Some People Will Collect Anything
 

I'm going to walk out on this limb and I'll see if it gets sawed off. I collect CDs. There I said it. I sometimes feel like the only one that still wants them, but I'm starting to see some people on YouTube that are also admitting to collecting them.

I wish I could be one of those cool and hip people that collect records. I do have records, maybe 50, but I more actively collect CDs. I just wish that someone would write a definitive guide and maybe include prices for the rarer CDs. There have been some collecting books written on CDs in the past. I know, because I've bought several of them, and they have been very helpful. They are good for general information about the CDs history and so on. But what I'd really like to see is much more information about the rare pressings, what rare numbering around the inner ring to look for, that sort of thing. You know, the kind of information they've been printing about records for years.

When they started selling CDs at the thrift stores for a dollar or two, it made CDs seem like an incredible bargain. My kids had paid $1 for a single song to put on their portables or computer, only to lose them all when the computer or portable quit working. I wanted something I owned that I wouldn't keep getting charged for, and that I could listen to when I wanted. Did you know that there's no legal “right” to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto another media? You legally must own the physical CD.

So I collect something that most people seem to think is stupid, but I remember when I started collecting baseball cards and got the same reaction.

Old school, love it! What are your more rarer/valuable(?) CDs?

I like the P-Vine records Japanese imports. A lot of good music on that label.

I always looks over the CD selections at thrift stores/flea markets, etc. Prices are usially $1 or sometimes $2. Tough to find the bands I am looking for. ebay is good for buying lots. Record stores seem to price about 3X as high what you migh find online (no shipping costs, of course).

Someday, I hope to own complete CD runs of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Scorpions, Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, and ZZ Top.

My Best One
 

My best CD is a 3 year at 5.85 %. non callable.

The Japanese imports seem to bring the most money. I have some Japanese box sets for Thin Lizzy for example, and Aerosmith that contain every album in their catalog. These are very rare and expensive (around $1K).

Of course you aren't likely to find these at thrift stores. I bought the ones I have at a music auction of someone's estate that had collected hundreds of CD sets from Japan. The most desirable CDs you're likely to find "in the wild" are early pressings made in Japan or West Germany. This is where the first CD pressing plants were located. The first US pressings weren't until around 1984.

I don't "collect" cds or vinyl, although I have a lot of both (around 2,550 12" vinyl, 550 7" vinyl, and 1,000 cds). My wife says I have too much of both and I should get with the times, get rid of them and listen to stuff online. However, my vinyl is mostly from the 60s to mid-80s and I have no intention of getting rid of them. Also, like you, I like being able to hold the record/cd and pop it on whenever I want.

A site I love is Discogs.

https://www.discogs.com/

You can catalogue what you have, find values of vinyl/cds/dvds, buy/sell items, etc. The values are based on items that have been sold (on their site I believe). They give a low, median, and high value. But you really need to look at the individual items sold to get a sense of their condition. That will help determine the value of your items and the value of items you want.

I hate to break it to you Mike, but you do collect both records and CDs if you have 2500 records and 1000 CDs. :D

Nah, I've just amassed a nice selection of music that I like. :D

Although truth be told, there are some clunkers in there. But it's mostly stuff I really like - Beatles, Doors, Cream, Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath, UFO, Thin Lizzy, etc.

collect what you enjoy.

Every one collects what they want

just try not to collect to many ex-wives:D:D:rolleyes:

I collect cassettes, the baseball card of the music industry.

Wow, now that's weird. :D

I've often wondered why people collect cassettes. No judgement, I just wondered what you like about them.

I just have so many traumatic memories of my car tape deck eating them, that I think I have PTSD when I see them.

Just to follow up on this topic, I looked up cassettes on Ebay. I see that many sealed versions have been graded and are going for around $400-$500. I think cassettes from that era that are still sealed are pretty rare. I have a lot of cassettes, but none that are sealed. I'll have to remember this if I see any sealed copies at garage sales.

You and I have very similar taste in music. Trust me, I have some clunkers too!

Anyone collect 8 track Tapes?

My brother was a mobile DJ in the 1980'sthrough the 90's and even later doing weddings, graduations, block parties, some bars and wherever someone wanted to hire him for. He was always into records and has amassed a large collection. Now he is looking to list some on ebay as we both are in our 60's and need to downsize.
My son has taken an interest in albums and my brother gave him a lot.

But as someone else said earlier.....collect what you like.

I am also getting back into my childhood collecting days of Stamps. Stamp collecting brings back a lot of memories of the days spent with my brother and grandfather going to stamp shows. One show in particular was the Mallard Motor Lodge in New Jersey that went to almost every month. Great times.
Bob

You can collect it all in card-like form with Chu-Bops:

https://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-cont...2/chubops4.jpg
https://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-cont...2/chubops2.jpg

They used to sell these in record stores (places where music pressed onto vinyl discs was sold). At one point I had a collection of them. I found one at a flea market recently for a buck and picked it up for my Festival of Bric-a-Brac.

I found my old 45 collection recently and discovered that a lot of the early hip hop picture cover ones sell for decent money, relatively speaking, like twenty bucks each.

If they were cheap enough, I'd buy old CDs or cassettes just for the cards or booklets.

As far as 8-tracks go, I used to have a Hank Aaron 715 one that I sold at a card show. Great cover art.

I don't collect 8 tracks or cassettes, but I know both are collected. It seems the other music formats, other than records, are not well documented. How do you know which 8 track or cassette is rare? Obviously, unopened material is always going to command a premium, but I'm sure there are some rare titles that you should be on the look out for if you only knew.

I do confess an affinity for signed 45s and CD inserts. Here's a Pete Shelley signed 45; I have a Buzzcocks signed CD insert but not scanned.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ey_%20Pete.jpg

Well, I collect A&W Root Beer mugs (and some items) - even goggled and have dates and images for each. Oddest are a 3 3/4" with raised A&W and a 1 3/4" red plastic one. I recently sold all my dups (16).

I stopped at 4 track.... (not mine)

And as far as music, I echo others of the Beatles era too. Beatles are probably my fave all time band. Elton John is up there too....
.

As I mentioned before, typically the most valuable CD's are the first pressings made in Japan or West Germany (where the first CD plants were located). All of the early CD's sold in the US were from one of these plants. The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel's 52nd Street, that reached the market alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982 in Japan. Early the following year on March 2, 1983 CD players and discs (16 titles from CBS Records) were released in the United States and other markets.

The very earliest discs were either "black face" or "red face" disks. As the names imply, the entire front of the disc was either black or red and the words were where the color wasn't printed. Shortly after that many of the first "target" discs began to hit the market. Target discs get their name from the cross hairs painted on the rim every 90 degrees. I've attached a picture of some examples of the target discs. These were made from around 1982-1985. There are often different colors of the same disc available, so some people try to collect as many varieties as possible of their favorite groups.

Early on the record companies weren't sure what to do with CDs. For vinyl records they use the RIAA curve. It is an equalization filter applied to vinyl records and then corrected in record player amplifiers in such a way that the listener is never aware that any change has occurred. On the record itself, songs are engraved so that low frequencies are cut in volume while high frequencies are boosted. Should they use the equalization they used for records on CDs?

It was decided by most companies that since the CD was supposed to be nearly perfect from 20Hz-20KHz, that they would just go straight from the master tapes and put that onto the CD without any changes. That has made the early CDs the most desirable version to many collectors because you're getting a copy of the master tape (the way the band wanted the record to sound).

Collect what you enjoy, if it's CDs - that's ok.

I recently transferred all my VHS tapes to digital. I'm glad I did, because I can now share videos easily that were made back in the 80s - 90s. I canned the tapes after I made sure I had captured all the movies. Good move, it cleared very valuable storage space!

I personally have only a couple of records, most belonged to my mother so I just keep them as a memory. Attached are a couple of photos, the Hank Williams was hers.

Great seeing that original Sun record, and I'm a fan of Chet Atkins. I don't collect them, but would certainly keep them if they came from my family.

I really like Hank Williams Sr's music a lot. My mom and dad listened to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoO6XVCKDc8

I have a lot of old vinyl. I need to go through them sometime. I have no clue what is there.....
.

If you want to see actual Ebay sales price of your vinyl, this is a good website:

https://www.popsike.com/

Are you aware that many of the early CDs are of lesser quality and have been deteriorating for years? Much of what came out of W Germany in the 80’s is substandard in quality. Many came new loaded with pin holes and substandard lamination.

The Japan stuff brings a premium because it was made properly and much of it has lower production. Keep in mind most came with an obi strip too. The Japan promos were pretty scarce back then too, most were waaaaaaay under 100 copies.

The old original MFSL gold discs were some of the better discs and coupled with the gold have a better life expectancy.

I currently collect old TV shows on DVD/BR. They also have issues, off center hubs, lamination errors etc.

I grew up with them as my first introduction to music. All of the music shops had cassettes and I had a Sony Walkman in grade school. I have fond memories of jamming in-between classes to things like Sir Mix A Lot and whatever I recorded off the radio (mainly The Crue).

While I have read about these "deteriorating" discs, but I've never experienced it myself. There an interesting series of posts talking about the quality of the earlier discs that might be of interest:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...uality.101806/

The modern higher end players compensate for the defects but at a certain point they will no longer work. I had a few 20yrs ago that failed. They were from W Germany and Australia. Take any silver or clear coated topped CD made in Germany during the 80’s and hold it up to the sun. The number of pin holes will surprise you.

I have a few albums…

I forgot to mention, some of the most collected CDs are the unopened ones still in the long boxes used at retail. Remember those? When CDs first came out, the retailers were trying to put them in the same bins used for records. So they created the "long box". Prices are all over the place for these. Some go for several hundred, while others are only around $20. I don't collect these, so I can't really say what drives the price higher for some titles. Some people just collect the boxes themselves, and don't care if the CD is in the box.

Eric,

Where did you get the shelves from? I've been looking for something like that for my records which are mostly in particle board cubes from 40 years ago. Have you had them very long? Any concern with sagging shelves?

Nice collection, by the way.

Ikea; they're 16 cube (4x4) shelving units. I've had them for nearly 20 years. Zero issues with sagging.

Thanks Eric. Unfortunately, they don't make those anymore. I had looked into them a year or two ago and they have a new version out now. I'm hesitant to get them because the shelf just doesn't look strong enough to me. Although, since yours have lasted for nearly 20 years, I might have to reconsider.

They have it on Amazon:
https://tinyurl.com/5ydkkxje

That's their newer version, Kallax. The older version was Expdit, or something like that. If you look online, the Kallax shelf can hold up to 29 pounds, which is about 50 records, at most (based on a single sample size I weighed at the time). If you filled up the hole (about 65 albums), you would be placing more than the limit on the shelf (about 38 pounds), which worries me. I'm not sure what weight the Expedit shelf version could handle. But, since Eric's lasted 20 years, maybe I'm worrying for nothing.

Just a few, eh? ;)

+1

If you're handy with tools you could add some bracing.

I now have over 5K CDs, so I have storage problems too. :D

With the right home stereo system, CDs sound great.

Something I've been picking up lately and having great fun with are vintage automobile advertising materials. Cards, postcards, blotters, etc. The graphics are great. Some (the ones from the 1970s) bring back memories.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...atsun%201.jpeg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...atsun%202.jpeg

On a similar note, I've taken to picking up old card brochures when I find them. Great graphics and a piece of history. Here's a few I picked up recently.

Not me, so much, but my wife collects mid-century barware. While we have 17 acres, we only have an 1800 sq ft house and her collection is taking up a not insubstantial portion the available flat surfaces. In fact, in recent weeks she started putting some into my home office where I store my (thankfully more compact) collection. We've talked about only displaying a few from each set and storing the rest, but that is a big effort and we really need to get a storage unit because anything stored in our barn tends to become home to spiders and mud dobbers. To be fair, though, most of her collection was gifts from me. I really like hunting for sets for her.

These are Libbey Cavalcade, which I found at Sweet Lorain in Cleveland. I had to get them since my wife is also an equestrian.

Attachment 598654