Short forms: bpm - Beats Per Minute, the speed of the song... cutout - small holes or cuts in sleeves, a way of marking records on sale etc. labelsleeve - original record company sleeves marked with the labels logo etc. ps - Picture Sleeve, the original picture sleeve as it was released... ringwear - the circular markings on papercovers that comes from too tight storing in carts or on shelves without plastic covers. toc - Tape On Cover, stickers, price tags and similar on the cover. tol - Tape On Label, stickers, bpm labels and similar on the label(s). woc - Writing On Cover, names, bpm markings etc on the sleeve. wol - Writing On Label, names, bpm markings etc on the label(s). Record formats; 7", 9", 10", 12", 2x7", 2x12" etc - the different diameters (in inches) of vinyl singles. 7" is normally a two-track single and 12" is usually a 2-6 track maxisingle with remixes or tracks not on any album. CDM - Compact Disc Maxisingle - 3-12 tracks, often containing remixes. EP - Extended Play, is the "old" format which is a 7" single, usually containing 4 tracks but sometimes just 3 and sometimes 5 or more. F7" - Flexidisc, often used as freebies (free singles) with music magazines. MCD - Mini Compact Disc - a CD album which hasn't got a full set of songs. Maybe just 6-8 tracks or a total length of 30 minutes or so. P7", P12", PLP etc - Picturediscs in different formats. SPD - Shaped Picture Disc, a single or maxisingle which isn't just a picture disc but also has a weird shape (i e not circular). Ask if you have further inquires about formats etc. Pressings; arg - Argentina aus - Australia bel - Belgium bra - Brazil can - Canada cze - Czech republic (and czechoslovakia) ddr - Eastern Germany (before the wall fell) den - Denmark fin - Finland fra - France ger - Germany (West Germany before the wall fell) gre - Greece hun - Hungery irl - Irland isr - Israel ita - Italy jap - Japan mex - Mexico nl - Netherlands nor - Norway nz - New Zealand ost - Austria (old habit in the business) pol - Poland por - Portugal rom - Romania rus - Russia (and Soviet) sch - Schweiz slo - Slovenia spa - Spain swe - Sweden uk - United Kingdom us - United States yug - Yugoslavia The official (british) Record Collector grading system; b - Bad, noone wants a record in this condition (unless it's so rare you could sell your mother for it), it doesn't play properly and the cover is missing or badly deformed... p - barely playable, cover in crappy condition. f - record plays OK but with a lot of noise, cover is also OK but definitely not nice. g - the worst condition in a normal collection, surface noise due to a lot of playing at parties etc and a cover that may have bent edges, wear markings etc. vg - a normally used record, without bad hiss or crackle and a cover in normal condition. ex - a record in almost new condition, seldom played and with a cover that has been well taken cared of. m - vinyl as it was when it left the factory, sleeve as it could be seen in the shops. I hope I made sense - if not, do mail your wishes and I'll try to be clearer as I update this page. electronically yours, jesper |