Entering the golden age of CD thrifting?

Agree with OP :thmbsp:
Consistently find an interesting variety of used CDs for $.50-$1.00 in my area.

Roger
 
Arkay said:
A second thought or two about this whole "CDs are the new-old vinyl" idea... Let's assume that yes, there are more CDs available now at cheap prices, than before. To that extent, cheap deals on discarded CDs are now out there, just as cheap deals on discarded vinyl were years ago.

BUT there are some differences:

1. A lot of the CDs are being discarded because people have backed them up on hard discs, and don't feel a need to keep a space-consuming physical version that no longer gets used. As long as those downloaded copies are on discs, they can be backed up, shared (uploaded/downloaded), copied, etc... more easily from the hard disc than from a CD disk. Demand has thus decreased, and isn't so likely to increase again.

2. A lot of people are now able to download the same titles they want, without having to go get a CD that also includes stuff they don't want. Quicker and easier than buying a physical product. Since the music quality is the same (for a redbook-standard download), the demand has decreased and is unlikely to increase.

3. The quality of downloads and digital formats is going up. We're getting higher-resolution recordings than redbook. Demand for redbook standard recordings will decrease, as more titles become available in better formats. This will apply across the board, to both physical discs and downloads.

Which leads us directly to the big difference between CDs today and LPs twenty years ago: LPs had superior sound to what replaced them. People have "rediscovered" vinyl in recent years, because it SOUNDS BETTER than most of the average-quality CDs that people have been listening to.

This will NOT happen with CDs, however. Digital recordings are getting better. More and more downloads are high-resolution, rather than just redbook, and playback gear increasingly features upscaling and higher-quality processing. At no point in the future are people likely to suddenly say, "Oh, these old CDs sound better!" because they won't sound better (as vinyl did/does); they will actually sound worse. Better than MP3s, yes, but downloads are increasingly of a better standard than MP3s, and by the time this all goes full cycle, CDs just won't sound better; they'll sound worse than what's in the market at that time.

CDs today are the 8-tracks of the future, not the LPs of the future.

But for those of us who still want to play/enjoy/hear them, they're increasingly a bargain! I would not recommend stockpiling them to make a future killing, as one might have with vinyl purchases. I would say it's a great chance to acquire new music at an affordable price. Download them and then decide whether to keep the discs or not. The value lies now in the music, regardless of format. Not true of vinyl, which sounds different and which cannot be copied, transferred, duplicated, etc... (without changing its nature).
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There is some truth here but I disagree with a lot of it. First of all it is still pretty rare to find downloads that are equal to red book, let alone hirez. And there is a TON of stuff out there that's never going to be reissued in hi Rez.
 
Not at the thrifts around me. CDs are usually missing from the cases or very undesireables such as boy bands, etc.
For me I do well at Amazon and have been picking used CDs up from them for long time. I am seeing more at around a buck or two that I usually spend per. Sure I pay a couple of bucks for shipping, but I'm getting some hard to find titles and all in VG to near new condition.
 
Given that the reason I never gave up LPs was that they were the cheapest way to acquire music, I'd say CDs have for me become the new LPs. I buy more CDs than ever now, because they're cheap. There is no loss in sound quality in CDs as compared to LPs in my system. I have a very capable CD player. And if what I really want is files for the DAC or the portable player, I'd rather rip the whole album from a 2-dollar used CD than download 2 songs.
 
Bob_in_OKC said:
I buy more CDs than ever now, because they're cheap.
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Me too, and also because it's the only way to get the majority of the music I'm actually looking for. Of course this means I do the majority of my CD shopping online, but considering the prices, sometimes I might just as well be in a thrift store.

Bob_in_OKC said:
There is no loss in sound quality in CDs as compared to LPs in my system.
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Pretty much the same here because:

Bob_in_OKC said:
I have a very capable CD player.
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That's the big one. Not only are people abandoning CDs, they're abandoning their CD players. Of course we, being audiophiles, are only interested in the "performance" CD players, but it's not like there's any shortage of those on the used market.

Despite what some people believe, I think there could be a sort of CD Renaissance years from now. It would likely be a somewhat older crowd, those of us who grew up with CDs being the main medium for playing music. All the theories about convenience and potentially better sound quality are sort of beside the point in this scenario, because these theoretical renewed CD fans would likely either never have completely gotten aboard the digital file playback train, or they could be sick of it, and ready to go back to a physical medium again.
 
I've been buyinng CD's at value village for about a year & a half. Price has gone from $1.99 to $2.99, They seem to be building inventory lately and on a good day I'll grab 4 , 5 or more,, some days none that intrest me..

Sally Anne is still .99c, but they don't seem to have as many disks.

I always check that the right disk is in the case, and that it's not too mangled. Probably bought close to 100 in the last 18 months or so and only ended up with 1 dud out of the batch.
 
noise gate said:
I've been buyinng CD's at value village for about a year & a half. Price has gone from $1.99 to $2.99, They seem to be building inventory lately and on a good day I'll grab 4 , 5 or more,, some days none that intrest me..

Sally Anne is still .99c, but they don't seem to have as many disks.

I always check that the right disk is in the case, and that it's not too mangled. Probably bought close to 100 in the last 18 months or so and only ended up with 1 dud out of the batch.
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Out of curiosity - which genres/types of music are you buying?
 
While the death knell of the CD has been sounded many times, the fact is that there have been cheap CDs out there for a long time. When CD writers became common I knew many people who copied all their CDs and sold them. Ditto for MP3s (I knew one kid in high school who dumped all his CDs for 128kbps MP3s!)

Back in the late 90s early 2000s in Albany, NY there was a great FYE store in the Colonie Center Mall. It had a nice arcade in the back that was sadly taken out but it was replaced with huge bins of used CDs that I assume were from other FYEs. (FYE's parent company is based in Albany so I wouldn't be surprised.) I remember my brother buying stacks and stacks of CDs for $1 each!

Sadly, the FYE no longer has that clearance outlet but their online sister Second Spin has some good deals at times (I picked up "The French Touch" Living Stereo CD for $8 recently.) Amazon used and new often has great CDs for less than $5.

Goodwill / Salvation Army can be VERY hit or miss; mostly miss. I've picked up some decent classical titles there but had to wade through a lot of A*Teens and other crap that no one wants.

Other good news is that new CDs aren't $15-20 like they used to be; at least not what I'm buying any way. It's nice to be able to pick up some great new releases for $10 or less.
 
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I too am finding good inexpensive cd's pretty much all over. GW, thrift stores, record/book stores and even the large chains with their bargain bins, the quality is improving. I do wonder if it is because people are picking up either downloads or better quality cds. Or if it is just that they have been around long enough to evolve there.
 
I spent alot of money

on a decent CD player that makes the music enjoyable to listen to. I grew up on vinyl and lets just say the stereo's i listened to were not the greatest, although they sounded great when i was high :D I prefer vinyl but my cd's sound great running through tubes too.
Anyway the prices around here are up or down,depending on what thrifts I go to. I also buy used stuff from Amazon and in the last 3 months cd's that were listed as used came sealed,new. Some kind of contractual thing,if it's a cut out it has to listed as used. The music stores i go to have a 3.00 section and i always peruse it and find some stuff in there. I think the last score anyway money and great sounding cd bargin was Stan Ridgway / Misquetos an oop selection for a quarter. :thmbsp: As far as a wider selection I haven't noticed at thrifts but in used music stores the prices in Ca. have dropped from 8.99 used to 6 or 7 but promo's are staying the same and in some instance have gone up 2.00.
 
Nope, have not found any CD's worth buying. Mostly the usual Gangsta Rap, Taylor Dayne, Michael Bolton, the usual stuff. Been buying mostly records.
 
soundboy said:
The mainland Chinese CD collectors are driving the prices of early Hong Kong CDs sky high, with prices of US$500 - US$1,000 at the high end. Not to mention the relative rarity of each early CD titles (anywhere between 500 - 1,500 discs pressed) keep the values high.
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I wonder if that's why a lot of Hong Kong records I try to collect are so damn expensive. It's not easy collecting Sam Hui or Teresa Teng. Grace Chang? Forget it kid!

One genre of CDs that seems under-represented at thrift stores is classical. I have no problem finding Classical records but for some reason the CDs don't show up as much. I guess people hang on to their classical CDs and don't rip or rebuy them as digital.
 
A fully Modified Modwright

Mr. Lin said:
And that is... ?
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Sony 999es. It has the tubes,and the clock replacement,full bybee. I bought it used @ a bargin. Love the presentation,it doesn't throw as huge of a sounstage as my analog front end but Oracle's excell in this area.
 
Battra92 said:
I wonder if that's why a lot of Hong Kong records I try to collect are so damn expensive. It's not easy collecting Sam Hui or Teresa Teng. Grace Chang? Forget it kid!
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If you are collecting Teresa Teng, then you are up against some rich competition from the Chinese mainland. Better save up some serious coins. Chinese audiophiles like her so much that a Chinese music company hired Mark Levinson, the man, to remaster her music (I confirmed that with MK at his Red Rose Music).

Sam Hui's stuff is very undervalued, IMHO, given that he's probably the most important musical figure in Chinese pop music in the last 50 years. But he's more of a regional favorite since he only recorded in Cantonese (and English).

Battra92 said:
One genre of CDs that seems under-represented at thrift stores is classical. I have no problem finding Classical records but for some reason the CDs don't show up as much. I guess people hang on to their classical CDs and don't rip or rebuy them as digital.
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Classical listeners tends to be older and not so quickly in giving up on CD yet.

Btw, I highly recommend looking for collectible CDs at library book sales and estate sales.
 
soundboy said:
If you are collecting Teresa Teng, then you are up against some rich competition from the Chinese mainland. Better save up some serious coins. Chinese audiophiles like her so much that a Chinese music company hired Mark Levinson, the man, to remaster her music (I confirmed that with MK at his Red Rose Music).
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Well, gosh darn it who doesn't like Teresa Teng? I discovered her via a cassette tape my dad found at a library sale when I was a kid. He knew I was into music in other languages and gave me to me. The tape is a bit worn out now, I'm afraid. Anything else of hers I have is just digital files. :(

I swear it'd be cheaper to collect mono Parlophone Beatles albums than Teresa Teng.

I'd buy a well mastered CD boxset of her stuff. Heck, there probably is somewhere a great set but I'm so out of that loop (I bought most of my Canto/Mandarin Pop records years ago! ) I wouldn't know.

Sam Hui's stuff is very undervalued, IMHO, given that he's probably the most important musical figure in Chinese pop music in the last 50 years. But he's more of a regional favorite since he only recorded in Cantonese (and English).
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I have a hard time finding his stuff in good condition. Plus shipping from Hong Kong is usually the killer.

I do own a few albums on CD (even one groovy MiniLP of The Private Eyes) Good stuff!
 
Battra92 said:
I'd buy a well mastered CD boxset of her stuff. Heck, there probably is somewhere a great set but I'm so out of that loop (I bought most of my Canto/Mandarin Pop records years ago! ) I wouldn't know.
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There was a boxset released earlier this year of her albums released in Taiwan (in the mini LP format) but they were quick snapped up. Have you tried yesasia.com? They offer free shipping.

Hong Kong Universal Music just released a new 3 CD version of Teresa Teng's 1982 concerts at Queen Elizabeth Arena. It is remastered and remixed from the original master tapes of individual tracks, which were rumored to be destroyed in a huge fire that engulfed HK PolyGram's master tape vault and recording studios about 15 years ago. By all acounts, it's a major upgrade from previous versions. You may want to look into that. Here's a blog entry that has youtube videos and pics of the new concert boxset.

I seriously doubt you will find any Canto/Mandain pop CDs at your typical swap meet or estate sale though. On the other hand, I've found some interesting CDs at my local Salvation Army store.
 
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I thought it was a PITA trying to remember my LP's and not accidentally buy dups. I'm already up to a good 30 or so CD dups from snagging up the discounts and sorting it out later.
 
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