What Should I Do With All of my Leftover CDs?

[Doug Robinson]

I find myself in the fairly heartbreaking position of having over a thousand CDs of my own music--various albums--that I can't sell anymore. No one has CD players anymore where I live, nor anywhere else apparently. They are all jazz-related and some feature killer players like Peter Erskine, Mike Stern, John Patitucci and so on. But I've sold as many as I'm going to. I'll keep 50 of each title just for vanity, but I really don't know what to do with the rest of them.

[Song80s]

Count me as Mr No One

 

I have a CD player in my Model T

 

I also have a Bose CD player.

 

Now that I have shown my credit as full on retro , I also have an 80 cassette collection.

But I digress..

 

I admire Erskine and Stern, that entire genre of great players.

[Delaware Dave]

I have dozens of 8 tracks and my 8 track player still works.

[KuruPrionz]

Somebody gave me a small Tascam CD player. The speakers sucked so I hooked it up to a pair of JBL P40 that I've been "hoarding."

 

Sounds great. About once a week I listen to Notting Hillbillies or Abba's Greatest Hits.

 

I've got a couple of Miles Davis CDs around here somewhere, maybe in a few weeks...

 

Seems like CDs cut in to pie slices would make good flashers for trolling, if one likes fishing...

[Joe Muscara]

Sell them for the cost of shipping? You might have some buyers here.

[area51recording]

I've got a CD player out in the buckboard. I end up more often than not listening to CDs on the laptop through headphones, when I decide to mess with it.....

[Song80s]

Someb

I've got a couple of Miles Davis CDs around here somewhere, maybe in a few weeks...

 

g...

 

Miles Davis is god to me.

 

Abba, not so much

[Doug Robinson]

I like the idea of selling them for the cost of shipping except that I live in Central Mexico and it costs over $20 us to ship CDs to the states now!

 

And just a reminder, it isn't about ME not being to play them, it's about the rest of the world.

 

I saw a design for a CD Secret safe that looked pretty cool, and a mosaic table made of broken discs.

 

Yikes, I never anticipated this. Depressing.

[moj]

Donate them to your State Library. That' s what I did. They have a yearly sale "Friends of the Library". You'd be surprised how many they sell.. I found a couple of out-of-print ones that I was happy to purchase.

 

Edit: You live in Mexico, so maybe not.

[Jazz+]

I put them in a box out by the street curb. Out with the old, in with the new. The library in my city is already overstocked.

[KuruPrionz]

Someb

I've got a couple of Miles Davis CDs around here somewhere, maybe in a few weeks...

 

g...

 

Miles Davis is god to me.

 

Abba, not so much

 

Love me some Miles!

Abba is like the finest, highest possible quality Velveeta, it's a mood thing and an acquired taste. I suddenly started liking them, I don't understand it and I don't care.

[Song80s]

[qu

 

Abba, not so much

 

Love me some Miles!

Abba is like the finest, highest possible quality Velveeta, it's a mood thing and an acquired taste. I suddenly started liking them, I don't understand it and I don't care.

 

Maybe its subliminal, Women from Sweden, Netherlands, the Nordic Countries,, are interesting

to my wandering eye

[jazzpiano88]

I keep them and I order new CD's from artists I want to listen to critically.

 

It is so sad that high fidelity audio has been lost. Someday down the road, some people may rediscover the lost art of high end audio and video.

Compression and streaming have taken the masses back to before the 50's and 60's high end analog.

 

Phone audio sounding like HF moon bounce is acceptable and expected for some reason.

 

The public has accepted the compression of all audio and visual information into the minimum bandwidth so long as it can be comprehended through the garbled reconstruction.

 

Can you hear me now?

[Mark Zeger]

I still buy CDs, mostly used. I love going to a store, browsing the racks, and finding titles missing from my library. I primarily listen in my car which has excellent sound. My next car purchase may have issues because CD players are disappearing from dashboards.

[Joe Muscara]

Well, I think I want them so I will PM you one way or another and see if we can work something out.

[bfields]

Many of my old Blue Notes are older ones before the 're-masterd Rudy Van Gelder edition' ones. And they still wipe the floor with most digital downloads.

 

Yes, though that's not really anything to do with the underlying technology. It's more about trends in mastering.

 

The file data compression used by streaming services is designed to reduce the amount of data that's required to represent a given sound, without changing the sound. All the big streaming services are quite capable of reproducing the audio on a CD to the point that any differences are difficult-to-impossible for a human to hear.

 

Dynamic range compression of course is a different thing, and makes an audible difference, or there'd be no point to it.

 

If a streaming service is playing stuff without a lot of dynamic range, it's because they think that's what their audience wants to hear, not usually because they're skimping on bitrates.

[Biggles]

Here in the UK there are companies who buy CDs, with an average pice paid of £1 per CD and they pay postage.

 

Better to get some cash than zero or the CDs languishing unplayed on a rack

[TommyRude]

If you can't donate all of them, here are some ideas. The guitar picks are pretty cool.

 

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/24-wonderful-diy-ideas-with-old-cds.html

[Doug Robinson]

Some cool ideas there, Tommy. Thanks.

[Stokely]

As far as "phone audio" I ran into that when re-mixing a live recording of our band, I got individual tracks so I was having a blast doing mixes.

 

Our singer didn't like one mix, said it sounded too "studio"...ok, I was kind of shooting for more organic without doing too much process, curious what you are listening on?

"My phone". Not, my phone with ear buds or headphones, but the phone speaker. Ok then, I'll try to mix so that it sounds great on a tiny mono speaker (and yes I do recall checking mixes back in the day on little crappy tiny auratones to simiulate car speakers but a phone speaker??)

 

 

Question for you CD-tosser-outers: Do you rip down first before getting rid of them I guess? And in what format?

[Doug Robinson]

Ok, back to the original topic--I did find a way to have some fun, get some music out there and make a bit of money--certainly not getting rid of all of my inventory or recouping my original investment over the years, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

 

Thanks to our own Joe Muscara suggesting it for himself, I created a package of 9 CDs plus a bonus CDR of an out of print album. I put the word out on FaceBook and locally and lo and behold--I've sold several packages! I haven't even sent it to my mailing list yet. The non-locals all agree to wait a few weeks for the their CDs, as I have a friend driving north of the border in about 2 weeks, so they can be mailed from the US--much cheaper than doing it from Mexico.

 

Here is the package, all sealed and in perfect condition:

 

BESOS OCULTOS, 2019--latin jazz, my way. Killer group and grooves plus a hip salsa cover of For What It's Worth. Great reviews.

 

DUOTUNES, from 2016--a CD of telepathic acoustic piano/electric guitar duets featuring me and the unbelievably great Ken Basman, who passed away just as we were finishing the album (which got a rave review in JAZZIZ Magazine).

 

LOVE ALL WAYS, from 2012 --What i consider my lost masterpiece, very cinematic in parts. The first 28 minutes is a nine-movement suite I love. Quite q bit of Omnisphere found it's way onto this CD, but it's not all ambient by any means.

 

TWO DAYS IN NOVEMBER from 2005-- My San Diego trio. This won an indie jazz award, beautiful acoustic (mostly) fusion but also kind of chamber jazz. Duncan Moore (killer) on drums, Ken Dow on bass.

 

SOLO/PIANO from 2011 Another well-reviewed CD, this time of 17 original compositions played at my piano. Relaxing but not New Age noodling.

 

SITJAZZDOWN from 2001 Tight, rip-snorting melodic fusion, great electric guitar from Mike Miller, slamming' drums from Peter Erskine, bass by Dave Carpenter and tenor sax by Bob Sheppard. Many people who know my work consider this their favorite. Great reviews.

 

LET FREEDOM SWING from 2001--a very hip project with Peter Erskine, Dave Carpenter, Wayne Johnson and some other killer players, tackling my arrangements of Americana, patriotic and spiritual songs. I never released it because 9/11 happened during mastering and I didn't want to be seen as cashing in on the tragic events of that day. Now I'm too conflicted with my feelings about the USA to release it virtually, but maybe one day I will release it with new artwork.

 

JAZZ FOR A WINTER'S EVE from 2000--this is some of my best arranging and playing, with Peter Erskine, Mike Miller, Bob Sheppard and Dave Carpenter, doing holiday music BUT it doesn't suck! Jazz reviewer Chris Albertson said it was the best CD of holiday jazz he'd ever heard. JAZZIZ Magazine even ordered a nice quantity with their logo to give away as year-end gifts.

 

ART CAN'T HURT YOU from 1994--a tight, synthy fusion album, inspired by Flim and the BBs. I'm playing live drums, bass, keys and more. some excellent guest spots for talented improvisers. Electronic Musician Magazine gave this a rave review and actually a one page feature about me. Greg Mackie called to tell me he was blasting it in his factory all day to show his workers how good their gear sounded, and Alesis used it at NAMM to demo some gear.

 

 

So that's nine CDs, and I promise you won't feel like you're repeating anything. AND as a special bonus--I'm including one of two out of print albums: either PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS, featuring Mike Stern, John Patitucci, George Young, Scott Amendola, Dave Carpenter, Hollis Gentry and Rob Mounsey or MIDLIFE CHRYSALIS, my Randy Newman-esque vocal album from 2005. Both won awards at the time--indie contests and are long out of print but I'll burn a CDR with liner notes for your choice.

 

I'm selling the package for $50 usd plus shipping from Texas. If you're interested, drop me a PM.

 

Thanks, and keep the ideas coming--I'm also going to do a mosaic table with the CD Love All Ways, as the artwork is so beautiful.

[Mighty Ferguson]

I remember an old magazine or web site column on what to do with old CDs... I want to say it was written by Mike Nelson of MST3K fame, but I might be remembering that wrong. In any case, the author advised (very sarcastically) people rip all their CDs to MP3 due to the convenience... but then to make sure they remember to back up all those MP3s to CD, just in case.

[Delaware Dave]

What did you do with all of the vinyl records? Same question and most likely the same answer

[Joe Muscara]

I hope you sell tons of them Doug, literally!

[Doug Robinson]

Thanks Joe! You"re the guy that got me started. It"s not quite a ton :-) although some of the music gets pretty⦠Heavy. Sorry, I knew better and I said it anyway.

[Chris Link]

Donate them to a thrift store. If you use a program such as ItsDeductible, it will tell you the maximum allowed that the IRS won"t question. Depending on your tax bracket, the tax savings will likely net you more than what you could sell them for without the hassle of selling and shipping them.

 

Edit: As I read further down the thread, I see you live in Mexico.