@hakubak: Incorrect. Individually the albums probably add up to a total value of $50 million but how many collectors out there can afford to buy the whole collection? He could probably sell it individually for close to that price, however, that would take a LOT of work I am sure he is not willing to commit to.

It is VERY common that collectors sell items in quantity at a discount much lower than actual value because it is easier, takes less work, and moves product out faster (since it is normally a good-great value).

This collection, however, is just too large for almost all collectors to swallow in one bite. He'd be better off to auction it off in chunks (perhaps by year?).

Kharnellius

Hm, yeah, he should donate the collection to a museum.

andrew_t29

Just for the sake of discussion, just about how long would it take an individual to convert these all to MP3?

Man, just the thought of updating all of those ID3 tags is horrifying.

illpacin0

this collection almost certainly has first pressings of every major historically important record, pre-1985, that there is! that's amazing, and a shame that he has to sell.

TonyRockyHorror

Paul,
Daunting task... but put each disk individually on e-bay or Amazon Store. $1 each + shipping and handling.
Sell as many as you can.

With luck, anyone interested in the collection (person or institution) that today is waiting for you to drop your asking price of $3M, will have to jump in for fear of losing the collection in bits and pieces.

Good luck, you deverse it.

aec007

If the world ever comes to shambles, vinyl records are probably the easiest to play with little to no electricity and hard materials. I for one welcome vinyl to the coming post-apocalyptic world.

Jesustron

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: It would certainly make THIS much easier...

Toshie

@digiprod: It's actually looks like a stanton deck (the huge stanton logo kinda gives it away.

But yeah for such a collection he really should have a better deck.

Phlashman

There is nothing more I would give for this collection. I would pay 3 million if I had it. In a heartbeat.

dorylomorphs

@Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish: LJ would snipe that like Tom Berranger in that move, Sniper.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

I'm an early adopter of all things electronic but I disagree with anyone who thinks the current digital distribution of music is adequate. I much prefer the physical media (usually CDs though) which i can always rip myself , and rip again later if formats, encoding quality, whatever change. That will be the case until we get to a point where encoding quality with compression (or lack of need for compression if storage space for small devices suddenly becomes massive) is comparable to the physicla media, and lyrics along with large-sized high resoltion artwork are properly embedded in files in an accepted universal format. Even then, I've yet to encounter a media player that makes flipping through your collection as simple and enjoyable as hpysical media.

Zlevee

@jayhawk11: Vinyl, in that heat?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

It makes you sad to consider all the rappers who'll blow $3m on "bling", or rockstar's who'll spend 3 times as much on their 4th home.

There is more than enough people who really should buy this and donate it to a museum.

Phlashman

@Shikestarr:

The turntable in the video is a Technics 1200 and is an excellent turntable. It is the gold standard for DJs!

digiprod

"It belongs in a museum!"

danson

He should've collected something more meaningful, and what would most likely sell, like every single variation of LEGO minifig ever created. :P

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

Even though you're getting a huge amount of goods, $3 million is still too large of a hurdle for almost everybody. I'd be interested to know the logistics of selling valuable albums individually and selling the not-so-valuable albums in smaller lots, packaged by artist, to some die-hard fans of specific bands. If it's possible to turn a decent profit discounting the labor involved, this might be a pretty good investment.

nathangimpel

Nothing a match and a scratch couldn't fix after the insurance is paid up!

digiprod

@Gizmo: Old Dude: I got a lot of records.
Me: Woahhh thats probly worth 50 mil!

MikeSWelch

I bet the RIAA will try to sue this guy because he's selling his own stuff. Like others said he should hire a broker to see the really exspensive records and donate the rest.

Justapspfan

I think people who care enough don'thave that much money. At least it's my case. It's sad.

IVPPITER

They guy selling the original Nintendo game system with all the cartridges is gonna sell a lot faster than this.

everfade

@FrankenPC: Ditto. Donate to the Smithsonian and take it off his taxes.

yelraf

So assuming he's been doing this for a while, and has one copy each of all the "classic" albums, that leaves at least 2,750,000 stiffs (though some of those would be interesting as a novelty).

mdoublej

@mdoublej: That's what I try to explain to my township's property tax adjuster every quarter but shrewd debater that he is, he weasels out of it every time. Oh wait, no, he just has me removed from his office by the sheriff... :-(

BTW, he does mention in the vid (very nicely shot BTW) that 83 percent of his collection is NOT available on CD. Me, I figure there's a good reason for that...

Toshie

To most people, the records represent zero utility. In other words, the data is worthless because anything can be downloaded at any time. With no useful intrinsic worth, the collection represents a physical storage liability more than anything else.

This is also a case where an attempt to sell the collection as a whole will greatly depreciate the value of the individual elements as your pool of prospective buyers is diminished. With most people buying everything on credit, this is something that must be paid up front, and I don't know that many people who have $3 mil in cash just lying around. He's going to have to man up and cherry pick the rarest elements for auction.

stretta

Waaaaaahhhhhhhhmbulance en route.

What's depressing is that he wants it to live on somewhere, but only for 3 million dollars. A collection, no matter how awesome, is only worth what someone will pay for it. He should either sell the valuable individual discs if he really wants the dough, or donate the whole thing to the Smithsonian. It's either about the money or the music. Not both.

And I'd expect a guy with that many records to have a better frikkin' turntable and not to touch the surface of the first flat record ever. Geez. There's probably oil and fingerprints and grime on every one of those records.

Shikestarr

It's not just the alleged value of the records. Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of wading through the collection in the name of moving and cataloguing it?

I'm sure there's some real gems in there, but to think that every record is worth at least $1 is pushing it. $50m seems like an arbitrary number yanked out of the air anyway. How has anyone had the time to appraise each record and give it a value?

Gizmo

I would, if I could.

There's gotta be someone in Dubai who will buy this just because they can.

Yeah, no kidding.

Hestika

I don't have any nostalgia for records, cassettes, 8 tracks. I'm sick to death of the music format wars and am so glad DRM is failing. I want my music untethered to anything physical so when I buy it it's MINE, damn it. I don't want to ever have to buy it again.

That being said I feel for this guy. He's just another victim of the games record companies play.

stryder100

Donate it to the Smithsonian.

FrankenPC

@mococash: Your reading comprehension, FTL.

"Now, at an advancing age, stricken with diabetes and legally blind, Paul wants to sell the collection. It's been appraised at about $50 million, but Paul is asking a mere $3 million. He's had no serious offers, and an eBay auction back in February fell through."

jayhawk11

This belongs in the Library of Congress. Too bad no one wants (or can afford) this collection. Vinyls have always sounded warmer and richer than digital music given that the condition of it is still good.

_badtziscool

Just so we know what words mean, if an item will not sell for $3M, it is not worth $50M. I could say that my mouse was appraised at $3500, but if nobody will pay that much for it, it is not worth $3500. Pretty simple, actually.

If the dude needs the money, he should offer someone 10% of the value of the collection if they will post them individually for him on eBay or wherever. Let them handle all the hassle and transactions and take home 90% of the profit. Better than $0 for the whole shebang.

hakubak

I have no sympathy for record store owners. The writing was on the wall decades ago.

That said, what a nice collection you have.

SigmundTheSeaMonster

I would buy some of it, but who has the money to buy the whole collection? Why doesn't he list on ebay or something like that?

mococash

There's gotta be someone in Dubai who will buy this just because they can.

jayhawk11

he should just donate it to a museum...he doesn't need the money if he's on the way out.

dandaman247

Wouldn't its "worth" be what someone would pay for it? If no one paying $3M, I'd say $50M is a pretty crappy appraisal.

mdoublej

i would totally buy that, too bad most people (me included) do not have 3million to blow on nostalgia.

f0rge

What ever happened to the guy with the World's Largest 8-Track collection? Now that was an investment!

Wrocky

I bet it's fun maintaining all of those. That's yet another tick in the "don't give a damn" category.

Maybe if he spent more time taking care of his condition and less time with the records...

You Cannot Untoast

Only if I had 3 million this really is historic, and i bet all of the music isnt even available digital so saying your able to get it digital is void.

There will always be a need for something phyiscal in one way or another have it be flash memory, cd's or whatever else unless absolutely everything becomes part the cloud.

As much as people talk about going digital and replacing everything; we wont be there for a long ass time we still use paper every single day and that has been here for thousands of years this wont be a digital world until we replace good old paper completely and that wont be for atleast another 500 years at the least and more likely we'll still be using it in one way or another 1000 years from now.

utube2007

I think the most restricting part of this is the storage space it would require. I'm sure he tailored it's existing location to suit the collection, but it would be harder for someone else to build/modify a area to store all of these.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

In the collectibles market the covers are worth more than the vinyls are.

Curves

If I had $3 Mil to burn, I would gladly help this guy out. Then of course I would spend the rest of my life converting it to digital music in a means to spite the vinyl gods.

robot-shmobot

Dude I will give him 3 dollars and fifty cents for it.

VideoVampire

That'd suck the fun out of crate digging.

dingus

i gotta admit it seems kinda useless and annoying.

jewsrock

@scarbrtj: It's both funny and sad that I was drinking apple juice when I read that.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

@mococash: Read the article, dumbass.

Benny Goldman

@jps1369: Jokes on you if they're all just remixes of the same John Denver song.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

We really need to show this story to RIAA and the US court system so they can GET it! They probably appraised it for the guy ~ $50 Million! The guy has a more realistic view and just asking for $3, YET STILL NOBODY WANTS IT!!! Whenever RIAA sue or publish some shit, they always say "Piracy costs us X billion dollars" or something... now u see? They appraised their own value, but WE don't agree!

clone.of.snake

This would only be sweet to own if you also had a robot that would retrieve and play any record on command.

GeekyNerdGuy

If a lot of music collectors had 3 million dollars and a warehouse, I think he'd have a buyer.
I mean, getting 3 million dollars is one thing, but getting a warehouse to put everything in is a larger pain in the ass.

Poison_Shroom

That collection is so sweeeeeet.

So is his urine. (He has advanced diabetes, so his kidneys should be leaking glucose into his urine, you see... and his urine would literally taste sugary, you see...)

scarbrtj

It sounds like this guy just discovered the first law of collections: Nobody wants your stuff as much as you do, regardless of how valuable you believe it is.

Myrddin-Wyllt

@jps1369:
I'm with you. People are shockingly shortsighted. A foundation is a good idea.

I think the problem is not that the collection's not worth $3 million, it's that the people who know it's worth that much don't HAVE the $3 million.

lostarchitect

@utube2007:

Thank you. I completely agree.

I'm sure he's got a ton of music that isn't available digitally and potentially has some pressings that aren't available anywhere else. Seriously. Someone who's rich and gives a damn needs to purchase this and either continue the archive or have everything backed up digitally. This could potentially be the musical version of the Library of Alexandria.

BigPanda

@Toshie: @mdoublej:
how naive of you!
to assume that because only 17 percent of it is available on CD that the rest are "stiffs" or just novelty records is the most childish thing i've heard all day (granted it's only 11:30).
what constitutes good music is NOT how many people bought it.

nbenko

@digiprod

That's not a 1200. It's a Stanton, which is equally as unimpressive as a 1200. Gold standard for DJs is a very different beast from a high quality turntable.

Shikestarr

*easy enough to lose

jps1369

wow, clearly you people are uncultured and uneducated when it comes to audio. Vinyl is the only medium that will stand the test of time. Digital data is easy enough to use, but tapes and CD's oxidize over time. Not to mention the collection of otherwise unavailable recordings this guy's got.

And what really sucks is that this guy will probably die before this collection ever gets sold, and somebody will end up taking it anyway, and storing it away in some museum vault where it will never again see the light of day.

Somebody should start up a foundation to preserve this, and reproduce it, in both physical and digital formats. This is like the Library at Alexandria for recorded music, and you people are cheering as it burns to the ground.

jps1369

Too bad he didn't save $10 whenever a new album came out instead. Cash is king.

chrism123

@Toshie: There were these two guys who used to do a home improvment/project show. On one episode, they taught you how to make stain out of records you melted/dissolved. I think they were "The Furniture Guys" or something. One was tall, one was short, the usual duo formula.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: I can do without every single minifig, but I am aiming to get as many Star Wars as I can.

I'm curious as to how many records in that collection are actually just wuss rock and many variations of cheesy Christmas songs.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

Coming from a 20 yr old who just started collecting Reggae/Ska vinyl...

this collection is amazing. Just to see his collection would be amazing yet alone buying it.

i hope he finds a buyer.

theconqueror

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Sure. Just store it here: [en.wikipedia.org]

jayhawk11

Does the Smithsonian really want 3 million random records? (Serious question.)

The problem of course with trying to sell it piecemeal is the time involved. For each album one would need to:

1) Read the cover
2) Make a quick assessment whether it's worth selling
3) Assess the condition
4) List it on Ebay
5) Pack and ship it

Let's say you've got super efficient people working for you and that whole process takes 3 minutes. That's 150,000 hours. If you paid an army of college students $10/hour to do it for you, you'd have to spend over $1.5 million just to sell everything.

Given his time and financial constraints, there is no serious alternative to selling it as an unbroken collection. He just needs to find the right price.

The supreme irony is that if he had sold this stock through his store back when it was new instead of putting it in his basement, he would be well ahead. (What was the retail price of an album through the 70's and 80's, $3-5?) If he had taken the proceeds and invested them in something that actually appreciates, he'd probably have his $50 million.

superbad

hey dude, need 2 tickets for pearl jam!!

How about all giz fans who owns 1TB or maybe more, of digital music, how many would you pay for that?

That's a good one question for the giz.

iscangel

@UrIt: And they make your living room look badass when you have them on display in a cool case.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

@Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish: Hehehe I would love to empty some slugs on a immaculate collection of James Last records!

j05hu4

just the covers alone for those albums is awesome.
Vinyl had the coolest album covers

UrIt

@Benny Goldman

I'm definitely not one of "those people." I'm a mastering engineer in the music business, so I'm *extremely* interested in people making money on music - it directly funds my life. But just because this guy spent scads of his own money and time on loving his collection doesn't mean that he *deserves* anything for any of it. He's all "this needs to be cherished" about it, but then wants a huge pile of cash for it too. That's fine, as long as someone will pay for it. If he's really so in love with the collection living on, he'd not whine so much about nobody caring or wanting to pay him $3 million for it. Put the thing on a real auction, not frikkin' ebay, and see what it brings.

Shikestarr

@whatnot22: Wouldn't the same be said for people who collect lots and lots of exotic cars? Sure, those can be sold off a lot more easily than these records, but I'd say that, depending on the person, one is no more meaningful than the other, and some may simply lack all regret in retrospect, because those things made them happy when they collected them, be it cars (real or replica), records, LEGO minifigures, stamps, paintings, sex toys, etc.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

@banned4life: Vinyl is lossely compressed too. It sounds 'sweet' though and it keeps, or at least some of its value compared to mp3 as the product can't be copied 1:1.

j05hu4

@Benny Goldman: What would really piss you off is if a lot of the records end up being sold to people who are just going to use them as clay pigeon substitutes.

"PULL!"

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

This is the perfect example of spending your whole life on something that you can't take with you into the afterlife. Gadgets and vinyl only comfort you until the reality of death comes knocking. Then you're left with an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, when you realize your time on earth was wasted. I feel for the guy, and I'm sure he's just trying to provide for his family after he's gone. Maybe he should just throw them away if nobody wants them and spend some time with his family before it's too late. That's the only thing that really matters anyway, not some pieces of plastic in cardboard covers.

whatnot22

I wish more people could take this seriously... I'd love that stones album if I had 6-10 grand....

Is anybody else surprised though that the Smithsonian or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aren't interestd in this? for a mere 3 million? It's really not that much...

michaelwiggins

@nbenko: I am not saying commercial success=quality, some of my favorites are not big successes commercially, and obviously most of what sells these days is pretty weak. I'm just going by pure numbers here. 3 MILLION is a shit-ton of records, especially if there are few duplicates. Honestly, how many would you estimate to be of serious artistic quality?

mdoublej

@Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish: The real joke is that over half are actually Neil Diamond Greatest Hits re-releases.

GeekyNerdGuy

@Kharnellius: True, if he'd offered a complete Bluenote collection then I would definitely have a serious bid for him.

j05hu4

@stretta: Did you watch the video? 83% of that material isn't available digitally, according to the Library of Congress.

Jeez the snap judgments of you dumbasses is pissing me off today.

Benny Goldman

@Shikestarr: Why can't it be about both? Collections get bought and sold all the time at auctions, people on the internet seem to have the idea when it comes to music that no one should make any money from it. Who knows how many millions the guy has already spent to collect the records and keep them climate-controlled, I think he deserves some compensation if he so chooses to get rid of the collection.

Benny Goldman

I think the reason no one's buying is that there isn't really a market for this kind of thing.

First, of course, is the 3 million dollar price tag. But that's not really the important part.

If you already collect records, you likely want to build your own collection slowly from the ground up. Sure, you might buy a few discs here and there, and spend some cash on that, but making a purchase like this just takes the fun out of it. You can hardly call yourself a record collector any more, you just become that guy who bought the huge record collection.

If you don't collect records, you probably don't listen to them and have no need for that much music anyway.

strobefx

@ jps1369

"This is like the Library at Alexandria for recorded music, and you people are cheering as it burns to the ground."

With all due respect, the loss of the Alexandria Library was a tragedy that echoed throughout history, into the dark ages.

This is a collection of recordings, of which there are many copies and presumably, there is a copyright holder somewhere, and a master tape somewhere else. These are not the only copies in existence. No one is talking about destroying the collection. We're discussing the value, utility and reality of selling the whole thing intact.

Furthermore, vinyl is not the perfect medium you're waxing poetic over. It has its own inherent flaws, just like everything else.

stretta

@Gizmo: Did you watch the video and go to his site? He has them cataloged, and can apparently pull out records worth $10k on a whim ... surely there are a few in that price range in a collection of three million, along with it being such a piece of history since it is all grouped together, surely it is worth at least that much.

Benny Goldman

This is an awesome collection and if I had the means I'd get it. Vinyl sounds awesome.

Online music sales? Sounds like ass. Ooooo, low bitrate lossy compressed music? AND I get to PAY For it? AWESOME! Even without DRM the RIAA is still selling you damaged goods.

MP3s and WMA is great for my car, or the gym, but when I want to really listen to good music compression just doesn't cut it.

banned4life

wow after watching that video in full, i wanted to cry!

vinnyr

@hakubak: If your real property is valued at a certain rate by an assessor and you can't sell it for that amount, try convincing the tax assessor that you should pay fewer taxes on that property.

brother9

Actually, I think the Smithsonian would be interested in the rare tracks he has. They have an American music history collection where they try to get digital recordings of every American (U.S.) singer of any type. That way if a new musical style pops up or branches off and it's roots are traced to an individual or a song it's already archived and can be referenced historically. As we all know, every song hasn't been digitized, and he may have tracks that were thought to be lost.

DustyButt

@DisposableInterloper: Do you think he listens to those records? He owned a record store. He listens to them as much as a ice cream store owner enjoys a banana split.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

i really want that, Records sound so much better then ipods/ any digital music. I Really wish i could have that, I Love the crisp sound they produce.

vinnyr

@ Benny Goldman

"Did you watch the video? 83% of that material isn't available digitally, according to the Library of Congress."

Completely irrelevant. Just because it isn't available digitally doesn't mean these records are the sole copy in existence. Regardless, the preservation of the recording is up to the copyright holder, not a lone collector.

But, I suspect you're responding to my first comment. I understand some of the material isn't available digitally, but that doesn't change the overall perception of the Value of Music today which is zero. People expect their recorded music to be free.

You're welcome to your opinion that I'm a 'dumbass' but I suspect it is you that is making a snap judgement about someone you don't know.

stretta

Wow, some true dickbag comments here today.

ShinySideUp

If that guy really wants to preserve his records, he'd get himself a laser turntable and toss his old phonograph out. Each time he plays those records, they get that much more damaged, and that much less clear.

That said, if that guy is sincere about preserving the music he's got in his archive, perhaps instead of trying to hawk his decidedly worthless antiques, he should round up a team of eager students, professors, and scholars to record the data as cleanly as possible, encode it with a free and open lossless audio codec, clean up any hisses or crackles, and meticulously tag every song as accurately and completely as possible.

Let's see... that would take a range of engineering specialists, at least a few well-experienced museum artifact restoration experts, obsessive music-loving historians, and thousands of years worth of man hours. Fat chance of that ever happening.

DisposableInterloper

You figure the Smithsonian would buy it or something

in my opinion i enjoy having a hard copy of something

digital media isn't as satisfying to buy or use as physical media is

SlimDan22

Digital copies can't replace real physical objects, and this collection is no doubt worth what he is asking, however, finding someone interested in maintaining it and having the space for it is a problem. Also, selling it on eBay, shipping charges would have been quite large, and did you hear about it being on eBay before now? No, a sale like this requires publicity, which this article is helping spread. It should be auctioned at an auction house, not eBay.

Ecks

I'm on the verge of tears here! This is the new age equivalent to the oncoming army destroying art pieces, museums and books so they can rewrite history as their own.

Some of this music is going to disappear forever and morons that were born in the late 80s and god forbid the 90s won't realize what they missed. These kinds of activities breed more people that think Love Song was created by 311, Darlin' Nikki was made by the Foo Fighters and get confused when you explain that Emo sounded better when it was called Weezer.

zayden

Someone call Dr. Dre or DJ Shadow they would love all of the possibilities with this record collection.

AMaench

I think a lot of people are missing the point of this collection. Sure, a lot of the music can be obtained through legal or illegal channels easily on demand, but thats like saying you wouldn't want an original Warhol because you can download a jpeg of it. The historical significance of this collection is more about the physical records themselves and not the actual music. If I had the spare $3 million I would buy this in a second and start my own museum.

Brodie38

I just wrote a really long comment, and I think it got eated.

theRobotNEVERdies

@Gizmo: They probably considered the overall condition of the records, and just assumed based on current record prices - they can do it pretty easily considering there's already a ballpark figure for items like records.

This collection SHOULD be saved, especially considering there are thousands upon thousands of songs in the collection that may not exist in a decade. Personally I think each record should be cataloged, recorded, and stored - just so there's nothing lost. Though such an undertaking would require the 3mil investment and full-time staff salaries for a while.

I believe he could easily sell many of his desirable records and bank enough to live comfortably for quite a while - but I think the collection should remain intact as a whole.

I don't blame the guy for not looking to donate this, I mean - this collection is his life. It's just sad that no one really cares. Hell, I would gladly care for the collection if given the chance.

I guess this is kind of the state of humanity - if it's not useful or we can't profit off of it, forget about it, throw it away, and move on. The "forget about it" aspect is certainly prevalent in modern politics when it comes to history.

theRobotNEVERdies

this guy sold his collection a few months back to some dude in Ireland for 3 mil and some change, but i would have expected some museum to pick it up or something.

bdotwells

actually he sold his collection to some dude in Ireland a few months back for 3 mil and some change, but i would have expected a museum to buy a collection like this

bdotwells

@Git Em SteveDave:
Even if he listens to them once in a blue moon, like he did in that little promotional shot at the end with him listening to a record, he's still destroying the record.

Like I said, if he really gave a shit about preserving any of it, he'd be using a laser turntable.

DisposableInterloper

i thought all record collectors were eccentric and would never put a price on their souls in vinyl form. i agree with other posters that he should talk to some sort of media/music history museum.

im kind of surprised by the 3 million number. mind you, he probably doesn't have every record ever made, but i wonder how many different records have actually been produced.

dedalus987

@jps1369:
Vinyl degrades over time. It's not exactly the most stable plastic we've ever know. Not to mention, it's pretty damn soft, so if you play it on a standard record player, it'll get more and more scratched as time goes on, leaving the audio ever more muddled. You don't get that with digital audio.

As for being "cultured," fuck you. Music is just entertainment, and every generation has had its music, as with any other form of entertainment. There's no point in elitistic music snobbery. Culture grows and evolves, and people move on from what was once in vogue, as evidenced by them just not giving a shit about this particular stack of old records.

Furthermore, who ever said anything about optical media or tape backups? If anyone's serious about preserving digital data for years to come, that data would be kept on multiple redundant blade clusters, with regular hardware upgrades and additions.

DisposableInterloper

@tmed: I think the problem is that he'd need to avoid flooding the market with vinyl, so that he can keep his overall sale price up.

Xavoc

My bet is he'd be better off splitting the collection. He could probably get to $3 million via some rare vinyl, and still have all the Black Oak Arkansas he'd ever need.

tmed

I betb the government or some museum will want to buy it. And as some people point out, even the ones who really want this can't afford it.

nintendude

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Considering he has diabetes, I think he was eating more banana splits than listening to records.

Xavoc

@hakubak: Right...

Let's fix your thinking on this matter.

I can go out and purchase a car for say $20k, or I can go buy all of the parts and build the exact same car myself for $30k. Now which is more cost effective?

The appraisal amount is most likely based upon the value of the individual albums rather than the collection as a whole. There are likely many albums in the collection that are worth a good deal of money to the individual collector who wants an original Elvis vinyl. However, that person doesn't want to have to buy an Elvis vinyl, and a Burt Bacharach sings his greatest hits album and a KLF The White Room and a RUN DMC tougher than leather album just to get the one he wants.

So, yes, the collection is most likely valued at $50 million if you sold it off to individuals piece by piece.

Xavoc

So if no one wants it how is it worth $50 million.

hagrun

Heartbreaking. I wish I had my father's old collection of vinyl, certainly not to resell, but for the rare and interesting collection that he owned.

What he owns is a goldmine of a kind; to music enthusiasts. What he should do is open a museum, get a loan or preferably a grant, buy or build a space, hire a curator, and continue collecting, if he could take the caretaking process out his ownership, he might be able to continue doing what he loves.

theubersmurf

@VideoVampire: That was exactly my sentiment. The people who would want this collection can't afford to pay $3mil for it.

michaelportent

@utube2007: Only 17% of the music he has is available on CD's or digital... so that's 83% that you can't hear anyway else.

Of course... most of the music that isn't on CD's or digital nobody wants... most likely.

ttech10

@Xavoc: You're a total ignoramus on the subject of diabetes, that's for darn sure.

infmom

Our record collection is only 500 or so disks, but I'd estimate that at least 30% of them aren't available on CD. This is a collection amassed from roughly 1964 to the end of easily available vinyl.

We now have the equipment to transfer the records to digital format--what we need to find is the time.

infmom

@danson: So do you!!

paqman

damn that is some really value material if i had the money i would pay the 50 mill i don't care... this should go to a museum or someplace where it's preserved correctly

mpar

I doubt that no one cares. I just believe he hasn't found the right suitor.

SinAmos

*for the world

citizen024

also, i think google should by this and digitize it, for the worls, whilst also preserving the originals of course.

citizen024

1. sell them singulary on ebay,

2. start with the ones that are worth something, (some can go for several hundred)

3. even if you sell 1/5 of them for an average of $3 a piece, (and add $2 dollars (at least) more than the actual cost to shipping and handling), you still make 3 million if not more.

4. Retire

citizen024

Woah, what a collection. I just got my record player hooked up last night for the first time in a couple years. I really missed the wax.

jrronimo

If I had the cash, I'd buy it in a second. This guy's collection is legendary and has seeded a few box sets and compliation discs in the past, including the outstanding Goodbye Babylon box set put out by Dust-to-Digital a few years ago.

SlinkyDink

@hakubak:
History has shown that when you take a bunch of highly valuable collectibles and try to sell them as a complete set, interest drops. A lot. If he sold each album individually, he might be able to get close to that $50 million mark (though he'd probably be left with a bunch of albums that noone wanted to buy at all). Also, with the massive volume, even if he sold them individually, he'd need to pace his releases. If I've got $1000 to blow on vinyl, and he's got 200 albums I'm seriously interested in, but they all have bids of $10 or more, I wouldn't even be able to get half of them. Now, if he was spreading them out a bit, I could save up and try to snag a few more. But that $3 million price tag is the biggest problem. There aren't a lot of people with that sort of disposable cash, and the odds that one of them would just suddenly develop an interest in owning a basement full of vinyl (where he/she didn't before) is pretty slim.

That being said, I've never been a fan of vinyl. Yes, I understand that it has better response range and all that, but I also understand that dust affects the sound playback, that the needles wear out, that worn out needles eventually means worn out (sometimes irreplacable) albums, and that on top of all that you always get that annoying vinyl hiss-and-pop. Anyone who actually prefers to listen to vinyl has no right to complain about cassette tape hiss. At least cassettes can be stuffed in a pocket for use in your portable tape player (and yes, I never really started buying CDs either until I got an iPod).

Purple Dave

@infmom: Uh right. So, if you look at the photo you'll see the guy isn't the tiniest of people. While sugar intake doesn't cause diabetes, too much of it can make you fat, and obesity is definitely linked as increasing your risk to develop type 2 diabetes.

So, total ignoramus? Hardly. Thank you for your kind and eloquent insult, that really wasn't necessary.

Xavoc

I just wonder what he really needs $3mil for. I say donate it to a university on the condition that they build a collection facility around it, including storage and cataloging. Let a handful of TAs study free while they make up the database.

Because, seriously, how the hell is legally blind diabetic guy going to spend $3mil? If it's really about the collection, a university is probably the best place to bequeath it, and it helps the community in a lot of ways.

Will Entrekin

wow. i would give an arm for a collection like that. amazing. the people on here who laugh or bash dont understand music for what its true meaning is. its meant to be heard held and enjoyed. i still buy cds and even thats starting to get hard.

Jad35

@stretta: Are you thick? That's pretty much exactly what it means when you say that "anything can be downloaded at anytime". That is false. This material isn't on CD, likely not available digitally, and therefore can't be downloaded at any time. It's 150% relevant, and while I appreciate your thought that the copyright holder should've thought of a way to produce a digital copy of their record as long as 120 years ago, I stand by my claim of your stupidity.

Benny Goldman

I was going to put a video of Wilford Brimley up here about Diabeetus, but after reading it and seeing that video, I just can't do it.

This collection should be sent to a museum or university, be recorded digitally and remastered, have other physical copies made as a backup, and kept in good condition, if for no other reason than having an archive of a substantial portion of music made since the start of the collection. Kind of like the internet archives are just there to preserve mostly stuff nobody cares about, but could still be valuable.

Con Seannery

This is typical of the stupid and ignorant crap regularly found on Gizz-modo. Ignorance breeds flippancy, and Adam Frucci is clearly a numb-nut. In his "world" a plane crash would "prove" that airplanes don't fly.

Let's have an adult comment, which means from me: this guy has way overvalued his record collection, which contains a great deal of crap along with some good stuff. People I know who have seen it say so.

Secondly, the way to sell any large collection of anything, but particularly records, is to break it down into categories people want. There are 45rpm collectors, jazz collectors, rock collectors (and subsets therein) and no one wants to buy a collection of everything that large.

It was a foolish sale, poorly conceived and executed. But if Mr. Numb-nuts visits popsike.com he will find that the used LP market is quite vibrant and lucrative and that prices are going up. Way up, for the good stuff.

Furthermore, vinyl is the only physical format showing big sales gains and there's no end in sight for it. And who's buying? The same kids who got sucked into crappy sounding files pushed on them by the computer geek imbeciles who run this know-nothing website because they're discovering the value of good sound.

So please Mr. Numb-nuts. Get off your stupid soapbox.

grooves1

@Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish: Just think of the cost of demagnetizing all of those records. Plus, they won't be dance-able without some nice Pear Cables...

johnnyabnormal

@grooves1: The "vinyl is making a comeback" argument died about 20 years ago. It's not going to replace digital media ya dope. That said, it's sad that this man can't find a buyer, even if you think it's worthless because it has different genres put together. THE HORROR!

Benny Goldman

The irony of this being "broadcast" on the internet, in a compressed and "chopped" off manner is astounding. You mean this new medium has SOME purpose and benefit?

beekerstudios

Physical is lame, you couldn't pay me enough to take that junk off his hands.

ltethe

@Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish: Nah, he's always like that. I think he's a prime subject for "disemvoweling". A true douche bag award winner.

johnnyabnormal

@DisposableInterloper:

You don't know what the fuck you are talking about. I've compared 40 year old LPs played hundreds of times with CDs (not to mention MP3s) and the records still sound 1000 times better and will forever, long after your hard drive crashes. Kids hear it. That's why vinyl is making a big comeback. It won't with you because you know everything but for kids with open ears and minds, they hear it....and they realize they've been swindled out of a good listening experience by crappy sounding files...

grooves1

@grooves1: Kinda late to have a case of the Mondays, yes?

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

I'd like to know how he reached the value of 50M.
Because that's a lot of records, but 50M? Really?
Or even 3M for that matter.

I bet there would be lots of people willing to buy the records if he wasn't selling the price of a Picasso or something...

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Epic disemvowelment!

Somebody (maybe one of the big auction houses?) should pay the 3 mil, THEN break it up and resell it in chunks at a good profit. I don't know about 50 million, but 30 mil still would be a huge return on the investment.

GadgetPlay

@ShinySideUp:

Only today?

Dearhaw

The tax ramifications of all this when he dies is very frightening. His wife is probably technically a half owner of the collection, but she still might have to pay inheritance tax on half of that appraised value if it remains unsold.

@infmom: "@Xavoc: You're a total ignoramus on the subject of diabetes"

Thank you. Apparently not the only one either.

@Benny Goldman: "I stand by my claim of your stupidity."

Get'em Benny!

@Xavoc: "your kind and eloquent insult, that really wasn't necessary."

It kind of was, actually.

@Will Entrekin: "Because, seriously, how the hell is legally blind diabetic guy going to spend $3mil?"

Not that it's any of your business, but there's a wife he might want to leave it to, maybe some bills to pay, maybe a nice trip with his wife before he dies.

GadgetPlay

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Y'know how he got to $50M? The guy has written price guides and when you're your own expert, you can say it's worth whatever you want. Trust me, there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye.

He's been trying to sell this since 2003. Back then, the Library of Congress made him an offer less than the $25mil he was after then but more than the $3mil fire sale price and he turned his nose up at it. Basically, he's had offers in the past, but he kept holding out. Now, he can't get any takers at his "low ball" price, probably because everyone knows what kind of a kook this guy is and the serious buyers already got dicked around once.

Yeah, the size of this collection looks impressive, but keep in mind they aren't exactly making the contents easy to determine. In an NPR interview, he talked about buying remainders and cut-outs by the truckload. While there's going to be some gems in there, you're also going to have dozens and dozens of copies of thousands of titles of pure schlock. The fact that this has been on the market for five years with no takers, leads me to believe that what's actually in the collection may not be as impressive as you'd think.

The Stones album in the video, for instance. Back in Feb, when he had his eBay auction up, there was another copy on ebay, buy it now for $4k with no takers. Not exactly the $6-$10K he's talking about. Yeah, it's a nice piece, but it's not even one of the most valuable LPs in the Tim Neely guide. As a long time collector, I'd really expect something a little more impressive than that.

Plus, at least up to now, they've put all these unrealistic stipulations on the sale. Like you can't break the collection up and you can only sell duplicates.

Do a little research on this guy. The picture starts looking a lot more like a "comic book guy" who has hoarded all these records that he says are worth a fortune rather than someone who has all the gems that the mean old world just won't recognize the value of.

Captain Wrong

Video killed the radio star... or something

Naoki - Photoshop Ninja

he should just sell them 3 for 5 bucks. i would buy a good 30 of em. randomize them. maybe it wont be all together but atleast a good 50% of them will go to people who will take care of em.

qhead7

@grooves1:
Do you know what the fuck lossless codecs are? I contend that you're the one who doesn't know shit.

And as for vinyl making a comeback, would you care to cite some statistics, or are you just going to coast on your dreams and wishes?

DisposableInterloper

@johnnyabnormal:
Meh, I got disemvoweled myself. I was the first on Gizmodo if I'm not mistaken, so I don't judge people on that.

Still, I would be inclined to agree that he is just peddling snake oil, which is something I do judge people by.

DisposableInterloper

@DisposableInterloper: Don't waste your time with this disemvoweled douche bag. He's a snake oil salesman masquerading as an audio expert. Read any of his past comments for proof.

johnnyabnormal

He'd probably make the most if he auctioned off the 10-20 most valuable records individually for shloads of money, and then donate a rest for a tax credit on his income from auctioning off the really valuable ones.

irv

@ShinySideUp: Yeah, no kidding. A lot of ignorance going around as well. Ignorance on par with an idiot bitching about film camera photographers for not using digital. Is it really that hard to understand the concept of owning and listening to vinyl? It's not just for nostalgia's sake, and it's not some format/copyright war bullshit. There are actually legitimate, physical reasons that go beyond simple collecting.

justhesh

@DisposableInterloper: No way? Were you just off topic or straight up outta line? Hahaha. I suppose anyone is fair game in that dept. (myself included) Although, if you saw grooves1's comment before it was disemvoweled, you'd see it was begging to become gibberish. Personally, I like a variety of mediums for playback...the only issue that should be really important to anyone who cares about audio quality is this:

[en.wikipedia.org]

But this is before music is reproduced in any format.

johnnyabnormal

Bill Gates where are you?

meher

I'd get it if I could afford it. It would only make sense to buy something like this to sample songs and make beats with, otherwise its stupid.

dtseng123

wow.. some seriously uneducated comments..
forgive me if my first post here comes off seething, but at least know wtf you're talking about before spouting off.

re: the vinyl is making a comeback argument.. there have been articles in billboard, time magazine, cnn and countless others in the past 10 months supporting this -- and yes there are sales statistics to back it up. New and old artists (to reference both I'll go with The Killers and Neil Young) released or are releasing their new albums on vinyl with access to free mp3 download versions included. In my opinion, this is something we will start to see a lot more of. Will it kill off iTunes or amazonMp3? not a chance, but there will always be a segment that chooses quality over convenience, people who actually give a shit about the music and aren't just trying to keep up with whatever's popular at the time.

re: playing records on a turntable over time degrades them? Um.. maybe up until 20-30 years ago this was true, and of course if you continue to use a worn-down stylus you will eventually cause some damage to your records, but the technology behind stylii came up to speed many many years ago and the main myth behind this one is based on acetate recordings anyway (the test presses made in the studio, not commercial releases).. which can only be played about 50 times before getting worse.

re: popping and hissing on vinyl vs. hissing on a cassette? If i was drinking coffee when I read that, an explosion of massive proportions would have rocketed onto my screen. thanks for the laugh though.

madtired

at any rate it makes sense to keep the collection in place

AcaciaBrookline

@ ShinySideUp: You beat me to it. I've rarely read such a long list of birdbrain commentary. Most of you ballbags don't get the significance of the collection, nor do you understand that most of it is not available "for download". I feel for this guy. I admire people who collect with tenacity and focus.

UziFever

Nobody with the money gives a damn. I'd gladly purchase this collection for a cool 3 million 'cept I'm a poor arse. Historic, rare, priceless... there's not a whole lot more to be said about this. Can't even ONE billionaire at least purchase the collection and DONATE it to a museum at the very least?

Hibikino

@madtired: Find me a comment thread that doesn't have uneducated comments on it! I view audio formats like alcohol. Wine, beer, sake, soju, prosecco, port, etc. They are all good! There are also gradations of quality within each of them with infinite flavor variations.

johnnyabnormal

Wow sure are a lot of self righteous cold hearted SOB's around here.

Those records if taken care of will sound far better than any digital iTunes AAC and other MP3 files.

If the collection is as big and well taken care of as stated, $3M is a good deal.

One of these big radio stations ought to pick it up and auction it off for charity.

bonedog73

@grooves1: To respond to the only comment you've had so far that wasn't scrambled:

"I've compared 40 year old LPs played hundreds of times with CDs (not to mention MP3s) and the records still sound 1000 times better and will forever, long after your hard drive crashes."

This statement has so many holes in it. 40 year old LPs are not mastered like anything on modern CDs. Both formats depend upon the method/time period in which they were recorded/mastered and the quality of the components they are played back on. MP3 is a outdated, inferior compression method. AAC and FLAC are much better and more efficient. It's seems as if you are trying (and failing) to attack digital in general, which is amusing since the bulk of all modern music is recorded digitally. Plus, at 196 khz, 32-bit recording and playback through high end gear, your precious records don't amount to squat. Records are not "forever" and neither are most digital mediums, but at least you can easily transfer the digital mediums and back them up to new hardware, so your "hard drive crash" statement is also laughable and ignorant.

"Kids hear it. That's why vinyl is making a big comeback."

Prove it.

"for kids with open ears and minds, they hear it....and they realize they've been swindled out of a good listening experience by crappy sounding files..."

No child can hear the difference between digital and analog playback at each of their highest levels of quality and neither can you. You also can't take a crappy, low bit-rate encoded mp3 and compare it to a nice vinyl rig and expect a fair comparison. That is a completely lopsided, asinine argument, but we "stupid Gizmodo" types regularly expect as much from a pontificating douche bag who claims to have golden ears, like yourself.

johnnyabnormal

He's probably ill because he's been inhaling the VOC's from the vinyl for the last 30 years.

FrankenPC

@johnnyabnormal: I don't think its as much about kids knowing the difference between sound quality as it is about holding a physical product, looking at album art, reading thru the lyrics etc. If that's how most music fans grew up.. shouldn't be surprising that the next gen also wants something more than an intangible object like a 5mb mp3.

madtired

@madtired: Well, the physical product wasn't Grooves1's point, but now that you've mentioned it: I'm not sure.

All of those things you mentioned can be digital as well, even at higher resolutions + interactive. There are some pretty exciting options as well, like Radiohead posting instrument splits online so the public could remix a single for a contest, etc.

I grew up the same way you described, but have shed all physical album media and have gone 100% digital. Even to the point of recording all my vinyl. Luckily I have the hard drive space + back-ups because I compose music for a living as well, but nonetheless...I don't actually miss the physical aspect of albums anymore. If anything, I feel more focused on the listening experience as a result.

johnnyabnormal