Getting rid of vinyl and record player (truck, transporting, storage)
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We're moving cross country soon and one of the hardest decisions I'm having to make is getting rid of my records. Now let me say, I haven't played any of them in about 10 years, so it's mostly nostalgia that is stopping me (Christmas albums from my childhood, case of Beatles albums, etc). But they are so breakable that I also fear moving them and Seattle is a hot market to get rid of them in.
Some of my albums are worth a bit, so is it smarter to just sell them and move on? Anyone regret getting rid of theirs. I do still have about 1000 cds and I tend to listen to my ipod more than anything.
The way I see it, I either sell the player and all the records, or I keep the player and some of the records.
I made about $150 or so selling mine about four years ago. No regrets! It was all stuff from my teenage years, and I have vastly different tastes in music, now. Plus if I ever did want to hear any of it again, most of it is on youtube or in a collection (best of the 60s sort of thing).
There are vinyl freaks out there who only listen to records on a 1980s state-of-the-art music system. To each his own! I'm perfectly happy listening to MP3s or CDs.
If you have to think about whether you'd like to have your records and record player when you move, it might be wise to hold onto them.
Vinyl is still mainly a niche market for the most avid of music fans (I think less than 3% of music sales), despite it's increase in popularity over the last decade or so. I wouldn't worry about desirable records from big name artists losing value.
As an "avid music fan" type that I speak of, I like my vinyl for home listening on my stereo, and digital formats/MP3's for on the go. CD's don't offer the same level of convenience/"mass storage on the go" factor that digital formats do, and they don't offer the large album covers/photos, cool factor, etc. of vinyl. So I think vinyl as a niche market is here to stay.
Another factor to consider - Some older music has never been released onto digital formats (but can be copied into a digital format pretty easily with the right equipment).
When I had a great are somewhat rare collection of vinyl (mostly avant garde jazz), a broken stereo system and the prospect of moving twice in one year, I bit the bullet and sold them to the vinyl store. I didn't foresee the day when vinyl could easily be copied onto CDs and didn't want to buy a whole new system.
Yes, sometimes I see or hear one of the more rare pieces and wish I still had them, but mostly I'm glad to be traveling light (as I prepare for what might be my last move) and appreciate the sound of a Bose Wave player and CDs. Wanna travel lighter.
one of the hardest decisions I'm having to make is getting rid of my records.
The decision about taking these sorts of "fit in a box items" or not hinges on whether
you have a truck for bigger items. If you have the truck... you can stuff 2 or 3 more boxes into it.
If i were you I would keep some of the records and the player. I have a stack of the same things! Read recently they are very valuable.
Actually, if "value" is what you are banking on, records are a terrible investment.
In 1980, when I started buying records, first-pressing albums from the 1960's went for about $20 each (I'm talking about familiar titles like Revolver, Pet Sounds, Are You Experienced?, etc.)
In 2017, first pressings of those same titles sell for about $60 each at record stores and online.
However $20 in 1980 dollars is $62.95 in 2017 dollars. So anyone who stocked up on first-pressings of 1960's classics in 1980 has actually lost money (about 5%) since then.
This does not account for depreciation (if you play them, they lose value), storage cost (either in terms of actual fees or simply loss of living space), and risk of damage to fire or water or humidity or mold. Nor does it take into account opportunity loss; if I had spent all my lunch money on Apple stock instead of record albums as a teenager, I would be a very, very rich man now.
On top of all this, vinyl record prices are expected to fall as the Baby Boom dies off and their collections glut the market. Millennials who weren't alive in the 1960's are far less inclined to pay premiums for original pressings than Baby Boomers recapturing memories are. This is already happening with Elvis Presley collectible albums, which are now flooding the market and going unsold at very marked-down prices. People thought they'd go up in value forever, and now they are worth peanuts.
To the OP, I will say: he who travels light travels far. I sold off all my vinyl in 1989 just before a cross-country move, and never looked back. I have a much better music collection now than I did then by far -thousands of albums-, but it is all on a hard drive the size of a Bible. I love the portability of music collections now; lugging crates of records around is for the birds.
I would take them all to a vinyl shop and sell them and be done. You will get only $1-$2 for most albums, $5-$10 for anything rare that sells well (just because it is rare, doesn't mean anyone will buy it), so this is the least profitable way to get rid of them. If you have time, you could sell them on eBay, but frankly, it is more work than it is worth it. They'll need to be listed individually, and some will sell while others won't.
In the end, you're not losing any music; you can always listen to that stuff online, or rebuild a collection when you get there. But a very large burden will have been lifted.
Now this comes from someone who used to have a roomful of records, me. I even sold them cross country at record shows back in the eighties and nineties. Kept an extensive collection until I left radio about ten years ago.
Maybe it's because I've moved, downsized, twice in ten years. Maybe because my primary listening point is the car these days. Maybe it's a lot of things, just not possession driven anymore. Don't get me wrong, my listening is as strong as ever, always making new discs for the car, finding new music, better copies of the old stuff. Just don't have the need for the vinyl as everything is done via the computer.
Got rid of a lot of the stuff my vinyl nut son didn't want at the local flea market, sold some better stuff to a local store. Kept only a couple dozen favorites that sit on a shelf, untouched. Even gave the son the huge speakers for his new apartment but he wouldn't take the NuMark turntable, he has three already. It sits unused in a closet.
We all hear and value music differently. For some of us, vinyl is still a treasured resource. But ...
If at this stage of your life your records no longer are bringing you pleasure, then cash out the collection and player for whatever they'll bring. They were a discretionary entertainment expense, not an investment at the time you bought them.
You won't miss the inconvenience of them, transporting them, or not having them anymore.
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