(Well here it is..)- What to do with your LP/CD collection-especially Mosaic box sets, when no interested heirs?

[JSngry]

Let's recruit younger members by sending the people they hate all our shit without them asking for it.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 6/18/2024 at 5:28 AM, jazzkrow said:

For me, my single CDs are not the major issue.

It's the box sets.

Maybe, it would be a worthy idea to pass on box sets on our Pay It Forward link.

---

As long as you (or others who feel like you) don't get the funny idea of splitting your box sets into individual CDs and let them be disposed of that way.

While browsing the CD bins at the record clearance sale at our leading local used record shop last April I came across MANY box sets that had been split into individual CDs that ended up sitting scattered across the entire room full of unsorted CDs for sale.  So it took long hours of determined searching the bins to find a maximum of them, but many sets seemed to have been incomplete, with the remainders maybe snapped up by others or tossed into bins not (yet) put up for sale. And sadly the booklets had disappeared. According to the shop owner they had received these "sets" that way 😕.
The CDs still were nice finds at 1 EUR each but this WAS annoying. Particularly since they included many interesting items right up my alley:
- The Beat Generation (3 CDs - found all three - thanks again to TTK for sending me key excerpts from the booklet)
- King Curtis / Blow Man Blow - The Capitol Years (Bear Family) (found all 3 CDs)
- Jimmy Red - The Vee Jay Years on Charly (found only CDs #3 and 4 out of 6)
- Bo Diddley (12-CD set on Charly - took CDs 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 12 - did not find CD #2 and was not interested in the remaining - incomplete - CDs from this set featuring his post-mid-60s recordings)
- The Cadillacs - The Complete Josie Sessions (Bear Family - but found only CD 4 our of 4)

Pity ... Even for the seller who probably did not realize (or care) that this definitely reduced the worth of his items.
 

Edited June 24 by Big Beat Steve

[medjuck]

4 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

As long as you (or others who feel like you) don't get the funny idea of splitting your box sets into individual CDs and let them be disposed of that way.

While browsing the CD bins at the record clearance sale at our leading local used record shop last April I came across MANY box sets that had been split into individual CDs that ended up sitting scattered across the entire room full of unsorted CDs for sale.  So it took long hours of determined searching the bins to find a maximum of them, but many sets seemed to have been incomplete, with the remainders maybe snapped up by others or tossed into bins not (yet) put up for sale. And sadly the booklets had disappeared. According to the shop owner they had received these "sets" that way 😕.
The CDs still were nice finds at 1 EUR each but this WAS annoying. Particularly since they included many interesting items right up my alley:
- The Beat Generation (3 CDs - found all three - thanks again to TTK for sending me key excerpts from the booklet)
- King Curtis / Blow Man Blow - The Capitol Years (Bear Family) (found all 3 CDs)
- Jimmy Red - The Vee Jay Years on Charly (found only CDs #3 and 4 out of 6)
- Bo Diddley (12-CD set on Charly - took CDs 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 12 - did not find CD #2 and was not interested in the remaining - incomplete - CDs from this set featuring his post-mid-60s recordings)
- The Cadillacs - The Complete Josie Sessions (Bear Family - but found only CD 4 our of 4)

Pity ... Even for the seller who probably did not realize (or care) that this definitely reduced the worth of his items.
 

I found the Mosaic Jack Teagarden that way, then bought the booklet from Mosaic.

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

I found the Mosaic Jack Teagarden that way, then bought the booklet from Mosaic.

I am afraid neither Charly nor Bear Family would have been that obliging!

[Hoppy T. Frog]

the owner of Dusty Groove came to me, and hauled it away. He didn't take everything. I've bought from them for years, and I found his price incredibly fair. I had no patience to sell everything individually. I had some out of print Mosaics that I guess I could have gotten an higher price for if I put it on Ebay but I didn't want to do that. 

I was 48 when I sold my collection. I will have many years left in me to rebuild another massive collection (to the mild consternation of my wife!). 

Edited June 26 by Hoppy T. Frog

[tranemonk]

So let me see if I basically get the summary of this thread... We're kind of screwed and there is no simple/good answer. Is that right?

[rostasi]

6 minutes ago, tranemonk said:

So let me see if I basically get the summary of this thread... We're kind of screwed and there is no simple/good answer. Is that right?

Actually, look at them as various suggestions based on our personal living situations.
Read them and decide what's best for your personal situation.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

10 minutes ago, tranemonk said:

So let me see if I basically get the summary of this thread... We're kind of screwed and there is no simple/good answer. Is that right?

Having a great many cds does not seem like being screwed to me.  The plastic disks and their packaging - mere things.  The music - spiritual, priceless.

[JSngry]

You're only screwed if you expect to get most of or all of your money back.

[mjazzg]

Not screwed at all if you've had hours of stimulation listening to them, that's what they're for. Screwed if you bought them as an investment opportunity, definitely.

[rostasi]

The other, wider, suggestion is if you're sincere about wanting to deal with your collection is to probably start by asking yourself what kind of time scale are you looking at. Are you moving in a month and have to drop a load of them (or all) really quickly? ... or do you have a longer timescale where you can let loose of one or two items for every new one you buy now ... or something similar (10 year plan ... a summer's sifting ... or so on). Sometimes time scales can help with your final decisions.

[felser]

6 hours ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

Having a great many cds does not seem like being screwed to me.  The plastic disks and their packaging - mere things.  The music - spiritual, priceless.

This

5 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Not screwed at all if you've had hours of stimulation listening to them, that's what they're for. Screwed if you bought them as an investment opportunity, definitely.

And this.

[jlhoots]

9 hours ago, Hoppy T. Frog said:

the owner of Dusty Groove came to me, and hauled it away. He didn't take everything. I've bought from them for years, and I found his price incredibly fair. I had no patience to sell everything individually. I had some out of print Mosaics that I guess I could have gotten an higher price for if I put it on Ebay but I didn't want to do that. 

I was 48 when I sold my collection. I will have many years left in me to rebuild another massive collection (to the mild consternation of my wife!). 

Helpful.

[Big Beat Steve]

20 hours ago, Hoppy T. Frog said:

the owner of Dusty Groove came to me, and hauled it away. He didn't take everything. I've bought from them for years, and I found his price incredibly fair. I had no patience to sell everything individually. I had some out of print Mosaics that I guess I could have gotten an higher price for if I put it on Ebay but I didn't want to do that. 

I was 48 when I sold my collection. I will have many years left in me to rebuild another massive collection (to the mild consternation of my wife!). 

Wow ... What made you sell the collection you'd built up (no doubt as a result of lots of searching and crate digging and spending) just to start all over again later on, investing again as much effort (and probably money)?
Dire need of money? Lack of space? Period of fed-up-ishness? Total change of preferred styles of music?
Just wondering and asking out of sheer curiosity. Because that would have been unfathomable for me (for better or worse ).

Edited June 27 by Big Beat Steve

[mjazzg]

Or, a healthy relationship with physical items (not something I have...but strive for)

Edited June 27 by mjazzg

[Hoppy T. Frog]

I'm only semi-joking about reassembling my collection. I'm trying to have fewer "things".  Also needed the $$$ and was moving to a smaller place.  

[HutchFan]

I'm 56 years old.  Among my work colleagues, I'm one of the old guys.  But around here, not so much.

More time for me to build up my music collection to absurdly large proportions.   

 

[Big Beat Steve]

24 minutes ago, Hoppy T. Frog said:

I'm only semi-joking about reassembling my collection. I'm trying to have fewer "things".  Also needed the $$$ and was moving to a smaller place.  

O.K., understood. Including the "fewer things" aspect. I am trying to go that route too, but so far only in my other collecting areas (way outside music) where I am thinning things out slowly and carefully (but definitely). So overall the reduction process so far is a slow one, but at least the maximum has been reached with some of my collections, and in recent times the downsizing process has at least "started". 

[JSngry]

28 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

I'm 56 years old.  Among my work colleagues, I'm one of the old guys.  But around here, not so much.

More time for me to build up my music collection to absurdly large proportions.   

 

Y'all hear that? Send him all your stuff. He wants it!!! 🤠

[rostasi]

OK, I get it.

[mjzee]

There was a time in the '90's when I felt imprisoned by all my records, and thought I needed to make room for new experiences.  I learned there was a record fair in Manhattan in the near future, and I sold about half my jazz collection there.  (A lot of my albums were bought, in bulk, by Japanese guys.)  It felt very freeing.  I sold most of the rest at St. Marks Sounds in the village.  In the past 10 years, I have rebought some of them (now on CD), plus added to the collection.  It's all wonderful; I don't question it.

[mjazzg]

9 hours ago, mjzee said:

It's all wonderful; I don't question it.

This, absolutely 

And if I do find myself questioning it I just shift some out. Sold 150 of my old long-ignored rock LPs this month, they'll fund a few high ticket price Jazz albums. Happy all round.

Edited June 28 by mjazzg

[Big Beat Steve]

11 hours ago, mjzee said:

There was a time in the '90's when I felt imprisoned by all my records, and thought I needed to make room for new experiences.  ...

For those of you who feel "imprisoned" by their record collection, do treat yourselves to THIS book:

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/160774869X/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=2MXVESJYVTUR7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fRjRhXXa6h-D4tj-akoMCIv5ziOgomRvRBGnzF8XRKFIYy5SuA1yDqwgMM9V7qbhTdKJYVTIzx5khbC-OlJusufAe-JhW4dh1wSwLrOnGtntmJtz8tLmXpIzXxc3sB_-fizgZZ6eG-2GO1fBVX_vLiAOZ_GlDOo5rY7kfYz07fxa837r9YG9MlUmmJ2jgtqcvv5Lfg5eS6eKSiJGRjoEK4Mm2kqoF8e0eG3m7QHHzFY._BwIslQgMwFDDhdx_cJdWUhFDQ7k6uvz59YI-RP6RJM&dib_tag=se&keywords=Dust+and+Grooves&qid=1719567214&sprefix=dust+and+grooves%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1

Whenever you feel overwhelmed by the records you have amassed, just looking at the pics from various collections and "music living" (aka "hoarding" ) rooms at collectors' homes around the world will make you realize "No, my record collection isn't the worst - nor the most disorganized!" 😁 

 

Edited June 28 by Big Beat Steve

[gmonahan]

I'm 70, and my son knows he'll have to deal with it someday. I'll be past caring. So, we don't talk about it. He doesn't particularly want to think about it, and I don't want to tell him that, well, I'm still buying cds............

[jazzkrow]

I'm in the same position with my son..

I may try to find a young collector to pass on my collection...