Owning rare CDs (1 Viewer)

[Carl Miller]

I have two Billy Squier CD's that I bought a long time ago which now each sell for $40+ last I saw...unless they've since been reissued. I didn't think there would be enough Billy Squier fans to drive his CD's past $5.

 

[Robin_B]

It's hard to know exactly how rare some CD's are. Even when you try to see how much they're selling for you can get a wide variety of prices.

Some what I think are pretty rare CD's in my collection include

The Colourfield - Virgins & Philistines
The Adventures - Theodore & Friends
Jefferson Starship - Nuclear Furniture

 

[Ruz-El]

I've taken to file-sharing networks like Limewire and Shareaza to download albums. I've gotten some good stuff off Limewire, like the "Weird" Al Yankovic/Wendy Carlos version of "Peter And The Wolf" and Neil Young's synth album "Trans".

I've also gotten some rare stuff by bands like Pink Floyd, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

I do this all the time as well.

 

[TonyD]

i heard sass jordan on sirius radio last month
she was promoing a new album.

turns out one of her older records is long out of print.

glad i have it.

Racine.


i have prince's black album on vinyl and plastic(cd)

 

[Buzz Foster]

I have the original Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" CD. "Speaking in Tongues" was the first disc I bought.

 

[dany]

I've been buying OOP DCC's and MFSL cds so they will only go up in price.

 

[Ron Reda]

I have also (years ago) but was wondering if titles such as "Dark Side of the Moon" will go up since the new SACD smokes it in terms of audio quality.

BTW, nice pic in your sig...who is that???

 

[Chris Gerhard]

So far it seems the high quality CD's like DCC and MFSL seem to be worth more than the SACD or DVD-A. The "Dark Side of the Moon" SACD is pretty cheap used, I recently bought a second one. That may also be impacted by the free DVD-A download. There is also the Crest cracker issue with the US version of the SACD so I don't know if that one is really a good one to compare. The highly rated CD and vinyl versions are much higher for whatever reason. I think the SACD is best version I have ever heard.

Only time will tell if the rare SACD and DVD-A discs will have any value long term. Most regular issue CD's are practically worthless now and high resolution discs are hit or miss as far as value.

Chris

 

[dany]

Not when they are OOP and are collectable.

 

[Ron Reda]

Hmm, that could bode well for me...I went on a tear a few years back and bought a TON of MFSL Gold CDs off eBay and the like. I have about 80 of them including the one rare SACD title that they put out before they originally went out of business. It was Duke Ellington's "Blues In Orbit."

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/yaratn...nd_labs_sacds/

 

[dany]

Some are going for well over 100 bucks like Tull's Living in the past or Org Masters.

 

[KevinJ]

Living in the past's going for $197.18 btw[makes me glad i found one locally several years ago for around $30-40].

 

[John_Lee]

Only two I can think of.
One was only valuable locally, Pointessentials Volume One. A local St. Louis 'progressive' radio station put out a CD of local music, right around the time that bands like Wilco, Gravity Kills and The Urge all on the CD] were blowing up. Bought it for 4.95 the day it came out, sold out the next day. Selling for $50+ soon thereafter.
The other is my beloved Jazz at the Pawnshop.
I still have 2 copies [I won them in a contest at a local music store], of a [then] limited edition [only 50 copies] of Pearl Jam Live at Soldier Field. Pearl Jam subsequently released this wide and cheap.

 

[Greg_S_H]

A local radio station put out a "live in the studio" CD that I wanted but didn't get. The station's been dead for a long time now, and I'm guessing the CD would be really hard to come by. It wasn't even readily available at the time. The reason I wanted it was a killer version of "Never Going Back Again" by Lindsey Buckingham. Fortunately, another "live, acoustic" version is available on another station's CD. Or, it was a couple of years ago when I looked. That version was very similar to the local one, but I got used to the local performance and would like to have it.

Another CD I missed out on was a western CD by a guy named Hi Busse. It was produced in very limited numbers for direct sales from a specific website. I don't even know that the price would have skyrocketed. It's more a matter of so few of them being on the market that it would be almost impossible to find. The type of people who would buy it probably wouldn't sell it.

The few times I've thought of speculating, I've been wrong. There was a limited release of the Searchers score, and I've seen it on eBay for not much more than the original asking price. On the other hand, a guy in Europe made an Airwolf soundtrack. He wanted $50 for it, and it was going for anywhere between $125 and $500 while it was still available from his store! He posted screenshots of those bids to encourage speculation, and I saw some of those outrageous auctions myself. I didn't end up even buying one for $50, but he is now going to make it available on iTunes or another online service.

I've seen plenty of that kind of thing--out-of-control auctions for an item available at cover price if you know where to look. Al Stewart put out a CD of demos and B-sides, and it was going in the $100 range. I checked with the Al Stewart mailing list--the named target audience of the release--and found out it was being sold "off the books" for $18 by an online vendor. That was another one I could possibly have done some speculating of my own with, but I just bought the one copy. They were actually down to the last handful when I got in.

Finally, there's a CD by a guy named Red Steagall that has been going in the $70 to $90 range. It's been put back into print, so I guess all of that is over. It's funny how quickly these things can lose value. There's a premium on first printings in the book and comic book realms, but I don't think it holds for music CDs unless there was something significantly better about the earlier printing. One thing that comes to mind is Huey Lewis's Sports, which has reportedly had a rather botched remastering job on the current print.

 

[Danny Tse]

I just realized my CD of "Rushes" by the fireman (some guy aka Paul McCartney ) is commanding about $40.00+ on ebay. I don't even listen to it....I am very tempted to get rid of it.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

If I had a CD I listened to that was worth $40, I would sell it. I don't feel any attachment to CD's. My high resolution discs I have gone to the trouble to list in a spreadsheet so I can keep track of them, but even those aren't possessions I value greatly. With thousands of CD's selling everyday on eBay at $2, I don't even bother with trying to sell the ones I don't listen to, it is hardly worth the walk to the mailbox after eBay and PayPal fees. I do use eBay to buy ones I want at bargain prices.

Chris

 

[dany]

So you dont care how your music sounds? Thats fine,wanta sell anything?

 

[TheLongshot]

A band I was suprised to find was out of print was The Traveling Wilburys. The used CD shops usually know what they have and mark it up.

I should have bought more MFSL CDs when I was still finding them on a regular basis at used CD shops. Even with the markup in comparison to other CDs, it would have been worth it. Of the two I have, I'm probably going to sell my copy of Elton John's Madman Across The Water, since I have the SACD now. I'm keeping my copy of Pink Floyd's Meddle, tho.

The problem with speculating is that you never know when a CD will be rereleased. I bought a used copy of Toy Matinee from someone some time ago, and the CD was rereleased with bonus tracks a few years ago. Same with Echolyn's "Suffocating The Bloom".

Jason

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I certainly care, that is why I own over 300 high resolution discs and around the same number of CD's. I have checked eBay and almost all of my CD's are practically worthless, most sell routinely for $2. I purchased most of them from yourmusic.com or used stores so it is no surprise. A few of the SACD's and DVD-A's are worth about retail now, so the value of those is much better but certainly nothing brings the $40 and above prices. Of my 800 discs including DVD-V's only a few are worth more than $20.

Chris

 

[dany]

Makes a difference if they are OOP. Most Remasters CDs are worthless. Example,i just bought the MFSL of The Who,Quad for $55 a few months ago. EX+ with the org. box and booklet the cases came in. I know i can get 100 bucks for it. Been OOP for a long time.