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The Tower Records chain is going out of business, and the store near where I work has been having progressively better sales over the last month or so. A couple weeks ago everything was 40% off. Their typical list price for new CDs is $18.99 (no wonder they went bust!) so that means most of their CDs were still more than $10, but they also had a lot of stuff for less than that, so I binged and picked up 20 CDs that were under $10 each, plus 5 DVDs for under $15 each.
I stopped in again on the way to work today: every CD is now 70% off. I started at the top of the alphabet, and by the time I got to E I had 15 CDs averaging less than $5 each. It's hard to hold 15 CDs and still keep flipping through the bins, so I quit there and cashed out. But I'm planning to go back later this afternoon; maybe I'll see if they have shopping baskets.
It's hard to pass up a $5 CD. So far I've stayed in the comfort zone of picking up CDs from artists I'm familiar with (Daniel Ash, Built to Spill, The Church, Deerhoof, Earth), but for $5 it's tempting to just start buying stuff that I've heard of but don't really know much about (they had a ton of stuff by the Coachwhips, for example—anyone know them?). If it gets any cheaper I might just start buying anything that looks interesting, and sell the duds at a used CD store later. Or I might start buying stuff I already have and like, to give to friends.
Is there a limit to how many CDs I can (or should) buy? Say there are 10,000 CDs in the world that I want enough that I would be willing to buy any one of them for $5. If I had the opportunity to buy them all for $50,000, shouldn't I take it? I guess at some point there is an issue of marginal value: the 10,000th CD isn't worth as much as the first CD, just because I may not ever get around to listening to it. Plus there's all the extra shelving I would need, and the time spent copying it all to my hard disk. Or even the time spent removing those annoying security stickers! But how about 1,000? Or even 100? Where should I stop?
I stopped in again on the way to work today: every CD is now 70% off. I started at the top of the alphabet, and by the time I got to E I had 15 CDs averaging less than $5 each. It's hard to hold 15 CDs and still keep flipping through the bins, so I quit there and cashed out. But I'm planning to go back later this afternoon; maybe I'll see if they have shopping baskets.
It's hard to pass up a $5 CD. So far I've stayed in the comfort zone of picking up CDs from artists I'm familiar with (Daniel Ash, Built to Spill, The Church, Deerhoof, Earth), but for $5 it's tempting to just start buying stuff that I've heard of but don't really know much about (they had a ton of stuff by the Coachwhips, for example—anyone know them?). If it gets any cheaper I might just start buying anything that looks interesting, and sell the duds at a used CD store later. Or I might start buying stuff I already have and like, to give to friends.
Is there a limit to how many CDs I can (or should) buy? Say there are 10,000 CDs in the world that I want enough that I would be willing to buy any one of them for $5. If I had the opportunity to buy them all for $50,000, shouldn't I take it? I guess at some point there is an issue of marginal value: the 10,000th CD isn't worth as much as the first CD, just because I may not ever get around to listening to it. Plus there's all the extra shelving I would need, and the time spent copying it all to my hard disk. Or even the time spent removing those annoying security stickers! But how about 1,000? Or even 100? Where should I stop?
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Stop at 723
But you really should look at the opportunity cost: if buying another set of CDs means you can't buy, say, a TV or a Wii that you really wanted, then don't buy the CDs and buy the Wii instead. You might kick yourself for having "missed" an opportunity to get some CDs on the cheap, but after 723 CDs you'll feel satisfied.
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A money market account or a bond fund is something else you can consider too. Sigh. I miss having a disposable income.
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Re: Stop at 723
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Re: Stop at 723
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Coachwhips
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Listening to 10k CDs