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| My $5-or-Less CD Collection |
Submitted by:
anonymous 05/30/2009 7:34 PM
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This post is really directed to older people like me who might have been out of the music-CD buying loop. However I encourage savvy music buyers to add to my thoughts.
I'm old enough to remember when the world went from LP to cassette, which seemed like a good thing. But when the shift to CD happened, I balked at the high prices and went into a self-imposed music exile for more than twenty years. I just refused to pay $15 to $20 for an album for my own listening.
During those years I did buy new CD players and new CDs when my teenagers requested them as gifts. I then watched them be careless with the CDs I bought, and with CDs they bought themselves. Further, when they tired of them, they resold the CDs for pennies on the dollar. Imagine me rolling my eyes behind my progressive lenses.
A couple years ago I decided I wanted a music collection, and there was just too much I wanted that was available only on CD. Sigh, so I crossed over to the dark side and started buying CDs. However, I spent a little time cracking the code, and figured out how to be a smart buyer.
The technology was cheap to acquire. I just gathered up old CD players kids were no longer using, as they have moved on to other technology. I currently have my son's old CD player hooked up to a freecycle stereo/receiver. I also have one of those converters that allows me to hook up a portable CD player to my car's cassette player... a friend dug it out of his junk drawer for me.
I decided to collect CDs with the following criteria:
1. The music had to be legal... not acquired through any copyright violation. I know "some kids" download music illegally.
2. It had to be music I really liked, if not loved. I had to enjoy the CD all the way though, with not more than one song I didn't like. I like to listen to whole CDs at a time, depending on the type of listening (driving, exercising, etc.)
3. I would pay no more than $5 per CD, including any shipping. My wife and kids were instructed not to cheat and buy me CDs at higher prices. I paid as much as $5 only if it was a CD I loved, whereas I might pay $1 for one I merely liked. This works out to about 7 to 40 cents per song, which I believe beats most online sites where you pay per song to download music.
4. The CD had to be in very good condition, and come with the original inserts. I didn't want any homemade CDs, as I like the art of CD albums.
In the last couple years I have acquired about 45 CDs that met those criteria, and most were purchased during the first year. I look less actively now as this number of CDs is adequate for my needs.
As opposed to previous decades, it is now very easy to learn about music through the Internet. But it is not enough to like an artist, or some songs, I have to like the whole CD, and so need to be better informed. One can listen to song snippets on the Internet or in music stores, but these still do not adequately tell me if I will like the album.
All Music Guide is a good Internet site for learning about artists. This site puts together an artist's photo, history and a list of all his/her albums. As for listening, I borrowed music from friends and from the library. I found a radio station that played music I liked. I listen to songs on youtube. Other tiphero posts provide sites for where you can listen individual songs of favorite artists. (If someone out there knows of where I can hear whole CDs online, I would like to know).
I also learned that if I politely asked, nearly all local sellers of used CDs would allow me to listen to a CD on my portable player before buying it. I don't listen to the whole CD, just enough to know if I like it. So when I go to yard sales, I bring a player and spare batteries. Be careful, though. It is very easy to accidentally leave with CD still in the player. Once I had to drive all the way back across town to return a CD.
Lastly, I can listen a whole album if I first buy it as a 25-cent cassette. During the same time I collected CDs, I also collected about 30 cassettes that are keepers (I discarded an equal number). All of these were bought for fifty cents or less. I also pick up LPs for about a quarter, and keep what I like. When I like something in LP or cassette, then I try to buy it in CD. So this is a good strategy for music from "the last century."
Used CDs can be bought from these sources:
1. Your kids. They do like some good music that they have tired of. When she needed to raise money, my daughter sold me three Dixie Chick albums for $5.
2. Ebay. I've bought CDs for as low as $3.50 with shipping on ebay when I wanted a specific album. Sometimes I just do a search for 1-cent CDs and see if there is anything good. With ebay, the trick is to find albums that were very popular about five or more years ago. An easy under-$5 CD is Eric Clapton's unplugged album, which is one of my favorites. However it is difficult to get music from most icons (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell etc) for under $5. It's also hard to get less popular quality music, such as CDs by certain Scottish fiddlers. Nearly all I have bought from ebay has been in very excellent condition, though if the seller is not specific I email to ask about the condition of the CD and inserts. Before bothering to bid, I do an advanced search on completed sales to see if it is likely I can get a desired CD for under $5 with shipping. If it seems possible, I keep bidding until I get one that is cheap enough. Amazon also sells used CDs, but I have never bought one from there.
3. Pawn shops. These shops usually have a very large selection of used CDs, often for under $5. For the most part, I have found these CDs to be in rougher condition, and very picked over. Even so I have found some CDs I wanted, including a $4 Joni Mitchell "Blue" album. I don't buy any CD unless the pawn shop assures me I can return the CD if has any skips. I find the turnover of CDs in pawn shops not great, but I will always hit pawn shops when I travel to different towns.
5. Thrift shops and yard sales. These two sources tend to be similar in price and quality. It is hit-or-miss, but I always look because I have found some really good stuff for $1 to $2, including one Scottish fiddler I wanted. When buying at yard sales, there is no recourse if the CD skips. However, if you hold the CD up to the light, if there are any pinholes of light showing through, the CD will skip. Scuffs are less likely to be a problem, and most that are can be rubbed smooth enough so the CD will play.
6. Used-CD/DVD shops. Here the quality and selection is very good, but the prices are almost always out of my range. I have never bought a used CD from one of these stores. The local mall store that sells new CDs, has also started selling used ones, but again, these are usually about $8 to $10. Some of these stores repackage used CDs, and as a result, you can't listen to them in the store.
7. Internet swap sites: see other tiphero posts.
I have made a few mistakes in CD buying... after listening to them several times, they just never grew on me. I don't like to live with mistakes, and so I sold those to a local shop that resells CDs. However if I couldn't get at least fifty cents for the CD, I kept it for the CD case. I don't like broken, cracked or worn CD cases and so replace them as needed.
In a couple of cases, I actually made a small profit reselling yard-sale CDs, but mostly I just cut my losses.
Since I'm looking anyway, I also look for friends. I get very specific information for what they're looking for, and keep my eye out. I have found about ten for friends, in mint condition for under $5.
Lastly, a general thought about collecting anything. It is just no fun to collect as if money wasn't an object. That would be way too easy. By making it hard for myself, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and because I acquire more slowly, I value each CD all the more. A really great $1 CD is about the best $1 spent I know of.
Photo credit: Sheriff of Nothing |
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