Your Purchasing-to-Listening Ratio: Is It Balanced?

[Florestan]

This is inspired by an ongoing discussion in the Hurwitz thread, but also a topic I've been pondering for quite a while, indecisively.

I often told myself that I should really stop getting any new CDs until I listened to all the ones I own and  have not listened to yet. I made an educated guess that it should keep me busy for a very long time. And just as often, I did not even begin to try doing it. For in order to be able to stick to it I should first and foremost stop browsing GMG, where new (to me) and interesting recordings pop up on every page --- and this is not an option, I have become addicted to this forum. So I keep getting new recordings at a rate far exceeding the listening one, a problem compounded by the fact that rarely do I listen to new recordings immediately after getting them, so the pile of as-yet-unlistened-to recordings decreases at an alarmingly slow pace. Besides, I've never been a disciplined listener and very rarely I could stick to a listening project; no sooner do I decide to spend a week on a single composer only, than a GMG post, or something I read in a book, or a last minute fancy changes my course and it all ends in complete anarchy.

To give you an example, I have yet to listen to 17 complete sets of Mozart's violin concertos and 13 complete sets of Mozart's piano sonatas. That's about 100 CDs. At a rate of 2 CDs a day (which is my usual rate) it would take me almost two months to get through all of them. Such examples could easily be multiplied to make for a full year worth of listening only to music by my Top 3 favorite composers, leaving aside all other music.

So I keep asking myself: is it really necessary that you get any of the new recordings you get? Could you not live happily thereafter without them? Of course I answer NO to the former and YES to the latter --- and the next day I go on getting new recordings. I guess it's become an addiction.

How about you? Do you have the same problem, or do you think it's even a problem at all? And if any of you have successfully curbed such behavior, some hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all in advance for your participation.

 

[AnotherSpin]

The problem, like other problems, is invented by the mind. I don't see a direct correlation between buying things and using them. I have things that I don't use at all, and yet I have them. I'm deliberately not talking about music only.

As for music, I stopped buying it years ago, streaming provides plenty of listening. Also, streaming saves me from having to decide the balance between what I want and what I need.

Do things belong to us, or do things own us?

[Todd]

I own about thirty recordings (discs and disc equivalents) that I have not yet listened to, and I'm working my way through them.  No hurry.  I listen to what I want, when I want, based on whim.  Listening to recordings is leisure activity.  I think it should be enjoyable at all times.  Different people may feel differently. 

Streaming has changed recorded music consumption - all for the better.  I can listen to entire recordings for no additional marginal cost, or for free, and try new things whenever and wherever.  No waiting for availability, no shipping time, etc.  Streaming also means that I almost never make dud purchases, or at least that I have not in two or three years.  Going forward, the only time I may buy a dud is when I import local market recordings that I cannot stream, mostly from Japan, but conceivably from France, or smaller markets like Austria.  My annual expenditure on recordings has fallen off a cliff in the past few years.  Fortunately, other luxury products beckon.

[San Antone]

Since the advent of streaming I have almost stopped buying new CDs/downloads, especially now that Hyperion has become available.  The only things I purchase recently are archival box sets, non-classical things from Smithsonian/Folkways.

My listening is entirely based on my mood at the moment.  But I start the day with my YouTube subscriptions, checking out new clips posted, mostly of new classical music written recently.

[71 dB]

This is inspired by an ongoing discussion in the Hurwitz thread, but also a topic I've been pondering for quite a while, indecisively.

I often told myself that I should really stop getting any new CDs until I listened to all the ones I own and  have not listened to yet. I made an educated guess that it should keep me busy for a very long time. And just as often, I did not even begin to try doing it. For in order to be able to stick to it I should first and foremost stop browsing GMG, where new (to me) and interesting recordings pop up on every page --- and this is not an option, I have become addicted to this forum. So I keep getting new recordings at a rate far exceeding the listening one, a problem compounded by the fact that rarely do I listen to new recordings immediately after getting them, so the pile of as-yet-unlistened-to recordings decreases at an alarmingly slow pace. Besides, I've never been a disciplined listener and very rarely I could stick to a listening project; no sooner do I decide to spend a week on a single composer only, than a GMG post, or something I read in a book, or a last minute fancy changes my course and it all ends in complete anarchy.

To give you an example, I have yet to listen to 17 complete sets of Mozart's violin concertos and 13 complete sets of Mozart's piano sonatas. That's about 100 CDs.

Jesus Christ!  I think I have never had more than a dozen unlistened CDs apart from some big boxsets obviously. At the moment I have no classical music waiting to be listened (but 6 CD worth of classical music, J.S. Bach and Haydn is arriving in the near future, so temporarily I will have that much to work through). On the non-classical music side I have four Tangerine Dream soundtracks unlistened.

At a rate of 2 CDs a day (which is my usual rate) it would take me almost two months to get through all of them. Such examples could easily be multiplied to make for a full year worth of listening only to music by my Top 3 favorite composers, leaving aside all other music.

Don't buy more new CDs this year. Just concentrate on those Mozart sets and other CDs you own.

So I keep asking myself: is it really necessary that you get any of the new recordings you get? Could you not live happily thereafter without them? Of course I answer NO to the former and YES to the latter --- and the next day I go on getting new recordings. I guess it's become an addiction.

Create yourself a somewhat strict buying budget. If one month goes under the budget, the next one can go over by the same amount. Say your budget is 100 euros per month. Try to stay under that every month, but if you "must" spend say 125 euros one month because of some awesome deals, try to balance it out next month staying under 75 euros. The whole year should stay below 1200 euros. That's one way to be more critical about purchases, because they eat up your budget. If you spend 250 euros one months, you are "forced" to buy very little for a few following months to balance the budget.

How about you? Do you have the same problem, or do you think it's even a problem at all? And if any of you have successfully curbed such behavior, some hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Another trick that helps me to control my impulses is to go through to my CD collection and be amazed of how much stuff I have I don't even remember owning I say to myself: Why bother ordering new CDs online when I can put this Krieger Love Songs & Arias or that B. Marcello Requiem CD in my player right now and listen to them like they arrived on the post today!

[DavidW]

The problem, like other problems, is invented by the mind. I don't see a direct correlation between buying things and using them. I have things that I don't use at all, and yet I have them. I'm deliberately not talking about music only.

As for music, I stopped buying it years ago, streaming provides plenty of listening. Also, streaming saves me from having to decide the balance between what I want and what I need.

Do things belong to us, or do things own us?

Agreed on all points.  It is a sunk cost fallacy.  Whether we listen to a cd every day, it just becomes part of the shelf or collects dust in the attic is beside the point because the money is already spent.

I mostly stream like you.  It opens the door wide to explore without paying a fortune and filling my house with cds!

[Karl Henning]

This is inspired by an ongoing discussion in the Hurwitz thread, but also a topic I've been pondering for quite a while, indecisively.

I often told myself that I should really stop getting any new CDs until I listened to all the ones I own and  have not listened to yet. I made an educated guess that it should keep me busy for a very long time. And just as often, I did not even begin to try doing it. For in order to be able to stick to it I should first and foremost stop browsing GMG, where new (to me) and interesting recordings pop up on every page --- and this is not an option, I have become addicted to this forum. So I keep getting new recordings at a rate far exceeding the listening one, a problem compounded by the fact that rarely do I listen to new recordings immediately after getting them, so the pile of as-yet-unlistened-to recordings decreases at an alarmingly slow pace. Besides, I've never been a disciplined listener and very rarely I could stick to a listening project; no sooner do I decide to spend a week on a single composer only, than a GMG post, or something I read in a book, or a last minute fancy changes my course and it all ends in complete anarchy.

To give you an example, I have yet to listen to 17 complete sets of Mozart's violin concertos and 13 complete sets of Mozart's piano sonatas. That's about 100 CDs. At a rate of 2 CDs a day (which is my usual rate) it would take me almost two months to get through all of them. Such examples could easily be multiplied to make for a full year worth of listening only to music by my Top 3 favorite composers, leaving aside all other music.

So I keep asking myself: is it really necessary that you get any of the new recordings you get? Could you not live happily thereafter without them? Of course I answer NO to the former and YES to the latter --- and the next day I go on getting new recordings. I guess it's become an addiction.

How about you? Do you have the same problem, or do you think it's even a problem at all? And if any of you have successfully curbed such behavior, some hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all in advance for your participation.

 

No, I haven't yet listened to all the recordings I've reeled in, although I've made good progress. Partly I think of the growing Library as a resource for ad libitum exploration, and I haven't necessarily chided myself for the recordings I have yet to systematically hear. My acquisition of CDs has been pared back significantly, which is more a question of physical space: When the Pražák Quartet Supraphon box appeared on Amazon at an attractive pre-order price, I immediately added it to my cart. I wound up deleting it, for even though I should very much enjoy the listening, I realized that was the point at which I should respect my spatial limits. Also, at some point I expect I should have to move, and I've enough "stuff" as is, to make that a chore (or, an expense, I suppose, as we shall need to engage movers.) Now and then, I do get in the mood to roll up my sleeves and listen to a box which I already own, the Rakhmaninov complete works box, e.g. I think that one of my next projects will be what I've not yet listened to in the Mitropoulos box, I was selective at first because I was expected to write a review.
Excellent topic!