What percentage of the music you own, was purchased used?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by ElizabethH, Jul 26, 2014.

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  1. boiledbeans

    boiledbeans Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Roughly 20% used.

    I try to buy new as much as possible. I turn to used only if it's out of print.
     
  2. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    10% new vinyl is what I posted, might be a tad less......maybe.
     
  3. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Really interesting results - 100% and 0% are almost equal, and everything else in between is about equal. Fascinating.
     
  4. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    I went with 70% new. I buy quite a few used CD's. I don't buy a huge amount of LP's but most of 'em are used. I cannot recall buying a used SACD.
     
  5. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    I'd have to go through my collection, but I bought a lot of used vinyl and cds in the past. Now, I mostly buy new vinyl and cds, because I have what I want from the used variety and there is so much new vinyl being released at this time.
     
  6. Old Listener

    Old Listener Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF East Bay, CA
    Mozart is dead and won't be receiving any royalty payments anyway. Same for George Szell, Heifetz, Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller.

    I bought the 1st 40% of my collection new (LPs and CDs) and bought almost all used in recent years.
     
  7. steveharris

    steveharris Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Over 60% of my collection was bought used.The main reason is because I want the older masterings.
     
  8. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I have a few used CD stores in my area and they only take discs that are pretty much in perfect shape. So buying from these stores is a safe bet. But CDs are so cheap nowadays that I still buy most of them new.

    With vinyl, it just depends what pressing is the one I want. A lot of them tend to be older pressings, so I'll search for a good condition used copy. And new tends to be pricey.

    I would guess it amounts to 70% new vs. 30% used.
     
  9. 93curr

    93curr Senior Member

    Almost all new - the ONLY time I resort to buying new is if something has been OOP for so long that there's no other option.

    Statistically, that's less than 1%.
     
  10. avbuff

    avbuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central NY
    Yes, maybe 35 years ago 100% new, but now it's more like 20%. I am constantly on the hunt for used music, whether it be LP, CD, SACD, DVD-A, and occasionally Cassette.
    For myself, it's extremely hard to resist adding to my collection for pennies on the dollar. There is a ton of music that I would not experience if it were not so.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  11. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    About 20% used.

    The percentage of used has gone up as brick and mortar buying options have dried up and most things have gone out of print.
     
  12. cat9

    cat9 Forum Resident

    ....25-30 years ago ...virtually all new vinyl ....2% used

    ....last 5 or so years ...98% used ....very few new
     
  13. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    I'd say at least 50 percent of my collection was bought used. The percentage is probably even higher with LPs. Back when I only bought LPs, it was all new, but even then I eventually discovered the economics of buying used. Because of the high price of CDs when they were introduced, I looked into used copies almost immediately.
     
  14. ElvisCaprice

    ElvisCaprice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jaco, Costa Rica
    More interesting would be how much of folks collections, stored content on hard drive, is neither new or used, meaning you don't have a hard copy backup?
     
  15. wgb113

    wgb113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chester County, PA
    CDs: 98% new, 2% used
    Vinyl: 20% new, 80% used

    I still buy new releases on CD. Most of my vinyl collection is original jazz pressings or classic rock.

    Bill
     
  16. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    Thought it isn't totally correct I said 100%.
    My used purchases probably make up 1% max
     
  17. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, virtually all of my purchases were new. My percentage of used records was maybe 1%.

    Starting in the 1990s, as people were dumping their record collections, I started buying used. I had a friend over on Thursday night who wanted to hear Neil Young's Harvest. I've owned maybe a dozen different pressings over the years and couldn't remember what I owned now. I have two copies. I picked them both up in the 1990s. One's a US first pressing in M- shape, jacket and vinyl. That cost me $4. I also have a mint minus UK pressing that has a $5 sticker on it. I had a great time buying used vinyl in the 1990s. It was outstanding in quality and cheap.

    Now it's probably half and half, new and used. I buy reissues and a lot of new bands for new records, plus a lot of used LPs.

    I said maybe 20% of my collection is now used. That would be about 800 albums. That seems right although it could be 30% used. It's hard to say.
     
  18. Darksolstice

    Darksolstice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro Tn
    half of my records are used, but that is because all my records were stolen and I couldn't even buy most of them new again even if I wanted to, before that all my records (several hundred) were bought new!
     
  19. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    I went through a phase where I was buying a lot of used but not much anymore. Had nothing to do with feeling guilty, I just got tired of less than stellar condition cds.
    All of my vinyl was purchased new; way back when.
    80% new 20% used.
     
  20. Mike in OR

    Mike in OR Through Middle-earth...onto Heart of The Sunrise

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Easily 70% of my music is used, like new and plays that way. The rest, store bought in one form or another. What gets played most? The used stuff.
     
  21. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    I don't know my overall percentage. It's something that has certainly varied over the years depending on what sort of music I'm focused on at the time. I go through phases where I'll focus on buying certain genres or categories of music. Classical phases, blues phases, jazz phases, classic rock phases, pipe organ phases, jam band phases, indie phases, etc... Depending on the phases I'm in the percentage of used vs. new will change. If I'm in a phase where much of what I want is OOP I will be buying lots of used stuff. The low prices for some used CDs now are hard to pass up.

    I can say that for the past couple of years that anything I've gotten from an indie label has been new if what I want is still in print. And some of those have been multiple versions of the same album (CD, LP, download, high res, DSD, etc.). One of my New Year resolutions for the past two years has been to seek out more indie music and for indie music buy new if at all possible, even if used copies are available for less.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  22. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    My vinyl, 95% was bought new unless I just couldn't find the exact pressing of what I wanted new.
    Consider though that most of my vinyl is fairly old though now. I've been buying/replacing worn for 45 years now.

    CD's, whenever a used as new one was available for a significantly lower price I'd buy it used, as a guess 80% new for CD.


    Recently I went on a cassette, yes cassette buying safari. My goal was 100 new, sealed ones of high quality. I'm almost there, but again, when I could get as new for significantly less I did, a guess, 90% new. Quite a few have amazed me with their sound, several were so bad I tossed them, and a few failed and chewed up first play. Still, an interesting trip.

    Purchased digital downloads, probably 1%, mostly impulse buys on Amazon, a good deal of those later followed up by CD purchases.

    Not sure how that would work into the poll, I did not answer it. My main goal is to get what I want in the condition I want, if used works and saves some cash fine, but it better be a significant savings, I'm not going to buy a CD or record used to save a buck or 2.
     
  23. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    A big chunk of my collection was purchased prior to 2000, and probably 95% of it was new. Used CDs weren't usually all that cheap - I just saved my money for when new CDs went on sale and bought as much as I could on sale.

    Then mp3 hit and CD sales tanked. The big retailers started holding fire sales. I bought a bunch of CDs starting in around 2004 at closing / clearance sales for well-under $10 - sometimes for around $5 a disc. Hard for used to compete at those prices. Still, used CD prices fell too, and I did scoop up a few here and there when I saw what looked like a great deal.

    By 2009 or so the implosion of the record retailers was pretty much over and so were the cheap new CD deals, although Amazon and WorstBuy still kept prices pretty low. I didn't buy a lot in 2010 or 11 or even into 2012. But then in the past couple of years used CD prices have totally collapsed locally, and I've probably picked up about 100 albums, often for $1 - $2 a disc. I've bought a few new records as well, but my collection grew more in the past 14-months than it had in the previous 5 years or so, and 90% of that was used.

    So long as I can continue to find good prices on used discs I'm interested in, I'll keep haunting the used racks looking for deals. I wouldn't be surprised if used discs comprise the bulk of my purchases for the foreseeable future.
     
  24. Alan2

    Alan2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I have very few used LPs. I've been disappointed a few times so I go for reissues, new, wherever possible. I'd buy more used if I knew they came from people like me, who take care of records. Same with CDs, really.
     
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