10% rule in action

Why do you want to stick to around 100 CD's...

Regards,

Michel

Hardly think 100 CDs counts as 'stacks of CDs'

Probably got 100 CDs I havn't played yet  

I have a similar approach, though I find that about 600 CDs contain all the music that I would wish to have in recorded form. Currently I have about 550 CDs' worth in iTunes. I would add the Bach Canatas extra, but apart from this I work on a rough rule of one in, one out. I tend to give the redundant ones to Oxfam, though, with hindsight, I am sure I gave away discs that were worth quite bit that would only have been sold for shillings there.

The radio provides more than enough extension to the repertoire otherwise.

I have something like 25 days of music, so quite enough to provide a massive choice, and even for some recordings to fall into the shade.

I suppose this approach means that I am not really a collector ...

ATB from George

if naim app could do a playlist then maybe many cds wouldnt be played .ive permenantly stored 600 ,totally hinden away so in priciple it is agood idea

10% rule for me would be about 800 CD's exiting which I am unlikely to have the heart for. I am quite keen to get rid of some dross though so will probably start visiting the odd charity store soon.

Some artists that I really can't stand like Joe Bonamassa are in danger. Anyone for Celine Dion?

Mango, I assume you do not keep a digital copy when you sell off?

More to the point for me is some of my vinyl. That I can see myself slowly eliminating over time down to just a few albums I cannot get on CD - mainly from the ECM label. The valuable items are tempting to sell. I am testing the market today and I have put one album up on ebay for a silly price, but it might fetch it - five times what I paid for it. Time will tell.

Adrian,

Not that silly money when you think how much one went for when the set came out, and that was not signed.

Stu.

I could not live with just 100 cd's and would not want to.

As long as you are happy though? thats what counts.

Stu.

Whilst Lontano's 8,000 seems so many (but thanks for ECM introduction/inspiration way back when, buddy - some of my favourite stuff), 100 seems a little stingy to me. I have around 1,000, and am surprised at how familiar they (mostly) all are. Could I lose 100 without pain? Probably. But there is an urge to collect that transcends the listening function of the collection, somehow. I doubt I will ever get rid of any.

George, the collecting urge means that listening on radio or interent streams will only ever be a way to sample music, and as a distraction, rather than a main source for me (regardless of quality). Steve Jobs got this concept right with iTunes, which wiped the floor with the competitors' subscription models that were in place when it launched. People want to own things, even bits on a computer.

I feel that at this point in my life I couldn't deal with cd's at all if it weren't for the fact that I don't -- I rip them and then put them away in the basement. They only "exist" on my iPhone app and on my uServe.

I'm sure that it can get quite compulsive, and as susceptible as I am to "collecting," I seem drawn only to music that I really want to listen to.  I get a lot of recommendations here on the forum, but if I don't know it I give a good listen before I purchase.

I think it is. I had quite a splurge over the last 6/7 years and explored so many avenues, it was very enjoyable. There is a lot of seriously good music in my collection that will be with me always, but there are no doubt quite a few albums that do not last the journey for me - such as lots of alt rock that gets rave reviews on release but really is not that great etc etc. It is hard to listen to so much stuff, although lots of it was part of the journey and so I do not necessarily want to listen to it regularly. But there are areas I want to to focus my listening on long term.

I continue to buy on the areas that really excite me most but this year I am weeding out stuff before purchase that does not do enough for me. So Steve Wilson related, Prog, ECM, European Jazz, Electronic/Ambient and Classical will all get a good airing and I will purchase a fair amount. Everything else will find it much harder to make it into my collection.

i will quite enjoy clearing out a few when the time comes and I am feeling in the right mood....

Lontano

Am I allowed to ask whether you have nice vinyl copies of Colours of Chloe and Triptykon that you would rather have filling a space elsewhere?

Do you think I got away with that?

Wish I could get away with 100.  But I agree with the idea of keeping one's collection concise and essential - whether it's 100 or 10,000. 

How long does it take to listen to 8000 CDs* - if one ever does - and how many times does someone with 8000 CDs listen to all of them more than once?

*1000 days at 8 hours per day?

Thanks for the reply, Lontano.  I've had 2 or 3 copies of Colours but kept giving them away to girl friends when I was young!

Derry, without doing any maths, I think the answer to your question isn't about quantity but how one  listens.  Some albums are perennial long term favourites and will get played on a regular basis.  Other albums take some time to digest, and I know I'll want to return to them at a later date when I've thought about them for some time.  To me a collection and collecting is more like a personal library and an education.  Its also organic - my collection may be the same size this time next year, but its content will be different, and more albums have passed through my hands than I've kept.  I've bought many albums because I'm curious - if I don't but them I'm not going to hear them.  (With the internet and streaming this happens less now).  I've made many mistakes - but I've also learned one hell of a lot.  After all, it is music.  The only way I'm going to hear say John Coltrane, Miles Davis, John Fahey and many others is through great recordings.  What a gift!

I'm sure others here have their own reasons.

Oh, and your maths doesn't look too unrealistic when divided over 38 years of mature listening.

Dear Graham,

Totally agree!

I have had four times the music through my collection than remains today!

But when I am through with a recording it can go. I do not even own a recording of the Enigma Variations at the moment, but that does not rule one out again in the future!

ATB from George

Graham, you made me spin Colours of Chloe tonight. Superb, and side 2 is just fabulous. Thanks for the inspiration! Make sure you keep hold of the next copy you find.....

Both 10% and 100 are arbitrary numbers and just examples. The 10% rule just helps me objectively come up with a number to remove the bottom 10% of my CD collection. Frequently this is stuff that I haven't listened to in years. I find that whittling away like this helps me come up with a collection that is much more enjoyable.

Graham, you made me spin Colours of Chloe tonight. Superb, and side 2 is just fabulous. 

Agreed! And that cover art still gets me!  Other people's comments often make me go and play something particular.   Triptykon next? 

I haven't counted them recently but I guess I have around 1500 CDs - enough to fill an alcove's worth of shelving and overflow into a couple of small storage units I bought from Habitat. There are also two or three dozen box sets wherever I can find the space to put them.

I am reluctant to allow CDs to encroach further on my living space even though the urge to collect and the desire to hear new music are both very strong.

Therefore, I periodically weed out a dozen or so CDs and trade them in at my local secondhand record shop - yes, I am lucky to have one nearby. Even better, they have a good selection of jazz and classical, as well as classic rock, indie, dance and electronica, so I can always find something I like. This cuts down the amount I spend on CDs and also means that my collection grows much more slowly (if at all).

I expect I will,have to give in and put up more shelves eventually but I'm trying to postpone that (moderately) evil day for as long as possible.

Nigel

Oh, yeah. Me too. I touch them twice. Once top put in my Max Mini and the next time to put them away in the basement. I could never go back to the clutter of jewel cases around the room (I was never very disciplined at putting away my CDs).

The problem for me is that it waxes and wains. I could have easily disposed of half of my collection in the past 25 years but then I get an urge to revisit something. I pretty much stopped listening to things which could be loosely categorised as Prog Rock for ten years. When I rediscovered it I didn't have a long walk and it didn't cost anything. I'm now starting to skim off shelves of CDs and find secure boxes and safe places to store them because they are all ripped. Many of them will end up with the 600 odd LPs which haven't seen daylight since the late 80s.

I agree with Harry, I found myself buying albums again that I should have kept. I cleared out a lot of hard rock from the youth, only to find that I did still really like Thin Lizzy, not so much Deep Purple though.

Prog has always been a constant love, so that didn't get cleaned out.

I also have found that sometimes I get a song in my head, and think it is great, then listen to it, and discover why it is from a long unplayed album, good tune, but badly done. Still having the CD to listen means I don't spend time or even money trying to find out if I do like it.

I do sometime give albums I don't like to friends (who do like them, not musical sadism), but selling them off doesn't seem to be worth the effort financially, and I have the space to keep the music anyway.

I suspect the next big change for my musical collection will be digitising it to an uncompressed format (Flac?) and playing from hard drive, and packing the CDs into boxes in the loft.

It is a good time at the moment to pick up original editions of albums on Ebay etc, as other digitize their music and get rid of the physical formats. At last a chance to get the Rush albums without the appalling remaster compression.

On the schedule for tonight!

Graham and Lontano

Your discussion got me to put Colours of Chloe on the platter last evening. I'd forgotten how sumptious it is. Straight after that on went Yellowfields which, believe it or not, is even better - Jon Christensen and Charlie Mariano on the track Sand Glass is just outstanding.

And after that the whole album Terje Rypdal Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away - blew me away.

It is a lesson to me not to neglect the music I have. Spending time looking for new music is a must. But as wonderful as it (Tord Gustavsen, for example) is, some of these older LPs are unbeatable.

And some people have got rid of them using their 10% rule - and that's how I got copies!! 

Cheers gents

David

And David, I am now sitting here in my office listening to Yellowfields :-) - next up I'll play the Terje......the power of the music room...yes I guess some people get rid of the wrong 10% which can only be good for some of us.