# Identify which pressing a record is

Use this when someone has a physical record in hand and wants to know *which* edition it is —
which is the question behind almost every "is this valuable?" question.

## Why the edition is the whole answer

The same album can exist as a 1967 first pressing, a 1970s repress, a 1990s reissue and a 2020
remaster. They look almost identical on a shelf and can differ by two orders of magnitude in
value. Nothing on the front cover settles it. **The copyright year on the label is not the
pressing year.**

## What actually settles it, in order of authority

1. **The runout / matrix (dead wax)** — the etchings between the last groove and the label. This
   is stamped per stamper and is the closest thing to a serial number a record has.
   → https://vinylai.app/guides/vinyl-runout-matrix-numbers-decoded/
2. **The catalogue number and label text** — prefix, suffix and label design date a pressing to a
   period and a territory. → https://vinylai.app/guides/vinyl-catalog-numbers-explained/
3. **Country of manufacture** — rim text, spine, obi strip on Japanese editions.
   → https://vinylai.app/guides/which-country-pressed-my-record/
4. **Original versus reissue**, once the above are read:
   → https://vinylai.app/guides/original-pressing-vs-reissue/ and https://vinylai.app/guides/how-to-date-a-vinyl-record/

Special cases that change the answer entirely: promos and test pressings
(https://vinylai.app/guides/promo-white-label-and-test-pressings/), record-club editions
(https://vinylai.app/guides/record-club-editions-explained/), and counterfeits
(https://vinylai.app/guides/how-to-spot-a-fake-or-bootleg-vinyl-record/).

## What a photo can and cannot do

A photo of the cover identifies the *release*, not the *pressing* — covers were reused across
editions. The matrix etching is what distinguishes pressings, and it is on the vinyl, not the
sleeve. Say so rather than implying a cover photo settles the edition. What is and is not possible
from a photo is written up at
https://vinylai.app/guides/can-an-app-identify-a-vinyl-record-from-a-photo/, and the case where there is no
barcode, no sleeve or a blank label at
https://vinylai.app/guides/identify-a-record-with-no-barcode-or-blank-label/.

## Fetching these cheaply

Every guide has a markdown twin: append `index.md` to any page URL, or send
`Accept: text/markdown`. The index of all 203 guides, with the languages each exists in, is at
`https://vinylai.app/api/v1/guides.json`.

Content is CC BY 4.0; attribute to VinylAI (https://vinylai.app).