Old CDs and records

My local used music dealers tell me interest in cds seems to be on the upswing and sales are up. I think there's always going to be a segment of music lovers who want to own their music. That said, extracting maximum value from a music collection of any format entails doing what you want to avoid: cataloguing, grading, and individually listing a sale for each item. Sometimes sellers on eBay group multiple releases by one artist or related titles in a specific genre and sell them in small batches for a discount over individual prices. If you have a collection of unusual or esoteric artists or high end classical labels, I have seen those sort of collections sell for good prices in larger sales groups.

I would buy the CDs in a heart beat, I just bought a box of 100 from someone.

Why? Because I rip them all to my music server in FLAC and kick back on my sofa browse and play music.

I stream but just when making dinner, something like that. I don't feel that streaming is all that and I am just old school I prefer to have my music on a physical medium that I can pickup and touch.  And I don't feel that streaming HD has surpassed the quality of CD by a significant margin.

But thats just me.

@rvpiano 

Antiquated? Hardly. Look no further than the strength of Discogs to understand physical media still has much value. I purchase used LP’s all the time, and also occasionally a CD here and there, but not as much as LP’s. Heck, I still occasionally buy cassette tapes if I know they are quality (late 80’s into the 90’s were what I feel the ‘golden age’ for cassettes).

My preference is still physical media, and I know I am not alone.

It would take time, (it does, I’ve done it), but you might want to consider cataloging your collection on Discogs, you might be surprised their value in total.

Yep, true.

I just gave away about 700 to an aspiring audiophile who doesn’t yet have a complete system. They are worthless. I still have 1,500 in racks that are working as diffusers. I haven’t played one in six months or a year.

My streamer sounds the same and usually better… on the 500,000 high resolution albums available on Qobuz. The age of the CD is over for audiophiles. I just upgraded my vinyl system. It sounds the same as my streamer… occationally slightly more detailed… but not really obvious. I’m an old fart, so I kind of like vinyl sometimes for the nostalgia.

If you enjoyed putting your collection together and listening to it, you got your money’s worth. Think of all the things you have to spend money on that give you no enjoyment.

You can keep the CDs and records in case streaming fees go to levels that you don’t want to pay, or you can give them to a young music lover who would be happy to have them. That person can be found on sites like this one or The Steve Hoffman Music Forums.