Danny Tan wrote:

>I was even told that the word "PROMOTIONAL" splashed across the CDs means
>that these discs are the first few off the mould and has the best sound
>quality!

Some one fed you dog food Danny.  Classical record labels send out hundreds
of free copies of new releases and reissue cds to Radio stations, critics,
and record stores.  They are stamped PROMOTIONAL because that is what they
are for; To promote sales of the discs.  We get dozens of them at Tower and
many of them are in my own collection, as one of the perqs is to take home
the promo cds after they have been played in the store for a few weeks to
help sell the cd to the customers.  As we get in new ones, we rotate out
the older stuff to keep our listening stack fresh and interesting.

>But I saw some list members mentioning about getting some Beethoven's
>complete works at "promotional" prices.  Does this mean that such discs
>are sold at discount or "even given free!" in the US?

Promotional pricing implies a special sale price.  Promotional cds may not
legally be sold here in the US and are technically the property of the
issuing label, although no company ever reclaims their promos, they could
do so if they so desired..

Kevin Sutton