I have only used discogs when need to find certain pressing info, year or anything. Its not perfect (yet and still) but really good database. Hehe, might be fun someday put all the stuff and see how much it be worth.
I signed up yesterday and put as many of my Sun Ra vinyl (31 LPs) as I could but as it couldn't find a value for 13 of them - including 2 Horo and 3 Saturn label ones- then it's not much use. Not sure I'll bother continuing to put any more on there.
It also seems that a lot of my collection does not have sales values.....so then the final total is scewed down.
I have used the discogs database a few times for album credits information but their discography section is rather incomplete. Unfortunately, this is not a proper competitor to allmusic.com but whilst they decrease the amount of new album credits they enter into their database, maybe discogs will become one without having to make an effort of its own.
Hmmmm.....I'm planning on selling about 80% of my collection, so that site may be a good place to find some approximate values. Do they have the values of boots?
If you want discogs to be better participate. I have more than 99% of my collection listed there; but I am a member since early 2003. I checked for the value of my stock and if I remember correctly the medium - means actual price, that my records have been sold for on average in discogs was around 33.000 dollars, minimum more than 10 and maximum over 60.000. I actually sell quite a few records there recently, makes an additional 2 to 3 hundred bucks a month, that come in handy for new gear...lol It started out electronics first, then HipHop, next Reggae , then Rock and that is the genre, that is the least complete, along with classical and Jazz - but it is getting better every day and if you add your favorites and rare records first it will be a better discogs than ever. Reggae for example is amazing even with rare 7"es nowadays..That came pretty fast. Cool feature. I listed about 3.500 records.
By participate do you mean only by buying or selling? I started putting my collection there and notice the same thing, no values. However, I do realize by reading there how the values are extracted. Is there another way other than this? For example, can one "assign" values. I don't have anything that I think is "sales" worthy but I have purchased one item from there as a start.
I think actual sales is the best market indicator of value on albums not what one thinks it is worth. I started putting my collection on the site this weekend and have a long way to go. I also know that not all my collection is cataloged correctly. I need to go back and spend more time with the individual pressings.
They can use all the good help they can get. But word to the wise: familiarize yourself thoroughly with their guidelines before adding or editing releases. It's not a place for those who don't appreciate rules and consistency.
OrangeCD, in my opinion, is a safer bet for calculating value. As you enter in your collection, you are given the option to state what you paid for the release, as well as it's Value, where you could enter in the Goldmine standard. What's even cooler about OrangeCD is that it now let's you search the Discogs database to fill in as much info at a faster rate. Granted my collection is only about 200 LPs over a collection period of about 3 years, but in slowly plugging all my info in. Then I can graph my imported data however I like. Sort of went off-topic a bit, but my point is you can truly track what you're spending. That is, if you remember what you paid for each
I was going to as well. Tried it again about 6 months ago. But a lot of my stuff still doesn't show up. No issues with anything showing up on my RYM. But Discogs database is sorely lacking. Hopefully it will continue to grow. I'll continue to try it from time to time.
For example if you're looking for the UK original press information of The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks lp on discogs.......good luck. There are so many versions listed with the same catalogue no. with absolutely no differentiation except country of origin. And because people list the subsequent represses with the P&C date (ie. the original year release date) you end-up with 30 different versions with a 1977 release date. How do you work out which is the original press?
I got addicted to Discogs a while ago. Most of my collection is up: Collection Value Range: Minimum: $ 759.35 Median: $ 973.64 Maximum: $ 1,451.26
In most cases it is quite obvious. Country + year of release - the earliest is the one you are searching for. I found it - took me less than 2 minutes : if there is something like an original, then this one (all you gotta do is check the notes section AND what a surprise, this is the first one listed under UK V 2086 - I luv discogs!) http://www.discogs.com/Sex-Pistols-Never-Mind-The-Bollocks-Heres-The-Sex-Pistols/release/2760318 NOTES ℗ 1977 Virgin Records Ltd. First UK pressing, approximately 1000 copies. Originally planned to be released as promo only, but eventually released commercially earlier than expected due to the rushed-out French pressing being imported to UK. Plain pink back cover, 11 tracks only. Later copies have 1 track more and a poster etc.pp Some might argue that the french 77 LP is the original, since that appeared in the shops in the UK and France first...important info 11 not 12 tracks. http://www.discogs.com/Sex-Pistols-Never-Mind-The-Bollocks-Heres-The-Sex-Pistols/release/2782929
My biggest gripe is people that want something for nothing. You can't complain about the quality of a free service because a record you own is not on discogs. It is a user-built database, you should be submitting the records you own and you can update releases if you notice any mistakes.
I can complain about whatever I'd like, thank you very much. As far as adding to the user-built database. I do. And I have for several years. Still not even in the same league as RYM. Rate Your Music.
After using Discogs for several weeks I agree that there's something I like better about RYM. They have a better support system and a more accessable community. Discogs just feels like a free-for-all. New things are only added to the database when someone wants to sell their copy. I've had to manually add half the things in my collection and it is hard work! It seems you can't just copy track-listings for sub-issues, you have to retype the whole damn thing + song credits. I am using both simultaneously right now because of the lists & tags I maintain in RYM. Discogs needs a lot of work.
Can you buy and sell music on RYM. I have used it for reviews but didn't realize you can archive your collection on there.
Use the "Copy to Draft" function available after you click on "Edit." You'll be able to port the relevant information to another entry and then add that to the master release. For the approximately ¼ of my collection that I have listed at Discogs: Minimum: $ 43,360.55 Median: $ 52,264.25 Maximum: $ 64,850.47 - with about 64 pages of entries with no sales history. But I noticed that sorting your collection this way doesn't count some sales - from as recently as April of this year - that are visible when you look at the sales history under the individual title.