Downsizing your music collection

Hardly at all - though I have roughly less than half your collection. I regularly go through the shelves, asking myself what I haven't listened to for a while and whether I could do without it. If I find something to shortlist for the charity shop, I'll give it one more listen and usually find I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  So it stays.

I'm getting close to needing to buy another CD rack at the moment, and Mrs Ebor regularly despairs of the reinforced brown envelopes hitting the doormat, pointing out that space is at a bit of a premium in our current dwelling. This combines to mean that I have good reason for wanting to get rid of stuff, but simply find I can't. Everything I've got I've either listened to recently or will do soon.

The idea of listening to my whole collection, which you mention, has occurred to me recently. With over an hour commuting in the car each day, plus time in the evenings a couple of nights a week, I could get through quite a bit. I was even thinking of starting a thread in the style of What are you listening to... and giving a short review of each album as it plays. However, I would have to either self-edit or admit to every single CD in my collection, a few of which are guilty pleasures that I'm not sure I would be happy to admit to.

Mark

A problem with trying to downsize seems to me to be that at one point you probably bought the album in question for the music or maybe a track.

So you don't play it often/ever but what if you cull it and one day you suddenly get the urge for that album or tune?

Bearing in mind it's illegal to have a copy of the music with out a hard copy or download receipt, so you can't store the music on a hard drive and the physical medium in the garage or loft. 

You've lost me on this one BigH47.

Why can't you store music on a hard drive & the album in the garage or loft??

That's what I do with a large percentage of my CD's now that they're ripped to my HDX.

Hi

I am doing exactly what your are thinking at present. I have about 800 cd's and similar vinyl so I took a logical approach as stated below.

CD's 

Quickly go through them and remove any that you obviously don't like.

Then go through them again and remove those that you don't play for any other reason

Then gradually work through them playing track 1 then one from the middle and one at the end this allows you to reduce time to play them all by about 75%

Pull all cd's on a spread sheet as you play them so you know which you have listened to

Vinyl

Quickly go through them and remove any that you obviously don't like.

Then go through them again and remove those that look in suspect condition

Then gradually work through them playing the first 1 minute of track 1 which will give a good indication of vinyl condition and should reduce your collection considerably mine by about 25%

Then sit back and play them

Pull all vinyl on a spread sheet as you play them so you know which you have listened to

Those removed because of suspect vinyl condition can be cleaned and retested unless damaged is obvious

I actually cleaned all my vinyl before I stared the listening section

This method reduces the time required, its also quite interesting

Hope this helps

Downsizing - I often think about doing it especially as I run into monthly talks with myself on how to organize this growing mammoth mess and where to put everything.  Mostly I change the subject by ultimately channelling some anger towards recordings of more than one composer.  I never know how to file these and can never find them afterward.

A sane person would not have been in a position to be overwhelmed in the first place so now that this is confirmed the outcome is obvious.  The music stays - other things of lesser value will get the boot instead to keep making room.  If I truly ask the question in theory what really matters to me I have this whittled down to a handful of hobbies and activities I could not live without.  Music and listening to music is a meaningful way that I spend time and I enjoy this activity.  I cannot do this with only a few recordings.  I would never grow or continue to grow.

There are many reasons for me but the older a recording gets for me relative to the length of time I have owned it somehow makes that recording more special.  Possibly, it is like respect for ones elders.  It is also a record of my past and dots my memories and history.

In the end, I have no problem acknowledging that I am happy to be old school about this.  I like physical media and books in my library and value the time I spend with these greatly.  Having everything on a USB drive or i-Pod in my pocket in this digital age doesn't interest me as I prefer the tactile and visual experience as much as I do the aural sensation.

Re-reading Haim's question though has made me think again.  Sure, I have a lot a music and it is likely that a large portion of it I realistically will never have time to listen to ever again and another large portion I have and probably never even listened to once.  It is too hard for me to answer though how to reduce anything.  What's done is done and I accept it.

The downsizing of all my recordings will take care of itself and occur shortly after they lower me in a grand piano shaped wooden box six feet down a hole and throw dirt over it.

I have never really had to consider downsizing, as I am continual deleter of rarely listened to recordings. 

I give the original CD away to a friend who will certainly get some pleasure out of it. And delete it from iTunes. 

There are certain things that I would add to my library in iTunes, such as the Trios of Haydn and the Cantatats of Bach. I have most of the String Quartets of Haydn, and the only way to complete the cycle now would be to buy the complete set. I love the Tattrai Quartet recordings, but the integral album is fiendishly expressive.

But mostly if a mainstream recording is added, then out goes a lesser recording of the same music. That way I can see that my 550 CDs in iTunes is never going to expand past 650 CDs transferred. Roughly speaking in any case.

ATB from George

I'm having space issues with the number of new LPs I buy. I've been meaning to have a filter through the collection. I'm with Howard in that there is usually a reason for buying the LP in the first place, but there are certainly some that I've bought and have been disappointed with. Plus I have quite a few duplicates. Some friends will be the main beneficiaries.

What are you on about

That should have read Bearing in mind that is ilegal to have the music without a hard copy or D/L receipt so WHY can't you store music on a hard drive and the physical medium in a garage or loft?

SORRY for that Late night error.

Raider thanks for being so polite!

Hope you're keeping well BigH47?

i thought it was a typo, but you had me worried for a moment. I thought I was going to have to scramble around in the loft recovering all my CD's and buy new storage in the living room for them! 

I dealt with clutter when I started ripping my music collection to FLAC five years ago.

I then proceeded to sell or give away all my CDs.

Now when I buy a CD I rip it and immediately give it away to a friend.

My whole collection of 1600 CDs fits on a 500GB drive the size of a candy bar.

The only issue is that once you get rid of the cd, you no longer own the music and it's an infringement of copyright.

Actually I've become too lazy to sell my CDs in second hand stores and I don't see a moral issue with giving away something I paid for - whether it be a CD or an old pair of sneakers.

On the other hand there are many albums that I once bought in vinyl which were worn out and no longer useable. Does that mean that technically I own the copyright and could download them illegally without infringing? I also download a lot from HDTracks etc. I often delete any proof of purchase from my emails which could also technically be an infringement. If I backup my collection on a second HD is that illegal?

In any case, compared to a lot of people who download MP3s illegally and despite my modest income, I consider I contribute in a big way to the music industry's bank account.

I'm usually pretty good at getting rid of "stuff". But one thing I find it almost impossible to do is get rid of books and records (or CDs). I know I should be doing it - I have seven different versions of New Order's "Movement" LP, for example, and I only really need one - but my efforts to downsize have been healfhearted and quickly abandoned.

I've tried very hard today to do just that and it's proved very difficult. I've 'culled' only 15 LPs out of about 2000.  

I've negated the need to downsize by ripping the lot to a NAS drive. 

In a roundabout way perhaps I have downsized because the NAS takes up the area the size of a portly brick while the CD's reside in boxes in the cupboard.

My entire collection is a fingertip away via the N-Stream app.

When we moved to this house in 2001 I said my intention was to upgrade to a reference level hi-fi but at the same time consolidate on digital.  Mrs Strat advised against - many of the lps are hers - so now we are left with a colossal collection of records and CDs. Sometimes I buy a CD and give it away if I don't like it - very rare though.

I have vinyl, CDs(which I am slowly trying to rip), cassettes and a few R2Rs. Some are duplicates, different pressings, etc...I just cannot seem to be able to dispose of them. Call me sentimental....or maybe just sad!

My solution to this problem:

Buy CD.

Rip CD to NAS.

Remove CD and any booklet from jewel case and place in plastic wallet

Place suitably thinned down CD into small/handy storage box along with my 750 or so other CDs

Chuck empty jewel case into box in the attic along with 750 or so other empty jewel cases

Job done and no worries about downsizing

All CDs are still available as useful back up

Cheers 

With 2500 LPs and a growing digital library I do think about pruning. But one thing stops me. Nearly every album purchase is a marker in time: not exactly musical memories, but certainly a time line of sorts. I have the same relationship with books: they map my thoughts and learning like a content list or catalogue of my haphazard intellect.  You may know a man's mind by the books [LPs] he keeps.

I don't subscribe to the listening to each LP in turn, though. I can't think of anything more likely to kill a love of music. My collection is truly ecletic: I have music to suit every mood from Mozart to Motorhead. To play each LP slavishly in turn would ruin the fun, kill spontaneity, and slowly squeeze the energy out of any emotional interplay between my soul and music. Random access for me  (but not random tracks!).

I just sell off 10%-20% of my collection every year.

Do you replenish or are you aiming to lose your collection in the next 5 to 10 years?

I think I must be a hoarder - it all stays, perhaps I'll end up on one of those TV shows climbing through small gaps towards the ceiling as I negotiate my way to the LP12!! Just have enough room to slip those 600s in between the stacks of Vinyl and CDs.