[mb-users] Bootleg DiscIDs

[Age Bosma]

Sami Sundell wrote:
> 
> To put it shortly, what is the situation with DiscID's for bootlegs that
> don't have any real pressings but are distributed as CD-Rs? The issue
> came up on <URL:http://musicbrainz.org/show/edit/?editid=5788581>, and
> while I agree that DiscID has some use (at least they give us track
> times), on the whole they are fairly useless when it comes to CD-Rs.
> 
> I think that the proof of the existence of some bootleg should be
> provided in edit notes, and perhaps even more in annotations. Some
> artists have dozens of bootlegs with no information about the origins of
> the release; since we're talking about unofficial releases, at least
> some information should be provided.
> 

There's not much that can be done about this problem. They are bootlegs 
and there for by definition illegal recordings. Because of this you 
can't only allow pressed CDs in MB since CD-Rs are just as well 
bootlegs. Because they are bootlegs and there for unofficial releases 
from an artist and record label point of view, there is almost no way to 
determine the first 'official' release of the bootleg. This could be a 
pressed CD as well as a CD-R. It could even be a pressed CD based of a 
CD-R or the other way around for that matter.
The only thing that can be done is allowing all DiscIDs to be added to 
bootleg releases or non at all. Since people like to be able to add 
bootlegs to MB the latter would decrease the value of the release in the 
MB db so we might as well add all DiscIDs.

In the end it's just a bootleg which makes it not worth the trouble in 
getting the DiscIDs right IMHO. One or more DiscIDs won't stand in 
anyone's way...

> While I'm on the subject, I also think it would be good to have the
> bootlegs in a separate list in the artist page. Some artists have more
> bootlegs than official releases, having them in the same list makes it
> hard to find the correct release.
> 

Make that +1

Yours,

Age