Old Time Radio on MP3

[Flivver]

I've recently been listening to a handfull of cassette tapes I've had for years of the Jack Benny radio program. I've enjoyed them so much that I'd like to hear more of this great program.

On e-bay, sellers are offering MP3s of the Jack Benny Program with roughly 800 episodes for around $6 on DVD and $20 on CD. Both my DVD players claim they will play MP3s. But this seems too good to be true. There has to be a catch!

I thought I'd ask the question here since some of you have probably tried these MP3s.

Are they actually workable?

Do they have decent sound quality?

Is the CD format preferrable to the DVD format?

Are there preferred suppliers that you would recommend?

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I haven't tried the DVD format ones, but nearly all the radio shows in my collection are in MP3 format on CD's. I would say its definitely worth the price, considering smaller collections from Radio Spirits or what have you can be a lot more expensive for a lot less.
What I have found is that for the common Ebay seller, most of the radio shows have good sound quality, and then a few of the episodes don't. It's sort of a luck of the draw sort of thing; but I've never bought a CD that had numerous episodes with bad sound quality.
Some sellers take a lot more pride in selling radio shows than others. I have bought a few from some sellers who make it a point to make sure all the episodes sound great, and they even insert the individual episode data (episode name, airing date, etc) into the track information.
All in all, I would say that purchasing MP3 formatted radio shows is a good thing. And since these OTR shows are in the public domain, there's no concern of copying issues.

 

[kpreed]

Hello.
I hope I can clear some of this up, but only from what if have done (I am no expert on this). The old radio show DVDs I have gotten are all on a Audio DVD and will need a computer to play and pick your file (each show in a file) due to the many MP3 files on them. (software needed too). Until I got the software I could do nothing with them,
CDs tend to play shows, but in a different format and will play one show after another. a CD will play on my DVD player, but a Audio DVD will not and needs my computer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most of the MP3s that are circulating are quite poor in audio quality -- often with all sorts of unpleasant digital artifacts and the extreme compression required to fit great numbers of them onto a single disc. While they may be convenient for listening-on-the-go, they really don't represent the audio quality of the actual recordings. In OTR as with anything else, you get what you pay for.

As for the public domain, well, the sellers *claim* they are, but in fact, *no* sound recordings are public domain in the United States until 2067. Please see the "Copyright Issues" sticky for documentation of this. I know that the Benny programs, in particular, are copyrighted by the Benny estate -- one of my closest friends used to be the licensing administrator for the Benny family. Authorized copies are available through the rental library of the International Jack Benny Fan Club, at http://www.jackbenny.org

 

[Flivver]

Thank you everyone! Very helpful information.