
> make selling recordings of low-demand musical genres viable. The tests I 
> have run on sample copies of Retrospective ones show that, in most cases, 
> they have fewer errors than pressed CDs and, because of the Sony blanks 
> being used, it is hard to tell from their appearance that they are CD-Rs.
> More contentious is the longevity of CD-R and here, only time will tell.
>
Given good luck and a favourable tail-wind, I shall soon be able to
digitize my huge shellac archive...and should THAT eventuality
eventuate, I will be able to "burn" whole bunches of my 78rpm
phonorecords onto CD-R!

...Steven C. Barr