Even though I have half a dozen one step albums I couldn’t be bothered to file a claim. The only ones who will make out on this are the lawyers as usual.
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I have about 60 MoFi that fall under the settlement, which should be worth a couple/few hundred in credit to me. However, the paperwork for all those was too overwhelming for the return on effort, so I did nothing. They really should have forced MusicDirect/Mofi to just make it automatic from their sales records, without requiring documentation for each and every MoFi purchase. |
I hate to see the generalization made that smaarch1 did just above. His statement is false. There are quite a few companies that have been 100% honest and forthcoming in disclosing the source they used for their LP reissues: Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Vinyl Me Please (VMP), Intervention, Light In The Attic, Music Matters, Blue Note, Craft Recordings, Impex Recordings, ORG, and Sundazed, for instance. There are others. Now, if by "everyone in the industry" you are referring to many of the major labels, then yeah. But informed audiophiles know better than to buy those LP’s. smaarch1 is obviously not an informed audiophile. Other uninformed audiophiles lump all MoFi titles together, regardless of when they were produced. Informed audiophiles are aware of the fact that the sound quality of MoFi LP’s varies wildly, for a number of reasons (which I won’t go into here). What MoFi did was not only hide the fact that they were cutting some of their lacquers from digital files, but when asked if they were doing so they deliberately lied, saying they were not, that all their LP’s were being made free of any digital conversion or steps. Boldface, deliberate lying, right to the interviewer’s face. Shameless.
@winoguy17: Claim form applications were due at the law firm handling the case no later than September 21st. There is no mention in the application of the anticipated date of refunds/credits being made to applicants. I myself made a claim on a half-dozen titles; one for a refund (an LP to be returned), the rest for credit (LP’s kept) towards other MoFi product. Yes, I am still buying selected MoFi titles. For those interested, all the MoFi Ry Cooder titles were cut from analogue tapes, and they sound fantastic. There are others as well. But ya know, many of the titles made from digital sources also sound fantastic, some better than the original pressings from major labels. Mass-produced LP’s are rarely---extremely rarely---made using a master tape (either the 2" 16/24 multi-track master, or the 1/2" master mix tape); the lacquers are cut from a "production" a/k/a "safety" tape copy. Is a 2nd or 3rd generation analogue copy tape ipso facto "better" than a DSD 256 digital file? Not necessarily. For those looking at reissues of Tom Waits LP’s (clean used copies are hard to find, and not cheap), avoid the ones done by Rhino; they are not good. The new ones---supervised by Tom and Kathleen themselves---are cut from the master tapes, and sound fantastic. The Rhino reissue of Warren Zevon’s s/t album also stinks. Fortunately, clean originals are not too rare, or expensive.
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Were any of you unhappy with the sound of your MoFi product before you learned "the truth". @dwette if your purchased so many I'm guessing the answer is no? I've only bought 4 titles from them over the years. I didn't buy more for the simple reason I've not heard any appreciable improvement in sound over other versions I owned. Tempest in a Teacup. IMHO |
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@bigtwin whether or not I'm happy with my MoFi titles is irrelevant. MoFi was blatantly dishonest and misrepresented the product. I agree they should be punished. Maybe that will change the industry for the better, such that other labels who won't disclose what they really mean when they say mastered from the original tapes, might take notice and admit – for example – they are using digital copies of the masters, etc. There really needs to be more transparency about what is really going on with these remasters. Kudos to those (MMJ, Tone Poet, Speakers Corner, et al.) who already do it right. |
Here is one of the many videos made by my favorite new (to me) YouTube Vinyl Community LP lover, buyer, and collector. He is a perfect example of a well-informed LP consumer, and posts under his "Pressing Matters" moniker.
https://youtu.be/cXiM9mqrN7k?si=tqv8PtPjl7lK_nL4
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I wasn’t impressed with my Bob Dylan One Step - made it through half a side and put it away; never have listened again. Given the hype I was expecting to be blown away, and certainly wasn’t. Never been a fan of MoFi’s in general. At least it saved me money on buying any more. Not taking part in this class-action suit; not worth my time. But it would be a nice gesture if the lawyers could forward some pics of their nice vacations and exotic sports cars from this windfall. |
I have heard a number of these records and own a couple. They do sound quite good. But, I think records sound good when mastered and pressed well because they are records, not because of the upstream recording format. Many of us simply like the sound of records--whatever that does to the sound of the recording. The terrible "sin" of MoFi was exposing the truth at digital does not totally "ruin" the sound of music. Even a diehard analogue fan as Michael Fremer would make digital copies of his records to make comparisons of cartridges, tonearms, tables, etc., and admits that digital can sound very good. |
If you want to get the latest on the MoFi suit along with a long running discussion of how this all went down, go here: MoFi to pay $25 million | Page 93 | Steve Hoffman Music Forums You will have to sign up for an account. |
I chose not to bother. MoFi delivers on superior sonics, but was less than honest in their marketing which likely wouldn’t change my purchasing decisions. Besides, iirc vinyl cannot be strictly processed to be 100% analog using the current recording tools. Although honestly is important in personal relationships, marketing exaggerations/hype are common in business. If the product didn’t perform as expected AND I was misled into thinking it would perform, then I’d be singing a different tune
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Says who? It's expensive to record to analog tape, but it is still done. And much of what MoFi remastered and was deceptive about was recorded to analog tape originally. They just couldn't do the reissues AAA because the labels didn't give them the access to the analog tapes they needed to cut pure analog remasters. For example, there are recordings from the digital era that were recorded purely analog, and remastered for the Tone Poet series. One is Cassandra Williams, Glamoured (2003) released AAA on the Tone Poet series in 2019, and another is Joe Lovano Trio Fascination (1997) coming out as a AAA Tone Poet release Feb 2024. |
@dwette after the MoFi debacle, I read it somewhere awhile ago possibly from MoFi’s rebuttal statement. I’m too lazy the dig into the process for your satisfaction. It’s enough for me that MoFi sold me a superior sonic product which is my main interest. Spending additional time gripping or chasing money from the lawsuit seems like a waste of time |
I questioned your premise, which you refuse to support in any way, except to say you’re too lazy. I produced some evidence to the contrary. You responded with a strawman argument. One of two here has difficulties with logic. It isn’t me. 🙄 Here is another example that refutes your claim. Evey aspect of this recording from last year is purely analog. No digital step required. https://www.jeromesabbagh.com/music-vinyl/p/vintage-vinyl |