Continuing with CDs?

Yeah, seems like it's happening to so many chains. The few Barnes and Nobles that still even have a music section are increasingly turning space over to vinyl. A new B&N recently opened near me and I was happy to see they still even had a CD section at all, even if it was only a 4'-0" wide stretch of shelf space. Bafflingly, however, they stocked it by jamming every inch with only the spines facing out. Hello neck pain for browsing.

Some stores still have incredible CD sections. I really loved Music Millennium in Portland when I was out there, they managed to have ample space for huge floor space for both formats.

Music Millenium is one of the last places I've found in the last 5 years to still have a good CD selection. Not long before, the Rough Trade in Brooklyn still had lots of good CDs, but I'm guessing they've gone all vinyl since moving into their smaller Manhattan space. I'm hoping Dusty Groove in Chicago hasn't gone all-vinyl... Ah, for the days when Other Music's mostly-CDs shelves weren't even the best in New York. Would be a miracle to see well-curared CD shelves, today. Guess I need to take a trip to Japan...

The Barnes & Noble near me moved from a large space to a smaller space a few hundred feet away recently. Before the move, cashiers told me that the movie/music section would not be in the new location, and that’s technically true, as the original section was a good chunk of the store (albeit one that shoppers rarely visited).

In the new space, there’s a sort of CD/vinyl shelf or wall stocked with a bare minimum of music that they know will sell, primarily Taylor Swift. But there’s also a floor to ceiling shelf that’s entirely k-pop CDs.

Haven't been to the Dusty Groove store in a few years but they still show a good number of new/used CDs on their weekly mailout. Another place in Midwest that's still great for CDs is Dearborn Music near Detroit.

Yes, Dearborn Music is absolutely amazing for CDs. My hometown! And where I first bought music (45 rpm singles) many years ago.

Silver Platters (3 locations in WA) is great for both new and used CDs, and used CDs are usually in good or great condition

going to be visiting NYC from UK in april - where's the best spots for CD shopping?

― maelin, Friday, January 20, 2023 8:25 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

yesterday I went to the Jazz Record Center for the first time in a few years. It's on the 8th floor of a building on W. 26th St, so it feels off the beaten path and like a bit of a time warp. mostly older folks in there. anyway i didn't look through it much but they have a decent sized CD section, mostly jazz as implied by the name. although they have new and used CDs together, which bugs me.

I think I bought a Mingus CD box set there in the mid 00s. It was really a weird setup iirc, like it's in a random old office building. Does the elevator just dump you off inside or am I making that up?

No, there's a hallway and a door into the shop. there must be other things in on the same floor.

Bought my first CD in a long time recently, tricky’s nearly god album (not on streaming) and it was only $2. A steal.

Silver Platters was where I bought my first CDs when I was a Seattleite. Happy to hear they're still extant.

although they have new and used CDs together, which bugs me.

There was a point where that bugged me, but at this point I actually prefer things this way, as long as they do a good job of delineating new and used CDs at a glance. Especially since more and more people started dumping their CD collections, I'd prefer to only have to look in one location for, say, all of the Miles Davis they have, new and used. The best stores will have like a "Miles Davis" divider, then a sub-divider within between the new and used product.

Recently bought a new CD for the first time in like 10 years or more I think. Was very nostalgic...

I inherited one of those little Bose CDs players recently and hooked in up in my office. More enjoyable than headphones for me. Sounds better than it looks.

Re: NYC: just remembered Westsider Records on W. 72nd - they're definitely CD-heavy. Might be worth calling ahead to check on genre.

In October I sold early my entire record and CD collection to a store for 12 grand. It’s paying for my wedding, but I can’t lie it stings a little. But my collection was becoming a burden rather than a joy and moving was the last straw. I’m happy with less, I am convincing myself. It’s like mourning a pet.

in my will i am going to have to put an apology clause re my cd collection for my lads.
i am like a secret hoarder, with boxes and boxes hidden all over the house/attic so that they are not on display to the casual visitor.
there are a lot of of special/$$ cds throughout the collection but i know that they will just dump the lot.
that said, i have put my FAX collection into a special box and explained the situation.

Crazy to look at 30 years, all in one spot:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fm2txKeXEAAx5st?format=jpg&name=large

My wife and I live in a wide-open loft apartment, so it's super cool of her to be open to letting my CDs dominate an entire wall.

― Soundslike, Thursday, January 19, 2023 7:24 PM (one week ago)

Another box of about 150 more showed up, somehow separated from the other 8 boxes my folks sent with the last of my CDs, and messed up the whole shelves, because I had room for about +/- 30 more. So piled as many more small box sets as I could on the top. Bit stilleans I'm going to have to get rid of maybe 80 to 100... First cull I'll have done since my early 20s...

I'll probably just try giving them away to the one shop in all of Rhode Island that still sells CDs. Combined with the doubles I already culled out, bound to be some really good stuff.

For any nerds who like lookey-louing through other people's collections (like I do), here are all my CDs (well, minus the 150 that showed up yesterdsy and the hundred-odd that seem to have gone missing)

https://www.twitter.com/musicophiliamix/status/1616208899887230976

my physical collection is much smaller (according to discogs it's like 600 pieces which sounds surprisingly big) but i was still able to cut a couple hundred off a few years ago pretty easily by feeling confident about what I really don't need to hear ever again (but could via the internet anyways). Do you miss some things you got rid of in your 20s cull.. or am I missing the point?

I think I still love most of the music I've ever loved, but I dunno, some detritus builds up. And it's not as if I'm only hanging onto the alll time faves, that would be boring

Weirdly enough, I ran across an email from 2005 with a list of the CDs I sold at the time (partly to fund a move across country) and yeah, there were a good number I would've liked to still have. Looking through last night to begin culling and honestly there weren't a lot I could readily identify as chaff from the wheat, or "detritus". Since I have almost everything ripped and don't actively pull out the CDs to play, it's all a bit abstract, I guess.

But I like not culling the music based on my taste at a given time--I tend to find that many things return to personal relevance at some later date (for example, recently reconnected with a Geoff Farina album I would likely have jettisoned at 25 in my anti-indie zeal, if it'd sold for the $3 I was asking; found it clean and affecting, now). So now I'm eying to cull a lot of 2010s neo-post-punk that leans more "darkwave" or Joy Divisiony, as even the original era post-punk of that flavor was never my favorites. But imagine in 10 or 20 years they might speak to me more.

All very 1st world "problems," obviously. But I find collecting music is like collecting versions of ourselves over time, and I'd prefer my collection not just reflect my current self, but the sum total, the detours and cull du sacs included.

I had a habit of buying used LPs that I kinda liked rather than new ones that I knew I liked, so I have a lot of mildly appreciated LPs that I should get rid of now (Swedish death cleaning idea). But I have a lot of stuff that I don't like so much now but loved when I was younger that I want to hang on to, for the same reason - that was "me" way back then.

And same with CDs, since is the CD thread.

You are not a curator for music you MIGHT like one day.

Try not to be a completist and be honest about what you love and what is merely a hole filled, and ditch that.

Or just keep it all and replace the jewel cases with folding plastic sleeves, you'll double your rack space.

To each their own, I'd say re: curation of a library.

I don't have anything in my collection I don't at least "like," that I don't see something of value in. Certainly, the vast majority is a lot more than that. But certainly I've never seen a music collection--or life, generally--as something to whittle down to only the most rarified. I want to experience a much fuller gamut, even as of course I build within the broader library a collection of most favorites. But it all adds to the sum, for me.

And I have to say, I don't get those mylar sleeve things at all. Whatever aesthetic value there is to a bunch of CDs on shelves comes from the patwork tapestry of colors their spines present, no?

if you have the space, yes.

mine are in two rotating towers, four other waist high towers against two different walls and two head height towers behind the bedroom door and split up like this you don't get the same effect

Having recently moved house for the first time in many years, and now on the cusp of moving again (this time overseas), I've decided to give the CD collection a trim round the edges. I pulled out around 450 from a total of 2500 or so, and am in the process of flogging them off as we speak. Almost none of them are actually bad, they're just not things I'm too likely to play again and are often discs I randomly picked up in charity shops or when I was out and in a buying mood. Either that or records I liked when I was in my 20s and I've moved on in one way or another.
The collection looks far more pleasing to me now as a result! So sorry Nels Cline/Violent Femmes/Secret Chiefs 3/Edgar Broughton Band/Shiva Burlesque/bunch of free jazz, 2nd division Krautrock and remnants of the late 90s post-rock phase etc etc, but I can probably live without you. Harsh but fair. Also surprisingly profitable!

re: collecting and culling: I think a lot about the standard posed in an ILX post by (i think) scott seward), where you only keep things that when you pull them out and look at them, you immediately go "what a great album." thing is, i enjoy way too many mediocre albums, or albums with a few songs i love enough to tolerate some middling-but-charming album tracks in between. i like getting into artists, quickly or over years, and getting to know their less-than-great material. part of the fun and the journey.

so long as you have the space, keeping things that you might only listen to a few more times in your life seems okay to me; in the grand scheme, the space devoted to retaining a particular LP or CD isn't closing off that many avenues in your life. so long as you have the space!

i think the trickiest stuff is where i really haven't listened to something in ages, not sure i really would like it all that much if i did again, but feel some kind of 'loyalty' to it, either because i loved it back in the day, or wanted to love it back in the day, or saw the band live on that tour, or whatever. this is where Konmari standards probably should come into play - it's not sparking joy, so thank the item for what joy it once brought you, and send it on its way. easier said than done. i've done some rounds of filling the 'upcoming listening' rack with stuff i'm not sure i like any more, and basically being like "you better impress me this time or it's out the door with you." not sure that's the best way to listen to any album, but it's produced some purges and some surprise "oh, this is way more my jam now than it was 10 years ago!" moments.

You folks with too many CDs can mail them to me and I'll pay the shipping. I am happy to do you the favor of taking them off your hands.

I don't get those mylar sleeve things at all. Whatever aesthetic value there is to a bunch of CDs on shelves comes from the patwork tapestry of colors their spines present, no?

I completely agree, but practical reality forced my hand when we expanded the bathroom adjacent to the music room and I had to eliminate two racks worth of space. It was ditch jewel cases or ditch CDs, so I chose the former.

i've done some rounds of filling the 'upcoming listening' rack with stuff i'm not sure i like any more, and basically being like "you better impress me this time or it's out the door with you." not sure that's the best way to listen to any album, but it's produced some purges and some surprise "oh, this is way more my jam now than it was 10 years ago!" moments.

This is exactly my experience. It mostly results in stuff being shown the door (and I've repurchased maybe half a dozen items in my life) but the surprising moments are almost better than buying something new. There's just something special about digging in your own crates and coming up with a winner!

Purging always makes me feel like I'm curating rather than collecting, and ultimately creating a tighter-focused library. As it is, I've got over 75000 tracks in my digital library. I could stop adding to it tomorrow and be satisfied, in theory.

i've done some rounds of filling the 'upcoming listening' rack with stuff i'm not sure i like any more, and basically being like "you better impress me this time or it's out the door with you."

I do this too, but it really does feel like homework sometimes. Especially when I have some new thing I just bought that I want to hear, and I feel guilty for playing it rather than deciding whether or not I really need to continue owning VG- CD copies of every New Bomb Turks album

yeah, the homework thing is real. i have a few things that have been in that rack for, uh, months at this point, waiting for the right time/ambience. maybe a sign.

I just sold 30-40 books last week and took hours agonizing over which ones to jettison to make room on the shelves. And now, sitting here, I can't remember the title of a single one of them.

^^^

it's very, very rare that i later reach for anything i've gotten rid of in a purge like this. but always, different strokes for different folks.

I could do some purging/selling, but my shelves aren't full so fuck it

I do have a bunch of stuff priced, and can pull it out for the 2-3 record shows a year I sell at

The other reason I used to do annual purges was my racks were full, and I integrate the previous years purchases at the end of each year, so in order to make space, some things needed to go out. Does anyone else do that or do you just organize things by year of acquisition?

lol what

alphabetical for life

Alphabetical AND chronological by release date within that. It's the only thing in life I have OCD about.

To each their own, I'd say re: curation of a library.

I don't have anything in my collection I don't at least "like," that I don't see something of value in. Certainly, the vast majority is a lot more than that. But certainly I've never seen a music collection--or life, generally--as something to whittle down to only the most rarified. I want to experience a much fuller gamut, even as of course I build within the broader library a collection of most favorites. But it all adds to the sum, for me.

Definitely to each their own - there's enough differences between people's listening habits (or how they generally use their records - esp. if they're a professional writer, historian or someone in the business) that you ultimately know better than anyone what you should be doing.

And I have to say, I don't get those mylar sleeve things at all. Whatever aesthetic value there is to a bunch of CDs on shelves comes from the patchwork tapestry of colors their spines present, no?

Robert Christgau talked about this on a recent podcast (like in 2020 or 2021). He uses Spotify but still maintains a library of CD's - he says vinyl is "too cumbersome" for him at this point - but unless it's an absolute favorite, he won't keep the jewel cases. The majority of his CD's are in those mylar sleeves.

FWIW I generally keep everything intact, but there are quite a few titles where I'll have a second copy burned on a CD-R. This isn't an exact copy - it's usually a different version (a different mastering, maybe a version I've tweaked to my preferences) that supplements the complete copy I've chosen to keep, and to save space, the CD-R copy will usually be stuck in one of those slim cases that are too thin to have anything on the spine. It's not an issue because they're placed right next to the title they're supplementing (which will be the full package).

And yeah, I organized alphabetically by artist (or the composer for classical recordings), then for each artist I organize their work chronologically (usually by when it's more or less recorded, or for classical recordings when the work was composed). Nothing's separated by genre, they all coexist together.

yeah I mostly gave up on genre filing for vinyl, and entirely for CDs (although I have a separate box for card-style sleeves)

my collection is predominantly random.
but in my head i have certain areas of the house for certain genres.
i do however have sections as per the record label.

My CDs are pretty scattered, though little pockets do exist. All the 4AD stuff seems to wind up together, as do genres like jungle and rave. Box sets, specially-packaged and odd-sized stuff live in a large curio cabinet, and digipaks are mainly kept separate from plastic jewel boxes, as the latter seem to pick on the former.

I have an unusually large amount of CDs and add 5-10 a week, mostly used in the $1-7 range. They are unorganised, just stacked on shelves in various places in my house, or in boxes, plus the car and my office. I often buy duplicates, triplicates or even more copies of CDs I already own. I keep lots of them in folders and throw away the cases but often there's other intact copies somewhere which I don't have to look too hard to find, I don't have to care for them particularly carefully, and I can give them away if I want to. I gave a friend of mine almost the entire discographies of Sade and EBTG at Christmas, just from duplicates I had lying around. I have joked with my children that each of them are bequeathed an entire Stereolab discography on CD when I die. It's either that or the Salvation Army is going to have an entire bankers box of Stereolab on the $1 rack. No doubt this seems insane to a lot of people, but to me the way other people access their music, or deal with physical media gives me a headache.

Legend

For over 15 years, I've had a guy who buys my promo CDs. We first met when I worked at Global Rhythm and then Metal Edge; the editor of Relix gave me the connect, and every couple of months, he'd come to the office after hours and pick up hundreds of discs from me and I'd go home with sometimes close to $1000 in my pocket. He was well-known in the music journalism community, I think — at bigger magazines like Rolling Stone, he'd go desk to desk buying from people. That was the golden age, when I was getting lavish Rhino box sets in the mail. Anyway, after Metal Edge shut its doors but I was still writing and accumulating loads of promo CDs, he'd come to my apartment, at first every couple of months but gradually less and less often. Recently, he's only come once or twice a year, and last night, he came for the last time, because I'm moving out of his territory and anyway, I've told all the publicists I work with to send me download links (ideally, Bandcamp codes) instead of physical CDs. Anyway, he gave me $400 for about 1 1/2 milk crates full of CDs and a couple of LPs, and we said our goodbyes. (He sells at record shows and on college campuses and stuff like that. And if anybody in the NY/NJ area wants to sell a collection, I can give you his email address.)

I'm continuing with CDs... by foolishly making a 2CD set in 2023. Will be the first time I ever put any music I've made on real glass-mastered CDs. Collecting three albums and an EP I made during 2022, the first time I'd made music since 2001.

Made a mock-up tonight of the artwork:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqLInuKWYAIdWFc?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqLIqdqWwAI9sGJ?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqLIr8FWwAUGm6U?format=jpg&name=large

The cost of making a glass-master CD for a small run seems to be at cost parity with getting proffessional CD-Rs at this point. I wknder if it's because companies have the capacity but not much demand anymore?

Anyway, CDs remain my physical media of choice, and for many reasons--not least being I have room for thousands of CDs in my apartment, but wouldn't, LPs--I still love CDs. I'm glad I came of age during the CD era. So I guess it was inevitable I'd want one "real" CD with my name on it.

hope your move goes smoothly, unperson!