Believe it or not, I just got the Mozart Brilliant Classics 170CD box for $5 at a garage sale. He also had about 1,000 other classical CDs for 50 cents each. I bought about 100 of those.
Classical CDs are worth next to nothing when you try to sell them. I guess I was lucky to get 1 euro apiece for my duplicates a while ago, after years of trying to get rid of them. An acquaintance of mine didn't even want them for free... Sorry for the thread drift
True, that's why they were so cheap. But I will enjoy the music. Someday, those Horowitz boxes will be at garage/estate sales for $10, and the buyer will say. "Will you take $2?"
Is the live box you're referring to the Unreleased Live Recordings? If so please post what you think of it, that is one I've been considering.
That's the one except I just decided to put the money from that into the complete jacket box instead since the live performances have a lot of repetition. I wanted to hold out for a chance of a reissue of the jacket box but I caved in.
You'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it I edited out one of my comments since I see the Heifetz come back in print under a different name, I'm not sure if the contents of that were identical to the original Complete Original Jacket Collection.
Do you have a link? I only see a 24 disc Complete RCA Stereo box. Even though it isn't an OJC box, it doesn't come close to the OOP 103 Complete Recordings box.
You're correct, this is just me getting confused. I thought the Heifetz came out as a Complete Original Jacket Collection and later as a Complete Album Collection, it turns out the latter is the only one that existed for a 103 disc set. So I think the original part of my post I edited out remains true- so far no Complete Original Jacket Collection has come back in print? It seems like the smaller Jacket Collections stay in print much longer.
I thought this was out of print but Amazon Germany has the Liszt Complete Piano Box for $165 shipped. https://www.amazon.de/Franz-Liszt-S...UTF8&qid=1480922564&sr=8-1&keywords=Liszt+box
Horowitz and Heifetz seemed to go through two iterations--the sets came out, seemingly went out-of-print and became obscenely expensive, and then reappeared for a period (memory fails me how long this was. I know it was for months but I am not sure it was as long as a year). The Rubinstein and Gould Original Jacket Collections went out of print, but came back even better in "Remastered" form, which included a deluxe book and a different box. Gould also appeared as a separate "Bach only" edition that came between the OJC set and the Gould Remastered box. Others can speak as to whether one needs both the OJC and Remastered sets--I only have the later editions.
I suspect the recording companies attempt to do with some of their box-sets the same that brands like Rolex do with their products. Keeping them out of print for a while ensures they sell them for whatever huge price when they reappear. Could it be the economics "Scarcity principle" applied in CD industry ? "
Oh, I think that's absolutely right. As J. A. W. pointed out, absolutely correctly, used CDs have no value for the most part. Libraries where I live won't accept them as donations, thrift shops can't sell them for 50 cents apiece, and sales keep shrinking. That being said, certain sets seem to greatly escalate in price once they go "out-of-print" (which mostly means amazon's stock is depleted). As long as they can sell product, the record companies will continue to produce new and improved versions of these set.
Except every time they reissue them, the prices are lower. With the Rubinstein edition, the reissue a year or three back was a quarter of the price of its prior issue, or something along those lines. The major labels are all moving to streaming as a revenue stream for their back catalog, and these megaboxes are a final attempt to monetize physical media in that context.
This does not coincide with my experience at all. Mileage varies a bit, but there's plenty of resale value for classical CDs. It's the same as any other media, though - items that were widely printed and distributed have the lowest resale value, while items that were never reissued have much more resale value.
Maybe the situation in the US is a bit different. The duplicates etc. I tried to sell here included several rare items, but no one was interested. I ended up selling them as a lot to a dealer who specializes in used stuff, for 1 euro apiece, and was told that it was a fair price...
Now that my Mozart 225 box is soon in my hands. I would like to ask you guys what do you think about the Bach and Beethoven Masterworks boxes by DG? Are there better boxes from these two masters. I am a classical music newbie and the Mozart box is my first touch on this genre. Wanted to go in big.
Mega boxes flood from amazon.it arrived this afternoon: Gilels 100 Pollini DG complete Beaux Arts Trio complete Harnoncourt Sony complete Munch RCA complete Muti Verdi EMI/Warner Karajan EMI/Warner complete ...
So, turns out Mozart 225 is the best-selling CD of the year. This is funny: Giant 'Mozart 225' Box Set is 2016's Biggest-Selling CD Release »
Record stores that specialize in classical here usually offer reasonably fair prices - 30-40% of what they'll ask for it. It's also so easy to sell online these days. And it makes it much easier to justify holding on to the stuff I want to keep
I guess you're lucky. The only store here that offers reasonable prices for used stuff is owned by a friend of mine; he specializes in blues and jazz, both used and new, but not classical which doesn't sell at all as he - and others - repeatedly told me. Selling used classical CDs online is not an option here; most buyers are outside the EU and no one is prepared to pay for the Dutch Postal Service's ridiculously high overseas shipping rates. But though all this is very interesting, I guess it's also off-topic
My usual go-to is the Princeton Record Exchange, where I got the Maazel RCA box for $30 (although that's gotten even cheaper in the interim), and lots of the smaller boxes (like the 6 CD Sony Tafelmusic box and the 9 CD Bolet Liszt box) also for a dollar a disc. Not to derail things any further, but the best I've done in DC is Second Story Books. I typed that I've been spending less time with the megaboxes, until I realized that the Philips Original Jackets and Decca Analogue Years boxes were sitting right next to me.
A bit of a price reduction on this monster over at jpc.de .... EUR 99.99 with some VAT to come off as well. https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/de...4ngler-Das-Verm%E4chtnis/hnum/4967738?lang=en
It's good to have but I would hold off. Someone like Horowitz is never going to forgotten by the CD companies. In a few years they will probably release the 'Remastered, remastered and thrice remastered original jacket collection'. Warner have just done this with the EMI Karajan recordings. I regret not buying the Horowitz at Carnegie Hall box set a couple of years back (that too is now going for crazy prices) - I'm hoping that will reappear within the next couple of years.
