Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

but a scratched or ruined CD is permanent

If you take care of your CDs and avoid top scratches (on the label side, through the foil reflective layer, which takes effort to do) you can usually polish out the scratches if you have a local store with an Azuradisc machine, or you can send a batch to Azuradisc directly. We have a machine at work and I've resurrected many a scratched-to-shit Japanese hardcore CD purchased from crusty punx. Like my whole G.I.S.M. collection is stuff I got for a buck and polished to playability.

yeah Tarfumes, i used to go to that shop when i was in school, i lived two blocks from there. it was once located opposite of where it is now, and they sold records out of the basement then as well, but it was a dusty room lit by a single lightbulb with a couple dozen crates of seriously underpriced jazz, blues, and classic rock. not like the full size shop it is now.

I found things there that I never thought a) I'd ever see, and/or b) I'd ever be able to afford (e.g., original US The Who Sell Out for $10).

uh xxpost but real to reel cacophony is simple minds' second album and it's very good, in the unlikely chance that anyone bothered to think I was knocking it

That's cool to know the CD buffing machines work, I always wondered about that.

right, 2nd album it was a long day nerds!

sold a lot of records today...

and yeah their first album is kinda my least fave too since someone mentioned it. but still good. kinda in the same zone as that first japan album.

i don't think i've ever scratched a cd. i'm really careful with stuff though.

I somehow scratched the hell out of a brand new Christoph Heeman CD... ruined one whole track. I should have it buffed.

he's a pal of mine i could probably ask him to send you a new one.

he's nice like that.

I put a $3 DVD of the Roky Erickson doc You're Gonna Miss Me back on the thrift store shelf after deciding it was too scratched up to be trustworthy. Wonder if it works for DVDs.

Anyway, where is everyone getting their dirt-cheap CDs that have been repeatedly mentioned?

In addition to the places mentioned, there are a lot of smaller chain-style places that still deal in used books, music and movies. In Tennessee there's one called McKays, and there's another place (Southeast? Northeast?) called Half Price Books. These places usually sell CDs for a dollar, and I've found some great stuff over the years.

And Amazon is a goldmine for this stuff right now, even if you don't buy stuff used (many, many used CDs start at a penny, with $3.99 shipping). Over the past year I've stocked up on Creedence, Sonic Youth, Steely Dan, AC/DC, BB King, shit like that, for between $4.99 and $6.99. If you have Prime, shipping is free. As a few have already pointed out, this is cheaper than MP3s, and lossless, and you get a real booklet, liner notes, etc.

Amoeba is pretty great for bargain CDs, their dollar bin has a lot of gold. and generally speaking their regular used CD section is priced to move.

is freakbeat in LA good? was tempted to check it out on a work trip to LA last weekend but it would have involved a cab where Amoeba was only a 90 minute walk.

listening to the MFSL CD of Johnny Mathis's Heavenly. NOT GREAT. if you turn it up too loud all hell breaks loose. see, case by case.

Just found out the other day that these existed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elcaset

the DAT of its day.

"The Elcaset system was abandoned in 1980, when all the remaining systems were sold off in Finland."

oh tuomaspaws...

https://theedit.replyyes.com/

so many of these dumb things

as far as get rich slow schemes go there are probably better ways to spend your time.

"Thanks for feeding me good music on the regular, you take all the anxiety out of selecting what to buy next!"

— Steve

yeah it was pretty hard to know what to buy next before a site that labels Paul's Boutique with the album title of "Beastie Boys." but now i really feel like i ra friend in the record business.

er.. like i have a friend

"[Texting] is just a crazy visceral experience. It's a perfect fit for vinyl."

— Sarah

is freakbeat in LA good? was tempted to check it out on a work trip to LA last weekend but it would have involved a cab where Amoeba was only a 90 minute walk.

i don't know, it's pretty good if you're in the area but i don't want to promise that it's worth the trip. i've found some good deals there, though.

sarah's quote makes me insane. I saw that last week. texting is not a crazy visceral experience. it's not perfect for vinyl. every single word in that is wrong.

To be fair, texting is a crazy visceral experience and a perfect fit for Vinyl, the HBO show. As in, texting "CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW STUPID AND AWFUL THIS IS? :( :( :(" to friends.

is freakbeat in LA good? was tempted to check it out on a work trip to LA last weekend but it would have involved a cab where Amoeba was only a 90 minute walk.

― SCROTUS (stevie)

I also like it but likely wouldn't take a cab there. They occasionally have sales on everything (20% maybe?).

Is that a typo, or were you willing to walk an hour and a half to get to a record store (or anywhere, really)? Cause that's fucking crazy.

Oh shit we're calling people out for walking now? In LA?

Pretty sure you can stop at places along the way, you don't have to just walk for 90 minutes straight.

http://bestmangear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/AirWheel-One-Wheel-Electric-Unicycle-one-foot-485x500.jpg

haha americans always find it weird that British people walk everywhere

I don't have a driver's license, and I work in New York. I walk all the time. But saying "Yeah, let's go to the record store—it's only a 90-minute walk from here" is, I repeat, fucking crazy.

tbf hes from london.

I thought it was obvious they were from out of town

A 90 minute walk is a perfect cab distance.

I'm from the UK and think a 90-minute walk is *fucking insane*, sorry.

I mean, mayyyyyybe if you were having a leisurely stroll and there were loads of points where you would stop on the way. But then it would end up taking ~5 hours, and that reverts to being WTF.

"a person enjoyed a long walk - LET'S GET HIM"

Seriously, it's just wrong. Sorry stevie but you'll have to be exiled for your own good.

stevie where were you staying?

it's the 3 hours round trip total that's pretty brutal

going to another country and walking around a city is insane, get a cab and look up some postcards online later

Tbf,a 90 minute walk is pretty visceral and a perfect fit for vinyl, and takes the anxiety out of knowing where to walk next.

Problem with a 90 minute walk to Amoeba is you could walk back with a couple of 30 lb. carrier bags.

LA does have buses and trains, btw. I guess the LA basin to the SF Valley may be awkward.

Walking 90 minutes every day should be mandatory.

haha had no idea my trip to amoeba would be so *controversial! i had a saturday evening to kill and jetlag bad enough that i would have been terrible company for anyone i met up with, but i really wanted to go to a record shop, and i thought it would only take me 60 minutes tbh. i used to travel to LA a lot but I haven't been there for a couple of years now so actually it was kind of lovely to walk up the strip and revisit a lot of old haunts. the thing is i thought that as soon as you get to In'n'Out burger Amoeba's just a block or so along, but it's further and i was p fed up of walking by that point. the thing about walking in la is its only ever english people and homeless people who do it. i actually really enjoyed the walk overall, though i must admit i took a cab back as it was dark and i was tired. the next day the press agent and i walked another 90 minutes to the capitol building for the interview i had to do, and that was more fun because at least i had someone to talk with for the duration.

i picked up a nice copy of the third minnie riperton lp for $6, the second pointer sisters for $2, a killer mingus comp with all of black saint on it for $10, skies of america for $15 and a copy of the arthur russell comp with wild combination for my other half, so it was a successful trip imo. then i had a decent pizza from prova and fell asleep in my hotel room about 9pm.

and yeah if i was in nyc i would be totally fine with a four hour walk, that is a city made for wandering.