FAQs about Jase's CD Collection

Of course the ratings are subjective. It is impossible to objectively rate music. The ratings are based on American school grades, with 'A+' being the highest and 'F' the lowest. You won't see any CDs with an 'F' rating in Jase's CD Case, because I don't keep extremely poor CDs. In general, the ratings are artist-relative. That means that a Depeche Mode album with an 'A' rating is relatively better than a Depeche Mode album with a 'B' rating. This does not necessarily mean that a Depeche Mode album with an 'A' rating is relatively better than a U2 album with a 'B' rating. The rating of one CD should only be compared with ratings of other CDs by the same artist. In the cases where there are only a few CDs by a particular artist in Jase's CD Case, the rating simply represents how much I like the CD. The individual ratings are based on two major aspects: strength of the songs and cohesiveness. This means that it is not enough for album just to have a few "hit singles" on it. If the rest of the songs are terrible, the CD won't fare very well. If, however, a CD is full of good songs that sound good together, but none of the songs in and of themselves could be called "hits", then the album will fare pretty well.

Albums are listed in reverse chronological order. In other words, the most recent releases are listed first. CD singles, however, are listed a bit differently. If a single is also featured on an album, the single is listed after the album on which it is featured, even if it came out after the album. If there are several singles from one album, the singles are listed in chronological order after the album. If the single is released independently of an album, then it is listed in reverse chronological order along with the other albums.

First and foremost, I'm trying not to bore my wife with all my musical reflections. (I guess I'm trying to bore you instead!) I'm not trying to make other people see everything from my point of view. Instead, I'm trying to make others think about why they do or do not like an album. I fully expect people to disagree with me from time to time. That doesn't mean that I'm wrong or that someone else is wrong. It just means that we have different musical tastes. That's why I have a lot of respect for people that write to me and explain why they like something that I don't like. I have absolutely no respect for people that write to tell me that I'm a moron because I don't like their favorite CD. This site is also designed to help other people see what un-paid music critics think of an album. This allows them to make an informed purchase.

Yes! I do mind! DO NOT add me to any e-mail lists without my permission! In the past, I have been inundated with e-mail that I really don't want. I am not really interested in the personal lives of most music artists. If I want to find out about a particluar artist I know where to the find the information myself.

I provide links to CDnow for several reasons. First, CDnow has a comprehensive collection of CDs and videos for sale. Few other on-line vendors rival its collection. I used to get a lot of questions from people asking where they could buy CDs, so I put up the links to help cut down my e-mail. In addition, CDnow usually provides pictures of the album cover and RealAudio clips of songs. Due to server space limitations, I cannot provide all of this. Finally, CDnow has provided me with quality service. While I do get credit from CDnow when people purchase through my link, I encourage everyone to shop around for the best price before buying.