The price of used LP's.

If my 401k was performing as well as my discogs collection,  I'd be able to retire.

Yeah, I think you've made a good investment over the years, Eric. If only your heirs know the value.

Many of the prices are just crazy. In may cases I would rather have a better sounding remastered copy.

I have a huge collection from the 60's to late 70's my children said they would get a dumpster till I told them otherwise.

Wish I had the motivation to sell some duplicates myself, maybe I'll see if my grandson will do it on commission.

Where do you live and (cough), how's the health?

my children said they would get a dumpster till I told them otherwise.

@bdp24 

We had a record store here last year which had the same. $3-5 NM used LP's. Then there was the $1 boxes. I bought several that were NM. Bob James, David Sanborn, Lee Ritenour just a few of the artists. Unfortunately they closed after on;ly 3-4 months. I used to look forward to going there on the weekends. Only about a mile from my house

I also brought home one of John Simon's two albums, Journey (Warner Brothers). John is best known for producing the first two albums of The Band, but he also did the debut albums of Leonard Cohen and The Electric Flag (the only one Al Kooper as leader), as well as Big Brother & The Holding Company's Cheap Thrills.

I don't even remember John's two albums coming out in the early-70's, only learning of them from Mazzy (Norman Maslov) in one of his excellent Vinyl Community YouTube videos. I'm sure this album sold no more than a few thousand copies back then, yet this one---the first I've ever seen---cost me only $15. The cover is in only about VG condition, but the disc is Near Mint.

I also brought home Richie Furay's I Still have Dreams (produced by Val Garay, and featuring the playing of The Section: Russell Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Waddy Wachtel, and Craig Doerge. Mastered by Doug Sax.), and Norton Buffalo's Desert Horizon (executive producer Steve Miller. Norton's accompanists include John McFee, Mickey Hart, Bill Champlin, Nicolette Larson, The Tower Of Power Horns, Bobby Black, and drummer Gary Mallaber), both in NM condition and priced at $2.99 each (minus my senior discount. The Goodwill Store cashier didn't ask for I.D. Guess I AM getting old ;-).  

I got zillions of original issue LPs but the worn jackets, I've found, pretty much destroy their value. In other words, I'm just gonna have to put 'em on the 'table and listen to them...

@edcyn: Put your covers in clear plastic outer sleeves; makes ’em look much more valuable ;-) . A guy in Canada is making some great ones (company name Vinyl Storage Solutions), featuring his patented "Double Pocket" (available in both 2mil and 4mil versions). The jacket goes in one pocket, the LP in the other; no more fumbling to cram the LP back into the cover. It’s changed my life!

@johnto: Good point. Mazzy has made the point that if you buy a first copy of an album, in just acceptable condition---then a second in better condition---and finally a third, a really clean copy---you have by then spent more than you would for a newly remastered version of the album.

There are some out there---and even here on Audiogon---who have for whatever reason---some legitimate---come to believe that new 180g LP reissues are "hype". All of them? Sure, if you are buying a new reissue of an album from one of the majors---either in a store or from, say, Amazon---you may get a piece of junk. Warped, noisy, poor sound quality, etc. The majors have always put profit above quality.

Those are NOT the reissues you want to be consider buying. There are a dozen small reissue companies making the best LP’s the world has ever seen---uh, heard. Everyone if familiar with some of them, if only Mobile Fidelity. There is one stubborn fool (now banished from Audiogon) who---after hearing one bad MoFi from back in the days before the company was sold to Music Direct, who hired the best mastering engineers in the world, and had Tim de Paravicini upgrade their entire mastering chain (he also did Pink Floyd’s London studio)---declared all MoFi’s to sound bad. Had he heard any Mo-Fi LP’s made in this century? It would appear not. Of course this same fella declared the loudspeaker he had just ordered to be better than any other costing ten times as much. You know, that kind of guy.

Most of the music I am interested in has not been reissued, and is far too "cult" level to ever be so (no one is going to reissue either John Simon albums). I have sprung for good reissues of albums that 1- I love to death, and 2- Have recorded sound quality high enough to warrant an "Audiophile"-level reissue. The three Ry Cooder’s on MoFi, for instance.

The Band’s debut Music From Big Pink was originally done by MoFi back in its’ early days, and was not good sounding (neither is their Beatles boxset). Their second stab at the album (done around 2012, I believe) is a very different story. Capitol’s original LP’s are severely compromised in sq: frequencies below 100Hz, Levon Helm’s kick drum and Rick Danko’s electric bass drastically emasculated. The second MoFi used the original multi-track masters, and restored the missing-in-action lower frequencies. Also, the Capitol LP’s are God-awful pressings, so noisy I ordered a copy of MFPB from England, the E.M.I. LP sounding much better. The second MoFi is even better in that regard as well.

The other companies doing great reissues include Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Intervention, Craft, a number of others. Not just 180g vinyl (it’s actually PVC ;-), but longer pressing time including the "cool down" phase (to prevent warps), better-than-original covers, plastic inner sleeves, high-quality electronics, etc. Engineers include Bernie Grundman, Shawn Britton, Kreig Wunderlich, Kevin Gray, and Ryan K.Smith. LP’s are pressed at either QRP in Salina Kansas (the Miles Davis estate uses QRP exclusively), Pallas or Optimal in Germany, or RTI in California. Great, great LP’s, the best the world has ever seen.

For verification, compare any copy of Cat Stevens' Tea For The Tillerman (including the original "pink label" UK Island pressing) with the reissue by Analogue Productions. If you don't prefer the reissue, you need a better hi-fi ;-) ..

@bdp24 

Analogue Productions seems to consistantly produce high quality records. What about MoFi? Did they go through a period of inconsistent production? Because I read there were some sub par releases and it wasn't from the guy with the world's greatest speakers.

@bdp24 right on brother !,

@lowrider57 absolutely….early MoFi hit or miss, newer gain 2 with changes Eric noted above are much improved….

It depends on what you are looking for. I wanted a pristine green Warner label of Herbie Hancock’s "Crossings, " part of a trilogy of spiritual jazz. Audiophile is expensive, but I got a sealed Warner green from the period from him. I thought the later Speakers Corner was better.

If you can find what you are looking for locally, great! I am all stocked up on the usual suspects, and what I’m chasing they don’t have in local record stores. So, I’m buying via the Internet, often from abroad even for US pressings. If you are filling need for less than 10 bucks, more power to ya.

@whart: Yeah Bill, the hardest-to-find titles in my wants list will most likely never be found locally, but hope springs eternal. What I find locally are albums I either somehow missed (the John Simon), or common titles that I wasn't interested in at the time of their original release.

I've done some buying on Discogs, but the seller standards of grading condition are often below that of mine, even when they grade an LP as Near Mint, which you would think universal. Nope, 'fraid not. I am not interested in any but Near Mint or better LP's. If I have to wait to find a title, that's fine. I already have enough albums to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

What I value most in the Vinyl Community YouTube videos is learning of artists or albums of which I have been unaware. Also comparisons between different pressings of the same title, and news of upcoming releases. All the good online sellers are great about announcing upcoming releases, both new and reissue. There has never been a time better for being an LP consumer than now!

Yes, you are lucky. Keep prowling. You can take chances on unknown artists at those prices. See something interesting, look it up on your phone in the store!

I grew up with the Kinks, a favorite of mine also. I had too many Kinks, sold some on eBay.

I saw the Kinks live at the Beacon, NYC. Not the loudest, that was Dylan and the Distorters, wall of amps ’living in clip’ (as Ani Difranco came up with).but Holy crap, playing Lola, every guy thinks he can dance, up, bouncing the mezzanine and balconies like a rolling Stones concert.

Still have my original collection I started when in high school, about 150 lp’s all in mint condition. They include Donald Fagen nightly, al dimeola a night in San Francisco, police ghost in the machine, etc etc all original copies as they were all bought when they first came out. Now, I have most likely 3,000 lp’s....and growing. Record stores are generally nil in my area, but I do have several thrift stores where I occasionally strike gold (subjective). I mostly buy my stuff through eBay and discogs. I’m also a regular customer at Audiophile USA and Better Records. It does seem that the records for sale at Audiophile USA, the ones in the mailers, do not last very long. It’s as if someone receives insider info...

@bdp24  I haven't been searching out any local to me used record shops, or heard of record shows coming here, but being able to purchase albums for $3-$10 apiece, that is amazing! The guys selling at those prices must be getting huge liquidated album collections from people ignorant as to vinyl value. Not sure this will be long lived phenomenon, once the baby boomers gone and large unliquidated collections inherited by ignorant relatives ends cheap vinyl will end.

I thought prices of new vinyl had impacted used vinyl? I've had occasion to check values of some of my 3500+ vinyl collection, mostly purchased in 1980's, certainly some not worth much, but there are some hot stampers and other rarities with much higher values. I don't know how usual I am, but my collection has not been documented as to values, it would likely be sold off for pennies on the dollar without that documentation. Still, to go through 3500+ albums and document values for each one, quite an undertaking!  I'd be interested in hearing what others have done in my situation?

@sns: Having traded in some LP’s at the shops I patronize, I know how they can afford to sell them for $3-$10: they pay only $1-$3 for trade-ins!

Vinyl Community member Norman Maslov ("Mazzy") posted a new YouTube video yesterday talking about his ongoing project of cataloging his LP library (like myself, he doesn’t like the term collection) in the Discogs database. Check it out if that sounds of interest to you.

I too have about 3500 LP’s (and the same number of CD’s, on the opposite wall of my music room), and as Mazzy says, trying to read all the small scribbles in the dead wax (the blank space between the last groove and the center label) of LP’s is a real pita. There are little magnifiers with LED lights listed on Amazon, which I am planning on including in my next order.