Lost most of my CD collection to flooding

[GoofyJeff]

I am beyond devastated right now.  The basement in my apartment complex flooded.  Thankfully most of my boxes are off the ground by 3 inches on pallets or shelves, but wouldn't you know it... the box containing a good chunk of my CD collection happened to be on the floor.

In total, 85 discs have damaged booklets and/or cases.  Some extremely rare like the Carl Wilson Japanese CDs (and the Long Promised Road reissue), the BW Do It Again single, the "Walking Down the Path of Life" single... ugh.

I could replace some of the more common items if I had gainful employment and disposable income, but I have been on minimum wage since August.

Heartbroken doesn't begin to describe it...   

Sorry guys, just had to vent.

[Nothgual]

That's terrible! I sure do hope you'll be able to recoup what you lost somehow.

[Ron]

Man, that sucks!  I once had something much more minor happen, but man I was so damn angry about it.  I had a friend who was a little flaky, I worked at a grocery store.  So he comes by and asks to see my keys because he wants to play a cd for somebody or something.  Later on I get ready to leave, and all the cd's are missing.  He was high, and took my cd case out of the car and put it on top of the friekin' DRINK MACHINE out side instead of putting it back in the car.  Of course somebody stole them after that.  I was 17 at the time, it was all my favorite cd's and this was before IPODS or even having music on your computer, I was just music-less!  All my favorites, gone. 

Granted your collection is much more valuable than that, but I'll bet the feeling is about the same.  They still haven't found his body, btw.

[GoofyJeff]

The MUSIC (ie what is ultimately most important) is recoverable and/or replaceable for the most part. Guess I'll be ripping CDs all weekend while not working at the theater...

The booklets, cases, and a handful of autographs... that's the killer... along with the sentimental value and being able to look at a nice collection.

It could be worse... one of my neighbors lost an old box spring and mattress set along with an antique dresser and mirror.  And I saw on the news that lightning hit two separate houses in the area, leaving both houses completely destroyed.

And there are fine young men and women overseas risking their lives for our sake. Some paying the ultimate sacrifice.

I guess it's all about perspective, but man this sucks.

[ForHerCryingSoul]

My advice, get all the salvageable booklets in a dry place and blow dry them slowly, one page at a time.  Then place under a warm incandescent lamp for at least three minutes.  So sorry this happened!  Remember to import your CDs to your computer in a lossless format!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I've been there...literally.  Similar thing happened to me, except it was my storage unit that got flooded. Sorry that happened dude

[Lonely Summer]

I lost most of my 45's in a flood in 1997. Still trying to replace them.

[Mark H.]

Lost hundreds of LPs in the 90s under similar circumstances.

[jeffh]

Sorry to hear that Jeff. Let me know if I can help in any way

[KDS]

I couldn't imagine.

You may want to invest in a disc repair kit (ie.  a Skip Doctor).  That might salvage the CDs themselves. 

[marcusb]

This happened to me many years ago.. nothing rare got messed up I think, but still, it was a all of my BB CD two-fers which had some good liner notes and stuff. My whole Frank Black collection at the time was in there too.

 When it happened I left all the cd's out with the jewel cases open to let the water dry. I am currently re-ripping my collection to FLAC files. Seeing what happened to them just makes me mad.. but, if it's any consolation, the discs are absolutely fine. At worst a little cleaning and they rip fine.. no repair needed.

[leggo of my ego]

Take the booklets out dry them off with towels or paper towels. They will warp some but that glossy paper in factory CD does NOT mildew
easily. We also had a flooded basement a few years ago the CDs were all salvagable. Not so much the vinyl records and other paper-based stuff. If the paper isnt coated its gonna milldew but the glossy coated paper wont.  Good luck.

[Lee Marshall]

I lost a couple of thousand vinyl albums in 2 separate floods [2 cities/12 years apart].  It is just the worst.  For me...and I get the loss above and beyond for sure...the loss of the music is the worst.

There've been times where I've spent 20 bucks just to replace 1 song.  Not for a collector's edition...but just to be able to HEAR the song again.

I feel your PAIN.