A friend of mine recently wrote me to ask a good question. He has a ton of old Laserdiscs — hundreds of 'em — and he's wondering what to do with them. There seems to be a market for the few that contain material not yet released on DVD, though of course even that market diminishes as time goes by and more titles come out. Even plucking out those few and selling them off doesn't solve the big problem of all the rest. Does anyone have a good suggestion apart from throwing them all out or offering the lot on Craig's List for a hundred bucks providing you come over and haul them all away?
I ask not to help my friend but myself as I am in that same situation. I must have around 500, not a one of which has been played in ten years. I assume at least a few have undergone that ugly oxidation process some called "laser rot" back when anyone discussed laserdiscs at all.
I also have more than a thousand of these things called record albums…also unplayed for at least a decade. Some of those, I know, have a value because they're certain releases with important cover art and such. Actually, since a pretty high percentage of them are comedy records, a lot of them are not out on CD and perhaps will never be on CD except as transfers done by private collectors. About once a month, I stare at them and ponder what, if anything, I should do with this collection. I haven't the time or inclination to do such transfers myself so please don't suggest that. Any other ideas would be most welcome.