Original issue CDs ever maintain value when reissued?

In the days of vinyl, original issues held (hold) a certain cachet. No matter how many times they reissue those Blue Note albums, in any format, the original issues are worth a ton. Same with the Velvet Underground, Beatles, and a zillion more you can think of.

That's not so with CDs. Although in these forums there tend to be people who look for certain original issue CDs (e.g. "Target CDs"), for the most part high price original issue CDs drop to next to nothing if/when reissued. I can't think of too many exceptions. There's the recalled Beatles "Abbey Road" on Toshiba that's still worth some good bucks (though not as many as at its peak)...What else?

Typical scenario: CD goes for $100 as out-of-print collectors item. CD gets reissued, with or without bonus tracks, and certainly differentiatable from the original issue. Original issue still drops to $10-15 (maybe, maybe less). No one cares...

Kwad

 

Heh. Wait until they start putting that remastered word on vinyl.

 

Great thread. I wonder about this myself. I collect first pressings on CD because many of them sound better than later issues and because they are rather rare. However, I wonder if they will prove to be a good long-term investment. I'm sure some discs will, but some probably will not for a variety of reasons (e.g., artist simply not in demand with collectors, availability of quality reissues, poor sound on the first pressing, plain design on the first-pressing disc label).

Regarding reissues, you have to think that Herb Alpert's catalog will be reissued on CD one of these days. What's going happen to the prices of the older CDs then? I think that they will fall through the floor. Perhaps if the reissues are no-noised, compressed, etc., then the originals will maintain value. In any event, I found an original Japanese pressing of Bullish in a used CD shop last weekend for $8. I'm waiting for the day when a Bullish reissue is available at Best Buy for $10.

 

Another example of an artist whose original cd's bring a premium price, despite having newer reissues on the market, is David Bowie. Those RCA cd's cost about the same as the Ryko cd's, even though the Ryko's have bonus tracks that the RCA's lack.

 

I've always said that if/when these reissues ever happen, the value for all the old CDs will drop like a lead weight. Funny, because I was made aware of a couple of eBay sellers that would buy up the CDs at ANY price, then immediately relist them on eBay, half.com or Amazon for outrageous prices. They are the ones that will get nailed if it happens.

Thing is, with these or other first issues, the majority of buyers don't know or care if the new ones sound worse or better--they'll assume "remastered" IS "better" and the price of the originals will drop, giving us a lot of nice deals.

 

Yeah.

Wait, isn't the CD supposed to be obsolete in 5 years? Hard to tell if their value will go the way of 8-tracks or vinyl.

 

8 tracks lose their value??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2596744481

 

Whoa! I stand corrected.

 

Man, that's INSANE. That's hardly the rarest quad 8-track set, either...

Sheesh...

Kwad

 

I think this is the highest sale value I have seen for a quad 8 track, other than the $700 for the UK Q8 of DSOTM, which today would probably go well over $1000.

:-jon

 

I have a sealed "Capitol Stereo" 8-track of Dark Side of the Moon. It's too bad that isn't worth $700-1000.