How Many CD's do you own?

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop John B:

3,500 and no Rory Gallagher or Van Morrison

SJB

I have all the Van Morrisons on LP up to It's Too Late to Stop Now. We were at The Rainbow concert that made up part of that set and to be honest, his performance was so perfunctory and so detached from the audience that I decided it wasn't too late to stop buying his albums. Still treasure the early ones though. Never got Taste or Rory I'm afraid.

I have c2000 cd's and about 900 lp's - just a small case of OCD.....

I think it could be time for a new tread - Album collection pics.

Gary

About 900 cd's.....and growing.

GH

800 cds
400 albums
2050 home recorded cassettes
Still much music to go...

Well I only have 400 CDs and about 100 albums on vinyl. Only 320 are loaded into my hard drive.

What I don't get with these really big collections is that it would take you 2 years at 12 hours a day just to listen to them all. Surely having so many albums serves no purpose other than to collect them and look at them.

Some say you should spend as much on music as you do on your system or you have paid too much for the system and have your priorities wrong. I think you only have to have enough CDs so you can listen daily without getting bored.

Over a couple of thousand I have to wonder if folks have even heard their collection more than a couple of times over. It would be interesting to know how much listening goes on with these really big collections.

I would probably average 1 to 2 hours a day, not including a hour of radio, so thats over 6 months to listen to everything.

quote:

Originally posted by Develyn:

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:
I can't count that high but I guess round 9000 CDs.

To put that in perspective. Purchasing one CD per day, it would take almost 25 years to reach this amount. Amazing.

And how long to listen to each more than once?

572 CDs, 80 vinyl. Listen to 25% on a regular basis.

Dear Briz,

That is why my collection of music is so modest.

If I have not listened to something for a long time, I get rid of it - to friends, Oxfam, or to help someone start out on the classics. All but 2 LPs have gone now - most in 1993 - and the two that remain were my first two! Totally worn out after 39 years!

I used to have a bout 900 LPs, which timewise is not so different to 550 CDs as so many LPs are little more than a half filled CDs in length.

I got round the issue of unsuitable programming on CDs by either only ripping the specific work [and leaving the rest] that caused me to buy the CD, or more often creating "phantom" albums so that, for example, any Beethoven Symphony will appear as a single work on the iTunes search engine if I specify work and performing artist[s]. This is very handy as it allows me to listen to exactly what I want and the music stops at the end of the work, rather than crashing on into something not really suitable to follow.

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by Briz Vegas:
What I don't get with these really big collections is that it would take you 2 years at 12 hours a day just to listen to them all.

Briz - what you seem to be forgetting is that people have not just gone out and bought a large collection of CD's today and now have the mammoth task of working their way through them. You have completely forgotten what they might have been doing with their time listening to music on CD, in my case, for the last 25 years.

I have a big interest in many types of music and a small collection of CD's would, IMHO, be rather narrow and limiting for my musical journey. I also listen to a lot more music daily than 1-2 hours, on average 5/6+ for me. If I had just listened to a collection of 400 albums for the last 25 years based on my daily listening, I would have played each album 135 times now. Value for money, but rather musically limiting, all IMHO.

I won't get rid of albums that I used to like but now no longer listen to as they were part of my musical journey and I like, every now and then to look back and have the occasional nostalgic listen.

CDs - approx 650-700
Vinyl - more than 600 (that was a suprise when I tried counting! )
Cassettes (home & pre-records) - 200+

steve (small time...)

CDs - 333 albums containing 448 discs. (CD Collection).

Approx just over 5000 catalogued and about another 1000 in boxes. I also have 3TB of music on HDD as I don't have room for many more cd's.

It's a library. I've been buying for nearly 40 years, so it all mounts up.

And during those 40 years my tastes have changed backwards and forwards, so something I bought in the early 70s I may not have played in the 80s but love again now.

Even if I play something once in a few years, the fact that it's there to play when I want to listen to it is what counts.

Re. the number of CDs: for me there's definitely an element of ownership, otherwise I would never be able to account for my collection, even though that is relatively modest compared to some folks' library here.

With two young boys around the house and the chores that are part and parcel of a two-career household, I'm lucky if I can play an album or two in the evening. And then there's all the other fun stuff demanding time and attention.

Regards,

EJ

About 7 years back I counted over 16,000 LPs in my collection. They lined the walls of two floors in a converted barn.

Then I got divorced. Things are much more manageable now, although the thought of a house move still brings me out in a cold sweat.

Not as many as I guessed. Maybe the last clearout was a little more savage than I thought !!

1056 CD's to be precise.

Cheers
Flettster

In my case 1600 cds
of which:
600 jazz
600 classical
200 indie rock/pop
100 world/french
100 triphop/electronica/hiphop

The ratio of music to hifi spending is still close to my self imposed golden ratio of 2.5:1. Many jazz and classical cds were bought in box sets.

2010 was a strong jazz year, 2011 is shaping up to see a return to classical listening. In many cases the rock/pop idiom just doesn't cut it musically these days, so that is withering on the vine somewhat.

My last clear out has left me with about 700 CDs.

Joe

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Dane:
About 7 years back I counted over 16,000 LPs in my collection. They lined the walls of two floors in a converted barn.

Then I got divorced. Things are much more manageable now, although the thought of a house move still brings me out in a cold sweat.

Richard, that must have been some collection. How many did you hold onto to still have cold sweats about moving?

quote:

Originally posted by Develyn:

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:
I can't count that high but I guess round 9000 CDs.

To put that in perspective. Purchasing one CD per day, it would take almost 25 years to reach this amount. Amazing.

Darn, since the CD is now 28 years old, I must have taken a few days off.

quote:

Originally posted by Briz Vegas:

What I don't get with these really big collections is that it would take you 2 years at 12 hours a day just to listen to them all. Surely having so many albums serves no purpose other than to collect them and look at them.

It would be interesting to know how much listening goes on with these really big collections.

I would probably average 1 to 2 hours a day, not including a hour of radio, so thats over 6 months to listen to everything.

When I am working I can easily listen to music for 12 hours a day, and if I am up against a deadline, 24 hours a day. It keeps me going. It might also explain my love of ambient music, and some areas of electronic music.

When I was single, I always had music on in the house, so probably 4-5hours listening at home, of which one hour would probably be dedicated listening, without distractions. Less now that I living with my partner, and less so during The Ashes and NFL seasons.

I do not throw away albums I don't like, although some are given to others who do like them. I found that I had got rid of some albums which I bought again later, or sometimes it is good to prove to yourself that even though you hum that tune, when you hear to full piece it really has nothing to offer other than a few catchy bars.

I do also try to hear new music, and my way of doing that is to buy albums recommended to me. I hardly listen to the radio, as I haven't ever found a station that cover my tastes, or at least my taste at the time.

I suspect that a lot of those who have large collections have complete or near complete collections of quite a few artists, and an artist who has a career of around 20 years is not going to do 20 great albums. Some you buy out of loyalty or completion's sake, some because they were good live, some have one great track among a lot of padding, however some bands do half a dozen great albums that get played over and over and without buying several albums by a band you may miss your favourites.

There are also some albums that are bought not because I want to hear then right now, but because if I don't get them now, I might not be able to get them later, and I think that I will like them later.

Collecting bootlegs is slightly different, since they are not definite statements by the band, but just another night's playing, then only one in ten is a regular listen. That said there are some that are among my favourite recordings. Some sit there just so that you can listen to a new performance by a band, rather like going to a gig. Collecting bootlegs is very addictive as well, especially as they are almost all free (Dime, etc. and the politics of collecting bootlegs gets very picky).

There are days when I don't like any of the albums I own, and days when I play ten albums, or performances by a band, but they are there when I want to hear them.

@ 3,000 LP's.
@ 1,500 CD's.
@ 750 Cassette tapes.
@ 5 45's from my now distant youth.

I think the age of the collector is a factor that Adrian nicely alludes to. I am 51 and have been collecting the music I love since I was 10 when my parents gave me the Beatles records on LP one Christmas. And yes, I do have most of Van Morrison's records, as well as nearly complete collections for Bob Dylan, the Dead, Richard Thompson, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Little Feat, Emmylou Harris, Paul Simon and a few others who I always want to hear the next record from.

Many of my favorite jazz artists I have tons of albums by like Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan, Keith Jarrett, but it is far more difficult to have everything for jazz players unless you are really a completist. (You know who you are...)

Best to enjoy what you do have, and not fall into the trap of constant craving to misquote KD Lang.

Good listening,

Bruce

Approx - 300 CDs

450 LPs

Chris N

300+ CD's
And that's going up each year, but not by a steady number

Approx 1,900 CDs
Approx 2,100 LPs

I have been collecting since the early 70's.