so, how does everyone feel about used cds and such, where are your favorite places to get used stuff, where are the cheapest places? and on the other hand, do you ever sell back your old cds and tapes? how much to you generally get for 'em?62 responses total.
The Graveyard on State Street, I've only been there once - and for all I know, it's closed down by now - but I was really impressed with their selection. And they also sell new vinyl releases.
RE #1 robh, were you talking about the "Grooveyard?"
One of those. Like I said, I haven't been there lately. >8)
My perception was that the Grooveyard was devoted primarily to contemporary dance music, so I couldn't get too excited about it. Encore Music (formerly Liberty Music) has really blossomed this year. I don't know if they are the cheapest, but they have the most stuff I want. I hardly ever go to Wazoo any more, as their folk section seems uninteresting these days. In East Lansing, Flat Black and Circular remains a favorite. Ack, they've been there for about 19 years now!! And I've found a few gems in the used bins of the East Lansing Where House Records, though I have to dig for them. For folk music, Elderly Instruments has a very good used selection. Again, that's in Lansing. I'm hoping to liquidate a bunch of CDs in early 1997. I'm wondering if it's worth the bother to retail them mail order through the usenet used-cd-sales groups.
you could prolly get more for them by selling to a local store... might be my guess.. unless the people on the buying end will be paying for shipping.
I like going to pawn shops because sometimes you can find some real bargains. For instance, I found Tori Amos' newest, 'Boys For Pele' at a pawn shop for just $4.
wow, that's pretty good.. i've never been to a pawn shop before... gota go sometime..
Get thee hence... you never know what you might find....
broswe.. you never now what you may find at a used music store... That is my philos on the whole deal! and ask to lok and sometimes if they will let you, listen tothe cd... scratchs really bite and makes it even worse off when you think that you could have only paid $4 more to get one hermattically sealed WIHOTU scratches then! =P
Have you had a problem with scratched used CDs, jiffer? I never have; all my defective CDs have come that way sealed from the store.
The worst ones I've ever had to deal with were CD's I borrowed from the public library.
You got that right, eskarina. When I purchased my CD player less than a year ago, I was totally dependent on CD's from the Ann Arbor District Library, many of which had skipping and the weird echo which drove me completely koo-koo. I have learned only to depend on CD's I purchase at a retail store. That was, I have some recourse over defective CD's.
Mild scratching can be polished out with toothpaste on your fingertip! Strange, but true. I used to do it a lot.
Skipping I can understand -- it's a shame that people don't take better care of the library's CDs -- but I can't understand how a library CD could be damaged in such a way as to have a "weird echo."
Maybe the cd player has a reverb knob that needs to be adjusted?
There's been an interesting flood of used discs for $5 and down in
the last two weeks. Up in East Lansing, Where House Records moved a
block of slow-selling used CDs into a $3 bin. From there I scooped out:
two CDs by Texas, a Glasgow band of American-wannabes fronted by an
interesting woman singer, Sharleen Spiteri
a folk CD from Spider John Koerner
Jessye Norman singing religious songs
a CD by Kennedy Rose, a highly polished pro country duo with some
ovely women's harmonies
and probably a few more which are slipping my mind right now.
Then, SKR Classical marked a bunch of odd discs down to $1 and $2.
I got a couple of soprano recitals for myself -- one of less-often-
recorded Eastern European repetoire -- and some mezzo-soprano song
recitals for Leslie.
Encore Music (on Liberty St.) also has a supercheap bin; I found
a promo copy of the new alt-country band The Backsliders there for
$4.
Usually I have found that the supercheap used bins contain The Dregs of
The Record Industry -- the stuff that you look at and ask, "Who decided
to put this in the market?" I'm quite surprised to be finding so much
interesting stuff in the cheap bins. (Don't worry, there's plenty of
crap left in there too!)
I found my CD of "One Hit Wonders" in the cheap bin at Border's.
My fave place is called deja vu discs and tapes in Richland, WA. Granted, the deals aren't quite as good as the one you have in MI, but my alternative is hastings. They pay you about $2 each for a used CD and sell them back for about $6-$7. Last time I went, I found a lot of great stuff I'd had trouble finding, and since I like 80's stuff, I can't complain. They even had Jeff Danna's soundtrack to Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. I loved this store so much the last time I went that I spent about $50 (which ironically was my first purchase there).
Only $2 per disc? Darn; I was hoping I could get $4 for the stuff I want to liquidate. Anybody know what the buying price is here in Ann Arbor?
well yeah, there was this awesome cd i wanted, and i asked to inspect it, which i was glad to do, cos there was this HUGE scratch on it. Though, i must say, i am on good terms iwht the owners of the used cd store that i can listen to any cds i would like as well. So, its not too much of a biggy since i mostly visit right when the store opens and he is bored hehe.
Yes Jen, hastings also pays you only $2. The difference is that deja vu doesn't sell you it back for $7.92. The CDs at hastings are also often in jewel cases that are cracked, and with liner notes that are fading. deja vu is also a small business. The owner keeps the CDs out of the cases not only for security, but also so you can listen to them first. In general, the CDs seem to be in better condition. Now I neglected to mention another place in Richland that I know I can get CDs, and slightly newer, too. The place is called Liquidation World and they don't just sell damaged stuff.. it's any merchandise that's excess, left over, or otherwise would not be sold retail.
the only place i've ever bought used music in ann arbor, was wazoo used music... an upstairs store on state street downtown. They have a pretty good selection, not overly wonderful, but for the most part, it's pretty good.. i've never had a problem with scratched cds, or anything in bad condition.. it's pretty small tho, don't go on a saturday or when it's crowded...
While I have found *incredible* prices at Grooveyard from time to time (such as Blind Melon's first album for $3), I prefer Wazoo and Encore. Both have a wider selection, and are just more enjoyable places to browze in.
Where is Grooveyard?
yeah, i've vaguely heard of it, but never been there.
It's on State street.
One thing I've never really had to worry about is selling back CDs and tapes. I am pretty fussy about what I buy, and even if it's not top-notch, my music collection is so small that it doesn't matter much. I wish I had the selection of places you all have in MI-- really, as I mentioned, I have only two places for CDs and tapes. For vinyl, it's R & P records. But if I remember right, the owner usually charges you to put it on tape, because the selection is rather small and some of it is uncommon or even rare. The place smells of smoke, and it's a dump. But I found plenty of interesting music.
I go to PJ's. It's on Packard, in the Packard/Hill/State triangle, over the Subway. Great place. Not the least good thing is that they let you play any CD you want before you buy it. :)
For vinyl, I patronize Musical Memories in Flint. They usually have what I am looking for.
but what are you looking for?
Usually moldy oldies from the 1950's. Stuff that time has forgot.
Wow...didn't know that about PJs. Thanks, dang.
yeah.. i'm constantly driving by pj's but never been in there, it's just kinda inconveneint, not much place to park, and kinda not really near anywhere where i usually go.
I always park at the laundrymat on the corner at Packard. They have a really good selection of albums, and some unusal CDs, I found an unusual Throwing Muses CD, and harry Prtch there in the past.
It had been years since Leslie & I had visited Car City Records, but we were on that side of the Detroit suburbs on Saturday so I insisted on swinging by. Car City is a bit like Encore Music in Ann Arbor, but it's bigger and they handle quite a few new CDs as well. I was quite pleased with the jazz selection. The "New Music" section was pretty good, too; Car City had that Harry Partch historical set we've been discussing, and they also had *4* Pauline Oliveros CDs. (I don't know that I have ever seen 4 Pauline Oliveros CDs in one place before...) There is a mammoth wall of boxed LP sets of opera, if your interests run that way... they had lots of all sorts of vinyl, which I did not have time to sniff around in. Car City Records is in St. Clair Shores, on Harper between 8 and 9 Mile Roads. It's approximately a one-hour drive from Ann Arbor.
Whoa...drool...
wow! i wanna go.l..
Oh, what I would do for a Tower Records in this area. You'd think a college town would have at least one really good record store. We've got a few of the natioal chain stores that all sell the same thing. Then we have small independant stores with little to no selection. They are usually really good about ordering anything you want, but it takes away from the joy of browsing through albums all afternoon, and finally choosing something with a cool cover. Plus, the small stores usually charge a bit more. Right now, I'm on the hunt for Joan Baez's first album.
I'm pretty pleased with Encore. I went looking for a fairly obscure soundtrack that I figured I might never come across, and, sure enough, they had it. I haven't been that lucky with everything I've been looking for, there, but it's a good place to try. They have quite a large selection, if only because about 1/2 the promotional discs from the store down the street must end up there...
What is it that they do to you if they catch you re-selling one of those, anyway? I mean, it must be _something_, but it couldn't be that bad because if it were you wouldn't see them for sale everywhere.
Mark, unfortunately, I don't think Encore has any chains down here (if, in fact, they *are* a chain).
Encore is not a chain.. Since it was a cold and rainy afternoon, perfect for settling down with a book and some new music, I dropped in at Encore and left with more than I bargained for.. I was quite surprised to find that they had the Future Bible Heroes album I was looking for and by the time I was done I'd somehow also wound up with two dub collections, "I Get a Kick Out of You -- The Cole Porter Songbook vol II" (a Verve collection featuring renditions of classic Porter tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, etc (figured I couldn't go wrong..), and "Last Train to Lhasa", a double CD from techno group Banco de Gaia and that was the short list! there were two or three other CDs that I wanted to get but decided I had to limit myself.. I think I'm going to have to cut back on my visits, they're getting expensive..
What I like best about Encore are the LP covers, many of which are very
obscure. The ones I remember best are as follows:
1) "It's Time For Regis," featuring songs by a much younger Regis
Philbin, at the time, the sidekick for Joey Bishop's failed entry
into late night TV on ABC.
2) The book "Janet Lennon at Calamity Lake" (BTW, Janet was the
youngest of the singing Lennon Sisters from Lawrence Welk's TV
show, and no relation to John).
3) Movie soundtrack LP from "For Whom The Bell Tolls" with only a lady
with a tear falling down her cheek on the album cover.
4) An LP of a Wagner opera with a naked lady holding two VW hubcaps
over her bare brests.
5) Several albums by what appeared to be an obscure rockabilly artist
named Orion (who wore glittery clothing and a Lone Ranger-style
mask).
In addition, there have been LP's of recently deceased singers and
musicians in the window display at one time or another.
The one with the ummm.. hubcaps is in the current window display -- I think it's one of their favorites.. They certainly do come up with some hilariously campy stuff..
I suspect the hubcap cover is an old Westminster Gold LP... that was very much their graphical style.
RE #45 It was on the Westminster Gold label, krj, and by "their graphical style," I assume that you mean nude women, right?
Westminster Gold did a lot of undressed women, but even more than that they tended towards a comic/ironic style in their LP covers.
Would that be "Graphical style" or "Graphic style"?
(used music stores are often great _because_ of the promotional stuff you can find, at least if you're into rarities.) (usually, you can get better deals if you trade in music instead of selling them, difference being about a buck or two per piece. I don't remember the last time I actually tried to sell a piece of music I no longer wanted.)
Of course, cash is useful for other things. I still have this fantasy of selling about 400 CDs to pay off half of the new computer.
Wow. I just stopped in at Encore, and it was like "Wow", they had Marrilion CD, which hadent been their the last time I was their, and a Black 47 CD, which also hadn't been thier. I had planned on spending $10 to get a gift certificate for my brother, and ended up spending aboutn myself. Because my brother wants one of the CDs I bought, I ended up walking down to SKR to buy him a copy at full price. WHOOSH there goes $20! It's just as well 'though, since it turns out that the last track of my copy is a bit scratched. Never the less, I was thouroughly impressed-Again!- with Encore. Wow.
Use optical polish (get it at LensCrafters or the like_ to get rid of the scratch. Encore also guarantees their discs so you could return it if you like.
Did I mention using toothpaste? Of course, if the scratch is in the top of the CD, the disc is ruined.
Disc-go-round claims that they're getting a machine that will fix scratched CDs, but I don't know when they're getting it.
Wow, I *really* like Encore Records. I found a couple of Jello Biafra spoken word CDs (both double CDs), Daddy Longlegs (some of the people from Bop (harvey) after that great Lansing-area worldbeat band broke up, and another Stewart Copeland soundtrack.
no, the scratches are on the bottem. That can really be fixed? Neat. How's this toothpaste thing supposed to work?
A small dab on the fingertip, with some water. Rub radially on bottom (from center to edge and back), then rinse, dry, and test. Deep scratches may be permanent, but little ones I've had good results on.
Isn't toothpaste abrasive, though?
Yes. The idea is to buff out the big scratch. I think that in some cases just taking the hard edges off the scratch is good enough, but I have not had much experience with scratched discs. Us old fogies, who owned LPs, learned to handle our music verrrrry carefullly... :)
Unfortunately, dropped jewel boxes tend to pop open on impact, making a scratched CD much more likely than a scratched record in one of them cardboard sleeves.
To revive a dead item: In the auction conference I entered a request for someone to donate the following cds to grex, so I could bid on them and get them for my very own. If you have any of these, and are willing to donate them to grex, I'd appreciate it. If you aren't willing to donate them but are willing to sell them to me directly, it would be ok, too. #4 of 4: by Colleen McGee (cmcgee) on Sat, Aug 8, 1998 (14:06): Ok, here are some of the CDs I'd like to find: Joan Baez "Hits/Greatest and Others", "One Day At A Time", "Farewell Angelina", Gordon Lightfoot "Sunday Concert", "Cold On The Shoulder", "Summertime Dream", "If You Could Read My Mind" Buffy Ste.-Marie "Greatest Hits" Ian and Sylvia "Greatest Hits" Judy Collins "Whales and Nightingales" John Fahey "After The Ball" Willie Nelson "Red Headed Stranger" Red Clay Ramblers any albums In all cases, I'm looking for the albums by these titles, not just the title song. either send mail to aruba to donate them to grex, or send mail to me if you want to sell them directly.
I've offered to take Colleen's shopping list out for a stroll on my regular tours of the used CD shops in East Lansing and Ann Arbor, but I don't know how successful I'll be. It's often tough to go shopping for a specific CD in the used market, as somebody wrote above. Popular discs tend to fly out of a used store pretty rapidly; less popular discs, the store tries to avoid ever having more than one copy in stock. Finding a specific disc can often depend on hitting the store just after someone has sold a copy... anyway, so somehow there is a tradeoff between saving $6-8 per disc by shopping for it used, and the energy involved in traipsing around the used shops.
You have several choices: