Do you own out of print CDs?
 

I was just searching on Amazon and noticed I have a zillion out of print compact discs. Some go for a whopping $1.99 and others are on there selling for over $100.00

Off the top of my head, Tommy Keene recordings, Dream Syndicate, Fleshtones, Dickies, Fad Gadget, etc.

I'm not going to try and sell them, but it's funny sometimes what can end up out of print.

That excellent Rhino DIY set is all out of print now (I think); I own most of those. The version of <i>Shoot Out the Lights</i> I own has an extra track, "Living In Luxury", and I don't think that release is available now. I'm sure there are many others.

Amazon really isn't the best place to gauge prices on these supposedly OOP CDs. As atlantamoi noted, the prices are typically way under or way over what a collector might pay.

I'm at that point in finishing off my "list" of wants where most everything is either still not available on CD or it's truly out-of-print.

My current number one chase CDs are Whiskeytown's "Rural Free Delivery" and an original CD pressing of Jimi Hendrix's "Cry of Love."

Although quite honestly, with all the boneheads dumping their physical CD collections after ripping their contents and transferring them to MP3 players, I really feel like the collector market for CDs is going to hit rock bottom soon. The used market is primed for a massive flooding of product. You already see the detrimental effect the iPod has had on CD sales around the Chicagoland area. Lately it's been nothing but outrageous sale after outrageous sale in the big indy CD shops.

Not that I'm complaining.

I own plenty, and I want plenty! If the cd market does become less collectible because of iPods, I say great! I'd love to get my hands on cheaper cds. The two on top of my wish list are Bernie Taupin's "Tribe" album (easily his best solo album, I have it on vinal), and Russell Hitchcock's solo album (self titled, I have on cassette.. yes, the guy from Air Supply). I had the chance to get his years ago at a flea market, but I passed because the cover was beat up.. semi-regretting it now.

As far as I know, the only stuff I own that is out of print is any of the Coldplay stuff. Namely, The Blue Room EP and Mince Spies.

Mince Spies recently sold on eBay for $200 (about double what I paid for it) and Blue Room fetches anywhere from $30 to $60, although it used to sell for much more. I got that one for about $12.

I still want to get a hold of some of Beck's very early works, like the Golden Feelings album.

I've been buying a steady stream of CDs since 1989. So, yes, some of them are out of print.

two of my biggest wants are OOP and over-the-top priced at amazon, and sell for ridiculous prices on ebay. anyone know where i can get The Au Pairs' "Playing With a Different Sex" or Wall Of Voodoo's "Dark Continent"???? ;)

I have lots of OOP stuff as well. For example I have all of the Swervedriver and Ultra Vivid Scene albums and every single one is OOP. I was listening to "Ejector Seat Reservation" last night and that has got to be one of the biggest "shoulda been a hit" albums of all time. Every song is catchy.

That will do it. A lot of discs that I sold on Ebay back in '99 were from before 1990.

grunter, you are probably right that Amazon is not the best place to gauge prices. Ebay is probably a little more accurate in what someone would pay.
I have a CD by Goober and the Peas that Jack White played drums on (back in '92 or so) and some people on Amazon used to ask $500 for it. Last I checked there were some way under $50.

That version's out of print? Crap, I used to own that one. As well as a few of those DIY's.

I also used to have Rhino's "Poptopia" series. I'm sure that's hard to come by now...

Sounds good to me too. :up:

I have an iPod, but would never get rid of my CD library as a whole. I've been buying CDs since around 1986, so I'm sure I have some OOP stuff at this point.

U2's "The Joshua Tree" Gold. I've seen it for as much as $200.

Probably, but I don't know what they are (according to this thread Dark Continent which I have on CD and LP may be one).

Some of my favorite OOP CDs I have are:

1.) Hindu Love Gods- Basically R.E.M. with Warren Zevon on lead.
2.) John Lennon/Yoko Ono- Double Fantasy- Gold MFSL version

I'm pretty sure all of KMFDM's TVT/Waxtrax albums are now OOP.

I looked over a few more of my discs and just going by Amazon these seem to be OOP:

Screaming Blue Messiahs first two, Syd Straw, Romantics "In Heat", Wild Seeds, Scruffy The Cat, Dream Syndicate "Out of the Grey", Rave Ups, Lime Spiders yadda yadda.

Looking at that list I guess I can understand why all of those are OOP except the Romantics disc. That did have a couple of hits.

I've been buying and collecting CD's since 1987, and out of those thousands, there are at least a couple of hundred that are out of print.

Most I would never part with, cause I want that actual hard copy, even if I do have it on my mp3 player. I have, on occasion, parted with some here or there, when there was some good money involved. When someone's willing to pay you $50 to $100 for a single used CD, it's kind of hard to say no, sometimes.

My older brother was/is crazy about Swervedriver. I believe he actually has EVERY single thing they ever did. He spent years tracking things down.. I told him he should try and get his "project" released by a label. Seriously, it's pretty crazy. If there was a band practice in 1990 and some guy stood outside the window with a mic recording "Son of Mustang Ford," my brother probably has a copy of it. :)


As for the main topic, I can't think of any big $$$ OOP discs in my collection, unless mid 90's major label stuff like Whipping Boy, Juliana Hatfield or Compulsion is making a comeback. I have a decent number of CDs that are/were limited pressings of a few hundred / thousand, but I guess that doesn't really count since they were never really "in print" to begin with.

I've been collecting since around 1987, so I certianly do have a few OOP, and I've purchased some that were already OOP. It's a shame that some things can be lost to time this way.

Last Friday, I totally took a co-worker to task for saying that he has started to give away his CD's since ripping them to his iPod. I asked him at what quality he was ripping, and of course he didn't know. When I mentioned that a hard drive crash could wipe out your collection, he was under the impression that iTunes would be able to get it all back from their database, even stuff that he owns and ripped himself. Needless to say, I convinced him to keep his CDs.

Grunter,

What shops do you frequent? I really need to start hitting some indy shops. I'm trying to fill in most of Juliana Hatfield's back catalog, as well as the majority of Elysian Fields, Miranda Sex Garden, and stuff found on labels like Cleopatra, Netwerk, etc... and the only realistic way to get the stuff seems to be through Amazon. I've frequented Rolling Stone for 16 years, but their selection seems to become more and more limited due to their small size. They didn't even have any Bjork.

I sold MF Doom - Operation Doomsday on amazon for $120, KMD - Black Bastards for $60, and Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been Limited Edition for $50.

I was happy.

Scorpio - do you only frequent the Rolling Stone out near Harlem Irving? While it's great on new release pricing, it typically doesn't maintain much backstock. Even saying that, I do try to hit that store once a week, if possible. I can't resist new releases at sub $10 prices. The big sale down here in the Loop was at Rolling Stones' sister store "Rock Records" (which I think is owned at least partially by the Crowe's Nest, but I'm not sure). For nearly 2 weeks, all CDs in the store were 50% off and all DVDs were 40% off. I binged, scoring "runs" of Low and Apples in Stereo discs. Plus some odds-n-ends that I had been passing by in the used bins, but which in "new" condition for "used" prices, I could no longer pass up.

My favorite "indy" store, by far, is Reckless Records near the corner of Broadway and Belmont in Boystown. The used selection turns over incredibly quickly, but the breadth of selection as far as used CDs are concerned cannot be beat. (I wish the Wicker Park store were as good.) I also like Hi-Fi Records a bit further south on Clarke Street, about mid-way between Diversey and the Tower Records. They have an incredible $4.99/$2.99 bin wherein you can pick up most major "alt-rock" releases of the past 10 years in nearly mint condition.

I also tend to stop by a fairly generic CD Exchange out in Skokie at Village Crossing nearly once a week. They've had a sale running this past week where every CD is reduced $2.00 (and all DVDs are reduced by $1). In a store where no CD is priced at over $7.99, that makes for a pretty good deal. I picked up some Cheap Trick and T.Rex back catalog titles I didn't already own.

Lately though, I've been pillaging eBay. The glut of iPodlings ridding themselves of their physical CD collections has driven the online prices to incredible lows. Masses of sellers are letting their CDs go for sub $2 prices (plus media mail shipping).

ooh! pity i actually like this edition, otherwise...

I still have the initial remasters of the old David Bowie cds from the early '90s - the Rycodisc ones with the bonus tracks. They reissued them recently (I think on Virgin) and not only do they sound worse (along with some mixing errors) they also dropped all the bonus tracks...

The Rycodisc ones aren't too hard to find though.

Expanding on my earlier response, the pride and joy of my collection are a number of early Tori Amos singles that are now out of print and sought after by fans. This includes the digipack release of Silent All These Years with Ode to the Banana King and A Song for Eric which aren't available anywhere else. I also have the NME Ruby Trax 3CD set which has a ton of great artists covering one British #1 single each (Tori does Ring My Bell here but there's a ton of other great songs here).

I've got a near complete Vanessa Daou collection that appears to be OOP except for her first CD, Zipless, which is only available as an expensive import these days.

Speaking of OOP Rycodisc releases with bonus tracks, I've got a copy of His Name Is Alive - Home Is In Your Head which features The Dirt Eaters EP at the end of the disc that I wouldn't trade for the world. I also have their King of Sweet CD which was a limited release to begin with.

I've got the Rhino 'yellow cover' release of the 4 disc Monterey International Pop Festival that's OOP.

And if I looked over my collection again, I'm sure I'd find a few other forgotten artist who are no longer in print, for example, anyone remember Boo Trundle? I've got two albums and an EP by her.

And recently I paid about $50 for 2 They Might Be Giants CD singles, The Guitar and I Palindrome I, to help complete my TMBG collection. A rare case of me getting OOP CDs after the fact.