How many records do you own that you never play ?

[Barbirollians]

I have about 2000 CDs I think 200 LPs and boxes of cassettes in the loft . I have tried to declutter as probably I only play about a tenth of them but it is the truth of a library I have found it very hard to throw out CDs on the basis I will not play them again . Last time I tried I got rid of about 9 .

Do you have the same problem or do you play all your recorded music ? Or are you good at recycling.

Also anything recycled that you now really regret ?

[MickyD]

One day I will get round to counting the crazy amount of CDs that I have - it goes without saying that I could never play them all more than a couple of times, but I couldn't bear to part with any of them! I think this subject has oft been discussed on these boards.

[pastoralguy]

Funny you should raise that question today, Barbi, since I've been clearing out duplicates and posting them on eBay. I have too many CDs and I sometimes feel my collection owns me rather than me it. Storage is becoming a real problem although Mrs. PG is extremely tolerant.

[Quarky]

I'm at the other end of the spectrum, in that I don't play any of my CDs these days. There is too much music which is broadcast over the airwaves and available on the Internet and which is new to my ears. JS on Sunday morning for example.

A new CD will only be purchased if it is the only way of obtaining a particular performance, and then it will only be played a limited amount.

A great amount has been donated to the Charity shops, particularly box sets of 19th Century greats. I don't know whether the Charity shops were able to sell them.

But I have retained for reference a sizeable collection of works of what are for me key composers - Messiaen, Stravinsky, Bach.....

[mathias broucek]

I have about 2000 CDs I think 200 LPs and boxes of cassettes in the loft . I have tried to declutter as probably I only play about a tenth of them but it is the truth of a library I have found it very hard to throw out CDs on the basis I will not play them again . Last time I tried I got rid of about 9 .

Do you have the same problem or do you play all your recorded music ? Or are you good at recycling.

Also anything recycled that you now really regret ?

Am in a very similar position. Recycling hasn't led to many regrets but has led to some.

What has helped is ripping CDs losslessly and storing to a NAS drive which is then accessed by streamers (x2, one per reception room) and my iPad. Most CDs can then be stored in suitable boxes somewhere out of the way. (The exception is opera where libretto access is important and therefore they need to stay on shelves.)

Mind you, the process of ripping and editing the meta data takes time...

[mikealdren]

I have 2605 catalogued and loaded to my PC based player (plus 3 I have bought in the last few days). It's so much easier to select and play from the jukebox.

The CDs themselves are all in plastic trays in the attic as I feel I should own them to justify downloading them although selling on Ebay is tempting, particularly for some of the rarer ones. I did sell a box of Rabin CDs for over £700 on Ebay and replaced with the Icon box that sounds identical. I also sold the Oistrakh Beethoven/Bruch coupling for £70+and bought the EMI concertos box which really does sound better!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Do you have the same problem or do you play all your recorded music ? Or are you good at recycling.

Everything I own has been played at least seven times (once a day for a week after I've bought it) - some a great many more times than that, others rarely come off the shelf; but I won't get rid of anything (except individual CDs that get remastered and sold in those enormous boxed sets that cost less than the price I paid for the individual CD) - there have been frequent occasions when I've suddenly wanted to replay a long-neglected disc; and there might be an occasion when I actually want to play an unloved disc (if only to check if it was as bad as I remembered). And, of course, the glorious serendipity of rediscovering CD whilst you're looking for another one - a little moment of bliss!

Also anything recycled that you now really regret ?

Around 1993/94, I "downsized" my collection, getting rid of all duplications and discs that I hadn't played in years. Guess which ones I most want(ed) to play in subsequent years! That terrible decision is the reason I'd never get rid of any CD now.

When - I hope MANY years from now - they cart me off to the home for the befuddled avant gardista, I shall endeavour to put stuff onto whatever digital storage device is then available. Until then: me, my books and my CDs are a growing family.

[Serial_Apologist]

I have about 2000 CDs I think 200 LPs and boxes of cassettes in the loft . I have tried to declutter as probably I only play about a tenth of them but it is the truth of a library I have found it very hard to throw out CDs on the basis I will not play them again . Last time I tried I got rid of about 9 .

Do you have the same problem or do you play all your recorded music ? Or are you good at recycling.

Also anything recycled that you now really regret ?

If by recycle you mean taken to charity shops or handed to friends and acquaintances, none at all in my case.

I like to think that have a pretty representative collection of recordings broadly in the jazz and classical genres with overlaps between and with rock, etc, reflective of my love of or interest especially in European or European-derived twentieth century musics, with a smaller collection of earlier classical music going back to as far as machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame including many of the usual suspects eg the Russian Five, late Beethoven sonatas and string quartets, Monteverdi madrigals - covering more than 600 LPs, over 1000 cassettes (still playable in quality), and I'd have to count the CDs. Not all of which is to my liking, but taking Benjamin Britten as an example, I like to have a few of his lesser-loved works for the sake of representativeness - and that goes for some of the jazz too. Visitors say, "You've only got three Reggae albums, and not much New Orleans, Big Band Swing, Blues or Prog Rock either", but if ones passions are in other genres I find it best to concentrate on acquiring music from those.

If on the other hand by recycling you mean listening repeatedly, yes I have to say I do - usually in chronological order. I may take just one composer, sometimes two, eg Vaughan Willioams and Holst, and run through their music from start to finish. Recently I listened to all the recorded music I have by the Schoenberg circle, including recordings of Zemlinsky, Eisler and the my work of Wellesz's, in chronological order: I never cease to be fascinated by the richness of that music and the way it evolved in the traditions others were doing their best to escape from, and keep on finding things such as inner connectsions I'd never previously noticed, despite acquaintance with the music for 40 + years. I might then go on to listen to the latter, eg. all my French music from the "Cocteau" period, marveling at the very different responses it elicits from the Schoenberg etc., and the way, as MrGG might put it, different musics call for different modes of listening.

I sometimes wonder how our antecedents managed without having recorded music on tap at home; I guess I would have had to made do with my vary inadequate technique on the piano. Maybe it would have improved!

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm at the other end of the spectrum, in that I don't play any of my CDs these days. There is too much music which is broadcast over the airwaves and available on the Internet and which is new to my ears. JS on Sunday morning for example.

A new CD will only be purchased if it is the only way of obtaining a particular performance, and then it will only be played a limited amount.

A great amount has been donated to the Charity shops, particularly box sets of 19th Century greats. I don't know whether the Charity shops were able to sell them.

But I have retained for reference a sizeable collection of works of what are for me key composers

I think I am very much in the Oddball camp

[pastoralguy]

I also sold the Oistrakh Beethoven/Bruch coupling for £70+and bought the EMI concertos box which really does sound better!

I have a funny feeling it was me that bought it...

[teamsaint]

Mentioning regrets,the only regrets I have about losses from my collection are several LPs that I lent to folks back on the day, ( the first 2 U2 albums, a free album that came with the Skids " Absolute Game", and one other, that didn't get returned.)

Back in the good old 1980's.

Not that I bear a grudge.

Like most folk on here,i have a good many CDs in box sets which are patiently awaiting their moment...

[Serial_Apologist]

Although I have managed to replace many of my old LPs with CDs, for some funny reasonprobably sentimental) I cannot bring myself to get rid of the vinyl - some of which would now probably fetch a few bob, were I judiciously to do so.

[teamsaint]

Although I have managed to replace many of my old LPs with CDs, for some funny reasonprobably sentimental) I cannot bring myself to get rid of the vinyl - some of which would now probably fetch a few bob, were I judiciously to do so.

Same problem.
Just can't get rid. I saw the Buzzcocks " lovebites" ( by no means a rare album)in rather ordinary condition for £10 in a charity shop the other day. Could probably replace my copy with a CD for a couple of quid, and done across a range of the rarer stuff I have, I might make a tidy sum.

But.....

[gradus]

Oddball camp here too. I wonder why I hang on to things that rarely get an outing; I think it's the idea of forming a library - I'm even worse with books ie I buy often and rarely throw away although I enjoy giving books to friends whom I think might enjoy them.

[mikealdren]

I have a funny feeling it was me that bought it...

Not mine Rob because it went to China but there are some silly prices being played. I've been buying all sorts of stuff from the proceeds!

I was very surprised at the Oistrakh CD quality when I listened to the two recording because, of course, I had the original downloaded. It's amazing how different some CD transfers are (and others aren't) but it's very hard to get a reliable guide.