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CDs, rarity and value

When Stuart Robertson mentioned in his post on Steel MIll, the rising cost of that CD after only five years, it got me thinking. We usually think 'vinyl' is record collecting. CDs have always been regarded disparagingly by comparison (as 'silver drinks mats' etc). Remember how they were always warned against as being untrustworthy because who knows if the discs won't decay within a few years and be unplayable - unlike vinyl with its proven playability even after many years.

True, earlier CDs did sometimes suffer from the way they were laquered or finished. I've had one or two where the play side has turned into 'crazy paving' after some years and rendered the disc unplayable and I've heard of laquer peeling off older CDs. I had several once wher the play side turned 'bronze' even theough the were still playable. I think by now though enough time has passed, especially with CDs increasingly pointed to as being as outdated as a manual typewriter, for them to be re-appraised.

I know Stuart has a vast collection of CDs and I can barely find room for new ones myself. But are they collectible? Does anyone collect CD singles? I love box sets of CD singles or albums, but I don't think I would collect original individual CD singles in slimline jewel cases. They always seem cheap on ebay and often offered in bulk.

There again, I paid £16 for a 2005 CD reissue of Sweet's 'Desolation Boulevard' album two days ago because it had a lot of bonus tracks not on the previous 1999 reissue which could be got for five or six quid. Obviously box sets will be expensive to buy just because of what they are, but I've noticed albums like Madness's 'The Madness' as they were called briefly selling for £20+ even though the CD dates from 1988 because it has never been reissued (due to a dispute over who owns the rights). The beautiful orchestrated pop compilation CD 'Tea & Symphony' collated by Bob Stanley, has often sold for £70+, though one sold last week on eBay for just £20.

So, are CDs as collectible as vinyl? What's the most you have ever paid for or sold a CD for? Do you valueyour CD collection as much or more or less as your vinyl? I'd be interested to know asnd for opinions.

PM

Re: CDs, rarity and value

Hi Paul,

as someone who buys and occasionally sells CDs a few points come to mind. Rare is beautiful, some CDs were made in limited runs and the hard to find items do go for higher prices. This is a little nuts as most if not all of this is available to download somewhere on the net but if you want the tangible item and not its ghost on your laptop be prepared to pay. I bought the Aubrey Small cd (a boot I think) for 20 euro 2nd hand. It had little in the way of liners and I was disappointed by the packaging- however the music was top class. I was never going to buy the LP reissue as I don't like "new" vinyl. So maybe I didn't do too well but its still a rare item and if I wanted to sell it (never) then I think I'd get my money back.


Most Cds don't sell for big amounts except on Amazon where they are listed for ridiculous prices. Rare CDs listed for auction on ebay rarely reach the prices listed on Amazon in my experience. I do wonder if they actually sell for those prices - its always worth checking against ebay etc. when looking for something rare. I do miss GEMM for this.

As for condition - I've never had a cd that deteriorated- true I did buy a few that skipped or just wouldn't play from new but when you compare this to Vinyl there is no comparison!

Re: CDs, rarity and value

As with vinyl reissues I don't think of CDs as valuable really. I always think of the Rubble LPs which actually became quite rare prior to their reissue and now the originals are worth not much more than the reissues. So a reissue on vinyl or CD will only be valueable until it is reissued again, whereas original vinyl are historical artifacts and often continue to rise however often they are reissued.

Re: CDs, rarity and value

I also can report no deterioration in my Cd's. I try and not pay over £15 for a CD but the following transgressions come to mind.....Juniors Eyes Battersea on Sanctuary with the bonus - £25, now available as a 2 disc set on Esoteric at half the price of course.
£25 for the 1st Shapes & Sounds BBC sessions on Top Sounds.
£30 for both Liverpool Five albums on one CD....that one is not even listed on amazon at the mo, there's a best of that someone's asking £75 for!
£30 for ABC Paramount Northern Soul Story Vol 1 - this one I had been watching for ages on Amazon, always just 1 for sale at the same price. Sometimes, you know how it is, you do ebay, discogs and every search result you find to get the same 'currently unavailable'. It then becomes apparent that perhaps this is the only copy for sale on line and if you want it you gotta take the hit. I had told myself no way I was gonna pay that price when it occurred that if it was as fine a comp as the Vol 2 I owned, then its really only £1 a track and perhaps I should just get it.
It gets interesting in that all of a sudden it had become unavailable on amazon along with a few other pricey rarities from the same seller....I had a theory which turned out to be right that the seller had made them all appear unavailable to create a sense of disappointment in anyone who had been watching them....Worked a treat on me, I was kicking myself for being so stingy and a few days later when it, along with the other listings suddenly reappeared, I was happy to click buy!

I rarely pay anything near that and figure it balances out with all the cheapo cds I pick up.
Paul, I have I think , about the first six Sweet albums on CD and that involved having to buy different editions to get everything...they were not cheap at all, as you've pointed out before, they could really do with a box set.

I'm grateful for the CD format that allows me to own a huge amount of impossibly rare records that I could never hope to own on vinyl.

Re: CDs, rarity and value

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts up here everyone, I recognise all the values and thoughts you describe myself. Definitely Paintermna's self-rationalisation of spending a lot on a CD! Speaking of which, re the Sweet - there is acually a 5 x CD mini LP CD box set coming out of Sweet in Japan on May 25th although it does not include either 'Fanny Adams' or 'Desolation Boulevard' which is why I bought the 2 x 2005 jewel cased editions of those. I have to confess to pre-ordering it from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SWEET-Japan-MINI-LP-SHM-CD-x-5-titles-PROMO-BOX-set-/401115182874?hash=item5d6453f71a

There's also a 2 x CD expanded edtition of their studio / live comp 'Strung Up' (24 treacks) due out soon here as well.

I think CDs are great if they are packaged and presented well. I like your description Paul, of the downloads as 'ghosts'! I love the ideal of vinyl especially original vinyl but the space they take and weight of them collectively have out-stripped my capacity to add any more to my creaking floorbards although I weaken if it's somthing I really can't do without.

You may have seen in recent years the US college circuit fad of cassete tape albums as a cheap way for new artists to get their music out, though how many tape players people still have must be relatively small, mine's knackered that's for sure. It's interesting that in an age of the intangible (music as invisible in the eather), the physicality it used to be defined by is being re-discovered even if on the scale in musical equivilence of a micro-brewery.

Please post more thoughts and opinions if you have them, thanks.

Re: CDs, rarity and value

Great values... till a new reissue comes out!
I saw the Bill Fay reissues on SFM around 100 euro, same for Tim BUckley straight albums...

Anyway still waiting for a few reissues, like Joan Armatrading Back To The Night (issued on CD only once almost 30 years ago!), or the first Pugwash CDs

Re: CDs, rarity and value

Hi Guys,First off i have not had a record player for many many years,i dont download music from the internet,and yes as you've probably guessed i only buy cds,i just can not see the enjoyment in downloading hundreds of songs from the internet onto an mp3 player or some other medium.I like to have the actual product in my hands,and if the cd has a booklet etc,i am pretty anal about listening to the music while reading the liners etc and hopefully the booklet features photos etc,this is all things i love about cds and their packaging,which it seems very few vinyl reissues have to the extent you get in a cd booklet,but i maybe wrong,if so correct me.Can i also say the quality of cds and the technology that goes into them has vastly improved in recent years,so cds from 20 years ago compared to now,there really is no comparison,the older ones can sound really muddy compared to now.I will admit you do lose a lot of the impact of the artwork on a cd compared to 12"vinyl album,particularly on some of the psych albums where in some cases the artwork was part of the psychedelic experience!!

Im glad Paul mentioned about the packaging of cds,particularly jewel cases,thankfully i am seeing more and more cd reissues coming in digipack and other form of packaging,i really dont mind jewel cases that much,but its good to see that the packaging is updating itself just like the sound quality of cds have.I find that smaller labels like Revola,Sundazed,RPM,Rise Above Relics,Now Sounds and more put more effort into their products more than the big labels do,its taken many years for the biggies to actually realise that back catalogues of many of the acts that recorded and where released by them are worth that effort to give the fans something worthwhile buying,but they are years behind a label like Sundazed for example,a label like EMI took many years to update and repackage 2 massive bands back catalogue of Pink Floyd and The Beatles for example,as for the Rolling Stones back catalogue issued on cd,piss poor in my opinion,the labels or as seems to be the case now are owned by massive multi conglomerates,thats why we as music lovers have got to back the small indie labels and their limited resources,i cant understand why if an album has been legit reissued on cd say by Now Sounds for example,why as a music lover who should care about the music and effort to get it released would rather find it for free on the internet??That to me is out of order and thats why small labels are going under!!!!Now Sounds cds usually are in the price range of £7.99 or even less,while Beatles and Floyd cd reissues for example sell for around a tenner.In my opiinion the major labels have been ripping music lovers off for many years by bagging big profits for little effort or thought into their product.

Anyway i've went a bit off topic,sorry,back to cds,i have NEVER had a cd go mouldy or discolour or lose its punch,even cds ive had for 20 odd years sound the same as when i first bought it.Does the sound on a vinyl record after many years of being played lose its punch or does the quality of the sound deteriate??I have never known of a cd to deteriate even after hundreds of plays through many years.Im just talking about my own experience,maybe others have heard a deteriation on the sound quality on their cds!!

Anyway i have really waffled on a bit here,i hope ive not bored you all to tears with my rambling,but i feel cds will be around for quite a while and longer than people think,remember vinyl was predicted to vanish many years ago,but here we are in 2016 and the sale of vinyl has actually shot up.

Thanks for listening!!

Re: CDs, rarity and value

Pretty much summed up already here. There are definitely some pretty valuable cd's going now. Some, like vinyl only had limited releases or pressings(do cds have pressings)so are now , just like vinyl, collectible and hard to come by.

I collect both vinyl and cd and it depends on the era, the band and the release which I'll go for. If it's something with extra tracks by a band I really like I'll get the cd. Often I might already have the original vinyl.