Does it matter where a CD is manufactured?

There is no difference to my knowledge as long as they use the same master source material, they should perform the same. Most CD's are manufactured in the local country/region. It cost too much to ship and import CD's for what they sell for. It cost nothing to send the master digital code to a local factory.

There are rumors out there that CD club CD's are inferior to the identical store release, but all tests and other attempts to prove it have failed. It makes sense also. I cannot believe Sony, or any commercial record company would allow a CD club to sell an inferior product with the Sony (or other company) label on it. The two biggest CD clubs are owned by BMG and Sony. They just use their own factories to make the other label's CD's.

They mark them "made for BMG club" etc, to keep retail store owners from buying them and reselling them in retail outlets.

As long as the facility stamps the cd's in accordance with ISO standards, there should be no difference in sound quality. However, the mastering during the recording and pre-production mastering prior to the manufacture of the glass master will have the most, if not all, of the impact on the sound quality.

There have always been rumors that cd's manufactured in Germany, Japan, etc. are superior to US discs, etc., but I think it is just a holdover from the old days when import lp's were a big deal (indeed, many imports were pressed in limited numbers and some used virgin vinyl).

IMHO... If it comes from France, don't buy it.

There is a definite difference in CDs made in Japan and the UK compared to US. Check out any of those Japanese mini LP jacket CD's and compare to the U.S. version and they blow the US versions away. I bought the Beatles UK version of the White Album with the special mini LP packaging and it is superior to the US version. Then I bought the Sony Superbit mapping of Dire Straits Love Over Gold and the first Dire Straits album pressed in US and the British version pressed by Vertigo and the U.S. version is garbage. Unfortunately those who commented above probably don't have revealing enough systems to tell the difference. Too bad.