They All Agree: They Want Their Used CDs : Pop music: Shoppers reluctant to shell out big bucks on unknown bands prefer recycled compact discs because of the price. Most feel discs should cost $10 or less, as cassettes do.

Eileen Foster-Crosson might not be buying used compact discs were it not for the capriciousness of Cupid. The Santa Barbara chef recently broke up with her boyfriend of six years. She says he wound up with their 200 CDs, and she wound up with a shopping list.

Hence, she spent a day off recently poring through the thousands of used CDs at Aron’s Records in Hollywood, looking to replace some of her lost titles.

Like many people who rummage through the used CD racks, she has found some, and is willing to wait for the others to turn up. Like many, she likes the “treasure hunt” aspect of finding them and the lower price. And like many, she says she feels no guilt buying CDs used, despite complaints from the record industry that they receive no monies from their sale.

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“Instead of just whining, they should figure out a way to combat it,” Foster-Crosson suggested. Apprised that some labels had tried combatting used CDs by cutting off promotional money and some new releases to stores selling used product, she responded, “No, I meant combatting it by making their prices cheaper to begin with. The problem is new CDs just cost too much.”

Foster-Crosson estimates that she buys 10 CDs a month, nearly all of them used. “I work a lot of 15-hour days and listening to music is one of the few things I have time to do that makes me feel better when I come home. I buy used CDs for the obvious reason: I can afford them. If it’s something I really want, like the new Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana, I’ll buy it new, otherwise you figure you’ll find it used sooner or later,” she said.

She said she became a Breeders fan after taking a chance on buying their first album used, a chance she wouldn’t have taken at the retail price. Other shoppers also said that used CDs are often the means by which they are introduced to new artists, reporting they’re willing to risk their $1-$9 cost, compared to the $11.99-$16.99 list price for most new CDs.

It isn’t only consumers who are willing to take chances at lower prices.

“We take in a lot of unknown things used that we wouldn’t risk the $10 or so it would cost us wholesale to stock it new, so we and the customer get to sample a major portion of the industry we wouldn’t otherwise touch,” said Jim Britton, manager of Rockaway Records in Silver Lake, who says the bulk of his sales are used.

Turning up in a used bin can be beneficial for performers, according to Aron’s manager Jesse Klemtner: “Used has always been a great way to (introduce) artists around here. We’ll get a copy of something in and someone will take the chance on it, and come back in and say, ‘Wow, this is great,’ and we’ll listen to it. A lot of artists have gotten extremely good sales because of that, because we get excited through hearing the used copies that come in. And sometimes there’s nothing else to give a new item a push, because the labels only promote a few of their artists, and we can’t afford to rip open a new copy of everything that comes in new.”

There are other advantages to used CDs. Roaming the used aisles at Rockaway Records, Mick Lai of Alhambra said, “A lot of the times looking at used, you can find stuff you can’t find stocked new in most stores. . . .” Lai said 70% to 80% of his purchases are used, and that he has no worries about crippling the record industry. “The way I look at it, the used CD market can never represent the vast proportion of sales, because they can’t be used without first being new.”

Graduate student Chris Miller, who came to appreciate Lenny Kravitz and Suede via used CDs, said, “I rarely buy new CDs now unless it’s an artist I really care about like 10,000 Maniacs, Living Colour, Pearl Jam--so the money will go in their pocket, though I don’t know how much of it they see.”

A good question. In a recent Times interview, musician David Lindley, who had three albums released on Elektra/Asylum, claimed, “No one makes any (recording) royalties, unless you’re gigantic.

“Instead, the money is always ‘in the pipeline,’ ” he said, referring to the common practice of recouping production and promotional costs before artists are paid.

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Lindley recently released his own live CD, which he sells at shows, and maintains he made more off it in its first two weeks of release than he did in five years on a major label.

Some two dozen shoppers queried would not be surprised by Lindley’s revelation. All agreed that new CDs are overpriced and should cost $10 or less, as cassettes do.

USC student Troy Sugg came the closest of any to voicing sympathy for the industry, and that didn’t come very close at all: “I can see their point, where they’re not making as much money, but I don’t like it, because then I wouldn’t be able to buy as many CDs.”

In July, Rockaway hosted a “Garth Buck$ BAR-B-Q” at which 100 customers gathered to see Garth Brooks’ CDs broiled and served in hamburger buns as a protest to Brooks’ refusal to allow his albums to be be shipped to stores selling used CDs. While that decision is being contested in court, Rockaway won’t carry his new albums, though they are only too happy to sell them used.

Rockaway manager Britton said the store isn’t out to rip off the industry, just provide a “recycling” service for customers, some of whom pointed out that they trade in their old CDs in order to afford new ones.

Others trade them in just to survive. According to Rick Giering, district manager of Rhino Records in Westwood, “Our best time for buying trade-ins is the first of the month, when everyone’s rent is due.”

Said Britton, “The way the economy is now, who would want to buy something new if you weren’t able to sell it if you wanted to? Spending $15 a crack for a CD you might not like? People are backing off.”

Halfheartedly leafing through the bins at Aron’s, Doren Garcia of L.A. said he wasn’t finding much. He owns some 5,000 records and 500 CDs, but said, “I’m pretty frustrated with the whole music scene. I don’t think there are that many new ideas left. Out of 10 CDs I buy, I might only like one. At retail, that’s $140 for one thing you may like. The economics of it have gotten so that I’m going to buy a computer instead and get entertainment in an interactive way.”