Photo By: Lucía Garó

CD Price Guide

How do you appraise a CD? Perhaps you’re curious about the worth of your CD collection. Maybe you have some old music that could use a new home. No matter your reasons, we’ll teach you how to price CDs. Discogs is a crowdsourced database featuring more than 13 million music releases and 4 million CDs. It’s also a marketplace where users can buy, sell, and evaluate CDs, cassettes, vinyl records, and more. We are committed to being an open-source site and a resource for collectors, which includes making our data public. Follow this guide to determine the current value of a CD based on recent sales in one of the largest CD marketplaces in the world.

How to Determine the Value of Your CDs

1. Identify the CD

Most albums have been issued more than once, resulting in different release versions. The CD could be from a unique label, have bonus material, or feature unique artwork. Some releases sell for hundreds of dollars. Some are worth less than $5. To determine the value of your CD, you must first identify it.

Start by looking for a Catalog Number, which is often found on the back cover of the CD case. Next, search for a barcode number. Lacking either of these options, make note of other identifying details: country of release, track titles, etc. For a more comprehensive guide, here’s where to find identifying information on CDs.

2. Navigate to the Discogs Release Page

Once you have your identifying info about the release version, you will need to find it on Discogs. You can do this by typing in the Catalog Number, barcode number, or other details into the search bar. If the CD has a barcode, you can also scan it with the free Discogs app which can be found in the Apple and Google Play app stores.

All releases are lumped under a Master Release in the Database. When in doubt, simply search for the album title, navigate to the Master Release page, and use the “Find Your Version” function to locate your specific release. Once you do, double-check your info to make sure it’s a match.

Search for Your CD

3. Find Prices in the Statistics Section

Look for the Statistics heading. On a desktop, it will be on the right-hand side; on mobile, you will need to scroll down.

Immediately available will be the lowest, median, and highest prices that the release has been sold for on Discogs. By clicking on the Last Sold date, you can view the full sales data, including the average CD price and a chart to track trends over time.

If you’re using the Discogs app, this information will be labeled as Sales History. Click on Sales History for the same order history and price information.

Additional Tips

How to Determine the Condition of Your CD

Condition is a major factor in the true value of your CD. Discogs uses the Goldmine Standard, a universally-accepted guideline for representing the condition of physical music. The levels range from Mint (perfect) down to Poor/Fair (badly damaged). Here’s a complete guide to determining the condition of your CDs and grading them accurately.

Use Shortcut for Evaluating More Than One CD

If you have more than one CD to evaluate, use the Collection tool, which is available with a (free!) Discogs account. Once you navigate to the release page, click the Add to Collection button and your CD will be dropped into your virtual Collection on Discogs.

From your Collection, you can:

Get an estimated value of your whole collection.
Track the condition of individual CDs.
Mark items for sale.
Use the export feature to download a CSV for insurance purposes.
And more!

Add to Collection

Join the Community

Discogs is a global community of music fans that have built the largest physical-media Database in the world. We love to discover and purchase new music. If all this sounds great to you, then join us! Creating a Discogs account is free and gives you access to the Collection tool and much more.

Create an Account