Best Option To Liquidate CD Collection

Prepare a spreadsheet with your disk catalog.... Upload it to your public dropbox folder... Create an ad on audiogon, and post a link to your catalog.

Guido

"Amazon apparently has a plan to warehouse the discs and ship for you. Anyone tried that?"

Amazon fees are very expensive. Unless you have CD's that sell for a lot of money, you'll just be giving them away. I would not be so fast to sell them anyway. People find out that they didn't rip their CD's properly and have to go back and redo them all the time. Also, not everyone likes computer audio. Keep the CD's for at least another year or two.

Never get rid of your CDs. They are your "back-up". You'd be a fool to do so. Forgive me for the harsh tone but I'm seriously trying to show you the light.

I agree, keep them. Do create a catalog of them and post it on line. Let any buyers come to you. When they do, check eBay and Amazon for market rates. Never sell below $5 plus shipping and handling, its not worth the trouble. If you sell any, duplicate it on a CD-Rom to maintain the 'back up'.

Agree with Lindisfarne on the value of the CDs as back-up. Also question the legality, or at least the ethical aspect, of selling. I believe that if you sell your copies you don't really 'own' the burnt copies. I understand many people go to the library and check out copies to burn. I feel a little uncomfortable with that as I would selling my copies.

I agree with the above comments. Keep your CDs. I have over 2200 CDs that I have ripped to my music server. There's no way in hell that I would ever get rid of them. Actually, that thought has never entered my mind.

You just never know...

The stupidest action you could take is to sell off your CDs. Plus, there's the legal issue.

You cannot legally nor ethically sell or even give away your CDs so long as you have ripped and still have the files. Do the right thing!

+1 Drubin

Drubin
You cannot legally nor ethically sell or even give away your CDs so long as you have ripped and still have the files. Do the right thing!

I know that's the law...can anybody explain how record shops and Amazon can buy and sell used CDs legally?
Thanks.

My understanding is that if you buy a CD/DVD, you own that copy. If you copy that either as a disc or a hard drive you own that original copy. If you sell that original and retain the copy, you essentially have gained profit by retaining a copy then re-selling. The industry sees that one copy was paid for but two copies exist and they have been cheated out of the second copy.
As far as selling your originals, I agree with the comments made about retention. First off if you ever damage your hard drive you have copies to rebuild your library. Second if a better storage technology comes along(just wait) you have the originals to transfer from your best original. I hope to do this someday as well, and plant to package them up and store them so that they would be easy to move. In the balance what you will receive for your collection, especially in a bulk sale, that money will be a minor temporary gain at best.
Check with bagsunlimited.com and I am sure they have the right box to do the job.
Just another music lovers opinion.

Ok some good comments but no one has answered my question .....have you sold your collection? I do not have the room to store them. All music is backed up on spare hard drives.
Are you saving your 8 tracks and cassettes too.

To answer your question, the amount you'll gain from selling your collection is directly proportional to the amount of work you put in selling it. If you want to sell in bulk you're not going to maximize your return. Why would anyone pay you top dollar if they have to turn around and do the work to sell them individually? Selling your cd collection is no different form selling any other category of collectible. It's a pain in the rump to list and sell each cd on Ebay or Amazon, but it's the only way you're going to get more than pennies on the dollar. I've known several individuals trying to sell their music collections and the results are similar. Classical is hard to sell, jazz a little less so, and rock/popular sells the easiest (unless it's Three Dog Night or Barry Manilow etc.) In the end, everyone I've known said it was a lot of work to try and get a decent return.

Princeton Record Exchange; one of the top used record stores in the country.

http://www.prex.com

---no affiliation

It's very easy to list them on discogs. Will take approx few hours since you don't have to supply any pictures of your own.
Just make sure you're listing proper release.
CDs now not easily sold unless your asking price is darn low low. So far my sales from the store 1CD per few hundreds of records and same is online.

I'm a little disappointed that so many frequent and respected contributors to this forum are willing to consul what is clearly unethical and illegal behavior. I'm surprised that Audiogon allowed such a thread. The RIAA isn't pursuing cases against individuals, but I would think a moderated, for profit website that abets illegal activity would make a tempting, high profile target.

I'm talkin' about character. I'm talkin' about - hell... I ain't embarrassed to use the word - I'm talkin' about ethics.

onhwy61, yes it is disappointing, isn't it?

Serious question...what is the law concerning resale of used CDs by record shops and websites such as Agon and Amazon. Is it the honor system, such as it's assumed that the original owner has not kept a copy for himself.

The system relies upon people acting in good faith. There is no enforcement effort so there is no penalty for abusing the system.

If you found a wallet (with cash and credit cards) on the street, would you try to contact the owner and return it, or would you pocket the cash and try to buy a flat screen with the credit card? Most people would try to return the wallet, but some wouldn't. It's knowing the difference between right and wrong and acting accordingly.

Lowrider57, first the disclaimer...I'm no expert with respect to the legal system. Now for my opinion... I don't think that the law has any additional or specific provision with respect to businesses that sell used material. I think the intent and the content of the law deals specifically with unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material regardless of where it takes place. That being said, I'm sure every business will have to assume that no unauthorized copies have been made. But, as Onhwy61 pointed out, that assumption is completely false in a case such as this where a member publicly asks for help in what would appear to be a clear intent to violate the copyright law.

Lowrider57,

Is it the honor system, such as it's assumed that the original owner has not kept a copy for himself

It does not and cannot happen in real world(Earth). You can't control seller from copying material one wants to sell(and still want to listen). One who just want to listen to music has a right to be happy with burned CD or recorded cassette for PERSONAL use. That is considred to be legal anywhere you go. The reason I started selling records was not for profit, but to listen to lots of music and almost free. I would pick up the record, record it onto cassette and kept the record till I wanted to purchase different one playing just a cassette after the record was opened and recorded. Occasionally I managed to profit and save funds for more new music.
I did not grow up with wealthy parents so I had to keep my allowances tight-tight. Slowly-slowly I became popular at street lots and started selling records for profit realizing that I'm making my living.

Wait to you die, that way your estate will inherit the problem, or will them to one of your grandchildren.

Czarivey said

I would pick up the record, record it onto cassette and kept the record till I wanted to purchase different one playing just a cassette after the record was opened and recorded.

Your economic situation has no relevance to the discussion. Making a copy onto cassette to use it in your car is, in my opinion as a non-lawyer, clearly within the fair use exemption allowing reproduction of copyrighted material. Re-selling it and keeping the reproduction is not. While the legal system cannot prevent people from committing an illegal act, that does not make it legal, ethical or moral. You've clearly failed the honor system test and your actions are part of the reason those of us who passed have to deal w copy-protection and DRM and etc. Thanks, dude.

You can't control seller from copying material one wants to sell(and still want to listen). One who just want to listen to music has a right to be happy with burned CD or recorded cassette for PERSONAL use. That is considred to be legal anywhere you go.

Now I'm remembering the litigation back in the 80's regarding home recording to cassette and the recording of video rentals. The court ruled that it was legal to keep a copy for your personal use.

In the case of VHS movie rentals, it was also legal to keep a copy for personal use. That's when the movie studios started to use "Copyguard" on VHS rentals. The most effective system distorted the vertical sync on the tape enabling it to play, but couldn't be recorded. Next, copyguard was applied to DVD rentals but was too expensive to apply to every DVD released.

We are less than 10 heads away from CDs becoming entirely irrelevant and I will tell you why. If you could have access to virtually every recording ever made and steam that music in CD resolution or higher would you still want to own CDs? Why on earth would you. The one and only reason I buy and own CDs is because mog and spotify don't stream uncompressed music. Once they do, I'm done owning or buying music. No reason to.

10 years. Damn autocorrect!

"Now I want to sell the entire collection of appx.
800 discs. A nice mix of genres, some originals, some remasters, a few box sets, some with dvds
Has anyone had good success doing this in bulk? Of course
pricing is always the sticking point."

Break your collection up into several smaller groups. Make each group consist of material that's all related. For example, say you have 100 classical CD's in your collection, along with another 100 in heavy metal. If you sold it all in 1 big lot, chances are that whoever buys it won't pay as much for it. Someone may want your classical cd's only. But if you force the buyer to take them all, they won't pay as much.

Given that, I think ebay is definitely the way to go. You reach a huge amount of people with ebay, and the auction format doesn't lock you into a single price. You have the potential get more for you cd's than you thought.

If you don't already have an ebay account you'll have to create one. That means you won't have any feedback. Before you list your CD's, buy a few things on ebay first. That way you can get some feedback on your account. Also, don't list all of your CD's at once. List just 1 lot at a time. Doing it this way, you'll be able to add more feedback to your account. When you sell your 2nd lot you now have the feedback from the first sale on your account. Not only that, when people see that you've already sold some cd's and have good feedback for the sale, they're more likely to trust you, resulting in higher bids on your items.

Most helpful Zd.

Swampwalker,
Thanks for your deep expertise in show biz laws.
Slap my wrists ouch!!!
It was very entertaining!

When confronted with truth, answer with sarcasm -- it's the mature way of handling life.

- Rip them all to disc.
- Sell them all to a collector
- Burn the hard drive copies to CDr and sell those again maximizing your profits!
- Then go to church and ask Dog for forgiveness...
-REPEAT till dead.

Notec, Bootlegging(or building your own unofficial releases) of the real live concerts is more profitable.
There's lots of headroom for creativity even now on who to bootleg for best profits.

Yes, but the SQ is hit or miss, mainly miss. It's the live shows that allow the folks recording in the audience/field to do so jacked into the board. I have tons of live recordings of my fave bands... that I give to friends

Onhwy61, Swampwalker, apologise if sarcazm bites your nerve tissues, but I was NOT confronted by truth but rather dogma. Dig difference?

bellow notes from wiki for your future reference:

Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.[1] It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system's paradigm, or the ideology itself. The term can refer to acceptable opinions of philosophers or philosophical schools, public decrees, religion, or issued decisions of political authorities.[2]

The term derives from Greek δόγμα "that which seems to one, opinion or belief"[3] and that from δοκέω (dokeo), "to think, to suppose, to imagine".

Let me know if you need to know other life examples of other common dogmas if curious.

Czarivey, can I come over your house and copy/rip all your CDs and music files to my hard drive(s)? I'm not going to pay you anything, but I'll make copies of the hard drives and sell them on EBay. Then everybody will be happy!

Onhwy61, Now, who's immature after all LOL!!??
Please refer to definition of irrelevance indeed -- enhance your vocabulary and mindpower. Never late to learn.
You can copy/rip at my house ANYTHING even my silhouette behind the shower curtain and I won't ask a single dime and certainly wouldn't care about whatcha gonna do next with copied material. Your arz isn't mine that's going to be lashed quite hard after all all.
Then everybody will or won't be happy regardless indeed, and who cares if or not.

Onhwy61,

You don't like capitalism, do what do you care? If everyone gets free music, then the system is fair, no?

Blue-

i would be interested in your box sets- possibly.
Feel free to contact me w/ the titles and i will respond.
Happy Listening.

But Czarivey, I don't have much money...

Zd542, have you read the entire thread?

Onhwy61, I don't think you're reading at all all. I didn't ask for any money.

OK Ladies calm down. I didn't mean to start a pissing contest
on who has the biggest disc....well you know what I mean.
I am just trying to solve a problem here but don't want to hire an attorney to sell my pile of plastic.
Ok lawyers...this is where you move in from the shadows.....

IANAL, but the situation is really pretty simple: it's perfectly legal to sell a CD you own, and it's perfectly legal to rip a CD that you own to your hard drive. However, if you choose to sell a CD that you've copied, it is NOT legal to retain the copy.

A CD is a physical object, but when you purchase a CD, you acquire not just a physical copy of the music, but also a license for the personal use of that music. Purchasing a CD does not, for example, allow you to use that music for the soundtrack of a commercial motion picture. That is a use not covered by the license.

If you decide to sell your CD, you sell not only the silver disk, but the personal use license that goes with it. Any copies you retain are no longer licensed, or in other words, are illegal.

Unless, of course, you are unlucky enough that the RIAA decides to make an example of you and sue you for every penny you're worth, the chances of getting caught are pretty slim. But to argue that this practice is anything but illegal, immoral and unethical is simply a self-serving rationalization.
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At last, an answer to the original question that I understand and makes perfect sense. Thank you REL.

I just found bunch of cassette tapes with recorded material from CDs and LPs recently...
I also just found bunch of CDRs with different recorded material...
That's immoral, unethical and illegal. Right?

Possession of illegal substance or weapon surely has public information about rules, regulation, sentences and possible verdicts. Go anywhere and you'll get bunch of sources to read from and know.

Possession of recorded media material does NOT have any public information about rules, regulations etc. I only found dogmas so far. So where are the articles and public laws or links to there? Unless there's no proof, it's only dogma.

Unless, of course, you are unlucky enough that the RIAA decides to make an example of you and sue you for every penny you're worth, the chances of getting caught are pretty slim. But to argue that this practice is anything but illegal, immoral and unethical is simply a self-serving rationalization.
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Rel

Does RIAA have hands long enough to reach outside USA? Why RIAA?

Unless there's no proof, it's only dogma.

Czarivey: I’m going to go way out on a limb here, and assume that English is not your first language, as I can think of no other explanation for your incomprehensible and incoherent comment (exemplified by the above sentence), unless, of course, it is due to the misuse or overuse of your favorite psychoactive substance, combined injudiciously with something more prosaic like, say, airplane glue.

As someone who makes his living from the fruits of the talented musicians who create the records you sell, one would think you would be a bit more sympathetic to their desire to not be ripped-off by the sale and circulation of unauthorized copies of their works.

Your posts make it pretty clear that you love music, so I find it difficult to comprehend the cloak of willful ignorance in which you wrap your outlandish opinions. Do you really think it is NOT illegal to make and distribute unauthorized copies of copyrighted material?

Why the RIAA? Because they claim to represent the artists who are harmed by illegal sharing of their works. Many of the positions and actions taken by the RIAA can be legitimately criticized, and I am rather surprised to find myself defending them, but in this matter I believe they are right.

If you think this is all merely “dogma” you might want to have a look at this page, which explains some of the basics: The Law

One notable highlight:

Burning a copy of a CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:
• The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
• The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal
– to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.

You seem to relish the persona of the rebel and the outlaw, which is, of course, your prerogative. But don’t pretend that your viewpoints are legitimate or worthy of emulation.

I’m done with this discussion: peace out!
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Didn't care much about those smallish neuances about getting rid of material you've once recorded and than either lost or sold a copy. The place where I started selling media did not have any RIAA so I could keep and enjoy the copies I've made either on R2R or cassette and have no worries about 5 years in jail +$250k in fines WHEW!.
I don't have to even think about it because the digital material I have either will be supported by analogue copy or CD. My store has MY records and CDs and as soon as I'm sold out of the LAST copy, I'll delete it.
Figure out my personal collection is near 10,000 vinyls, 1300 CDs and 2TB of hi-rez digital downloads. The store has over 30,000 records and CDs.
Not all recordings on the media or on the digital downloads belong to artist did you know that? Most of it belongs to record companies, the pimps! Stealing from those who steal I don't thing is immoral or unethical and only sentence that protects the pimps can stop ya from doin' that.

Alas from audiophiles, who mostly listen to their rig, I support artists by attending their live shows, joining the fan clubs, promoting new artists, booking venues and booking bands.

Rel has it right; czarivey is trying to rationalize (excuse) illegal conduct, his ad hominem attacks further devalue his position.
It's pretty simple and really has nothing to do w digital vs analog. You can duplicate copyrighted material for personal non-commercial use. You cannot sell or give away or trade the material if you retain either the original or the copy. Think of it this way- it's the content/intellectual property that is protected not its format.

Its probably worth noting that the people record companies are going after are file sharers. In order to win a law suit, you need to show damages. So, if a person has a few burned CD's that fit the definition of illegal, the damage is very small. There's no way record companies co go after that type of thing. The dollar amounts are just not there. No so with file sharing. If you upload 1 CD and share it, it has the potential hurt sales of thousands, or possibly millions of CD's. Those are the people that companies go after.

If you upload 1 CD and share it, it has the potential hurt sales of
thousands, or possibly millions of CD's

Unless you're Metallica or Dr. Dre - which no one listens to anyway...

Screw the RIAA - rip away people - give to friends - sell the originals - there's BIGGER things
in this world to worry about for Allah's sake....

Czarivey, keep the rips you sell. No one cares... (for real. These old self-righteous delusive
people speaking out here have no life and need something to believe in no matter how
retarded their automatonophobiatic puppet strings are pulled).

"These old self-righteous delusive people speaking out here have no life and need something to believe in no matter how
retarded their automatonophobiatic puppet strings are pulled."

And you're getting all this from reading and posting opinions in threads talking about stereo equipment? What makes you any different? You're posting too.

"there's BIGGER things in this world to worry about for Allah's sake...."

Who's Allah? The name sounds familiar. Does he make cables?