Why are CDs the current hot topic?

[M70AB2]

I loved FYE. They would have a well-stocked Metal CD section.

But one by one, they started closing. Nashville was gone years ago, Decatur, Alabama, Chattanooga, Tennessee, pretty sure Panama City Beach — gone. Butler, Pennsylvania FYE is gone and the mall — Clearview Mall is like a set for “The Omega Man.”

I remember heading to the Butler store and being unpleasantly surprised that it was now a Toys For Tots storage, which years later, still is.

Also gone — Bridgeport, West Virginia.

 

[M70AB2]

Disk Union in Tokyo is easily one of the best stores I have ever been to.

I also love The Rhythm Section in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

 

[bluesky]

Outstanding M- CDs are so cheap now - it's crazy. I must have at least 20 albums that I haven't even heard yet. It might be 40+???
It's a ' Cornucopia Bonanza ' on outstanding CD albums. It's overwhelming really. So many jumping off. It's unreal.

I could go out tomorrow afternoon and come home with 20 more super great CDs for $35.

That's pretty darn HOT if you love music and are a 'collector'!! To me... this IS the AGE of CDs.

 

[tourmax]

Get ‘em while you can because if they experience even half a revival like vinyl has, prices will get really silly, really fast.

Not just the media, the gear too. Used to be you’d be tripping over single and 5 cd carosel players in the thrift stores here. They couldn’t get rid of them even at 5 bucks. Now, you’re lucky if you see any at all that aren’t in those “all in one” units.

I’m already seeing used prices creeping up (albeit slowly) locally and there are several rabid “collectors” here who routinely strip the thrift stores of any thing besides country and western or those “cheapo” compilation discs.

I managed to be there once before a couple other of those guys and snagged some things like some good zepplin, pink floyd, april wine, etc. They were checking out my cart as I was still looking at the stacks and you would think I had just hauled off and backhanded their mother across the lips by the hateful glares they were giving me…I just happened to be in the right place at the right time is all.

 

[M70AB2]

Local Goodwill is mainly garbage.

 

[bluesky]

Local Goodwill is mainly garbage.

It all depends on where you go or the specific GW(s) you frequent - the 'neighborhood'.

It's a 'gold mine' down here SW Fla., in everything. If you frequent the GWs, which I do & find fun & enjoyable really, you get good at it, in and out, don't look for anything 'specific' but quick scan everything - it's outrageous what you find. But I always check out the CDs and LPs first - of course.

One of my most recent finds: 20 M- super titled CDs & two outstanding M- rock LPs, and... a really nice, new with tags, grey colored, John Varvatos thin polo shirt ... $6. It was just hanging there with the tags on it. Guess it was waiting for me!!! That kinda did blow my mind. Not one of the many most expensive designer shirts that I've found but a nice everyday regular wear score for sure. Fits like a Varvatos dream. And it looks "Urban Camouflage". No one even 'sees' it.

It's just hard to find LPs now-a-days, like everywhere, but sometimes score, sometimes 4 or 6 - mostly M- actual vinyl Jazz. CDs are unreal, Outstanding titles. Even found three 24K golds. One time 4 M- Zappa CDs, GW, $8. Very Cool!! Puts a big smile on your face!

(NBC news) "SW Fla is the thrift store capital of USA". No doubt about it. Score every time. It fun!

 

[Mart Mccall]

I’m already seeing used prices creeping up (albeit slowly) locally and there are several rabid “collectors” here who routinely strip the thrift stores of any thing besides country and western or those “cheapo” compilation discs.

That's me. I've cleaned out all the ones round here, unless you want bad compilation albums, Tom Jones or Robbie Williams.

Need to start moving further afield now.

 

[intro6]

I loved FYE.

There's still an FYE maybe 15 miles from me and they do carry LPs & CDs, but most of the floor space is now taken up by other trendy, fad-type products. I remember it though back in the earlier days where one was much closer and almost entirely devoted to physical media like the chain record stores used to be. In that physical location, it had replaced Tower, which I liked even better.

Get ‘em while you can because if they experience even half a revival like vinyl has, prices will get really silly, really fast.

Yeah, I still believe there's a CD revival coming - it may already be here in it's early stages. It will not indiscriminately cause all CDs to go up in price however. The ones that do will be ones from popular artists whose output has maintained an ongoing desirability. Other ones going up will be, I believe, not-so-popular artists whose output has been produced in low numbers and are therefore much rarer. There are a good number of niche collectors that go after these CDs, like they have been with vinyl for years. But again, it depends on the artist.

Certain popular artists don't seem to be faring too well in this regard however. For example, a local store which sells used music has a bunch of used Barbra Streisand CDs which don't seem to be moving at all, I've noticed. It seems that her CDs are being unloaded to the store without there being any interested buyers. This is in contrast to so many other artists whose used CDs are noticeably continually being bought. Then of course, there are those racks of bargain discounted CDs from which something interesting only pops up once in a while, and which will probably pretty much never go up in value.

 

[M70AB2]

Some years ago, we went to the FYE in Huntsville, Alabama and it was as you describe.

There was still an FYE in Opry Mills mall a few years ago that had two bins of unsorted CDs. Bought a few CDs there.

Kind of regret buying the Whitesnake “Slide It In” CD. Stupid prurient sex lyrics and over-emoted maudlin vocals.

 

[M70AB2]

Claims they “decided to make [most] CDs sound bad.”

Very dramatic presentation here, like a Sunday School teacher talking to little kids.

 

[onwardjames]

The trend towards physical media is the same for vintage pickup trucks here in Kentucky.

People miss chrome, and purchasing something. Subscriptions and owning nothing are part of the "Great Reset" that nobody in the real world actually wants.

Hold on as long as you can, because we're at the end of the line as far as actual products being made and sold.

 

[Mart Mccall]

Claims they “decided to make [most] CDs sound bad.”

Very dramatic presentation here, like a Sunday School teacher talking to little kids.

Added to which most of what he says is nonsense.

 

[intro6]

Hold on as long as you can, because we're at the end of the line as far as actual products being made and sold.

That seems like what the big corporations would ideally like (it would save them those pesky distribution costs!), and may indeed be what ultimately arrives, but fortunately a certain portion of the younger generations have latched onto physical media, and that is something that will stay with them, I believe. So physical media will continue to remain with us for the foreseeable future, albeit at a much reduced level from the old days.

 

[unknownk]

Corporations are shooting themselves in the foot ditching physical media. If you don't get something physical for your money people will just pirate it.

 

[bergun]

The GE and SA in my area… Southern end of the Metro Seattle area, are beyond “suck level 10.” GW how places anything of value on the various auction sites for maximum profit for all the stuff that is donated… Honestly, I don’t blame them one bit, but I’ll not pay top dollar for the scraps they sell at their physical stores. The last time I was there looking for CDs, LPs, and DVDs, they had nothing, but I did notice several people, around the stores pricing various stuff on their phones, so I assumed they were flippers, but no hate on them either.

The days of $1 CDs and $3 for two DVDs are long over and it’s just the reality of the reality that people, especially the younger generations are getting into or back into physical media. There are several locations in the a Seattle that sell both new and used music and movies, but I’m not seeing their CD sections growing, but I’m not seeing them shrinking either, so that’s a good sign. I believe that individuals, mid 40s and down are seeing the benefits of actually owning something than just having access to it. Also, having so much access to “stuff” kind of numbs your senses and takes away some of that enjoyment from that special movie or album, in our day to day busy lives.

If you want a laugh, just look at people if they do not have an internet signal and how they’re handling their “device withdrawal” symptoms!! Being a tail-end Boomer, I even found myself becoming more attached to the net, so I’m making it a point to spend a t least 2-3 hours or more daily to actually reading an actual book, do a home improvement project or even build a plastic model kit, while listening to music or a movie, just to help me control my own addiction to the net.

On a side note, I think that the vinyl revival has hit its peak and with the cost of a new release or reissue, which are creeping to over $30 and much higher, this is actually pushing people back to CDs since they are more budget friendly, in the long run and easier to maintain and to pack and move, if necessary.

As a physical media collector, I can understand the attraction of having access to your “collections” over the internet and cloud storage, but I think people are again seeing the advantage of actually owning a physical copy of something. In my neighborhood, we will lose internet service once every few months for close to 8-12 hours and simply throwing a CD/DVD into a player or place an LP on the turntable and grabbing a book is comforting since life goes on, even when their is no internet service. Plus, I have powered digital TV antennas connected all the TVs in my house so we still have access to over the air channels without anny internet service.

 

[Schanz]

Local record shop owner told me that the good used vinyl supply (rock, blues) is drying up - at least for him. He's doing more business on CDs now.

 

[tourmax]

Local record shop owner told me that the good used vinyl supply (rock, blues) is drying up - at least for him. He's doing more business on CDs now.

Makes sense. There's a lot of old vinyl out there, but it's not an unlimited resource.

Couple that with the resurgence of CD's (nostalgia, sq, wanting to "own" something physical, whatever the reason) and a stocking more cd's just makes good business sense.

 

[DavidTT]

Makes sense. There's a lot of old vinyl out there, but it's not an unlimited resource.

Couple that with the resurgence of CD's (nostalgia, sq, wanting to "own" something physical, whatever the reason) and a stocking more cd's just makes good business sense.

I stopped by one of our local used record shops last week for the first time in five years and was surprised by the pretty awful selection and high prices. There were no mainstream rock/pop albums from the 1970s/80s that would have been plentiful when I got back into records 10-12 years ago. At that time I could go into a record store and load up with at least five or six excellent (to me) albums that were hits/mainstream back in the day and pay $15-25 bucks (or less). I filled out most of my 350-400 album 'collection' that way.

I would NEVER have gotten back into vinyl if I had to scrape for albums or pay even $10 per, on average. I can definitely see a peak, even an end, to the vinyl revival when guys like me age out or the prices and availability don't make sense for average listeners anymore.

I mean Genesis, Hall and Oates, Jethro Tull, Huey Lewis, Toto, Foreigner, Steely Dan, etc for a few bucks an album in good listenable condition? Hell yes! More than $10-15 per, or having to search far and wide for them, and I would probably be out before I got started.

 

[M70AB2]

Nothing too earth-shattering here, but I do enjoy his videos.

As an aside, any of you ever do this? My collection is so disorganized that I can’t find a particular CD. So I just ordered another.

On another note, last Sunday, went to a neighboring town to go to a delicatessen.

Afterwards, I wanted to hit a record store, but online, it said it was closed. Wife said to try anyway.

Owner was there going in and out. I asked if he was open and he opened the store for me.

Bought Killer Dwarfs, Lacuna Coil and a Paul Revere and The Raiders CD, the last of which, he gave to me for free.

Definitely has my business from now on.

 

[M70AB2]

Oh Good Lord. “Auric Illuminator”: Black marker and magic spray…