Continuing with CDs?

I might've but can't remember. I remember a lot of CD shops online like that in the '00s. My favorite was one in the UK that was my introduction to imports - it was surprisingly affordable to buy direct from them since the exchange rate was good and shipping rates were much cheaper then. (They eventually got bought out by HMV.)

RIP CDbaby

anecdotally, my local record store has been selling more CDs lately than they have in decades...

as someone who loves buying vinyl, it's really disheartening to walk into almost every record store now and see nothing i want to buy for the money they're asking. it's akin to the baseball card boom circa the late '80s/early '90s, when the new cards for suddenly hot-shit players were going for $50 apiece, and sports card dealers were starting to only deal w/collector scum or price speculating newbies. i'm not saying you won't get more bang for your buck from a Lana Del Rey record vs a David Justice rookie card, but i feel like it's making a lot of people quit the game in the same way, what you get from the hobby isn't worth the cost anymore. and therefore CDs are the cheap and frequently higher quality path to hearing so much music.

however i've got rules, there are some things i'm always and forever buying on vinyl.

used vinyl in many stores isn't worth the trouble, but new stuff from indie labels still falls somewhere from $14 to the low twenties, so that's what I buy (and used CDs, where they have them). I don't touch the (mostly major label) new stuff that's over $30 for a single lp.

I listen to vinyl because I like the way 50s and 60s records sound on vinyl.

The new stuff scares me, though. I saw a Kiss hits record at WalMart for 30 bucks. I wouldn't sit through an entire Kiss record on vinyl, CD or anything. I'm a singles/ mixes person.

I buy a decent number of CDs these days, and it feels funny that the reasons are the exact same ones I started buying some vinyl in the 90s. It's a cheap way to access stuff that's non-available or stupidly expensive on streaming/vinyl. (It'd be cheaper and easier to do a digital archive, I know, but I worry if I started I'd have the urge to stockpile every last thing I'd ever liked, and that's not what I want. I want to patronize stores and find things I care about and have them sitting out reminding me they exist.) Instead of old vinyl in the bottom bin costing 10-20% of what a new CD did, now the old CDs down there cost a tenth of what new vinyl does. Instead of records opening up a world of 60s/70s albums that never really hit any other format (exotica! forgotten funk!), now CDs open up something similar for the 90s/00s (IDM compilations! forgotten experimental!). Even the process of looking through used CDs in a store feels like looking at records used to, where everything's basically just a few dollars and you never know what treasure you'll find -- whereas over in the vinyl bins the excitement of finding something fun tends to be immediately deflated by looking at the price. I still buy both, but if I want something for listening purposes and the record is $50, I would absolutely rather take ten $5 CDs, I'm ... not not an idiot, but still

Just went to give the +/- 180 CDs to the book shop with the vinyl-only music section, but the owner wasn't there at the moment. Will try again tomorrow.

But as a CD nerd, I'm excited that I'm going to roughly double their selection, and instantly giving them a whole quite decent CD selection, preparing for the coming Gen Z music geeks who dig CDs because vinyl has become a stupid expensive gimmick as per posts above...

My Target sells the Swift stuff that omar little mentioned plus a few archival vinyl things like Abbey Road, The Dark Side of the Moon, and, of course, Rumours (maybe the most popular of all).

i'm glad i live somewhere where used vinyl is still affordable! all my pals who have stores have awesome prices. well, byron has crazy prices but he's selling crazy stuff. even he has really great used CD prices and even bargains in his new arrivals. i sell a lot of CDs. in my store and online. i've been lucky to have a good source for the last couple of years. i feel like i've always sold a lot of used CDs and i've been around for 15 years. new vinyl. yeah, what are you gonna do? just support labels and bands you like online. buy their vinyl on bandcamp or on their websites. that way they get all the money.

if I want something for listening purposes and the record is $50, I would absolutely rather take ten $5 CDs

NABISCO OTM

Isn't a lot of stuff that's on Criterion in the US on some other imprint, like Arrow, in the UK?

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Monday, 29 April 2024 18:58 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

BFI release a good bit of it.

Arrow do great sales a couple of times a year, too. In fact I picked up a few things in their Easter sale a few weeks ago.

By the by, 4K Blu-rays are region-free, which makes collecting a whole lot easier.

did anybody here ever order from cheap-cds.com (maybe without the dash) in the 90s?

I bought a lot of CDs from that site, one of the first online stores I ever used

I'm really trying to stock up on a lot of electronic music I like before they're no longer available anywhere. Nabisco otm about that genre, there are so many compilations and DJ mixes which have zero presence in the world except on used cds, if you're lucky enough to find them, or maybe a YouTube video upload, which may or may not stay up there forever.

Pulled me up short to think back and realise that the only physical CD I’ve bought in the last 2 years was a small/local thing from a shop in Tokyo, March 2023. I haven’t been 12 months without buying a CD since 1987.

One upshot about expensive vinyl is that it’s made it easier to buy nice gifts for people. There was a long stretch where getting music for anyone I know wasn’t going to be met with an enthusiastic response, but now I can just buy a brand-new reissue of an album they like that they otherwise coveted but didn’t want to splurge on.

just to give you an idea of the allovertheplaceness of what i sell online when it comes to CDs. these are some from this week. all $10 and under except for the KLF which was $35.

Ken Nordine - Colors: A Sensuous Listening Experience

Jontavious Willis - Spectacular Class

Catherine Russell - Inside This Heart Of Mine

Adrian Belew - Op Zop Too Wah

Roberta Flack - First Take

Stratovarius - Elements Pt.2

Meredith Monk - Turtle Dreams

Bob Martin - Midwest Farm Disaster

The KLF - Chill Out

Turtle Dreams is so good, almost as good as Dolmen Music

That Ken Nordine is classic!

I went to the local used record store yesterday to patch some holes in my Reprise-era Sinatra, and I had the choice between a VG vinyl copy of September of My Years for $20 or used CDs of September of My Years, That's Life, Sinatra-Basie, and It Might as Well Be Swing for a grand total of $13. I went with the 4 CDs.

September of my years for $20!

I kind of thought Frank was one of the reliable holdouts as far as cheap vinyl, him and emmylou and Poco and Stephen stills or Graham Nash or stills and Nash

*crosby and Nash!

Yeah, I'm no longer shocked to see that kind of stuff for $20, it's par for the course now at my local record store. They have a copy of Fleetwood Mac Rumours on the wall for $50! I mean its in great condition, but those used to be always under $10.

Rumours will always be a dollar bin record in my mind

I sell Rumours for $20. that has been my set price for the last 5 years or so. Tapestry I sell for $10. they have to be VERY clean though. but what the hell things change. you know? people still come in and think ECM jazz records are going to be a dollar. I have to tell them that it is not 1992.
ELO prices have gone up. I have noticed. Out Of The Blue can be $20 now.

People don't want Tusk for $20 though. which is SAD. its worth its weight in gold.

i thought the Rumours frenzy would have gone away by now but it really hasn't. i could sell a hundred copies a year if i had a hundred. i still stop myself from buying new copies wholesale for $20 though. i don't know why. i could totally sell a new copy for $30. just feels wrong...

a profit is not without honor, they say

I hate digisleeves, I almost don’t even want to bother buying a cd released this way

specifically the small ass ones with no gatefold

ditto. as someone who typically stores CDs on a bookshelf, my policy is no spine, no sale

of course, the artist or label gets the last laugh because if I want it bad enough I'll just buy a vinyl copy at 3x the price instead

i thought the Rumours frenzy would have gone away by now but it really hasn't. i could sell a hundred copies a year if i had a hundred. i still stop myself from buying new copies wholesale for $20 though. i don't know why. i could totally sell a new copy for $30. just feels wrong...

― scott seward,

I read on Medium a few years ago a record store owner claim that he could pay his rent on how many copies he sells of Rumours monthly.

I think someone said it here before but Rumours is a great barometer record for a store. If it's $20 and in nice shape you can generally extrapolate that the store itself will be reasonable on the whole. And yeah, we sell them within 24hrs of putting them out, easily, without fail. But, like scott said, it's a bummer that the Rumours tide has not lifted Tusk at all. Perfect album, just sits and sits.

The new Jessica Pratt CD is particularly disappointing, not only one of the thinnest digisleeves I've ever seen but the CD itself was thin too! Borderline CDR. Going to think twice about buying a CD from Mexican Summer in the near future.

I thought this piece a touching analysis of the Fleetwood Mac phenomenon:

https://slate.com/culture/2024/04/fleetwood-mac-stevie-nicks-rumours-taylor-swift-stereophonic-daisy-jones.html

Old man question here: what’s the deal with all of the odd sized packaging for what I assume is k-pop cds? There’s a section of this at Barnes & Noble and Target, and all of the random sizes stress me out, as a person that wants uniform packaging.

the digisleeve thing really needs to end

I like them. They are more like vinyl lp packaging. Lighter and less bulky than jewel boxes or digipaks. no plastic to break and clog landfills. I hate when the spindle breaks in a digipak and it won't hold a CD.The spines are legible if they are not packed too tight.I prefer when there's an inner sleeve as well so sometimes I add a paper sleeves.

if it’s a nice mofi miniLP style digisleeve sure, yes, but no the other kind just give off cheap “random friend’s vanity project” vibes to me and the CDs get scratched because they’re too small to fit any inner sleeves inside.

go past his blahblahblah to 9:54 when he puts the needle down. sounds awesome! i do have really nice speakers in my bedroom though. but still. sounds awesome. i'm convinced that's a $2,000 turntable with $368,000 worth of gold on it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBCnoVlFLDY

i'm gonna throw away my records and just make CDrs of youtube videos. sounds way better than Spotify. don't know about Tidal.

Wow. I can't believe how obviously the quality of the LP and system come through on a YouTube video. The soundstage was instantly there and everything is smooth and lush..Thank you for the experience.

Whooooffff! Superb sound, easily noticeable even on YouTube. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it. All the high detail but no sibilance, weighty and detailed lows. Best I've ever heard and I'm a SD fan. Excellent review.

my barometer for used vinyl had been (until lets dance jumped up several years back) the 80s bowie records.

my new one is randy newman.

obviously this is the best comment:

"GEEEEEZ! Porcaro is da epitome of perfection punch and subtle nuance dynamics and leads the energy like driving the song like a bus steady as she goes"

or maybe this is:

"i like your humor, greetings from switzerland"

i don't know how all the audiophile/classic rock dweebery hasn't killed my enjoyment for steely dan. they must be unkillable. i can talk about SD here on ilx and NOWHERE else. like, the very idea of a real life discussion fills me with fear, loathing, dread, hate, etc. even on social media. they are an asshat magnet for sure. and i do feel for the people who hate them. people probably should hate them.

Same, the fucking virus of awful Steely Dan internet meme joke crap hasn’t diminished my love either