Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Beatles Mono CDs: Fake Crap vs. Authentic

Counterfeit mono Hard Day's Night on the left. Notice the difference in font - especially the red title font. Also, look closely at the upper-right "mono" logo - the original letters should look slightly "off", the legs of the "m" and "n" are slightly short, which just screams "60s". The fake one on the left couldn't reproduce that, and the letters in "mono" are conventional type.


On the back, look closely at the catalog number in the bottom right corner, southeast of the "Use Emitex" circle. On the original, on the right, the number is very small. On the fake one, it's larger. Also note the cheap, crap-@ss glue seams coming up on the left one.



Now notice how the counterfeit, on the left, does not include the replica of the original LP paper inner sleeve, just a CD inside a crappy rice paper sleeve. Compare that to the one on the right.



Now the discs themselves. Notice how the counterfeit, on the left, is slightly different from the one on the right. The authentic disc has black printing all the way to the center; notice the ring around the center of the counterfeit, and how this ring goes through the title "...Songs from the film..." Also compare "33 1/3 RPM" - it looks much nicer on the real disc on the right; no shadowing on the fake one.

Close-ups of matrix codes and manufacturing whatnot on the REAL disc:


The IFPI code below, in the outer silver ring, is a mastering code.



The small IFPI engraved in the plastic hub is the manufacturing code and marks where the disc was manufactured. This is an SID code is required by law in many countries. For more information see here. This code, IFPI 28A, according to this database, signifies EMI Japan.


Now, the counterfeit disc. You can also see a little bit of the "bar code" around the bottom of the inner ring - compare it to the photo above. It looks like a cheap facsimile of a real barcode. Also notice the dent in the aluminum layer, black marks, and general shoddiness.

The mastering code on the silver ring, L154, is a copy of the one on the real disc. The IFPI code in the plastic hub may or may not be real: IFPI DB72.