One of my more unique goals this year is to catalog our entire vinyl record collection. Between the two of us, we’ve been casually collecting records for 25 (maybe even 30) years and while our albums are actually well alphabetized, we’re not really clear on what we own after decades of hunting through flea market bins.
This is not a pressing goal, and frankly our records could just sit in the cabinet forever — but I have four intended outcomes in methodically going through our records and cataloging them:
- Revisit our music collection. Let’s actually play our records!
- Identify if any of our records have real value. Maybe one of our records is secretly a cash cow!
- Thin out some of the junk.
- Give myself a multi-step project during this never-ending pandemic.
What’s my process for officially cataloging our records? First off, I’ve discovered a very cool app called Discogs. I can easily scan barcodes on the back of the sleeve (or look up the name) and find the appropriate release issue. For each album, the app shows a general value range, interesting notes for that specific press, and I could theoretically list it for sale, etc.
I’ve also decided to alphabetically work my way through our library. Today I made it through the As & Bs, which took a little over three hours. As there are still 24 letters, soundtracks, singles, and miscellaneous left, I can see this is going to take some time.
Here’s how today went:
Interesting Discoveries: Somehow, I own pretty much the entire discography of Hawaiian singing legend, Alfred Apaka, and Thor owns a shelf-worth of Beach Boys albums.
Most Valuable: AVAIL – Over the James. A classic punk album from the late 90s. Also, Black Flag – Family Man. Another classic. (Both ranging $50 – 80 in prime condition).
Least Valuable: Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA, worth a whopping $0.15. That one went in the “See ya!” donation pile.
Most Surprising: If you had asked me to name one hit by America, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, but once we played the album – I could sing along to all of the songs. Who knew I was an America fan?
Overall – this is the first goal of 2021 that was relatively entertaining and will take some effort to continue.
*Did you skim through and not feel like reading? Here’s the Cliff’s Notes:
couponbomb 