now that's a good idea, she said, she said...



The wise JC posts a comment that's so good it deserves a longer look:



I'm always interested by how used CD racks seem to replicate the popular musical opinion of the moment. I wonder if anyone tracks the "most often sold to used CD stores" CDs at any given moment…it'd be a good way to figure out who the one-hit wonders are.



Eeeexcellent...a weekly nationwide survey of used-CD stores to see just what people have sold back. Sort of a reverse SoundScan. I'd love to see it. National-network sites like this have useful bargain-bin areas where you can see what's hard to get rid of. For example, a quick look shows that the entire Spin Doctors crapography is still overpriced at $3.99 or less a disc. But that still doesn't tell you what's just on the precipice.



I suppose such a system is unlikely to come about. Most used places seem to be seat-of-the-pants operations, and would be too concerned with squeezing as much out of the supposedly-dying plastic disc industry to bother with a caplital+overhead expense. And the only people who would benefit from such a service would be...people like me, who live to bust on things.



If there were such a system, though, you could expect Musicology to top the charts within 6 months. I hear it's good, but a copy of the CD accompanies each ticket. So you know there're a lot of people who will end up with multiple copies. My crazy friend Steve is going to all six Prince shows in Illinois.



On a related note, Kirsti and I are on our way to the Brandeis Book Sale tonight. When we first started going I was struck my how many copies there were of Bernard Malamud books, particularly My Name Is Asher Lev. Then there was a big glut of A Man In Full. Then Primary Colors--still a lot of those on the tables. When the Bob Greene scandal hit, a lot of people decided to part with their copies of American Beat and the like. In two years I predict The DaVinci Code can be had in hardcover for under $3. Tonight, though, my prediction is...lots of copies of Donna Tartt's works: The Little Friend and/or The Secret History. Stay tuned to find out if I'm right.