Capping your collection?

[amw]

My library contains 4802 "albums", which are either individual cds or multiple-cd sets grouped together.

It now contains more than that. 11,556 albums totalling 3.57 TB, or 637.7 days of music if listened to straight through. Plus a backlog of 335.02 GB, some of which I should acknowledge to myself that I'm never going to add to my collection, and delete.

That said, while there are a handful of already-released albums I'm still looking for, mostly what I'm still keeping an eye open for is new releases. I'm not sure if that means I'm "done" collecting music, but I think I have collected almost everything that I want that's readily available. I expect to add much less in 2021.

I spent my childhood with cassettes and LPs, and then my adolescence with LimeWire and Napster, so I guess I skipped entirely over the compact disc phase of most people's lives; but I've also always relied a great deal on libraries, since digital piracy didn't become a really big thing for classical music until the last five years or so. I've never had a real job, nor any significant amount of money, nor the space for shelves of CDs or LPs; if I had to restrict myself to buying CDs I'd be able to afford about one per month (which I do still buy, most years, although not 2020). There is no justification for what I've done and I don't really have the energy to come up with one.

[Jo498]

I was the guy who (for pop music at least) used to go and use the headphones in the music shop to hear something I was interested in... and then usually go away and think about it for a week. And when the old local classical music shop had its annual sale, I would be the guy who would collect a huge pile of CDs and then find a corner and spend the next 45 minutes gradually culling it down to the $200 worth I could justify to myself, using the Penguin Guide.

This sounds like me the few times or time periods I had access to good record stores. But this was only rarely the case and often during trips when it was clear that I could only get a handful or so of CDs. So even as a student in my early 20s I ordered a fair amount by mail. Before the times of the internet this was rather different. One of my favorite outlets had often great bargains but they were limited, so one basically had to order a bit more to justify the shipping costs and then hope that the important things that had been the reason for the order in the first place were included at all. And it could take 4 weeks or more for an order to arrive. The danger there was to order something mildly interesting only because it was cheap. Of course I got burned a few times and therefore exercised more restraint as time progressed but the lure of a bargain is still very strong for me.
Neither did I usually have access to good libraries, so I also had the idea of building a collection as a library, going for some things for the sake of completeness, even if I was not that interested in them. Again, in the 1990s and early 2000s streaming was not even an idea on the horizon for me.

Finally, I don't think I have a lot of junk on my shelves. Nowadays I cull stuff that is not bad at all, only superfluous and even then getting rid of around 2-5% of a collection around 5000 discs is not much (hardly saving much). For most things there was a pretty good justification at the time (if not necessarily in hindsight and total) and compared to many others here in the forum the numbers are not even excessive. The main purchases I do regret to some extent are a bunch of large boxes (again the lure of an incredibly bargain and completeness) such as the big pink Rubinstein brick but I stopped buying this kind of boxes about 7 years ago. OTOH such boxes usually take far less space per disc.

[Madiel]

The classical CD store here is long closed.

I now do my physical CD shopping on holidays in Europe... Dussmann in Berlin in 2017 was a revelation. 

[Que]

This is what I like sabot the new era of streaming services: it makes music accessible to everyone, even those with limited financial  means.

As to my collection, several developments occurred  over the years.
I have been collecting CD's for over 35 years. As my income went up and my musical horizon widened, the rate of expansion gathered pace. Particularly over the last 10-15 years....Which coincidentally coincides with my membership here. 

I have been culling CD's periodically, but conservatively. This has stopped a few years ago when the channels to sell 2nd hand Classical CD's disappeared . Still, thanks to culling my collection is a manageable size of - and I'm guessing here - of between 5.000 and to 6.000. But I want it to come down to make room for new and different stuff.

Where to go with all the rejects is my biggest dilemma! 
Selling individual items would mean taking another job, and a low paid one as well....
Though I might try to sell a few rare big ticket items on eBay.

Any advice on selling opportunities is welcome! 
And what about companies like reBuy or Momox-Medimops, who unfortunately sell but do not buy in the Netherlands?

Another development has been the advent of streaming services, which has changed my buying habits significantly.
When something interests me, I always try it streaming if available. This filters out a lot of the duds. Also, a lot of stuff is very nice to listen to once or twice, but doesn't warrant the purchase and storage of the physical recording. This has significantly  limited the influx of new CD's....

I'm still adjusting to this new situation,  and often have to pull myself back when there is another sale on jpc. 

Q

[Jo498]

The closest decent store to where I lived most of the time was Frankfurt/Main but this only justified about  one hour train ride and back a few times a year. Of course, in the first years as a teenager the local stores in town were mostly enough for my needs and I couldn't spend a lot anyway.
My CD shopping paradise was when I spent one year at the University of Washington, Seattle in 1995/96. Tower records were still pretty good then, the one basically across the street from Campus not that great (more catering to the grungey natives) but there was a large one (I think downtown, it had at the time a mural of that record cover (alice in chains) with the three-legged dog) a short bus ride away. Twice I was in Vancouver on day trips where CDs were even cheaper, I don't remember the name of the store. The 7th heaven was the Tower classical annex in San Francisco as late as 2004.
Dussmann came a bit too late for me. I used to visit Berlin about once or twice a year but my collection was already quite saturated the few times I went there (of course I bought a few discs, but not a dozen as I would probably have in a similar store around 2000)

[Mandryka]

This is what I like sabot the new era of streaming services: it makes music accessible to everyone, even those with limited financial  means

Streaming is a really major change if you're interested in contemporary music. Basically, there are no signposts, it's easy and cheap for a composer to get his music performed and uploaded on Spotify, at least if it's not orchestral. And so there's a huge amount of stuff available with absolutely no direction for the listener other than his curiosity.


And so you suddenly see what a commercial force the record companies and reviewers were in the past, the way they created canons and Toddy style top tiers and that sort of nonsense. All that commercial power has vanished.  Jolly good thing too, IMO.

[Madiel]

Streaming is a really major change if you're interested in contemporary music. Basically, there are no signposts, it's easy and cheap for a composer to get his music performed and uploaded on Spotify, at least if it's not orchestral. And so there's a huge amount of stuff available with absolutely no direction for the listener other than his curiosity.

Eh? Every streaming service I've ever encountered is chock full of signposts. Whether it's algorithms making suggestions to you, pre-curated playlists or highlighted albums, the notion that it's just a flat playing field doesn't remotely match my experience.

If you think that young composer is going to get their uploaded album advertised and offered up to listeners on Spotify in the same way as the latest Beyonce album, you're very much mistaken. You're going to see it only if you do a very particular kind of search or if you already know to look for it, or possibly if you've effectively taught an algorithm that obscure young modern composers is your thing.

Sure, publication is no longer the barrier. The barriers have just metamorphosed.

[Jo498]

Where to go with all the rejects is my biggest dilemma! 
Selling individual items would mean taking another job, and a low paid one as well....
Though I might try to sell a few rare big ticket items on eBay.

To me it seems the problem here is that ebay offers are so crowded that unless one has some standing (i.e. is already watched/saved by interested buyers) or pays extra for first page placement or whatever ebay offers, it is hard nowadays to attract enough bidders that the rare items yield good prices. I got 10 EUR for an item listed at 20 on the amazon marketplace and had sold for a whopping 50 at Ebay a week or two earlier. Apparently the person who lost the action did not keep looking for this and I got two bidders and sold at around 10 EUR which pissed me off quite a bit. But it has been worse for other things listed at 20-30 at amazon, they found no bidders at 9 EUR starting price at all...

Any advice on selling opportunities is welcome! 
And what about companies like reBuy or Momox-Medimops, who unfortunately sell but do not buy in the Netherlands?

I wonder why they do that. Probably shipping costs? I do by now almost all of my buying at those two second hand sellers but I only sold to them twice or so, around 10 years ago.
There is not much one can do, the stuff sells very slowly or not at all. Therefore restraint when buying is called for, or embrace a huge collection with a bit of junk...

[Brass Hole]

Streaming is a really major change if you're interested in contemporary music. Basically, there are no signposts, it's easy and cheap for a composer to get his music performed and uploaded on Spotify, at least if it's not orchestral. And so there's a huge amount of stuff available with absolutely no direction for the listener other than his curiosity.


And so you suddenly see what a commercial force the record companies and reviewers were in the past, the way they created canons and Toddy style top tiers and that sort of nonsense. All that commercial power has vanished.  Jolly good thing too, IMO.

In my experience and knowledge, the reality is 180° opposite to all your points here.

[Mandryka]

Eh? Every streaming service I've ever encountered is chock full of signposts. Whether it's algorithms making suggestions to you, pre-curated playlists or highlighted albums, the notion that it's just a flat playing field doesn't remotely match my experience.

This may be true -- but they're very easy to ignore for me at least.

If you think that young composer is going to get their uploaded album advertised and offered up to listeners on Spotify in the same way as the latest Beyonce album, you're very much mistaken. You're going to see it only if you do a very particular kind of search or if you already know to look for it, or possibly if you've effectively taught an algorithm that obscure young modern composers is your thing.

This is also true, and the searching is part of the fun for me.

[Mandryka]

In my experience and knowledge, the reality is 180° opposite to all your points here.

OK. Let's not let a little fact or two get in the way of a good argument.

[Que]

To me it seems the problem here is that ebay offers are so crowded that unless one has some standing (i.e. is already watched/saved by interested buyers) or pays extra for first page placement or whatever ebay offers, it is hard nowadays to attract enough bidders that the rare items yield good prices. I got 10 EUR for an item listed at 20 on the amazon marketplace and had sold for a whopping 50 at Ebay a week or two earlier. Apparently the person who lost the action did not keep looking for this and I got two bidders and sold at around 10 EUR which pissed me off quite a bit. But it has been worse for other things listed at 20-30 at amazon, they found no bidders at 9 EUR starting price at all...

Thanks for the heads up, but not encouraging... 

I wonder why they do that. Probably shipping costs? I do by now almost all of my buying at those two second hand sellers but I only sold to them twice or so, around 10 years ago.
There is not much one can do, the stuff sells very slowly or not at all. Therefore restraint when buying is called for, or embrace a huge collection with a bit of junk...

Probably shipping costs, yes.
My hope is that one would open a branch in the Netherlands. I would sell my overstock, even at a low price - can't bring myself to chuck it all in the bin...

In 20 years time Classical CD's will be highly sought after!!
I might live long enough to see that day, would be nice for my heirs. 

[Brass Hole]

OK. Let's not let a little fact or two get in the way of a good argument.

OK. I'll follow you again. 

[steve ridgway]

I haven't bought any more music since I gave up work in July, just download a few things free from archive.org when I fancy listening to something new.