Gigantic stack of old 33 rpm records...What to do?

Okay, that's it. I've cleaned the storage room many times,
each time moving a huge stack of old records around, vacuuming
the spot, then putting them elsewhere.

Please, won't somebody, anybody come up with an idea for
what to do with them all?

They are not collector quality, though I'm sure many are in fine playing order.
There are too many to mess with Ebay, and yet I'm too cheap to
give them to Goodwill. I'd like to do something fun with them.

Short of using them for wallpaper, does anyone have suggestions
for recycling these things? We're talking Village People, Michael
Jackson when he looked like Michael Jackson, Tammy Wynette, the
entire rainbow of folks, it's here.

I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread. I have a bunch of old records myself, that I don't know what I want to do with. : )
~Lucy

Edited: Mine are 45's.

This message was edited Dec 9, 2006 4:37 PM

I have seen them made into wallclocks. You would have to buy the numbers to put on, and then the clockworks for the middle. I've also seen this done with CD's.
I have looked at old LP's a lot on E-Bay, and in 99% of them, it's just not worth the hassle unless you know it's something valuable.

Glenda

why don't you convert them to cd's and then you can decide what to do with them.

Hello Herbie,

Oh, no. This stack is way too big, and though I find
much of it entertaining, I don't care enough about the
music to convert to c.d.'s. Besides, I don't even have
a record player, ha ha!

Maybe I'll melt them into pots and sell plants in them
at the next farmer's market.

then put a notice in your local paper that you want to sell them. bet someone answers you in less that 48 hours.

Hey, now that is a good idea. Thanks!

What's a record player? hahahahahaa I had to say it. :)

You might list them on Ebay or do some searching. If you have the jackets and they are in good shape, you will find people actually collect them!

Separate them into genres or artists and sell them on e-Bay in lots. You might actually get more interest in them that way. I sell small plants on e-Bay sometimes and I get more interest in sets of three to six plants than I do individual plants. My advice is to not make the lots too heavy (postage too high). Try to keep each lot, including packaging, under 5 lbs.

This message was edited Dec 9, 2006 4:48 PM

I also have about 10 lineal feet of LP's to dispose of. Belefonte's Day-o to Albert Schweitzer's Bach Organ Series, Benny Goodman's Swing, Jazz Folk and Neal Diamond type, Opera and Rod Mc Kuen. Whats a body to do ? It costs more in time and money than you can get in return trying to sell them.

I like your thought on converting them to CD's Herbie. I do have a record player, but no inkling on how to turn them into CD's. That would sure take up a lot less space. Besides that, I still like to listen to John Denver and most of the rest of the music, except for the bother of changing records every 30 minutes or so. Alas, we are victims of progress.

Rod McKuen? As in the poem "Come to me in silence"?

He also does records, or is this coincidence in a man of the same name? Cool.

That isn't on the two records I've found, "The Loner", and"Cycles". He has (had ?) some good ones like 'Cycles', 'Now I Have The Time', 'Some Trust in Chariots' and 'If you Go Away'. The 60's had a lot of good music, but then so did most of the other decades. I suppose in another 40 years people may think the same of Rap and the other noise so popular today. But what will they have to get rid of as progress overtakes them ? Certainly not LP's or tapes or cassettes. Whee!

I have a vast collection of vinyl...it boggles the mind...I also still have a turntable and actually use it....College kids are getting back into vinyl and it's the 'hot' new collectible among that crowd. If you live near a campus, put an ad in their paper, post some flyers or see if they have a 'garage sale' on their radio station. You'll be surprised at how fast they'll snap it up.

I've seen cuff bracelets made from 45's that are quite interesting and there's totes that are made to hold album covers as a decorative panel...(like the photo purses)

Hope this helps a bit....

(I'm also a Rod McKuen fan)

Try E-bay. Sell them individually or by lot.

Ah WUVIE and melody--Rod McKuen-saw him in a small concert in the round and have his albums that he did witht the San Sebastion Strings.
You might want to post this on trade. At one point in trading life (here or There), I traded several albums for plants that I wanted.
Many follks have old stereos and you can get new ones in specialty catalogs.

Oh my gosh, thank you all for the ideas, but Marcia,
you've come up with the one I think I will use!

Wow, I completely forgot about trading on Dave's.
Heck, I'd be willing to trade a giant stack of them
for plants. Postage would be the only downfall, so
I'll have to figure that one out.

Many thanks!

If all else fails, break them and use them as mosaic pieces. Are you creative at all? Then there would be many garden art items you could make with them.

Best Buy sells 3 different brands of turntables and they keep them in stock...they're not audiophyle grade, but they do quite well for the price.

Saw an article recently about a store in LA that buys and sells them - some go for $$$$. Went to an old record store in Kansas City and found a Lester & Chester (Les Paul & Chet Atkins). They only made 2 together - store ordered a CD with both on one CD, but had one of the vinyl records in stock - got it for less than $15 - Near perfect condition.
There are probably some "gems" in those that you have.

If not - don't know if they will melt, but the old 78's would melt into good flower pots in an oven - place one on an empty tin can and set the oven to a medium temp - then check every 15 minutes or so. Gardening friend in Minnesota was always asking for broken and scratched records - made dozens of pots - hole already in the bottom - nice fluted sides - as wide as the can used.

If you make them into cd's you need a Cd burner program and a writeable CD drive in your computer. Some of the more sentimental ones could be copied and disgarded. My husband does this with his, but he keeps the records also. His are in very good condition as he is a musician at heart and treats things like that pretty well. LOL Making them into CD's let's you listen to them in the car as most have players now.
I wish he would toss them as there are about five egg crates worth stored in the closets. You can't put them in the attic cause of the heat. Sigh.

There are a couple of artists in Memphis, TN that lost everything in New Orleans during Katrina. They moved to Memphis and started making bowls, wall art, etc. from 45's and 33's. Don't remember what their names are, but can find out if you are interested. I think they have a web site. Just don't know it.

Before you start making those bowls, please do a little research. A single mono LP of "Introducing the Beatles" was auctioned off for thousands of dollars at Sotheby's (I think it was $20,000) a few years ago. Those records could be your retirement nest egg. Even if the records themselves are in bad condition, the covers could be worth a lot of money.

Well, about ten years ago we inherited a big stack of them and faced the same question. We called some numbers from the classified that said they buy old stuff, but it did not work out well. They went through the stacks and said they were too common. One guy offered to buy only a couple of them, but offered pittance. We said no.

We couldn't get any friends or relatives to take them for free. We personally only liked a few, but haven't paid them any attention since the first month we got them.

I hope you have better luck. ( I love the Big Band era!)

Not that you'll need hundreds of these, but turning them into bowls, boxes, and coasters is an option.

http://www.readymademag.com/feature_1_newspin.php

Chris

There's an idea for you Wuvie. Just what you need another project! LOL Make them up and sell the bowls. I think they are really cute. Holly

Funny I stumbled on this this evening. DH gets to dig his small little 70s collection out of storage. I've been trying to get him to part with those for years. Then, DA comes home with an old style radio that has a CD player AND a turntable. Anyone have any good, old records they would like to part with, ones my DA would like? We'll use teh CD player but it will be fun to hear a "record album" again. It will crack my kids up. So we're going to get hem tomorrow::))