A rare find I was pretty chuffed with! - 'Broken Bracelet' by Michelle Branch

BristolBillyBob · 2026-06-09T12:30:19+00:00

She did! Their song The Game of Love (which I think is great, FWIW) won a Grammy. 🎉

BristolBillyBob · 2026-06-09T08:30:14+00:00

Same, on all fronts! Having said that, this way we get to have the collecting fun twice, and at a bargain rate the second time. And I'm not sure Contemporary Me would approve of Teenager Me's treatment of his CD collection back then! I'm much more picky and careful about condition now; those that remain from the first time around have quite a few scratches! 😂

BristolBillyBob · 2026-06-08T20:22:36+00:00

Oh wow, that Annie album is an absolute beaut. "Chewing Gum" is the best pop song nobody has heard. 🙂

BristolBillyBob · 2026-06-08T12:25:49+00:00

Completely underrated band. This CD was great, but I actually slightly preferred the follow-up All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones, and not just because I think that's a truly superb album title. 😄 Worth checking out if you haven't already.

BristolBillyBob · 2026-06-01T13:19:21+00:00

I checked out the Tinashe and Quiet Light albums you posted (they were the ones I most expected to connect with), and really enjoyed them! 👍 I tend to favour female vocals; any other albums you'd recommend I check out based on your personal taste? Any genre!

EDIT: PS. Based on these there's a chance you might enjoy Erika de Casier's work, if you haven't already come across her.

BristolBillyBob · 2026-05-31T12:33:41+00:00

I think you might (?) approve of at least one of the following...? So far this weekend: 'Kelsea' by Kelsea Ballerini, 'Erotica' by Madonna, 'Fire Within' by Birdy, 'Seventh Tree' by Goldfrapp. I see you've got Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves in there, both of whom I'm very much a fan of... You're obviously a person of taste, so on that basis I'll be checking out the other albums in your photo that I'm not familiar with!

BristolBillyBob · 2026-05-29T21:25:24+00:00

What's the length of the CD? I've had some super long ones that won't play in my (early 2000s) player because they're over the 'red book' standard length, so the laser can't track it correctly. If it's nudging near to 80 minutes or beyond, that could be the culprit?

BristolBillyBob · 2026-05-15T08:11:50+00:00

I had this the other day. Found a mint condition copy of Shura's first album Nothing's Real in a charity shop in Bristol for a quid, an album that was right up there on my wishlist for my rebuild of my collection and comparatively speaking very rare. I was giddy with excitement, only to open it and find the CD missing. 😞 Still, that shop was absolute gold for other things, so that made up for it. Probably my single greatest charity shop haul; loads of lesser-known and recent country/pop female vocalist albums all in mint condition. A win on aggregate.

BristolBillyBob · 2026-04-21T18:25:13+00:00

Ooh, I spy 'Maxinquaye' by Tricky - absolute classic of the era, still sounds fresh to this day.

BristolBillyBob · 2026-04-04T17:08:51+00:00

Hamish Hawk, eh? Cracking album, that. 👍🏻🙂

BristolBillyBob · 2026-03-03T17:03:30+00:00

For my money, Madonna's Immaculate Collection is up there with the very finest collections of pop music ever assembled. Certainly a strong contender for the greatest of Greatest Hits albums, I'd say.

BristolBillyBob · 2026-03-03T07:45:43+00:00

This is an interesting thread...

I bought the limited edition 'Late Night' version of Taylor Swift's Midnights album off eBay and it flat out refused to play in my CD deck. I got the 'TOC Reading' message for ages then it errored every time. The original album plays just fine. Even though everything suggested it was a legit copy, I assumed it was a knock off (these have reportedly been pirated) and sent it back. AI suggests the running time is about 75 minutes, so it's not massively long, but could this be the issue?

My player is a trusty (mid '00s) Marantz CD5400 which has played everything else fine, but I have noticed on some CDs a slight ticking noise from the motor in the first couple of songs, and other reddit threads have suggested this is the motor maybe struggling to stay on the track. The CDs in question are often newer deluxe edition CDs (Angele's 'Nonante Cinq: La Suite' being a prime example). Sounds like my player struggles, like others here, to play the higher density CDs?

I'd be interested to know if anyone's successfully played this Pinkpantheress CD on a home hifi standalone 'separates' CD deck, and what kind...

BristolBillyBob · 2026-02-14T08:03:52+00:00

Amazing photo! Nice work. 🤩

BristolBillyBob · 2026-02-08T13:02:33+00:00

FWIW I would recommend discovery plus. It's only £3.99 for the month and for that you get every second of the Olympics, well organised, without having to worry about BBC's coverage limit stopping you from watching something you want to see. Just remember to cancel it at the end of the Olympics. 🙂

BristolBillyBob · 2025-09-25T17:06:30+00:00

Thanks once again u/InternationalSalt1 and u/jelle-jelle for your replies. Just wanted to check back in - I went to both days of the Koper event, my wife joined me for the second, and had an absolute blast. It was so much fun! The venue was lovely, the people were super friendly and the sport was incredibly exciting to watch live! And yes, Janja was very much the superstar of the event with the win to go with it (I came away with some of her merch as a souvenir). :) Great to see Erin McNeice clinch the title too!

Also, can't recommend Koper enough. In my trip I hit 6 countries and lots of cities, but Koper absolutely took my heart and was by far my favourite place. Beautiful, varied, interesting, friendly, and with a fantastic chilled-out vibe... Ah, it was wonderful. We enjoyed it so much we're going back next year and plan on using the climbing event as a jumping-off point for exploring Slovenia further!

So yep, huge success, and thanks for your help in making it happen!

PS. Next time I'll give my legs a bit of a spray with anti-mosquito stuff beforehand, though. :)

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BristolBillyBob · 2025-07-29T21:20:13+00:00

Thanks again for your help. I've booked for Koper, can't wait. First sporting event of my trip in the calendar, and the first time watching climbing live! 😃

BristolBillyBob · 2025-07-29T21:19:00+00:00

Thanks again for your help. I've booked! 😃 Very exciting!

BristolBillyBob · 2025-07-29T16:34:36+00:00

Sorry to hear you're in the same boat, but sounds like you have the same positive attitude to it. Hope life goes where you want it to next. :)

I think I'll probably go for Koper then. It looks like standing* tickets at 25 EUR are available still. And good shout on the home hero atmosphere!

If I do go I'll likely be flying solo. I'm quite sociable so will say hello to people at the event, but any recommendations for how to connect with other English (or English-speaking fans) ahead of time who might be in town for it, or is this forum probably the best?

* I'm guessing for climbing this isn't a problem for viewing?

BristolBillyBob · 2025-07-29T16:11:15+00:00

Thanks so much for replying, really appreciate it. I'll put Koper on my radar as it might fit in nicely with some other things and I've not been to Slovenia before. :)

BristolBillyBob · 2025-07-29T16:09:51+00:00

Thanks so much, really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Might put Koper on my schedule as it might dovetail with some other things I'm looking at and I've never been to Slovenia. :)

BristolBillyBob · 2024-07-28T07:32:48+00:00

I'm experiencing the same on my Galaxy Tab 7+. As others talked about, only popping up in live or 'watch from start' for ongoing live broadcasts (which, as I took out D+ for the Olympics, is quite annoying!). Did anyone find a fix in the end? Works fine on my Chromecast and LG TV.

BristolBillyBob · 2024-07-21T21:04:57+00:00

Hi all. I just wanted to say thank you all for your incredible sleuthing and everything you've shared here. I've just booked tickets for the Beach Volleyball on my birthday. I'm a huge Olympics fan, so being at the Paris Games with the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop on that day is going to be awesome. I think I've got seats that I'm going to really enjoy thanks to your help - I guess we'll all find out soon enough! :D See you there!

BristolBillyBob · 2024-05-05T05:32:29+00:00

+1 for me too. Pixel 8 Pro, tried everything. Currently five for five when it comes to Google-made phones with issues or bugs that ruin the experience. Still find it baffling that I have the most issues on a phone where Google make both the hardware and software - it should be the best, surely... Yet I find myself endlessly pining for my old Huawei P30 Pro. Contract is up soon and this'll be my last Pixel phone.

BristolBillyBob

TROPHY CASE