we've been on this topic... maybe there should be some sort of authoritative sticky...
the "going away" refers to the fact that these are all REMAINDERED and have been dumped on the American market. The single discs include material past the magical 1951/2 break-off point for American works that are PD in Europe -- there's even a set by Wynton Marsalis, as well as plenty of Verve Records material -- which seems to imply that they are fully liscenced recordings but were never intended for American distribution. They are NOT a renewable resource and will certainly disappear soon.
My source on this is Copacetic Comics, which seems to be the only retailer of these discs that will divulge this type of information, as well as the only one selling them online.
http://home.earthlink.net/~copaceticcom ... mania.html
Note all the "sold out" indications. I think by now more of them have been sold out. They are NOT coming back.
Who knows, maybe there's a stash in the back of a HPB somewhere and they will show up again in ten years. But I wouldn't expect this to be the case.
The various 40 disc sets on the market have been thoroughly discussed here before; do a search. I think the thread is called "good deals." (Sigh... it's not likely that I ever will finish that renovated index page... maybe over winter break...) I don't know anything about these.
I've seen their ten disc sets, and bought a few, but a ten disc set with no discernable organization isn't very useful -- it's just too much randomness. I don't have these CDs in my main collection anymore.
You can be assured that the material on these budget sets is all top notch, real deal stuff, with excellent remastering, session info complete with artists, dates and bizarre typos, and (at least on the single discs) nice packaging and cardboard exterior sleeves that you can cut out and post on your wall. I have a nice little hall of fame wrapping around one of my walls.
One odd thing about the balance on these remasterings is the soloist is VERY LOUD, so for example on the Benny Carter / Oscar Peterson disc, you have to turn the volume way up before you can hear O.P. and the rhythm section, and BC is meanwhile blowing out your neighbor's eardrums. An annoyance that can be ignored at these prices.
I own about 12 or 15 of these discs... the other day I bought the Erskine Hawkins and Fletcher Henderson... excellent stuff...
-yakov.