CBS Sets Up 800 Number for Compact Disc Problems

Compact discs always deliver the best possible sound, right?

Wrong.

Every once in a while a record company goofs up when it makes a CD. There are many reasons: The original master tape could not be located and an inferior tape was used. Or the engineer supervising the digital remastering did not correctly equalize (“EQ”) the sound for CD. Or the multiple tracks on the original tape were poorly remixed down to stereo. And so on.

When a label receives enough complaints about a CD, it will often go back to the drawing board--or, actually, the sound board--and start over. New, improved copies of the CD are remastered and supplied to record stores. The old, inferior ones are withdrawn.

At least, what’s left of the copies. And there’s the rub. A lot of people are left holding the bag, i.e., the flawed first version of the CD. Almost all record companies refuse to exchange new for old.

However, there’s an important exception: CBS Records.

CBS (whose labels include Columbia and Epic) has set up an 800 “quality control” number to receive complaints about CDs and to arrange, in certain cases, an exchange through the mails. Actually, what you’ll get is an answering service that will take your name and address and send you the latest, updated edition of CBS’ “Informational Exchange Program,” or else have someone get back to you about your specific CD.

The label will not trade in every case of an upgraded CD, but it does in most instances where the improvement is dramatic. Right now, most of its exchanges involve Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” CD and Santana’s “Abraxas” CD. The number: (800) 255-7514.

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT: Are those oversize cardboard boxes that most new CDs come in really necessary? Many consumers don’t think so, and they’re not alone.

In the last several months, detractors of the 6-by-12-inch “long box” have attacked it as being costly and wasteful. The box allegedly adds between 75 cents and $1.50 to the cost of each CD. And since most people just throw away the box after opening it to get at the CD, this just adds to the nation’s garbage.

So why use the long box? Originally, the chief reason was to deter shoplifting. The anti-long-box faction says that this can be accomplished by fitting each CD (wrapped in its small plastic “jewel case”) into a removable plastic container that a retailer can use repeatedly.

However, the first major attempt to get rid of the long box has resulted in heavy resistance based on a different reason. Beginning July 1, Canadian branches of two international record companies--PolyGram and WEA--began shipping CDs in that country without long boxes. They tried to ease the adjustment for retailers by offering a temporary discount.

But retailers say that stocking those tiny jewel boxes causes another problem besides shoplifting. It makes special displays of certain new-artist or big-artist CDs relatively ineffective, they say. Without the long boxes’ striking artwork (often different from the jewel-box cover), promotion of these CDs loses much of its impact.

And that’s probably reason enough to halt the move against the long box. After all, people are still complaining about how small the CD long boxes look compared to their beloved (and large) LP covers. A record store might look pretty dull lined with nothing but CD jewel boxes.