The main thing this German box set has going for it is bulk; boasting 200 selections, it runs just short of ten hours. The tracks are taken mainly from U.S. pop records originally released by the major labels and still claimed by them in America, though European copyrights on recordings apparently run out after 50 years. There is also a smattering of tracks from British companies and movie soundtracks. On one of its sides, the box reproduces a racist notice decrying "Negro records," accompanied by a note about white cover versions of recordings originally made by blacks, a theme also discussed in the introduction in the set's booklet, leading to the assumption that the box will be filled with those original recordings. But it isn't, for the most part. Rather, the majority of the tracks are by white performers of the period, and they are not covers of black records. There are some R&B hits, especially on the ninth disc (dubbed Vol. 19), as well as country hits and some curiosities (such as a song from a Marilyn Monroe movie). But the eight Bing Crosby selections, for example, attest to the pop focus. The annotations (which include brief biographical sketches of the artists) are littered with typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors doubtless deriving from the set's German origin. Especially on the earlier discs, the sound can be muffled, probably due to transfers from 78s. The album does not present a well-organized, comprehensive examination of the history of pop radio between 1940 and 1951, but it does contain a big chunk of the music that was popular then. And it's cheap: Upon release, it was selling through mail order in the U.S. for about 50 dollars, or five dollars per disc. See the reviews of individual volumes, numbered 11 to 20. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide