one man’s teasure
Some music lovers can be easy to spot with their vast array of CDs, DVDs and even games stacked in ornamental cases. Students often go to their music-loving friends to see the new stuff on the market, or even to use them as a personal rental store. But purchasing that much media can be very expensive, especially for poor college students.
In that case, some suggest breaking out of the cellophane packaging of the new products and trying out the used.
Logan has several stores for the starving Aggie to get previously viewed or used CDs, games, DVDs and even books. The used items usually cost less than buying a brand new one and are in good condition much of the time. At Hastings on 400 North, to buy a brand new copy of the Denzel Washington movie “Inside Man” costs $21.99 as opposed to the used price of $9.99.
Tim Kiester, the store manager of Hastings, said they guarantee their used movies and games.
“If they are damaged or become damaged, we will trade them in for another copy of the item or give them store credit,” he said.
Many of these stores even have programs set up to buy and trade music and movies. Both Hastings and Fun Unlimited will buy used videos, music and games from the public.
Fun Unlimited owner Scott McCune said the buyback price depends on the condition of the item, the system it is for, if it still has its original packaging and how many they have in stock already. On average, the buyback price is about 30 percent of the original price.
“The best deal for people who want to trade in their movies and games is to get store credit, because we give them more in-store credit than cash, so they get more,” McCune said.
Shaun Moser, a freshman in landscape architecture, said he often goes to Fun Unlimited to trade in video games and movies. Moser said he likes to go to Fun Unlimited because he feels like that’s where he can get the best deal.
“I think I save money by coming here. I have more than 150 used DVDs that I have bought or traded for,” he said as he was trading in Call of Duty 3 for Xbox 360.
McCune’s store also buys used books as well, but he said video games for consoles like Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo usually sell for more. He said out of the thousands of games they have, their all-time best-selling game is Mario Duck Hunt.
Hollywood Video Assistant Manager Tabatha Johnson said they don’t buy movies from the public, but they do sell their rentals.
According to Johnson, rentals can be up for sale as previously viewed movies within six weeks of their release.
They, too, have a lifetime guarantee on all the used movies they sell.
“If 10 years down the line, the disc becomes damaged, you can bring it in to trade it for another copy of the movie or store credit,” Johnson said.
-dwkoecher@cc.usu.edu