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Every year I go to Denver and visit my daughter for a few days - there's some really good CD/record stores there, so I always ship a box full of all the CDs (that I find at garage sales for 50 cents to a dollar) to her house and trade them at these stores for CDs that I really want. Generally in past years you would get $2/$3 in trade value for excellent condition CDs at these stores. HOWEVER, a week ago when I was there, these stores were only giving 50 cents to 75 cents for used CDs. Man, was I pissed. I guess the quantity of people shedding all their CDs and going to ITunes and such has made used CDs virtually worthless. Anybody else seeing the same thing going on or was this just a one-off occurrence?
Follow Ups:
Around here in WI bout 30 MI south of Milwaukee, the ONLY music shop still open gives about $1-2 a disc for a single CD on average. Ive never pawned any to em. If anything Im just gonna give em whatever I wanna dump off in a year or so when I FINALLY thin my CD heard. If they give me some used discs in return that will be cool. They probably will as I spend a fair amount there every week or two usually.
On a bright note. I find allot of VERY cool used CDs at my local thrift stores nearly every week. Heck over this summer Ive amassed a PILE of rare blues and jazz CDs at the thrift places. All around $1-2 per disc. Just last week one of the Gems was a Japan JVC early 90s issue of art Art Pepper meets Rhythm Section. So overall I cant complain in the least.
Just this morning I picked up a once played original 1st stereo pressing of Brubeck Time Out for a $1. Even had "taped" written in marker on the back. Which would explain its condition.
So for us into CDs and LPs its pretty cool out there. IMO...
All the best
Dave
Yep! Bad news if you are selling, but good news if you are buying!
Dave
Short of crazy high end bragging right anything. That market has almost never been better.
Trying to take the glass half full, attitude. Trying...
A bad economy is good if you have money!
Dave
My remark was intended as an encouragement to support such outfits. I value my local music shop and try and help em out.
Ive given them not so amazing stereo gear that is given to me that I have no interest in. They do small scale stereo resell too. Cheap plastic era stereos and turntable.
I work at a ma/pa style computer store. Times are hard for us too. Big time. Im not rolling in money by far. My hobby supports itself by finding gear and stuff along the way.
Again, was only trying to turn a positive view of things on the situation.
But yes, these are scary times for most.
Just no surprise to me a B&M outfit doesnt put much into purchasing CDs anymore. You figure they gotta buy low as many will never move, despite ones best efforts to only buy what they think will sell. I see it first hand at my local music shop. Allot of CDs I own and think are good wind up in the discount bin at or near cost used just to get em out.
This also spurs my positive view of down load music "sites". Heck even all the workers at my local shop copy CDs and DL stuff. There broke too. They dont make a habit of giving it to walk in customers. But they like to expand there collection and exposure to new music. Personally I hope allot of broke young kids will at least DL some good music from the past and be exposed to and spur new interests in music I consider good. Heck most of the artists are dead anyways, and many Id imagine would be happy to see youths enjoying their hard work no less. Kids need to hear real music. And many would be artists come from broke families and grow up without much money all the time. I hope they hear some Queen, Dire Straits, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans... so on...
Blah Blah... Interesting times!
All the best
Dave also :-)
I feel like one of the apex predators at the end of the age of the great reptiles or dinosaurs. The living is very good. Prey is weak and dropping all around me. However, unlike those predators, I realize the environment that sustains me is crumbling. During the great plague, the said "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Now it's "listen, dance and be merry, for tomorrow, the art of listening to music dies."
Music is to fundamental to the human experience for the music business to truly die, but it's morphing into something very different from what I grew up with. It is now a soundtrack to people's life. It is something to be multitasked in, while they unconsciously multitask to the grave. You get hundreds of simultaneous experiences at once, while really experiencing nothing.
It's like the children in line for Santa Clause. They wait until they sit on his lap. Then a picture is snapped. There is no dialog, or interaction, just a picture that marks an event that did not happen.
Dave
Dave
One of my favorite reflections on the state of music came from Frank Zappa's appearance on Crossfire. He made the remark of how the music industry was better when there was an out of touch cigar chomping old man running things who knew he was out of touch a willing to take a chance on a group. He goes on to say, how now that the hippy generation is in charge, things are more safe, by the numbers and bland. And this was in the mid 80s.
Personally I think most of the youth of today are unjustly blamed for their tastes, attention spans, and use of music. More output is expected in many cases from them. The live in a world that never stops moving, information is bombarded at them at alarming rates. Some will work around it, others will become a product of it in a sad way. But overall to blame the kids of today for being a product of the world created around them is rather unfair.
I know, as a teen in the 90s, me and my friends were VERY deep in the rock of then and past. We played it in our band, listened to it all the time. And really were obsessed by what we could hear from it. I know for myself I absorbed all I could. Past and present music that is. I never took to the rap movement as much, didnt do it for me, but love allot of the great stuff that was coming out then.
Yes times are changing. But really I feel the book is unwritten. And this is really a transition period as we get to know how to deal with technology that is radically new to us, given us power never before thought of. Right now we are just learning how to use and deal with it. 10 years from now we will see how we deal with it. Time will tell.
Dave
I have to agree with Frank. Some of the best music was produced when they did not have a clue and were throwing anything they could at the youth market to see what would stick.
You can't blame the youth for going with what we gave them. AFAIK, the first Rap songs came out in the late 70's. A big reason why music has faded to the background is that almost nobody in my generation bothered to tell the next generation that it could be different.
Things will work out as long as we take control of the technology instated of letting the technology take control of us.
Dave
Had you ever seen it before?
I just picked up a used CD copy of Uncle Meat at my local music store last night. Hadnt been there in almost a month. Dropped $70 on used CDs.
Understandable with Frank's style and demand for creative control, he went out and started Barking Pumpkin records. He clearly was someone who needed his own label.
Really pumped. Had a good haul. Found Randy Newman's Land of Dreams CD, dont own it and like his music. Bella Fleck's early Rounder release Daybreak, Queen Live Killers only owned the vinyl release before, a UK CD issues of Al Stewart Year of the Cat and On the Border compilation CD. Yeah Im guilty of liking Al's 70s wuss rock LOL, he is great IMO. And had a nice haul of used Monk and Mingus early issues on CDs. Rare I find good used jazz there. My bud who works there even commented on how they dont often get nice used jazz in. Its a rather small city, only about 50K population, so guys like me are not super common.
Overall a wonderful experience at the store.
One thing that tics me off about all these 25 year / whatever reissues of great classic rock, theres rarely any great additions to the reissue. Im a complete sucker if they add a live concert issue of the album from its time in addition. Im totally sold if a live counter part is present. But most of it is simply demo issues and or alt takes. Thats good and well for the hard core fan, but IMO, not enough to get me to drop $25+ for a CD reissues. Gotta have more interesting content, like omitted songs, live performance. They had a recently issued Paul Simon Graceland 25 year issue. Nothing amazing added content wise. Also IMO, the Floyd reissued deluxe sets were really disappointing overall, sorry hardcore Floyd fans. I too am a huge fan but these really lacked for the $125+ they commanded.
Yeah I hope kids find some of the amazing music from days gone by. I think many will. Again, I praise the existence of the internet and downloadable music for at least giving kids the ability to take and chance and get some interesting music, free (yeah this is controversial but it aint going anywhere). And in a time when everyone and their family is broke, its really needed to lift spirits and allow kids to find new old music (hopefully). While I was there I witnessed a young (prob 17 y/o) couple buying Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream CD used for themselves. Kinda funny seeing young teens listening to what I listened to at their age LOL. So my vintage / era are listening to what I liked at that age. Next gen history repeating itself. I hope allot of these kids have an awakening after high school as I did, and discover new styles like jazz, blues, classical and move on to new horizons.
All the best.
Dave
I have Uncle Meat and over 30 other Zappa albums on vinyl. I have some CD's too. I have been collecting Zappa since the 70's. I have "Year of the Cat" on MoFi vinyl. I picked it up when I worked in a high-end audio store in the 80's. I really have to have a compelling reason to buy something if I already have it on vinyl. I also find most of the reissues not compelling enough. The last thing I bought new was the Monkees’ "Head" on vinyl, and that was only because I could never find a used copy.
There is a local place here called "Joe's Record Paradise". They sell mostly records but also have a select, but very good used and new CD selection. The last thing I bought there was the Beatles Anthology II and III for a little over $6.00 each. I also have bought obscure CDs like Root Boy Slim. When I went there on "Record Store Day" I was the oldest guy in the place. I was very surprised to see middle school aged people searching through the record stacks, and they were about 50/50 male/female. There is hope.
I would have said the same thing about Jazz until recently. I scored quite a bit, including Coltrane, Charley Parker and Miles Davis on CD. I did shell out for the "Kind of Blue" vinyl/cd/dvd reissure a while back, but I got it very cheap, when the local f.y.e. was dumping it after Christmas when it came out.
I had a big classical CD haul this weekend. I got a bunch of Telarc, RCA and others. I paid $1.50 each. The pickings are very good for classical!
Dave
Just outta high school when I was working a factory job and going to school I went on a BIG vinyl kick. Infact, it was a co-worker I met at the plant who was BIG into vinyl that got me into it. He was and is still not an audiophile, hes a normal, older, stereo nerd who loves music and good full sounding rock. Good guy, was real inspiration for me. He was purely in it for the fun of collecting music and jamin tunes.
To be honest, as a parent of a 4 y/o and a more than full time job, Ive been big into CDs. No free time, like the quick convenience of CDs for expanding the collection. And now more than ever, CDs are cheap and abundant. Found allot of neat gems at thrifts and shops. Oddly enough, found allot of great classical, Telarc, Grammaphone, Denon, RCA Red Seal, Odd label at thrifts. Its kinda my generation, adult, phase out of CD music. Like what the older generation of my youth did when vinyl went out. Again, history repeats. But this may be the last of that with everything being in-tangible and digital. Sigh... oh well...
I too maintain an optimistic attitude about the future of music and youth getting into good music. Ive met plenty of young people who were into good music and knowledgeable. Heck, just got a 22 y/o intern here at work who loves classic rock and really knows his stuff. Access to music has never been better. Also theres allot of talent out there too. Just doesnt get the deserved exposure they warrant given a better audience.
I was recently involved in a discussion, off in General, about music of today and youth tastes and habits. I wont bother saying who I going back and fourth with, anyone interested can see for themselves. But I just couldnt wrap my brain around how anyone could be THAT disheartened and abysmally negative about the music scene today. I really was in awe as I wasnt expecting such an attitude and one sided view. There was no 2 way dialog. Anyway, I just dont see this level of hopelessness some seem to see in music and youth today. Could it be better yes. But theres CLEARLY allot of talent out there, and access to great music has never been better. With exposure and diversity in such great numbers, its simply harder to narrow down what one can be interested in and invest time into. As the sea of selection gets better organized, and sites gain better recognition and established track records, people will taste test and find their callings. It will get much better is my guess.
Who knows. Im having fun!
Dave
There is a meme of prevailing doom that is epidemic in our society, and not just in music. While it is true that there is "trouble comin' every day", the game is not over yet. Although it might be over if we think it is.
Those Denon CD's do sound great! The combination of the availability of great cheap CDs and the fact that I scored a Marantz DV6600 Universal player for $15, has made this confirmed vinyl fanatic spin a lot of silver disks!
Dave
I scored a Denon CD changer from 1996 for $10.00 it sounds great, it plays regular CDs better than my sony CD changer but it has trouble with burned discs, it jutters/flutters/skips, I think it's the burn speed.
I switched my burn speed to medium, but I dont have it hooked up because
my power supply doesent have enough outlets for all my junk.
“I’m telling you, you’re coming along at a very dangerous time for rock ’n’ roll. The war is over. They won. They will ruin rock ’n’ roll and strangle everything we love about it and then it just becomes an industry of cool. 99 percent of what passes for rock n roll, silence is more compelling.”
—
Lester Bangs - Almost Famous
____
*Analog fans may be blind-but digital fans are deaf*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82495693@N00/
Music always had a personal life style following to it. However, the life style today has changed and the focus is more on the words vs the music content itself. Rock & Roll will never go away, but will not be as mainstream as in the past. Lady Gaga Born this Way performed an interesting twist using Madonnas rock beat & personalized it with words everyone can relate to a greater degree. RAP does the same in that the music is tossed out with words for the most part more focused on a street mentality lifestyle. Unfortunately, I hear no genius at work in RAP and it is not uplifting in the least for me. I also like classical, blues plus rock & roll.
Was jamming one of my favorite rock bands today. Granted they get called "progressive" for better or worse.
Dream Theater. Heck me and my band did 6:00 back in high school. I thought we did pretty darn good for such a hard song.
This is song is from an album they released from 2009. Their Black Clouds and Silver Linings album. They have been rocking from the early 90s till now. Granted will see how Mike does replacing Mike LOL.
I just think this is a good example of good rock with good lyrics of modern time.
I guess the quantity of people shedding all their CDs and going to ITunes and such has made used CDs virtually worthless.
From my viewpoint, for the good overall! I have bought a number of used CDs at low prices, and...
While I don't buy low resolution music through iTunes, I confess that this old timer really enjoys having music server capability. In addition to being able to instantly find any track or create play lists, I frequently let it run on Shuffle. I have "rediscovered" so many old friends that previously got little airplay.
I ripped all my CDs to lossless FLAC.
And did you have one of the 100-disc changers or something? I've been mulling over doing something similar, but I've not committed yet because it seems like it would be awfully time-consuming, especially doing it one disc at a time
Admittedly, many hours over the course of about a two week period of time to rip about 500 CDs. It is not something that will occur overnight. I think the time was very well spent given the benefits.
I guess the quantity of people shedding all their CDs and going to ITunes and such has made used CDs virtually worthless.
Previously, I used a 300 disk Pioneer changer. For playback in the changer or the cars, I made copies because I was concerned about the originals getting scratched. I had loaded perhaps 200 disks in the changer. It was certainly better than one disk at a time, but the physical gyrations required to change disks significantly limited its usefulness.
My "player" is a Logitech Squeezebox Touch which allows for using your smart phone as the remote. I really cannot convey to you how incredibly powerful and enjoyable music servers are. Since the server itself is a desktop unit located far away from the vintage system, I use Wi-Fi connectivity which is less desirable than using network cable, but I use an aftermarket linear power supply to reduce the noise. One of these days, I'll adapt the main system to computer playback as well.
What I haven't done yet is "rip" my vinyl. I've done a few albums, but the task is a bit more time consuming because you must break the capture of a side into the various tracks AND manually enter the tagging metadata. Someday, I would like to do it. The biggest challenge for me is parking a computer near the main system for an extended period of time. I have a laptop but its onboard sound card doesn't support a stereo line feed.
I all but gave up after only a couple ...
But cds are so incredibly cheapo these days that I've been snapping them up, and now that my wife and I have so many and use three different systems throughout the house, a music server is making more and more sense all the time
Just need to push on and get off the log
just realized I used the wrong quote in my last quote! The clipboard still had the last one I used. I gather you understood I was responding to your question about having used a jukebox capacity changer.
I'm convinced the Logitech Squeezebox Touch is the very best $250 you could spend on music. Here's an offer from J&R. You can always bypass the internal DAC and use an outboard one like I do later if you want. I like having some triodes in the system. :)
You won't regret it.
after years of debating, hemming and hawing, etc, I'm about to make the move to really decent digital sources - looking at the Schiit Bifrost to get a taste on a budget, but I've not given up on eventually having tubes in every step of chain
Still doing vintage and DIY for amplification and speakers, but no reason to exclude the new good stuff (esp since radio here in ATL continues to decline)
Thanks for the link - maybe an early anniversary present - for the two of us and our love of music and each other, of course ;)
a Touch also streams a wide range of local and national radio stations and if you have Sirius/XM, there is a free plugin available to stream that as well.
While the fidelity of network radio isn't up to the best FM, it provides an unmatched wealth of diversity. I have been exposed to lots of new musical content that way. And having moved from the Atlanta area years ago, I can still hear the lyrical voice of Lois Reitzes and WABE classical. :)
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