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welcome NathanR & AaronsAmazing!!!

Hi all,

My first post and a little about me and my situation... I've been a lurker for a few years now and last year became a paid member of the DB. Incredible site by the way.

I first saw the Record Research flagship book in 1986 (my friend's dad had a copy). Started regularly following the Billboard charts in maybe 1988 or so (the Hot 100 and the
Country singles charts). I DJ'ed for weddings, events, bars from around 1990-1998. Got out of that but continued to be interested in recorded music and the charts. In 2007, got
iTunes and decided to try and obtain every top 10 Hot 100 and Country song from the mid-50s to present. Eighteen years later and I'm still collecting.

I've learned a lot of over the years and developed some criteria for my personal digitized library. The single version of a song is preferred above all else but if I already had
a copy of the album version then that may be acceptable:
- First rule of course, no re-recordings. I was aware of these from the very beginning.
- A while later, I realized that album versions are not necessarily the same as the single versions. For my purposes, if the single version is a straight edit of the album
version, then the album version is acceptable. Same for mono vs stereo, I don't really have a problem although I try and match the single if I'm obtaining a new song but I don't
get hung up on channels, remasters, etc.
- As I gained knowledge, found that sometimes additional instruments and/or background singing would be in one version but not another. Not acceptable in this case to have the
album version if additional instruments or vocals exist between the album and single versions.
- Just in the past couple of years and as a direct result from reading old forum posts, I learned that the pitch of some songs differ between the single and album version. My
rule of thumb here is a difference of one second per minute or less is OK but anything more usually is not. So if I have the album version of a song at 3:00 and the single is
2:57 then that is on the fringe of being OK. Differences of like 7 seconds (Neil Diamond , Holly Holy) are too much.
- YouTube videos of 45rpm recordings are the best source I've found for understanding what the original single actually sounded like. However, then I found that sometimes the
poster will have the pitch turned up or down so then you are questioning whether it is really 45rpm's or not. Maddening. That is where this DB and old chat posts really help out
by specifying the actual single length.
- Finally, the really rare case where two pressings of a 45rpm record are different, same label and number... Tommy James & The Shondells "Sweet Cherry Wine" is one example.

I'm at around 7400-7500 overall songs. Not sure if I will ever complete the full library. Much more information regarding Pop hits is available, but not much information with
older Country songs. However, I think in general, more shenanigans regarding timing and versions seemed to happen with older Pop/Rock songs vs the country market.

This site has been a great reference. I personally use it to nail down single versions and to see if a copy of a song I have matches the listed criteria. My library is digital,
not interested in obtaining actual CDs or vinyl. Thank you for reading if you have gotten this far. Any tips and tricks on obtaining information is welcomed; thank you!

- Rob