# Selling off used CD's is a terrible thing



## Albert7

Just to inform you guys, selling off used CD's is bad. They used to be worth so much more, particularly pop and rock and rap but now they are not worth much used.

Just like $.25-$.50 per disc for the compact discs. Very terrible devaluation of CD collections.

Which is why when I buy CD's I am extremely picky relative to iTunes.


----------



## brotagonist

Pop music doesn't fetch much because there are millions of used copies available.

Classical CDs around here can fetch around $2 each and they can be purchased for about $2-$10, with the largest store charging $5 per disc. I have pared and whittled my collection, so there is little left to trade, except when something becomes redundant through a new purchase. My experience is favourable: rarely do I feel that I have been gypped.

I think this illustrates the different markets and consumption patterns of pop vs. classical audiences. Pop music is consumed by the masses and has an extremely short shelf life, while classical music is consumed by a small but devoted audience and has a pretty much infinite shelf life. This makes streaming and downloads very applicable to pop music and CDs less attractive. In classical music, there is still a point in getting a physical copy, even if not all collectors chose to do so.


----------



## mtmailey

I just donate those cds because they are hard to sell online tried selling them on ebay though it did not work.


----------



## Manxfeeder

albertfallickwang said:


> Just to inform you guys, selling off used CD's is bad. They used to be worth so much more, particularly pop and rock and rap but now they are not worth much used.
> 
> Just like $.25-$.50 per disc for the compact discs. Very terrible devaluation of CD collections.


That's not the case in Nashville, at least for classical. Even Naxos discs go for $2. The average price is $7.


----------



## Weston

The idea of -- of _selling_ one of my CDs is horrifying to me.


----------



## Itullian

Weston said:


> The idea of -- of _selling_ one of my CDs is horrifying to me.


Me too. Especially my Tull/IA.


----------



## MoonlightSonata

"Used CDs"? I've used all of my CDs...


----------



## Headphone Hermit

albertfallickwang said:


> Just to inform you guys, selling off used CD's is bad


.... but buying them can be a real bargain


----------



## joen_cph

If trying to sell, it can of course be more profitable to organise one´s own sales, or try ebay etc. 

Have been somewhat succesful with off-the-beaten-track or rare CD releases.
But for those buying, it´s certainly a Mecca these days.


----------



## Pugg

Weston said:


> The idea of -- of _selling_ one of my CDs is horrifying to me.


This is the right answer off cause in my humble opinion 
+ 1 :lol:


----------



## realdealblues

CD's have become like collectable cards, the ones they printed millions of are worth nothing. I have several CD's that I have sold upwards of a $100 because they were rare and only had maybe one printing. I still have several rare Rock CD's that sell for upwards of $50. But some "flash in the pan" pop star or rapper whose music was fashionable for 10 seconds and flooded the market are worth nothing. Lots of artists who have stood the test of time like The Beatles or Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc. their albums still usually sell for several dollars, more if you have a special printing.

It's kind of the same deal with Records. One of my friends specializes in old 45's. He makes like $70,000 a year doing nothing but selling 45's on Ebay. I've seen him sell some upwards of $1,000 a piece. It all depends on the artist, printing and printing availability. He might get .50 cents for some Pop hit, but $50 for some rare Disco or Funk or Reggae or Country album.

There is a market for used CD's just like everything else. The key is to know what is being sought after...which is almost never anything that was Pop or Rap.


----------



## Albert7

The nice blessing from all this is that my house is now a lot cleaner than it is before. ITunes is easier to deal with.


----------



## Morimur

I don't buy used CDs unless what I want is out of print and only available used. The only such set in my collection is Atahualpa Yupanqui's 5CD compilation, "L'Integrale" which is of course long out of print.


----------



## realdealblues

albertfallickwang said:


> The nice blessing from all this is that my house is now a lot cleaner than it is before. ITunes is easier to deal with.


Until iTunes loses the licensing for an album and removes it from your account.

Or more importantly until that Super Massive E.M.P. Pulse is finally emitted from the Sun and wipes out all the electronics and hard drives. Then everyone here will be in search of LP's and wind up Gramophone players. :lol:


----------



## geralmar

I can't bring myself to sell or donate any of my classical CDs, not even those I no longer listen to. It's like having an ugly kid: you might not like to look at him, but you love him anyway.


----------



## Centropolis

When I take a few of my classical music CDs to the used CD shops here in Toronto, I would only get $0.50 to a $1 back.

I suggested in the Stupid Thread Ideas that we should start trading with each other CDs that we don' want anymore. We do this trading on my other forums such as watch straps. If it's only something that worth $2 or $3 and you don't listen to anymore...just swap with someone in the mail.

So post a list of what you're trading......then a shortlist of type of things you might be interested in getting back.....maybe a one for one.....then mail each other the CDs.


----------



## SixFootScowl

Centropolis said:


> When I take a few of my classical music CDs to the used CD shops here in Toronto, I would only get $0.50 to a $1 back.
> 
> I suggested in the Stupid Thread Ideas that we should start trading with each other CDs that we don' want anymore. We do this trading on my other forums such as watch straps. If it's only something that worth $2 or $3 and you don't listen to anymore...just swap with someone in the mail.
> 
> So post a list of what you're trading......then a shortlist of type of things you might be interested in getting back.....maybe a one for one.....then mail each other the CDs.


Agree that a trading system somewhere at this site would be nice. It would take some thought to set it up efficiently. Preferably so that one can open a page and all CDs currently for trade/sale are searchable and linked to the selling member.


----------



## Albert7

realdealblues said:


> Until iTunes loses the licensing for an album and removes it from your account.
> 
> Or more importantly until that Super Massive E.M.P. Pulse is finally emitted from the Sun and wipes out all the electronics and hard drives. Then everyone here will be in search of LP's and wind up Gramophone players. :lol:


ITunes backup includes all albums even if the license is lost. There is no DRM either which is awesome. Thus ITunes >>>>> CDs for me.


----------



## Albert7

Florestan said:


> Agree that a trading system somewhere at this site would be nice. It would take some thought to set it up efficiently. Preferably so that one can open a page and all CDs currently for trade/sale are searchable and linked to the selling member.


We need a CD exchange forum here.


----------



## Guest

I sell a lot of my unwanted CDs on Amazon--I get far better prices for them than any CD store would give. Sometimes I make a killing off an OOP disc, such as $45 for a Xenakis disc ("Orestia") that I bought for $12!


----------



## Albert7

Kontrapunctus said:


> I sell a lot of my unwanted CDs on Amazon--I get far better prices for them than any CD store would give. Sometimes I make a killing off an OOP disc, such as $45 for a Xenakis disc ("Orestia") that I bought for $12!


Yeah I was too lazy to list all of my hundreds of discs on Amazon .


----------



## Guest

albertfallickwang said:


> Yeah I was too lazy to list all of my hundreds of discs on Amazon .


It can be quite time-consuming, that's for sure.


----------



## SixFootScowl

albertfallickwang said:


> Yeah I was too lazy to list all of my hundreds of discs on Amazon .


I have seen where people post on Ebay a huge lot of CDs and then offer something like 20 CDs from that list for X dollars, the buyer's pick. The idea I guess is that eventually you off load most of the CDs. Ebay certainly is more versatile for innovative listings.


----------



## Albert7

Florestan said:


> I have seen where people post on Ebay a huge lot of CDs and then offer something like 20 CDs from that list for X dollars, the buyer's pick. The idea I guess is that eventually you off load most of the CDs. Ebay certainly is more versatile for innovative listings.


 I really am pretty pretty lazy as I hardly have the time to write a single list . Right now I'm just glad that I was able to trade in a lot of those CD's to get the William Kapell box set.


----------



## GreenMamba

I don't know if anyone uses *SwapaCD *here, but you can build up a pretty good collection there.

Of course, you need credits to get them. But it's connected to PaperBackSwap, so you can essentially trade old paperbacks for CDs (though I believe there's also a nominal charge for the CDs).

I actually do this stuff in part as much because I the idea of trading with others as because of the actual bargains.



albertfallickwang said:


> We need a CD exchange forum here.


You'd probably need a high number of participants to make matches likely. Also, TC could not be expected to do any enforcement when people complain they never received it, the disk arrived broken, etc.


----------

