I recently recieved a gift certificate from Amazon.com from my beloved auntie in the Schwartzenager State, and was browsing through said site looking for something I might like to buy with it. So I looked up Sebadoh, specifically "Sebadoh III" and

OMIGOD!

The computer told me that the nice people at Amazon.com had "titles new and used from $33.98[!!!!!--Ed.]" This really, really pisses me off. Who determines the worth of this shit?! Are there honestly people out there willing to pay ridiculous prices for a goddamn CD?! Do you guys agree or disagree?

Crap or Not Crap?

For CDs? total Crap.

CDs nuts.





Records? I don't mind as much, but rare CDs? Fuck. Next they'll be selling rare Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth Cassingles.



Faiz

CRAP
The only way I'll shell out "big money" ($20 or more) is if there is an extra disc or it is an import that was never released here.

i think the rarest CD i own is the promo copy of Exploded Drawing. i wanna say i paid like $10 or $15 for it.

i paid $30 for polvo's self-titled debut double 7".

i regret neither.

i also paid $16 for pantera's Vulgar Display of Power when it was brand new. because that's what folks were charging for new cd's, pre-best buy. i wholly regret that one.

go figure.

This is a generalization, but:

I will not pay more for used CD because someone has designated them as "collectable". The commodity state of CDs and their availability makes it difficult to attach such a value to them. There are exceptions, of course. I would love to get the early 90's CD reissue of the Mercury Living Presence recording of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto performed by Henryk Szering. I might pay $20 for that.

Things that are released in small quantities for the sole purpose of being readily "collectable" and rare is stupid. I refuse to play that game with artists and merchandizers. Fuck their rare collectable release and fuck them.

Things that are genuinely old and rare because interest or audience at the time were limited is not crap. I have never paid a premium for any record produced after the late 60's early 70's. I don't consider anything "collectable" for the sake of being "collectable". If it's genuinely rare or odd - then OK.

there should be some sort of OOP police with a record label that reissues everything as soon as it goes out of print...of course that's fantasy-thinkin', but stuff shouldn't go out of print...it's totally lame...

Ha Ha, so Capitol records should keep the entire Les Baxter catalog in print 'cause I want a mint copy of Space Escapade?

Liberty records should still be around so I can get a mint copy of Calander Girl by Julie London to hang on my wall?

Can you imagine how much money would be lost keeping a 1000 copies of every single thing ever released so a few dorky fanboys are sated?

geiginni wrote:Can you imagine how much money would be lost keeping a 1000 copies of every single thing ever released so a few dorky fanboys are sated?

well when certain things start selling for upwards of 80 and $100 there's obviously more people making it in demand than a few dorky fanboys...

of course something that's out of print but is easy to find in throwout bins for 5 or $10 isn't really causing much of a problem with scarcity...

I paid $70 for a HatArt Clusone Trio CD a year or two ago. It's way out of print and the one time I saw it on E-Bay, I pounced all over it. It's the one that has all the Irving Berlin pieces, Soft Lights And Sweet Music. I think HatArt's policy is to always invest money they make into releasing new music rather than repressing stuff that's already been done. I can respect that.

I noticed a few months ago that two of the This Heat CDs I have usually go for more than $50 apiece whenever they show up on E-Bay. Almost makes me want to just burn my copies and sell the originals. Almost, but not quite.

Edit: Out of curiousity, I just checked again and a copy of This Heat's Deceit is at $50, with five days left in the auction!

Edward wrote:I noticed a few months ago that two of the This Heat CDs I have usually go for more than $50 apiece whenever they show up on E-Bay. Almost makes me want to just burn my copies and sell the originals. Almost, but not quite.

that's one that really pisses me off...and These Records have said they're going to be reissuing their first album ("This should be shortly followed by a re-press of the 2001 Re-Master/Re-Package of Deceit.") but it's been forever and nothing's been happening...so i've held off spending a ton of money for their stuff, but then it's still not getting reissued...it pisses me the goddamned hell off...oi oi oi...