Continuing with CDs?

I've been looking! They are surprisingly hard to find used! I will keep checking, thanks.

i bought a cheap cdj to play my cds on so i can fuck about with tempos and whatnot, also has a usb port so i can play files from other sources through it too

one of my bookcases is next to a window and yeah, there's some disturbing (and disturbingly variable amounts of) spine fading on the books. they don't even get any direct sunlight as the window faces almost due north

I have a lotttt of CDs I have no real attachment to any more and I ought to sell them as they're just taking up space and I will curse them if I ever move, but I fear it's too late to find a market for them, and I'm scared of doing something wrong (grading or packaging or something) if I sell them via discogs. last time I took a pile to the second-hand record shop I got, like, £2 credit for about 10 CDs, and that wasn't recent; I wasn't expecting much but had underestimated how annoyed I'd be.

(tbh I was extra annoyed because I carefully selected a batch of good condition stuff that might be vaguely saleable locally/similar to the usual "staff picks" at the shop, then threw in a free-with-magazine Prince CD I found cz I thought they could shift that easily from their countertop promo basket, seeing as it was just after Prince died. the guy barely looked at the actual CDs but spent a good minute telling me the covermount wasn't worth anything like I didn't understand what it was - yeah I know, I just don't want it! but someone will likely be stood at your counter and think "oh yeah, Prince, too bad he died, I'll have that for 50p" - at least, that's likelier than me playing it ever again - so put it in the basket and look at the other stuff, please!)

Do you have record shows/fairs in your area? Seems like the handful of CD merchants I see at those are doing boffo business.

yeah I do pretty well selling them for $5 each/5 for $20

I've been taking advantage of the chance to buy used copies of all the CD boxsets that I always coveted back in the day, which at the time seemed like impossible luxury expenses but now can often be had for 20 bucks or less. Picked up a 6-CD version of the Anthology of American Folk Music recently for 10 bucks. What a time to be alive.

yeah I keep finding amazing box sets in thrift stores for a couple bucks, often in surprisingly good shape. Last one was the 3xCD Sinatra Reprise Collection.

Picked up a 6-CD version of the Anthology of American Folk Music recently for 10 bucks. What a time to be alive.

― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Friday, 7 February 2020

Unbelievable. I'm really enjoying buying cheap CDs.

Me too, buying loads of bluenote CDs for a fiver and other jazz plus theres 10CDsets for a tenner type boxes kicking around , not much in the way of sleevenotes but a great way to quickly get some 'lesser' albums by an act i have CDs by.

the 5 classic albums on 5 CD sets are great too

I wish the super duper fancy mosaic box sets were as cheap!

After a few years of not buying CDs at all I slowly started buying them again last year - a handful of classical things and also some albums I used to own but sold back when I needed the money (e.g. the Blood and Fire reissue of Heart of the Congos I ordered from Discogs marketplace just the other day).

I continue to continue with CDs

picked up all but the last disc of Coltrane's Complete Atlantic Recordings today for $12 (6 CDs total)

Ha. I very recently got the mono version of that box for a similar price. A steal.

(I wasn't looking for the mono version - it was just going cheap)

what i real like about streaming is that i now only buy cds i really like. before i used to buy too many cds, probably close to 9 out of 10 were not really necessary. now i only buy two or three cds per year. only the stuff i am really crazy about. that saves money and resources. but of course it is a totally different thing to stream on the rather small bluetooth speaker lor to put a cd in the player and listen in stereo on two real loudspeakers.

I’m sort of with you but the converse is that I’m discovering more music that i would like to own... so it kinda evens out?

My CD continuing has bifurcated. Anything I buy that's archival/reissue/put back in print/old stuff I didn't know about, I buy on CD--to the tune of 400-500 CDs a year.

But basically 95% of every new release I've bought over the last couple of years has been digital-only, from Bandcamp, to the tune of +/- 250 albums/EPs a year.

It's not because I don't want to own them on CD, but more often because they're often either only released on vinyl (or cassette, which is cute but silly); or they're like $18+$7 shipping for the CD versus $10 for the digital only, and I often end up just paying $15 thinking I'd rather the money goes to the artist than to shipping.

I buy old music (mainly jazz & funk) CDs but new albums on vinyl with the odd download on bandcamp if that's all I can afford or just want to give a few quid to the artist rather than stream it and they get fuck all.

I do however sometimes get new reissues of favourite albums I have/had on CD on vinyl because that is my preferred format but CDs are so cheap.

Sometimes I try to get original 80s and 90s indie stuff on vinyl.

I never saw the point of restricting myself to one format.. They all have their uses!

yeah format is incidental for me, i can’t really deal with buying digital files, though, though I guess I’ve done it before in cases where the disc/tape is sold out

though, though,

Picked up a 6-CD version of the Anthology of American Folk Music recently for 10 bucks. What a time to be alive.

― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Thursday, February 6, 2020 7:16 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

wow !!

i'm trying to sell off my CD collection... if anyone wants to buy some please email me for a full list of about 500 CDs of different genres (jazz, rock, hip hop, metal, electronica, funk, fusion soul, r&b, disco, reggae, experimental, ambient, noise, drone, gospel, comedy) thx

welcome

Haha.

"I am not continuing with CDs. Hit me up".

I continue to continue with CDs, although it's getting harder to do with newer releases. Even for labels that still release CD versions of new albums, local shops (like Reckless in Chicago) seem to only carry the LP versions. Which I get, but it means a lot more ordering direct from label sites and/or bandcamp. I just wish so many labels didn't have like $5 per CD shipping charges.

The used market is fantastic, I've picked up so many things on my wishlist in the past two years at really great prices, it's hard to complain on that front.

Is it still practical for you to use them though? Vinyl isn't practical but it provides a more collectible novelty, and digital is more versatile/cheaper. CDs don't provide much in either category especially with download cards often compensating for the shortcomings of a new vinyl purchase.

CDs provide CD-quality sound. Aren’t downloads usually MP3?

Tbh maybe I’m weird but living without CDs for so long totally made me appreciate their collectible novelty as objects once I started engaging with them again. I forgot how much I missed the discs, inserts, cases, etc.

(xp And even if you gave me FLACs or whatever, I have no way of playing them that’s going to sound as good as slapping a CD in the player.)

CDs provide CD-quality sound. Aren’t downloads usually MP3?

― dad genes (morrisp), Monday, February 10, 2020 11:55 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess I'm not picky enough to care about the discrepancy myself. But yeah I was going to mention they are provided FLAC a lot these days fwiw

providing*

I always liked CDs more than vinyl... my record collection is mostly from the period when vinyl was the cheaper unsexy option. Now CDs seem to have that role in the marketplace, and I love it. Just got the last two Massive Attack albums on CD for $4 each.

I don't have an actual CD player though. Rip them and add them to my music server/phone. Also: my car has a CD player, so if I'm out shopping and get a CD, I can listen to it right away!

I go thrifting pretty often and let the cases pile up, then every two months or so I'll spend a few hours slotting the discs (and the cooler inserts) into the big ol' alphabetized wallets I store 'em in. It's a bit of a pain in the ass but it's way preferable to trying to store + organize thousands of jewel cases.

many horror stories re: binders

The Death of the CD Binder

Is it still practical for you to use them though? Vinyl isn't practical but it provides a more collectible novelty, and digital is more versatile/cheaper. CDs don't provide much in either category especially with download cards often compensating for the shortcomings of a new vinyl purchase.

Yeah, it is very practical for me. My main set-up at home, where I do 90% of my listening, has a CD player - otherwise I rip them. Smaller artwork aside, CDs give me that collectible novelty feeling at a much lower price and smaller footprint for storage.

most of the wallet/binder horror stories involve theft, which I am really not concerned about

and scratching

I like my giant wall of jewel cases!

Now that vinyl is either dead or dying, the CD rush is gonna be on...

I just do not have room for a giant wall of anything.

oh yeah, where have people been discussing the great lacquer inferno?

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/vinyl-records-now-in-crisis-apollo-transco-mastering-lacquer-plant-is-a-total-loss.928652/

good discussion here

New vinyl prices gonna jump from $27 to....?

Now that vinyl is either dead or dying, the CD rush is gonna be on...

― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, February 10, 2020 12:38 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"Most new consumers of vinyl are most likely to gravitate to streaming services, abandoning vinyl in the coming year if there is a perceived slowdown in the supply."

Weird to frame vinyl purchase incentive as if it were a necessity for consumption. Obviously it's a novelty for collectors. Yes lack of supply might turn masses off the hobby but it's not like they'd be switching strictly in order to be able to consume those releases. Anyway, just a nitpick.

my impression is that quite a few new vinyl pressing plants have opened in recent years, many of which don't use lacquer blanks

yes but there are numerous problems with DMM as per that article, it also sucks for low frequencies (i.e. all dance music, etc.)

A year or two of no new vinyl pressings (and a deluge of existing albums repressed on colored vinyl) seems like a pretty big threat to the vinyl market.

Not exactly the right thread but there are SO MANY films and TV shows unavailable on streaming services which are also not easily available in good quality in the “usual places” that I have taken to actually stumping up for the DVD version. And what I’ve found is that Amazon dominates search rankings to such an extent - either directly, or secondarily via affiliate links in high-ranking review pages and aggregator sites - that simply finding a way to watch Larry Sanders without paying Jeff Bezos for the privilege takes what almost amounts to insider knowledge. It can’t really be searched for. I have to go to specific retailers’ sites individually and carry out separate searches etc. Doing without Amazon is... like the old Internet and I kind of love it

^^^

DeepDiscount.com (formerly DeepDiscountDVD.com) is your friend.

Although, honestly, it's getting even more frustrating to get physical media in general. We live in a really dumb time for physical music distribution. There were two albums I was looking forward to that came out on Friday, the new Elkhorn and the Makaya McCraven Gil Scott-Heron re-imagining thing.

For the Elkhorn, it was my own fault. I completely blanked on the Beyond Beyond is Beyond pre-order, which I normally do. But I saw it was on Amazon so I pre-ordered it from them on Thursday. Friday comes and an email comes that my copy will be arriving March 26th. So, y'know, only a 2-month wait.

For the McCraven/Scott-Heron thing, I stopped by first thing this morning to, hopefully, pick up a copy (unfortunately I was dealing with a sick kid all weekend and couldn't make it until today). Reckless, here in Chicago, is already completely sold out of all formats at all three branches with no idea when they will see more. Amazon doesn't have any, or at least if they do, from third-party sellers only with 8-12 week wait times. Looks like it's still available direct from XL, so I'll go that route, but still kinda frustrating that a brand new, buzzed about record is already hard to find. Admittedly, it's probably that very buzz that caused it to sell out quickly, but this is hardly the sole example of this lately.

I certainly don't blame Reckless here, I know they are dealing with a nightmare of a distribution system due to that Direct Shot debacle, but it's increasingly feeling like you gotta show up at the brick and mortar stores within an hour or two of opening on Fridays to have a shot at new releases. I know it's completely out of the shops hands at this point, but it sucks always hearing, "yeah, we sold out of the four copies we got and we have absolutely no clue when, or if, we might see more". I want to support local shops like this, but I'm walking out of the store empty-handed more and more often these days.