Used Discs Offer Quality at Bargain Prices

Frustrated that top-line CD prices are not coming down faster? Tired of paying $11.99 to $14.99 for top-line pop CDs? There’s an increasingly attractive way to buy these discs for around the same $9.99 charged for many budget-line CDs: used discs.

One of the selling points of CDs is that the discs--with any reasonable care--retain their quality regardless of the number of times the disc is played.

And it’s proving to be true.

“I wouldn’t have any hesitancy about buying a used CD as long as there are no obvious scratches or other visible mistreatment,” said Pete Howard, who writes a CD column for Rolling Stone magazine and publishes his own highly regarded CD newsletter, ICE.

Betty Hester, assistant manager of National Compact Disc in Encino, said damaged CDs are so rare that the store doesn’t even “preview” (or play) them before buying used copies. Customers, however, can play the CDs on the store’s listening booths before purchasing them, she added.

Until recently, the problem with the used CD market was poor selection. As the CD market has expanded, however, so has the quality and quantity of the titles appearing in used sections. The average daily inventory claimed by CD-only or specialized record stores around town ranges from 250 to more than 1,500 titles.

A check of the used bins at one CD-only store this week found such appealing titles as the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road,” Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” U2’s “The Joshua Tree,” Keith Richards’ “Talk Is Cheap,” Talking Heads’ “Naked,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction.”

And what do the stores pay for used CDs?

Simon Romero, manager/buyer of Compact Disc-count in West Los Angeles, said the store generally offers up to $6 credit or $5 cash for used CDs--a figure that seemed to be in line with other stores surveyed.

BUDGET PACKAGES:

Gene Vincent’s “Greatest” (Capitol, 26 minutes)--Vincent was one of the best of the many Presley sound-alikes in the ‘50s. He came so close to duplicating the anxious, sensual Presley style on the Top 10 hit “Be-Bop-a-Lula” that Elvis’ mother--the story goes--thought it actually was Elvis singing when she first heard the 1956 record on the radio. However derivative, the best of the tracks are still mini-classics. On a scale of one (poor) to four (excellent): ***

Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (Columbia, 32 minutes)--Bennett was one of the few traditional pop singers over the last 30 years who can even be mentioned in the same breath as Sinatra, but he is not at his best in this album, even though the success of the title track helped it become his biggest seller. Bennett doesn’t feel comfortable with some of the material and the arrangements often seem sluggish. **

BONUS TRACKS: The CD of the Waterboys’ excellent new “Fisherman’s Blues” album contains two tracks not found on the vinyl or cassette versions, while the CD of Hothouse Flowers’ highly recommended debut carries four extra tracks.