The Rare record finder. Help searching for deleted and elusive records!

Rare Record Finder

A collection of links and tips to help you find elusive and deleted records / CDs

These Links have been condensed from The More Music resource Site
and include only those links which relate to finding records or CDs! The Notes on P2P and file sharing at the end are deliberately kept brief

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If you Don't know the album name to use this section.. | Skip

Finding just one song??
If you are looking for a song and do not know what album(s) it is on, first go to CDDB (Gracenote) and search for the song title.
Once you know what album it is on, using the rest of this page should be easy!
Unfortunately CDDB lists only CDs, so if you can't find it, it may still be available, but only on vinyl or tape.

If you Don't know the Song name to use this section.. | Skip

Only know the Lyrics??
There are actually a heap of dedicated lyric search engines, but they are a little dissapointing. If you fail to get any matches, type a shorter string of lyrics, this should bring results, but they may be from the wrong song!
Try here to search several. Good Luck!
Often more effective is to type the lyrics into the Google Search Engine. To limit your results type the words you know in inverted commas, followed by the word Lyrics ("Your lyrics here" lyrics) More search help
If you cannot find your song from the above links there is one more option... Email the dealers on Recwants and Vinylsale with as much info as you can provide. (See under Email, below).

Is it deleted?

A lot records that are not on the shelves of your local shop are actually still available by mail order... Check a couple of the bigger stores.
101 (UK) | Amazon (UK) (US)
There are plenty of others, but all use the same imperfect method...See Disadvantages below.
Only suitable for CD albums, Singles are usually deleted and vinyl is not well served.

Advantages Will let you know if the item is still officially in print
Disadvantages These stores carry no stock, they order from suppliers once you request an item, then there is a long wait and a chance the supplier will not deliver, this can take weeks or even months. Amazon have greatly improved thier service on this front.

Music Marketplaces

These are sites where hundreds of Dealers upload their inventories to a searchable database. They may have millions of items listed.
I have tried to list them in order of usefulness, (best first)

GEMM (Global Electronic Music Marketplace) The Biggest
MusicStack Secondhand Only useful for deleted items
Netsounds Mainly UK dealers
Half.com. usually more common titles, mostly small private sellers
recordcollector.co.uk Mainly UK Dealers

Advantages Can check a large number of items with one simple search. Some eg Musicstack allow you to isolate formats
Disadvantages Some dealers upload inventories of items they believe they can order in...Then take weeks or Months to find the item is not available. Check dealer feedback before ordering. there are some very good dealers and some that are not worth ordering from!

Auctions

Auctions only last a few days, so it is hard to snag that item when it is up for grabs
A couple of the auction sites are big enough that you might just be lucky! Here Goes...
Ebay, Global | UK The Biggest. Check out Personal Shopper which will notify you by email when an item matching your wants is listed.
Yahoo Smaller...
Amazon Smaller Still
BidXS Claims to search all the above + more from one request.

Advantages Easy to search, might get a bargain!
Disadvantages Stuff often sells for way above the market value

Email

Moremusic offer a unique page where You can email lots of dealers from one page
The page is Here please Only email under the genre that most suits your wanted item.
Also worth trying are the Recwants Email list, Vinylsale, Musicstack's wants link and DJ Trade (Dance tunes only). On these lists are dealers who pride themselves at fulfilling wants lists are waiting for your mail! Please read the Recwants instructions carefully if you join.

Advantages Quite successful, many big dealers participate.
Disadvantages Moremusic is UK only, and fiddly to use with Microsoft Internet explorer. Recwants generates a lot of email..

BIG Secondhand Shops

There were always gonna be shops that have hoarded stock and have such a big secondhand inventory that searching them may well be worthwhile...

Vinyl/CD, Esprit International (UK/USA) specialists in Promos and rare pressings.
CD, Second spin (USA) CDs only, fully databased.
Vinyl, A1 Record Finders (USA) NOT databased, fill out the request form and wait for them to reply!

Advantages Easy to use, these are big and reliable sellers
Disadvantages Smaller inventory than the database sites.

Search engines

Some Search Engines try to reference the entire web and may lead you directly to an item for sale!
The main ones to try are Google Or AltaVista, Smaller but very good is Northern Light. Type the full artist and title to narrow your search.

Froogle Is a project by Google which is actively indexing shop databases. Still in beta testing this exciting project could one day make all our searches a lot easier!
Read These Notes to help you conduct more accurate searches.

Advantages If the item is for sale you will fall right onto the page where it is listed!
Disadvantages Turns up lots of useless links or worse still links to pages that are out of date.

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are an underused resource, but can be risky (See Below). simply click on the links below and post your wantslist, do not post to other newsgroups without reading their charters first!
rec.music.marketplace.vinyl
rec.music.marketplace.cd
alt.collecting.records
If clicking the links above fails to activate your news program, please don't ask me, contact the vendor of your computer or your ISP!

Advantages Read by many traders who do not have websites!
Disadvantages pretty much the riskiest place to buy. Do not be afraid to post on the newsgroup asking if an individual who has contacted you is reputable.

Wanted Lists

These are rather outdated now, try by all means!
OffloadOnline.com Aussie resource
Lazlo's Internet Music Wantslists One of the oldest.

Advantages Your request is out there and will stay online for months.
Disadvantages Not as widely read as newsgroups. You should remove your item if you find it! most people do not, rendering the resources less useful.

Contact Label

OK, this may sound desperate, but it has worked for me when tracking down recent releases
try searching for labels on Alta Vista or in the Yahoo directory

Advantages Can work! labels often have old stock lying around.
Disadvantages Only suitable for relatively recent releases

Contact Artist

Same as for Label
Perhaps the best directory of Artist pages is on UBL.com. Alternatively, try on the bigger search engines.

Advantages Good for very small bands, who may arrange their own distribution.
Disadvantages Only good for small bands, also realistically the release must be fairly recent.

File Transfer

The ogre banging on the record companies Doors?
Whatever you think of File Sharing, it is not going to go away, if nothing else it is a good way to hear music that you never had access to before.
We have not taken the time to compile our own list of file sharing sites, Try Search Engine watch, Info glut or soundsearchers (Scroll down the page to the 3rd major heading)
For help on software installation and use read CNets Excellent pages.

WARNING: Some file sharing clients such as KaZaa and Limewire come bundled with hidden trojans that will reveal personal information about you, change the way you see this website (without our consent) and slow down your internet access. Before you download any check out http://scumware.com/

Advantages You really can track down almost everything.
Disadvantages Formost, see the warning above. If you are a true collector, a computer file will hardly suffice!

Suggestions and additions to this page can be emailed to jules@moremusic.co.uk Useful links will be added to the online version and will benefit collectors like yourself
This copy last edited May 2003, if you got it by email, the online version may be more up to date!