Why Are The Japanese Black Label CDs so expensive ?
[Taken in part from an article in Record Collector magazine:] In the early 1980s, when the compact disc first appeared, the CDs themselves were imported from Japan, which was at that time the only country with the facilities to manufacture the new format. Initial British issues of _Dark Side_, _Wish You Were Here_, _Meddle_ and _The Wall_ had “Made in Japan” on the discs themselves, while the inserts stated the country of origin as the U.K. These early discs — which are said to be superior to standard UK/US issues (excepting _The Wall_, which had several problems) — can easily be distinguished because they have an all-black label side with silver lettering. These Japanese- manufactured CDs are now highly prized by hardcore collectors, both for their vastly superior sound quality and for their rarity. Expect to pay around #20 [20 UK pounds] or so for copies.
