CDs as investment?

[Pianorak]

Are CDs perhaps a good investment after all? I don't remember what I paid for the Rafal Blechacz 3 CD set of the Chopin Piano Competition but it certainly wasn't anything like the £47.93 demanded now on Amazon. Some of the 2 CD sets in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series are also now costing an arm and a leg.

[cloughie]

Are CDs perhaps a good investment after all? I don't remember what I paid for the Rafal Blechacz 3 CD set of the Chopin Piano Competition but it certainly wasn't anything like the £47.93 demanded now on Amazon. Some of the 2 CD sets in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series are also now costing an arm and a leg.

I am frequently amazed by prices on Amazon but do they actuall sell, and if so who buys them? There is always the fear that one week's rarity is part of next week's super bumper bargain boxed set eg some of the discs in the Steinberg set!

[french frank]

There's something very strange about those inflated prices. I was just looking up a book which slightly undercut the Amazon price at about £6.50 (a brand new paperback). Another seller was asking over £50, also new. It can't even have been signed by the author ...

This sort of price is not unusual, but goodness knows why they do it.

[Segilla]

I used to think that because CD and DVD prices in the States are around 50% or 2/3 what they are here in UK, there was confusion over currencies when prices were being input. But there is more to it than that and it seems inexplicable.

However, I have recently bought for c. £23 'Wagner', the Richard Burton 3 DVD set which is on American Amazon for $90. (c. £48), secondhand.

The set is not what I expected and I'd not have bought it had I been more aware.

[teamsaint]

There's something very strange about those inflated prices. I was just looking up a book which slightly undercut the Amazon price at about £6.50 (a brand new paperback). Another seller was asking over £50, also new. It can't even have been signed by the author ...

This sort of price is not unusual, but goodness knows why they do it.

Its odd. I work for a publisher, (books not music). We frequently have (fairly recently)out of print titles that appear to be selling at £30/£50 for a £10/£15 cover price title.

Nobody would pay this. In fact I have suggested that if these prices are in fact realised, we should just reprint 10/20 copies and pocket the £40 or whatever. But of course, very few people pay the price.
Having said all that, not really sure how these"markets" work.
Anyway, my strong advice would be to play a waiting game.......

[Beef Oven]

I am frequently amazed by prices on Amazon but do they actuall sell, and if so who buys them? There is always the fear that one week's rarity is part of next week's super bumper bargain boxed set eg some of the discs in the Steinberg set!

I wanted Goodall's Tristan und Isolde on Decca. £175 on Amazon!

I borrowed it from the local library instead, but I did not burn it to my iPod.

Will wait for it to come out on a 'Great Opera Recordings of the Last Century' or some other wildly imaginative series-title, probably for fifty bob.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

However much I may desire a deleted recording, I will not pay silly prices. I recall coveting Ozawa's Eine Alpensinfonie, being sold at £124, but a few weeks later there was an offer of the same for around £16.

[Petrushka]

The Haitink/Concertgebouw Radio Recordings box set is going for £899.90 on Amazon and not long ago the New York Mahler Broadcasts set was going for over £500 (now nla). I have both of these sets but never considered them as an investment.

Should I be insuring them?

[jayne lee wilson]

Would anyone care to own up to the most they've paid for a supposed rarity? I did buy a Richter CD, the Melodiya of D.845/850 for £50, but despite being far too prone to self-recrimination I've never regretted it, even though it's cheaper now. Played it to bits. I also spent £25 on the Scherchen Eroica/Pastoral stereo coupling...

Would never dream of doing anything like that now though, sins of obsessive youth etc...

[Petrushka]

Would anyone care to own up to the most they've paid for a supposed rarity? I did buy a Richter CD, the Melodiya of D.845/850 for £50, but despite being far too prone to self-recrimination I've never regretted it, even though it's cheaper now. Played it to bits. I also spent £25 on the Scherchen Eroica/Pastoral stereo coupling...

Would never dream of doing anything like that now though, sins of obsessive youth etc...

Should just clear up that I bought both sets when they were first issued and not at the eye-watering prices on Amazon! The Haitink set was £74 and the New York Mahler was, I think, £96. Certainly no regrets about buying them.

[Beef Oven]

Would anyone care to own up to the most they've paid for a supposed rarity? I did buy a Richter CD, the Melodiya of D.845/850 for £50, but despite being far too prone to self-recrimination I've never regretted it, even though it's cheaper now. Played it to bits. I also spent £25 on the Scherchen Eroica/Pastoral stereo coupling...

Would never dream of doing anything like that now though, sins of obsessive youth etc...

I bought Solti's ring on LPs and I can't remember the exact price, but I did give consideration to selling a kidney.

A purchase that I truly regret. Noisy, unengaging and soulless.

.

[umslopogaas]

I've been collecting first issue classical vinyl for many years (I've had to throttle back now that I've retired, I no longer have the spare cash). I think the most I've ever paid for a disc is around fifty quid, but I have quite a few that, judging by ebay bidding, are worth several hundred and one is probably worth four figures. Its a hobby where you can choose your level: if you want the best stuff, its expensive, but if you just want great music, you can pick up re-issue labels for next to nothing. Vinyl is not going to disappear, my local hifi shop has a good range of (very expensive) LP decks, and they tell me that they sell very well.

[anotherbob]

The appeal of some early vinyl stereo is that it was recorded using good old analogue/valve technology and those hi-fi buffs who use "tube amps" take the view that the sound is unsurpassed. There's an interesting summary of info on collectable labels here....

http://www.classic-choice.co.uk/collectorsguide.asp

[Pianorak]

I must say I am rather disappointed with the Chandos CDs of Earl Wild's recordings of the Rach 1-4 PCs and much prefer the sound of the Reader's Digest LPs. Really pleased I kept them!

[umslopogaas]

Thanks for that link, anotherbob. I was familiar with much of that information from other sources, but not all.

I have a copy of 'Rare Classical Record Price Guide 2006' edited by Barry Browne and published by Sylverwood Publishing, PO Box 315, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4BT. Its mostly useful for giving complete lists of many of the collectable labels - Decca, Lyrita, HMV, RCA, Mercury and Columbia, but not Philips or DG. The prices are now six years out of date and were only ever a guide, but they are still of some use, though ebay bids are a better guide to what people are currently willing to pay. Its only a small minority of material that attracts the big money: most of the stuff on ebay is put up for 99p and attracts no bids. But if you've got any blue and silver Columbias or wide band Deccas, you may be sitting on a lot of dosh (not literally, I hope, sitting on LPs does them no good at all).