Cassette tapes suddenly hot?

I doubt it but Goodwill seems to think so. The tapes I used to buy for
49¢ are now $2.99!

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:21:16 -0800 (PST), kayak144
wrote:

I doubt it but Goodwill seems to think so. The tapes I used to buy for
49¢ are now $2.99! snip

That's not a fluke, either...popular titles that used to sell for 49¢
here now go for the same as where you are...$2.49! Reason: Cassettes
don't assuredly fail like 8 tracks, which require lots of labor by a
knowledgeable person, and do not have the surface noise/abuse problems
of thrift store LPs, which are usually always vinyl scrap. I've noted
LPs are now going for a dime at this same store.

Winnipeg Value Village

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same)
LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00)
And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush.

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:32:17 GMT, "William W Western"
wrote:

Winnipeg Value Village

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same) snip

Bargain, eh!

LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00) snip

NOT a bargain, eh!

And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush. snip

The days of finding nice, lightly played and well handled LPs (or even
78s) at the local Sally Ann and similar are long since gone. Many get
rich quick artists started up their used record stores by buying out
entire stores' stocks of LPs back around 15-20 years ago, leaving the
crap for the unsuspecting or clueless thrifty shopper. Even the
hinterlands stores, which used to yield discs in good shape, are now
just filled with vinyl scrap. Since there are no more discs being
pressed in the US at all now, even vinyl scrap prices are dropping. I
used to get 50¢ a disc for scrap LPs; now I'm lucky to get 20¢...IF
there's a market. Lately, I've been selling off vinyl scrap for as
low as a nickel a disc, hardly worth the effort.

The reason for the once-high scrap vinyl price, now a thing of the
past: Once an LP is pressed, the vinyl is no longer "virgin," and
contains much lampblack (to make it the usual opaque black), mold
release and other contaminants. Not only that, but once cooled, vinyl
discs cannot be returned to their former fluid state. The only use
for old, worn out or defective records is to make "regrind" vinyl,
very common in the worst era of LP quality, the '70s and '80s, when
"regrind" was heavily used as a "filler" to lower costs...and quality.
Old discs were thrown into grinder/shredders by the tens of thousands
to make small granules and shards of "regrind vinyl" for such use.

You can easily identify any pressing made with a high percentage of
"regrind" in the pressing. Simply listen for that "fluttering" noise
down around 40 dB from the peak signal or in a quiet lead in or lead
out. That's the unmeltable chunks of reground vinyl making that
noise, as since they cannot be in a truly fluid state again after the
first use, the wind up being something analogous to exposed aggregate
on a concrete slab...rough.

Worst labels for regrind usage: Anything from WEA after the big
merger in the '60s, UA and affiliates, late MGM (possibly the worst)
and most of the smaller independents, including a lot of later Fantasy
(think CCR.) The best (lowest regrind) was always Capitol/Angel, as
they ran their own plants and refused to compromise pressing quality
with high regrind percentage and any label whose pressings had the
serrated crown around the label pad with the "Mastered By Capitol"
imprint in the run out groove area. Columbia was pretty good until
the early-'70s, when Clive Davis destroyed Columbia's famed pressing
quality to boost profits. Of course, most of the LPs from the age of
hi-fi in the '50s were all virgin vinyl and thus were as much as 15 dB
quieter than the latest LPs, which were junk. The absolute quietest
LP I ever tested were a pair of releases from "Crystal Clear Records,"
which added no lampblack to their vinyl, yielding a clear disc...hence
the name. A close second was Mobile Fidelity, with Wilson and other
"salon" labels right around the same quality, including the
direct-to-disc labels.

You paid for the privilege..."high end" discs from that era usually
ran three to four times the price of the equivalent LP. However,
many's the time I'd snap up the latest releases at the "mother ship"
Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. back in my Hollywood days. I still have
them all, and they still sound great.

Getting back to the thrifties, though, there's no reason to go "record
diving" anymore...there simply isn't any good, useful product left,
period. Most I've seen in the last few years are good case studies in
record abuse, though, and good fingerprint training for FBI interns.
Adding insult to injury are the clueless thrifty operators who price
all rock LPs at $10...with no inner sleeve...and obvious finger prints
and huge scratched on the surfaces. To prove the point, on a recent
road trip, I stopped in the small Inyo County seat town of
Independence and thumbed through their local thrifty's record piles.
It was the same as in the cities...all junk.

The old gal at this one store told me that several record stores from
LA had come up years ago and spent days going through piles of old
records, and made off with everything "good." I did, however, find an
album of 10" Decca English music hall material...in mint shape...great
if you like postwar music hall fare, replete with that all-too-dry
sense of humour. It's a rare package, in that the release used
Decca's short lived "flat" high frequency equalization, thus making
the SLIGHTEST imperfection in vinyl all too loud. It was replaced by
another "Decca curve" (almost the same as the CCIR/Telefunken curve,
popular in continental Europe around 1950) in 1951 after a few
thousand releases...and many complaints. Those from that era will
remember many a hi-fi preamp having several switchable EQ curves for
many different curves then in use until 1954, when the whole industry
standardized on the RCA "New Orthophonic" curve, which was a mirror
image of the NAB tape EQ curve...which made disc mastering a snap. The
RCA curve became known as the ubiquitous RIAA curve, still in use
worldwide today.

On Feb 27, 8:32*pm, "William W Western"
wrote:
Winnipeg Value Village

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same)
LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00)
And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush.

he

8tracks- 50 cents
cassettes- 25 cents
LP's- 50 cents
45's- 25 cents

CD's- 50 cents

On Feb 27, 10:03*pm, DeserTBoB wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:32:17 GMT, "William W Western"

wrote:
Winnipeg Value Village

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same) snip

Bargain, eh!

LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00) snip

NOT a bargain, eh!

And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush. *snip

The days of finding nice, lightly played and well handled LPs (or even
78s) at the local Sally Ann and similar are long since gone. *Many get
rich quick artists started up their used record stores by buying out
entire stores' stocks of LPs back around 15-20 years ago, leaving the
crap for the unsuspecting or clueless thrifty shopper. *Even the
hinterlands stores, which used to yield discs in good shape, are now
just filled with vinyl scrap. *Since there are no more discs being
pressed in the US at all now, even vinyl scrap prices are dropping. *I
used to get 50¢ a disc for scrap LPs; now I'm lucky to get 20¢...IF
there's a market. *Lately, I've been selling off vinyl scrap for as
low as a nickel a disc, hardly worth the effort.

The reason for the once-high scrap vinyl price, now a thing of the
past: *Once an LP is pressed, the vinyl is no longer "virgin," and
contains much lampblack (to make it the usual opaque black), mold
release and other contaminants. *Not only that, but once cooled, vinyl
discs cannot be returned to their former fluid state. *The only use
for old, worn out or defective records *is to make "regrind" vinyl,
very common in the worst era of LP quality, the '70s and '80s, when
"regrind" was heavily used as a "filler" to lower costs...and quality.
Old discs were thrown into grinder/shredders by the tens of thousands
to make small granules and shards of "regrind vinyl" for such use.

You can easily identify any pressing made with a high percentage of
"regrind" in the pressing. *Simply listen for that "fluttering" noise
down around 40 dB from the peak signal or in a quiet lead in or lead
out. *That's the unmeltable chunks of reground vinyl making that
noise, as since they cannot be in a truly fluid state again after the
first use, the wind up being something analogous to exposed aggregate
on a concrete slab...rough.

Worst labels for regrind usage: *Anything from WEA after the big
merger in the '60s, UA and affiliates, late MGM (possibly the worst)
and most of the smaller independents, including a lot of later Fantasy
(think CCR.) *The best (lowest regrind) was always Capitol/Angel, as
they ran their own plants and refused to compromise pressing quality
with high regrind percentage and any label whose pressings had the
serrated crown around the label pad with the "Mastered By Capitol"
imprint in the run out groove area. *Columbia was pretty good until
the early-'70s, when Clive Davis destroyed Columbia's famed pressing
quality to boost profits. *Of course, most of the LPs from the age of
hi-fi in the '50s were all virgin vinyl and thus were as much as 15 dB
quieter than the latest LPs, which were junk. *The absolute quietest
LP I ever tested were a pair of releases from "Crystal Clear Records,"
which added no lampblack to their vinyl, yielding a clear disc...hence
the name. *A close second was Mobile Fidelity, with Wilson and other
"salon" labels right around the same quality, including the
direct-to-disc labels.

You paid for the privilege..."high end" discs from that era usually
ran three to four times the price of the equivalent LP. *However,
many's the time I'd snap up the latest releases at the "mother ship"
Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. back in my Hollywood days. *I still have
them all, and they still sound great.

Getting back to the thrifties, though, there's no reason to go "record
diving" anymore...there simply isn't any good, useful product left,
period. *Most I've seen in the last few years are good case studies in
record abuse, though, and good fingerprint training for FBI interns.
Adding insult to injury are the clueless thrifty operators who price
all rock LPs at $10...with no inner sleeve...and obvious finger prints
and huge scratched on the surfaces. * To prove the point, on a recent
road trip, I stopped in the small Inyo County seat town of
Independence and thumbed through their local thrifty's record piles.
It was the same as in the cities...all junk. *

The old gal at this one store told me that several record stores from
LA had come up years ago and spent days going through piles of old
records, and made off with everything "good." *I did, however, find an
album of 10" Decca English music hall material...in mint shape...great
if you like postwar music hall fare, replete with that all-too-dry
sense of humour. *It's a rare package, in that the release used
Decca's short lived "flat" high frequency equalization, thus making
the SLIGHTEST imperfection in vinyl all too loud. *It was replaced by
another "Decca curve" (almost the same as the CCIR/Telefunken curve,
popular in continental Europe around 1950) in 1951 after a few
thousand releases...and many complaints. *Those from that era will
remember many a hi-fi preamp having several switchable EQ curves for
many different curves then in use until 1954, when the whole industry
standardized on the RCA "New Orthophonic" curve, which was a mirror
image of the NAB tape EQ curve...which made disc mastering a snap. The
RCA curve became known as the ubiquitous RIAA curve, still in use
worldwide today.



you have to find someone who has their entire collection from back in
the day, buy them out lock stock barrel- then sort through it- you'll
find sealed and once played records

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same)
LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00)
And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting
on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush.
From Trip:
8tracks- 50 cents
cassettes- 25 cents
LP's- 50 cents
45's- 25 cents
CD's- 50 cents
Now at those prices buying an lp (or any
format listed) would be less of a gamble. I have no idea who at VV got the
idea a scratched up LP is worth $2.50. And they actually price some
individually at up to ten bucks. Same worn out junk, but by someone they
think has collectible value (ie. The Beatles [hello, hello.....they sold
millions of those...]).

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:09:24 GMT, "William W Western"
wrote:

8 tracks - .98 (stayed the same)
cassettes - .98 (stayed the same)
LPs - $2.50 (just jumped from $2.00)
And dBob is accurate. At least 96% of the lps found are not worth putting
on
a turntable. They are worn out, throw them in the bush.
From Trip:
8tracks- 50 cents
cassettes- 25 cents
LP's- 50 cents
45's- 25 cents
CD's- 50 cents
Now at those prices buying an lp (or any
format listed) would be less of a gamble. snip

Some things to remember here...Noodles lives in a devastated "poverty
pocket" of the country, where there's no work, horrid pollution,
sinking property values (as well as property, as old coal mines
underneath collapse) and scant disposable income. Thus, prices would
be lower, since demand is nil. Also, looking at the current exchange
rate, the LPs would be going for around C35¢. Noodles tried to get
rich off of "flipping" this junk but was less than successful, mainly
due to his bad reputation being broadcast worldwide via the 'Net.

I have no idea who at VV got the
idea a scratched up LP is worth $2.50. And they actually price some
individually at up to ten bucks. Same worn out junk, but by someone they
think has collectible value (ie. The Beatles [hello, hello.....they sold
millions of those...]). snip

I've seen this a lot. A thrifty/antique dump up near a low-brow
"resort" area (sort of similar to Charlie Nudo's "Bumler" area)
revealed the same hopes of the owner...that an LP of the Rolling
Stones' "Sticky Fingers" that looked as if it had been used as a
stake board and with a ratty dog eared cover would somehow fetch $10.
I've seen this in Virginia City, NV, as well, a notorious tourist
trap.

I stopped by the local non-profit thrifty this morning to ogle their
vinyl scrap and actually came home with a G+ quality MONO pressing of
Frank Zappa's "Absolutely Freeeeeeeeee" (1967), which is worth a
couple of hundred to Zappa fans. I haven't put it through my
proprietary cleaning regimen yet, but my educated eyeballs tell me
that surface noise should be VG, if not better. The biggest problem
is the usual cigarette smoke (or other) and fingerprints, but there
are no visible scrapes or scratches, nor is there any "changer swirl,"
and affliction caused by the clueless loading their LPs by having them
drop with force onto a moving turntable instead of manually loading
them. The cover is a VG+ and it had the original inner sleeve.

I've had many of these "sleepers" go through my cleaning process and
come out in one or two grades better condition at the end, so we'll
see tonight. I'm curious as to the mix, as I have the original 3
track-mastered stereo version.

Cost: $2.50

Possible market value: $150 and up.

Ta-da!

However, this is now the exception, not the rule. All the thrifties
were mined out of worthwhile quarry years ago, and now finds such as
this (and my Chicago XIX 8 track in the sleeve) are mostly the luck o'
the draw, as is the occasional '37 Ford Fordor or '55 Dodge Crown
Royal Red Ram up on blocks in a barn. I've seen both of those, and,
while common occurrences 20 years ago, they're almost now just a
memory. Junkyards, now a disappearing institution nationwide due to
high demand for scrap in Asia, are a similar story...all the usable
stuff is gone.

Some things to remember here...Noodles lives in a devastated "poverty
pocket" of the country, where there's no work, horrid pollution,
sinking property values (as well as property, as old coal mines
underneath collapse) and scant disposable income.
Yee gads, sounds like a pocket that got picked.
"You gotta pick a pocket or two..." - Fagin

On Feb 28, 9:42*pm, "William W Western"
wrote:
Some things to remember here...Noodles lives in a devastated "poverty
pocket" of the country, where there's no work, horrid pollution,
sinking property values (as well as property, as old coal mines
underneath collapse) and scant disposable income. *

* * * * * * * *Yee gads, sounds like a pocket that got picked.
"You gotta pick a pocket or two..." - Fagin

http://home.epix.net/~captclint/mtop_schools.html

yeh, a really "poverty stricken" place- the Kirby family built their
summer mansion here, complete with airport, springs, maid's quarters,
hotel.

DeserTBob wishes he could live here....but he could not swing it on
his SSI income