Pink Floyd's Oh By the Way - box question

This came out two years ago in a limited edition of 10.000 copies. I didn't buy this box since I already have all the studio albums on CD. The packaging - mini LP sleeves with replicas of all original inserts - was nice, however, but I didn't take the plunge because the hefty price tag. Another reason was the fact that some people were experiencing problems with the set: labels switched, printing errors, missing WYWH postcard, even a missing DSOTM cd!

Last week a local chain store received four copies of the box with an asking price of 89 euros. Since there are 16 cd's, this is a bargain and I couldn't help myself an picked up a copy.
And now it's sitting on my shelf, still sealed. I fear that when I open it up I will experience one or more of the abovementioned problems, will have difficulty in getting replacement sleeves/cd's/whatever and, in the end, will regret having bought it. So I'm playing with the thought of returning it while it is still sealed. But then I'd rather not.

Now here's the question: it seems I have a French pressing (it has an extra sticker saying "Pink Floyd - L'intégrale"). The box exists for two years now. Could my copy be a later pressing and should everything be present and correct now? If so, I will gladly open it up and enjoy my set. No idea if anyone has an answer to this, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

I bought my copy almost a year ago from amazon.co.uk.

Everything was fine and in perfect order.

I think the reported problems were only on the first batch. I would be 95% certain that your set is fine.

I would definitely open it. It is a very nice set, and some CD's have a very nice mastering on it (there is a separate thread where I comment on the sound quality of the individual CD's - of course just my personal opinion).

If I was you, I would definitely open it. In case there is a problem (which I really doubt), you should be able to take it back to the store, showing them what the problem is. Or even better, take it to the store and open it in front of them. In that case, they can't claim that you took some of the content out.

It is a nicely crafted set and should be enjoyed, both visually as well as sonically.

You got a very good price on it!

 

89 euros? Wow! never seen it here for less than 150€.

As Roland said, open and enjoy it. No reason to keep it sealed

 

Yes, open it up. Even though there were problems with the first run (mine had The Wall's lyrics misprinted) this set has proved a pleasure to own. I didn't even send away for a replacement insert — back in the vinyl days we had to encounter "odd ducks" (such as my copy of King Crimson's Lizard where side one is actually the first side of Poseidon!). It's great to have all the Floyd material so nicely packaged and under one roof. My only regrets are that they went with the 30th anniversary redbook stereo mix of DSotM and that they didn't include Relics.

 

When I bought mine just before Christmas 2008, it was 99 GBP with the pound being almost on par with the Euro. In the end, it turned out to approx. 110 Euros with shipping, which was the best price I have seen since then.

89 Euros is outstanding and a great value for that money. You get very nice packaging and also decent mastering on many of the CD's (I think I only sort of dislike the mastering on two of the discs - DSOTM which has the 30th Anniversary remaster and "A Saucerful of Secrets" which is drenched in no-noise - the other CD's have decent to very good mastering in my opinion).

 

Open it, and let the beautiful music within Shine On.

 

Thanks for the input, everybody.
I am more confident now and will definitely open it sometime this week and take the time to enjoy it all.
I will post my findings here of course.
And yes, I was very lucky to see the box being offered for 89 euros. I had already given up on it since 2007 but at this price I couldn't pass it up anymore...

 

Well, I've opened the box and all cd's are present, the sleeves are correct (the lyrics for sides 3 and 4 of The Wall are both there), the Ummagumma cd's are correct, and DSOTM and WYWH have all the inserts.
The only thing missing unfortunately is the lyric inner sleeve for Animals. Maybe I'll get in touch with EMI for a sleeve (who should I write to incidentally?), but all in all, I can live with it if such a sleeve is not forthcoming. The albums look great, and I've just thoroughly enjoyed Piper and Saucerful again...

 

I got mine new , one year ago from a Belgian shop for 85€, shipping included.

 

Oh! I'm jealous. Why do not I find similar prices here? This is the best price online here.

http://www.ibs.it/disco/5099951126728/pink-floyd/oh-by-the-way-.html

...and I've seen it with a 220€ price tag in a record store. There were 4 unsold copies. Think they're going to stay there for a long time..


P.S.
What's the name of that online Belgian store? If they have similar prices on CD's I am more than interested

 

I got a good deal on this one!

I got the box for $89 (shipping included) from one of the big marketplace sellers on amazon.com in July. Since I didn't have the entire Floyd catalogue on CD (I used to be iPod only listener), the purchase was a no brainer at that price.

The packaging is nice with the mini-LPs but I wish they could have included a booklet with lyrics or recording details,etc.

 

The price says 155.90 or am I seeing it wrong?

 

Wow, $89 is an absolutely phenomenal price! I remember this set was initially difficult to find, and there were rumors it was limited. However, it is still available to this day.

I found the overall package to be a big disappointment and inferior to the excellent Japanese mini-LPs. The absence of any extras or book like the one included in the Shine On set further relegates this set to the the land of big band cash grabs.

 

$89 is a bargain indeed. I got mine in early 2008 in Antwerp and it didn't have any problems. I'm really happy with it as the Doug Sax remasters sound good and the packaging's nice.

 

No, nothing wrong, I should have been more specific: the lowest price I've seen here is 155.90€ (approx. 232 dollars) on an Italian online shop (the link I posted).

The 220€ (approx 328 dollars) price was on a "physical" records store near where I live.

 

I posted this a week ago. To my surprise, someone offered a separate Animals CD from the box, including the lyric inner that was missing in my set, in an online auction for 8 euros. I picked it up and now my box is fully complete.
How's that for coincidence?

 

Hello Marcel,
They sell DVD, but occasionally they have CD box-set, they got a bunch of the PF box set around 20 and afther that nothing, niente.

 

Hello Tony,

Thanks for your kind reply

 

While listening to the Oh By The Way set and filtering though the discs I noticed that Atom Heart Mother and Obscured By Clouds have black Harvest labels instead of the familiar green/yellow ones. Does anyone know if the first vinyl pressings of these particular albums had black labels? I thought the labels were only black on mid-80's reissues, but I could be wrong.

 

You're right, Original Harvest were green, the black version came in 1980.

 

That's what I suspected, thanks for confirming.
Strange that they should use black labels for these two titles whereas the others are yellow/green...

 

Is this set worth picking up at this price?:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X1LH6C/ref=ox_ya_os_product

 

weird, just ordered one. has to be a mistake; lets see if they honor it.

 

Me, too. Btw, in the list of recommended purchases, a Doors boxset (Perception) popped up for $13.97, too, so I figured what the hell, and threw that in, too.

 

Have they ever NOT honored a mistake?

If they don't, I'll be ok as I never considered buying this until now!

I just picked up the new Coltrane 5 cd set "Side Steps" at bestbuy.com for $11.98. This was obviously a mistake, but they honored the price. When they discovered the error, the price went back to $59.99.