Resale value of standard CDs

I sold a bunch of CD's to a local CD Warehouse just last Saturday - I got $2 a piece for some and $3 a piece for others. And the offer was the same whether it was merchandise or cash. I was quite happy with that.

 

These must have been above average titles.

I think above average titles will continue to hold some value. Above average is not hot sellers of course.

I flipped 750 CDs on amazon over the last 12 months. Many $19.99 to $49.99. I had a few $59.99 to $89.99. Many of these are classical imports on odd labels like Wergo, Finlandia, Erato, Koch/Schwan, Gallo, Argo, Melodiya, Hungarotone, Orfeo, & Aurora.

So the best rarest of the imports should hold their value for a while, I'm thinking ten years or so... maybe longer.

Sometimes when I have a rare CD and I need to look up what others are selling the item for in order to price mine competitively, I'll see everyone out of stock on that title, and then I'll also see a download for a FLAC of the CD for free. So that tells me that yes, the CD is rare, but it's desirability may not last forever.

I back up everything I sell btw.

 

I have purchased CDs at garage sales I understand were loaded onto music servers or portable players so I believe this is very common and a big reason CD prices are so low.

 

I'm sure the CD Warehouse guy thought so. They were all items that I now have better vinyl or digital versions of - two 1996 Sabbath remasters, a couple 90's Rainbow remasters, Let It Be Naked, stuff like that. Can't remember half of them now!

I don't back up anything. When they're gone, they're gone.

 

A store owner I know who's been in the business for 30 years said int he early 1980's it was 10% cd, then in the early 1990's it was 90% cd and now it's back to 10% cd. Vinyl was 90% then 10% and now back up to 90%.

I've slightly oversimplified the percentages, but you get the point.

I've had an ongoing debate for the past couple years whether or not cds wll have even an mild ressurgance. People like owning somehitng tangible they can play anywhere and more and more notable titles are slipping out of print likely never to have any kind physical release again. Many people don't like the "concept" of owning something on a hard drive and all capability issues between computer formats.

 

You'LL get a merit badge from the SH Legal Eagles for that!

 

Nothing sad about it.
I love it!

 

You must live in some alternate reality.
Around here, vinyl is virtually all they will take.

 

Vinyl is NOT clutter!
That attitude is offensive.

 

All this jabbering about things holding that value is a non-starter for me.
If you are a collectibles speculator then maybe it's a concern.
If you are a music lover and plan to spin those platters and listen to those CDs then their value to you will hold indefinitely.

 

As interesting as it is to see a woman's ****** swallow a fist or two I'd rather look at a pile of records on an ongoing basis.

But you are right almost everything is available via download somewhere. Not always in lossless though.

 

I think you're partially right, but when downloads are 99 cents per song, or 8.99 per album and CDs are 18.99 per album people will buy the downloads. I also think that if they were to drop CD prices to match the download prices, they'd suddenly start selling a boatload more CDs, again. As a bonus they could throw the "official" MP3s in a folder on the CD so users could just copy them into iTunes without ripping and encoding the material themselves.

Then, just market the CDs as a tangible alternative to the download, an item that you can save and keep and play on multiple players, and most notably... keep as a backup in case your HD fails and you lose all those other crap MP3s that you only bought as a download.

Those are small steps to take, but I honestly believe they are steps that could save the CD as a software medium for music, if any of the majors would implement the changes.

 

My approach to the whole thing is probably counterintuitive to how most people view it - I have a few hundred CD's and only rip the ones that I want to listen to on my portable device, and I'd rather have a few more CDs on the rack than one more gigabyte used up on my computer. Plus, if I'm going to get rid of a CD, it's because I'm probably just never likely to listen to it again, so there's really no point to ripping it. If I like it well enough to rip it, I might as well keep it. For example, I have the Deluxe Edition of the self titled Black Sabbath album, and I have it ripped to FLAC. One of the CD's I sold was the 1996 Castle remaster of the same title. No reason to keep it. If I had the 80's Castle remaster, I just wouldn't sell it.

Never sell the good stuff. That's my motto.

 

What if it was a pile of records rather than a fist or two??

I'm bad, I couldn't help myself. Dirty mind.......

 

For run-of-the-mill CD's (aka "standard CD's"), I average a trade-in value of $2/disc at my local Record The Exchange chain. Five years ago I averaged $3/disc in trade value.

That's more than I get if they sit in a box collecting dust in perpetuity.

 

It's a good crowd here, no ripping, trading, or smoking, a safe family type joint.

 

That comment was off the wall, eddiel. No need for it.

 

I cannot believe it was not removed

 

Same here.

 

In the Phoenix area, vinyl is more in demand than CDs. I typically trade CDs into Zia, as they do better on trade than cash. I do not think the FYEs in town will pay for CDs anymore. Maybe that is why their inventory sucks now? Half Price is the reverse, as they will only purchase items, often at a pittance.

 

Any of the 70s and 80s EMI UK CDs are well worth keeping, because even the major EMI artists of that era are mostly out of print.

 

I decided to take some CDs over to Half Price last night to see what they would give me. All four CDs were from mainstream artists, including a Beatles CD. Two were in nice shape, and two were more along the lines of what they typically have there, but still not too bad. They offered 50 cents per CD. At those amounts, it is almost a miracle they get any good CDs in at all.