# Do you buy music cds to resell?



## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

Reading the thread on "complete sets", I found a few posts mentioning how spending 2000$ on a cd set like that needs extra thinking because of the likelihood of a very low re-sell value. Now, we can agree that spending 2000$ should _always_ deserve some extra thinking and we can also agree that cd collections nowadays will most likely have a poor re-sell value anyway. But my question is, do you buy music cds with the intent of re-selling them in the future?

Speaking from my perspective (obviously), I buy my cds to keep them a lifetime. Since I'm not much into the downloading/harddrive thing, provided a fire doesn't destroy them or something like that, I intend to use my cds till the end of my days (I'll have to keep good cd players handy, specially when they become rare in a few years). I have re-sold music in the past but mostly other genres which I bought when younger, never classical. How do other members feel about this?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

There was a time not so long ago, when CDs were often bought with the intention of reselling them -at a lower price - if the music wasn't a keeper. I sometimes did that, back when reselling on amazon and/or eBay wasn't such a hassle. My guess is that the market is still there.

Somehow I doubt that I've answered your question.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Any time I invest tens of thousands of dollars into something, I want to be sure I can get some of that back on the secondary market if I need to cull the herd. A CD collection is no different.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

No. Nor do I attend to.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Do I buy to keep? Some I'm certain of, some I'm not.

Living in a town with a Reckless Records store - or similar - makes it more possible to purchase, exchange for credit, and more freely buy without worry if it is something you want to get mileage out of.... 

There is more music than any one person can know. I used to buy, regularly, one or two CD's a week, the random appearance of this or that in the classical and contemporary classical always had something of interest, a work I was less than familiar with, etc. That store, too, is great about taking a request, keeping it on file and notifying you if the particular disc has come into their stock.

Being able to purchase something new to my ears, that piqued my interest, but without feeling I had to consider a 'permanent' investment is a luxury, and for that reason I am ALL FOR the CD resale store industry.

Those which did not hold my interest after repeated listening went back for exchange credit - a very friendly rate of return, btw, to be put toward something else. I treat it like a moderate cost rental library, keeping some things and quickly 'going through' others.

Even if I were that flush, I don't think I may every buy a $2000 complete set of anything. Perhaps the complete Stravinsky conducting Stravinsky, which is not really complete, and not all the original releases (frown). That $2000 translates to too many live events (I live where there is a Great Orchestra, several other Chamber Orchestras), or music soft or hardware which is much more interesting to me, and would 'keep me plugged in and going' longer than a Heap of 'all of Mozart.'

Burning copies, well, only occasionally, when I wanted to make a program, say, contemporary Harpsichord pieces, The De Falla and Poulenc Concerti and the Carter Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord all in one convenient listen (I don't believe in 'shuffle multi-CD players.) Likewise, a CD with other mixed repertoire on it, some shorter pieces, I really only wanted about half. Rather than program the player, I burned a CD with the pieces I wanted in the order I preferred, and exchanged the CD for Credit. No regrets.

A good handful of what was then purchased is still 'mine.' The other half was 'checking out what is currently going on,' or something appealing, interesting, the shelf-life of its holding my attention much less.

Currently I have a humongous list, thanks to some stellar Youtube channels and their uploaders, of gobs of contemporary classical as well as older rep in fantastic performances, that if I won a Lotto, I would need a secretary to keep track of and order them all, and then set them to order in my living space! There though, If it all came at once I wonder if I would have actual time to go through them all 

When you can't audition a CD, and have not heard the performance, the stakes and the gamble are that much higher. Reviews, no matter how good the audiophile magazine or venue, and reviewers, are all in a symbiotic relationship with the CD producers / distributors to SELL, so I am leery of all reviews, unless I am already aware of the (consistent) quality of both performer, ensemble and the label itself.

Many of you do not remember, or may have been told: there was an era where you could audition an LP before purchase. The fact the Reckless store, and others, allow you to audition any disc in stock -- not just the six or ten or twenty being promoted at the listening station, is to me, a boon.

I appreciate the good fortune of having such a retail outlet handy, for many do not. For those without that sort of access, decisions to buy are another story.

The public library, for what I am mainly interested in, is less than slim pickings....


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Nope. I plan to keep most of mine. Haven't sold one in awhile and I've bought a lot of cd's the last 12 months.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Nonononono.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Absolutely not. Every CD I ever bought is still in my possession barring the few that have been "stolen" by people borrowing them and then failing to return them. And one which just went missing. I am still hoping that will turn up misfiled somewhere. 

I suppose I will have to get rid of some of them when I down size to a smaller place. But hopefully I will be in a position to simply turn them over to our local music library where other people will be able to enjoy them.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

LPs form a more interesting niche here, since the difference between local prices and collector´s prices on the web can be considerable. But there´s a lot of work and patience involved, and in the end probably not a lot to be gained from such undertakings, at least in the present situation. 

A few of the LPs I buy these days (going down to less than 0,5 Euros/piece) I do buy partly because of their rarity though, thinking that they make make some profit later on, if I don´t want to keep them (alternatively I can convert them to digital format). This applies mainly to LP-cover artists though, a field I expect that will achieve more attention in the future. For instance, I have obtained original, small-edition covers by Juan Miro, Andre Masson and others for very, very little money recently. 

LP covers are going to be the subject of a large museum exhibition here in the autumn, to which I have also been contributing.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

I don't buy Music with the intention of re-selling it but in saying that I have sold some stuff in the past to make new purchases.
Over the years my opinion of owning Discs has changed and I'm now at the point where I consider owning the Discs to be a bit of a waste of space!.
I dont display my Discs anymore or play them on the stereo and just listen to everything on my iPod/manage my collection on the computer.
I would probably sell my collection if it did'nt seem like a hassle to do so - ultimately I will probably keep my collection even though Im not that attatched to it any more


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## eorrific (May 14, 2011)

No. But I buy resold CDs. In fact, they make up about 20% of my collection.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

No. To be honest, a lot of the music I buy is in digital format (I know, *boo* *hiss*!) I'm very on-the-go and don't always have access to a CD player. Plus I'm very compulsive...I want the music now! lol. Sometimes I do buy the hard disc...I do like having a couple of boxed sets (Brahms Complete Chamber Music from Brilliant, and soon to arrive EMI's complete Mahler set). But I bought them for me to keep. Like eorrific however, I DO purchase re-sold CDs from time to time.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Yeah,...every disc I buy I plan on keeping for the long haul. With classical it has become a way of building some of my friend's libraries, however. I can't say how many piano concertos or symphonies I've given away after I have deemed them unfit for my listening; heck, they're not even buying classical so they love it just the same. Other than that, the occasional lend out that don't get returned and the ones I leave in people's cars or stuff like that. I've had to re-buy at least 20 discs more than 3 times. But I never plan on resale. It's not an investment. It's only entertainment.


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