As the title suggests - Discogs... Love it or Hate it?

 

Weigh in with what you feel is great about it and conversely, whats gives you the irrits!

 

'Obsessive user' to 'One-off purchaser'. Everyones mileage will be different, so let's hear it.  

 

  

Being a classical listener, it caters quite well to my purchasing interests. I understand for other popular genres it’s a bit more of a rat race and there are fewer deals. 
 

My downfall is I still try and buy in bundles to save on shipping - which means buying more overall 😩

 

The logging functionality is handy to have a searchable catalogue, but again missing titles are annoying and I find adding a new entry annoying. 
 

Mostly being able to buy from

other makes (Europe) where deals can be had. In general nothing comes from the US as shipping is prohibitive. 

I tried buying off there once but start of pandemic meant the seller couldn't ship.

 

Other than that I use it as a reference, but sometimes the issue I have is not there.

Only use it for research. I'm checking out the new Atlantic release now and just ordered the Bad Company Album. Michael 45 bought it and loves it , so I'm in.

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by Wimbo

The more you time you put in; the more you get back.

It's free, if you don't sell.

I haven't sold a lot, but It has allowed me to maximise sale price of my collectable records eg AC/DC albums & singles, plus others.

I have sold to Sydney, USA, Italy, etc

I also like the being able to catalogue my records via pressing etc.

I'm not complaining.

Had some really good purchases on the over the years, some rare stuff and some newer stuff that I couldn't find locally.  Like all online sellers you get the occasional false or questionable condition advertisement once it arrives, sadly I have experienced that more from local sellers than O/S sellers.

Definitely use it as a reference as well.

My experience as a buyer only has changed through time. A number of years ago, say 5+ years ago, I found the record grading and pricing to be accurate and fair. Now I find the grading to be highly varied and the pricing high. So much so that although I still use Discogs I have narrowed my buying down to three providers, one in Japan (very expensive and have not bought for over a year) and two in Australia. 

Of course, experiences will vary, and I have to confess to being very picky about grading. To answer your question specifically, the love is waning.

Rob

It's a tool. Useful. Why would you hate it?

 

Would you hate a hammer because you once hit your thumb? 🙂

• Some Australian sellers don't understand, or don't respect the quality grading (very good stuff will be advertised as nearly mint) or don't inspect the discs prior to advertising
• Australian sellers charge quite a premium on discs compared to e.g. Germany, Greece, Italy
• Have had several sales fall through from Australian sellers (items suddenly no longer available) (refunded)
• Have not had dealings with any dishonest seller (knock wood) in about 20 transactions (2023)
• Have ordered from the EU and Japan, all very satisfactory
• Like @crtexcnndrm99 I also try to purchase more to lower shipping costs (which will never come down again at this tail end of the fossil fuel era)
• Have found some wonderful rarities and bargains (ECM, Savall) but also paid some premium rates for rarer CDs (Australian Jazz)
• Have found some vinyl albums that have never been available in digital format (but @andyr helped me with encoding to FLAC for private copy)
• Takes some time to learn the interface, editing entries is a tedious business
• It has become a wonderful research resource to cross reference with wikip and other sites, do look at things there most days
• Streaming off the hardrive or USB is great, often prefer discs when the mood is right for more rounded aesthetic experience
• How great are the imports from Japan with the OBI strip

 

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by Steff

I agree on the couple of  issues with Discogs sellers (refunded as not available, warped or severely marked, pricing beyond the stratosphere…).

 

In general a valuable resource to have.

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by crtexcnndrm99
Too pessimistic

A great, free tool, what's not to like?

But I havent bought off there post-COVID.

2 hours ago, Be Quiet...Listen said:

As the title suggests - Discogs... Love it or Hate it?

 

Weigh in with what you feel is great about it and conversely, whats gives you the irrits!

 

'Obsessive user' to 'One-off purchaser'. Everyones mileage will be different, so let's hear it.  

 

  

 

i use it to catalogue my collection, log a wish list, research releases and reviews etc. before a purchase, I've used it several times for purchases. I read the blogs occasionally 

 

yeah sure it could be better but over all I'm happy with the app, website and overall service 

2 hours ago, Gee Emm said:

The more you time you put in; the more you get back.

True...the database is only as good as the accuracy of the information entered.

Its a great resource for a variety of purposes - great way of maintaining a searchable catalogue of your collection.

I am a contributor of mainly Aussie CD releases.

Also, notifications of wanted items is handy

 

I love it overall, loaded up my whole collection during lockdowns and find it invaluable as others have outlined above.

I have only bought three LPs from different sellers overseas ,  in the past few years and two have been very disappointing with incorrect gradings!

Just came back from holiday to a delivery today and the sleeve was listed as Very good. (Seam split)

This is how l received it, I've contacted the seller so will see how l go! ( Japanese pressing $45 delivered)

Maybe I've been unlucky, but it has soured my enthusiasm for paying out big $$ on records.  

Might need to aim for higher rated too! 🤔 

 

 

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by evil c

So far I have used it a grand total of three times as a last resort to obtain titles I couldn't find elsewhere. All those purchases were within the last six months. My minimal experience with it so far has been positive, so won't rule out using it again.

 

 

It's a gauge.............bought of it a few times...........no probs really.

Not my go to.

Luv it.    I use it to catalogue 99% of my 6500+ albums.

 

 My kids luv it as they want me dead after seeing my max collection value 

 

It is very useful in getting a gauge on the pressing quality of new releases.  Not perfect, but invariably if multiple people are complaining about about a particular pressing, there is good reason to.

 

I used to buy a while back, but I don't really need any more old albums,  so don't buy from discogs anymore.   Like any site, there are good sellers who grade correctly and schiit ones.

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by metal beat

Mate @evil c, I'm very sorry to see that! That's shoddy, shoddy grading...
That's more than a seam split, it's like a rat has eaten the top corner for breakfast!

My 2 cents on Discogs

• I love Discogs as a catalogue, being able to have a digital twin of my record collection is very useful
• I love being able to discover musicians by browsing a record label's releases - there's usually some good finds
• I don't love the UX of the site, it's pretty average at best (search / filtering is horrible on mobile)
• I feel the existence of Discogs has kind of ruined the 2nd hand market for bricks and mortar stores (for me as a buyer, there are so few cheap records anymore) - maybe it's not correlated, but it feels like it's pricing has become a gold standard that is then mimicked locally (not sure if this is true, but it feels so) 
• I have no experience buying from there, I just don't get much joy with online record shopping anyway

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by Dyl

Overall, love it

 

I almost always use it as a research and pricing reference before purchases, and it has accounted for around 25% of my actual purchases.  Quite a few times i have found it cheaper locally than what some fl1pper is asking 

 

 

 

I’ve bought over a hundred records and had some ups and downs but mainly positive. It’s a great resource to find anything you want really but shipping from overseas can get very pricey. As a result I always look to add to an order to make it more worthwhile.
 

The best tip I could offer is try and buy from smaller sellers with 100% positive feedback. Larger sellers can be good but they have been the ones where the grading have been way off at times in my experience. 

Once I discovered Discogs...never left!

Where else can you buy the older discontinued Jazz items either by vinyl/CD in Australia?!?

Like many have posted before me...it's a tool...a very handy tool of reference!

Just like Amazon is for me when I read the reviews about their Jazz offerings...a tool to be used!

Edited January 2, 20242 yr by BLAH BLAH

Many years ago, I decided to catalogue my CD collection, but after about 40 CDs I gave up because too many of mine just weren't there or I had a different release.  Maybe they are there now.  But too much like hard work since I already have a nice Excel spreadsheet with what I want to know.

 

These days I look very occasionally to check on the discography of an artist that I could be interested in.

 

I don't buy or sell.

 

Nice to know that it is there even if unused.

It has been hit and miss for me. The biggest problem is the grading. YOU CANNOT GRADE A RECORD BY EYE. Records that look "shiny" turn out to be noisy as hell. Partial refunds don't cover the shipping from overseas and the need to seek a replacement. I had to buy a Record Pi to remove warps from some records or they would not play. This so-called revival has brought out the Gold Rush mentality of the quick buck crowd. The whole point of vinyl ownership is to enjoy the analog experience rather than the misuse of the last owner. Rant over.

I love it. My 3000+ vinyl collection is catalogued on it, I use the $value for insurance and download the file evey 3 months to send the insurance company.

 

I typically buy new albums but as others have mentioned, it's a great source for NM Jazz albums (Japanese or US older releases that are hard to get). I buy from the same proven sellers in Japan or US. Eg Ella Records.

 

Some bad experiences over the years, but only a couple. I've had much more trouble with the likes of Amazon.

I’ve only had positive experiences on it, great to find some rare stuff.