Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Hearts Breaking Even By Bon Jovi
I've said it before . . . Will Tsai is a genius. This type of product is easy to review, not because it's good (though it is good), but because you basically have to look at whether or not it does what it claims, and whether or not the method is workable. That's it. This one, unbelievably lives up to exactly what it claims.
Ad Copy
The ad copy leaves out an important detail that I'll mention first. Without this detail, the trick actually doesn't seem that good, but with this detail, it becomes a miracle, so I'm surprised they didn't mention it. The detail is this: You mail (or give) your client a CD in advance of the show (and before the event that you're predicting occurs). When you read the ad copy, they left that out.
Now, think about this. The disk is sent to the client before the Super Bowl (for example). Then during your show (the day after the Super Bowl), you prove your prediction to be correct. And you do it exactly the way the ad copy claims. Namely: the spectator opens the envelope on stage; she puts the CD in the CD player herself; she pushes the play button herself. The message plays (proving your prediction). After the message plays, she pushes the eject button on the CD player. She removes the CD; she keeps the CD. She is NOT a stooge. As impossible as that sounds, that is exactly what you get. I'm sure you can see my point that mentioning the fact that the spectator has the CD well in advance makes a big difference.
Method
Ok. After reading that, you might think that the method is too hard, or not practical, or this or that. However, the method is incredibly simple. It's actually self-working. You have to supply your CD player (think boom-box style). For $45 bucks you get the "stuff" needed to gimmick your CD player to do all the work for you. It's a one time preparation that'll take you 30 to 60 minutes. Once you've done that, you're done, and you'll never have to do the work on the CD player again.
Once you've set up your CD player, the one time, the rest is self-working. The CD player "gimmicking" will go completely unnoticed by your spectator. The whole thing is kind of a miracle. As for the quality of the gimmick supplied, it's very good. You'll get exactly what you need to gimmick your CD player, and the materials used are of excellent quality and will last a very long time. In fact, they'll likely outlast the CD player.
Production Quality
Typically SansMinds productions are a bit low budget. This one is no exception. However, it typically doesn't get in the way of learning the material. Again, this one is no exception. Even with the minor weaknesses (low lighting, rough audio in places, etc.), it's still a cinch to learn what you need.
Final Thoughts
A few considerations to think about: first, because you have to bring your own CD player to the performance, it's the kind of thing that's better suited for a more formal show where you have control of the props, and you're not likely to run into someone wanting to use their own CD player. Second, if they open the CD before the show, the jig is up. Will Tsai does have a couple of pointers on that, so you're not totally screwed. Like all prediction effects of this nature (i.e., you've mailed something in advance), you have to have some way of ensuring that the client doesn't open the envelope in advance.
Obviously, if you don't plan on ever performing a prediction effect of this nature, then it'd be pointless to get this. However, if you do any kind of prediction effect like this where you send the prediction in advance, you'd be crazy not get this. The effect is a pure as it gets, and the method is self working. You just have to focus on presentation.
Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of Complete and Total GEM!
5 Comments
It sounds like a great effect albeit a bit dated perhaps. CD’s are slowly going the way of cassettes in favor of ‘random iTunes song of the moment’. Did you see Collins Key on America’s Got Talent? He made it to the top 6 doing mostly mentalism using Twitter and Youtube. I think the fact that he used popular up to date technology help him relate to a younger audience. I don’t know, I’m rambling, perhaps I’m just full of bologna and sweet midgets.
@Jay – First of all, thanks for participating in the comments. I’m hoping more people will catch on. Second, you bring up some good points about the technology. However, at least for the next few years, CDs will still be around, and the beauty of the CD is that (from their perspective), they’ve had it in their possession the whole time. Also, they get to keep it afterwards . . . with YouTube and other similar technology, there’s nothing for the spectator to keep as proof of the event.
I have the original release of the CD Prediction by Will Tsai; all the goodies and the CD player. When this came out (reviewed product) I quickly did a search for the CD player. NO ONE had it. The product has been discontinued. This is the only unfortunate drawback of this release.
It should work in just about any CD Player that has a top loading player where the lid lifts up.
Contact me at v.freymann@welho.com if you are interested in the CD prediction. I know of a couple of players that work well with this effect, (I use two brands of players) and as a fact one of them even work better and has better sound than the player originally provided by Will Tsai before he started selling just the gimmicks for the effect.
As stated here you must use your own player which as such is also important for the credibility of the effect as putting the CD into a stationary hi fi systems would give you the possibility to actually have the sound come from something else that the prediction CD,
so you can easily explain why doing that is NOT whan you will do. But in most cases you must use a PA system and mic to amplify the rather “thin” sound of the portable player. To show the PA sound actually comes from your player you must so two things: A) let the spec momentarily stop your portable player and B) wave you the PA mic so one can hear that the volume is dependent on how near the mic is to
the CD player. The only real drawback of the CD system is that you cannot predict
events that happen on stage 30 seconds before the player is turned on. If you like me would for instance want to predict which card the spec will choose of how she will position a die
on the table in front of the player, you must use the Cesaral cassette player which
puts you in a price category that is more than 10 times the CD prediction.
The argument that CDs are slowly being replaced by other media is in MHO not valid in the sense that a CD prediction is out of style.
I personally know of nobody who does not have a CD player at home and in his car. But maybe that is different in the US. My grandchildren are not not interested in music or magic anyway and prefer playing games on their Samsung phones.
Kaarlo von Freymann Helsinki Finland