No CDs for a year

[Mark]

For the past couple of days, I've been staring at my mounting pile of unlistened-to CDs (now at 200+), and also at my overall collection, and I've been asking myself, 'Do I really need any new CDs just now?'

The answer is no.

This weekend, I shall have to spend £150 on new CD storage - partly because I need more space, and partly for toddler-proofing purposes (yes, I'm thinking ahead ). And having bought and assembled the units and re-catalogued my discs, I'll be faced with the reality that I have too much music. Or at least, too much for the dwindling space available in my home, and too many CDs that I'll just never get to hear if I keep buying more.

So, I'm setting myself a challenge. I will not buy any CDs from January 1st to December 31st 2008.

Already, I'm quaking at the thought of what I'll have to do to meet this challenge ... namely, not hit 'Purchase' in Amazon, MDT, eBay, et al.


Every challenge needs ground rules, and these will be mine:

1) I can add as many items as I please to my various wishlists
2) I can continue to download music, but only from eMusic, with whom I have a long-standing monthly subscription
3) I am allowed to buy any BBC Music magazine back issue cover CD that I come across, as I'm very close to completing the entire series to date.
4) I am allowed to make an impulse purchase in a charity shop ONLY if the item is as rare as rocking-horse shit.

There will be penalties, too:

1) If I buy any disc not covered by the exemptions above, I must fine myself £2 per CD and put this money into my daughter's savings account
2) If I go mad and have a whopping spend-up in a moment of utter weakness, I must buy my wife shoes ... lots of shoes

So, one of two things will have happened by the end of next year. Either I will have discovered (and rediscovered) many musical gems in my collection, and end the year feeling smugly satisfied at having beaten what I secretly suspect might be becoming an addiction; or, my daughter's college fees will be paid, and my wife will have to change her name to Imelda Marcos.

It's going to be an interesting year. Please, try not to tempt me.

[Don]

For the past couple of days, I've been staring at my mounting pile of unlistened-to CDs (now at 200+), and also at my overall collection, and I've been asking myself, 'Do I really need any new CDs just now?'

The answer is no.

This weekend, I shall have to spend £150 on new CD storage - partly because I need more space, and partly for toddler-proofing purposes (yes, I'm thinking ahead ). And having bought and assembled the units and re-catalogued my discs, I'll be faced with the reality that I have too much music. Or at least, too much for the dwindling space available in my home, and too many CDs that I'll just never get to hear if I keep buying more.

So, I'm setting myself a challenge. I will not buy any CDs from January 1st to December 31st 2008.

Already, I'm quaking at the thought of what I'll have to do to meet this challenge ... namely, not hit 'Purchase' in Amazon, MDT, eBay, et al.


Every challenge needs ground rules, and these will be mine:

1) I can add as many items as I please to my various wishlists
2) I can continue to download music, but only from eMusic, with whom I have a long-standing monthly subscription
3) I am allowed to buy any BBC Music magazine back issue cover CD that I come across, as I'm very close to completing the entire series to date.
4) I am allowed to make an impulse purchase in a charity shop ONLY if the item is as rare as rocking-horse shit.

There will be penalties, too:

1) If I buy any disc not covered by the exemptions above, I must fine myself £2 per CD and put this money into my daughter's savings account
2) If I go mad and have a whopping spend-up in a moment of utter weakness, I must buy my wife shoes ... lots of shoes

So, one of two things will have happened by the end of next year. Either I will have discovered (and rediscovered) many musical gems in my collection, and end the year feeling smugly satisfied at having beaten what I secretly suspect might be becoming an addiction; or, my daughter's college fees will be paid, and my wife will have to change her name to Imelda Marcos.

It's going to be an interesting year. Please, try not to tempt me.

Sounds like you're going to have the year from Hell.  My advice is not to be so extreme; just cut down and only acquire the most appealing recordings.  Moderation is the gateway to Heaven.

[Mark]

Sounds like you're going to have the year from Hell.  My advice is not to be so extreme; just cut down and only acquire the most appealing recordings.  Moderation is the gateway to Heaven.

Thanks, Don. Here's hoping the most appealing recordings can be had on eMusic.

[bhodges]

Here are enough FREE concerts to last you for quite awhile, and you can either listen on the spot or download for later.  (I won't comment on your admirable pursuit, other than to say that I think I agree with Don: moderation could work just fine.  )

The latest, right on the front page, is the Rattle/Berlin Philharmonic concert that I heard just ten days ago at Carnegie Hall, and it's excellent.  There are dozens of others. 

http://symphonycast.publicradio.org/

--Bruce

[Brian]

Wow. You are a brave, brave man. 

It'll be tough. Strategy: buy lots of discs before January 1, of course, and then take all the unlistened-to CDs and unopened CDs and new ones you buy before Jan 1, and hide them. Listen to all the old stuff you haven't heard in a while, then say once a month bring out a few new things. Honestly that sounds like purgatory though!

I once went two whole weeks listening only to composers whose names began with S (Sibelius, Smetana, Shostakovich, Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Sarasate, Salieri and Severac). Supposing you succeed with a similar stunt? 26 letters in the alphabet ... 52 weeks in the year!

Good luck sir. And with the money you (might) save ... either you or your daughter will have a prosperous future!

EDIT: Oh wow, Bruce's link is jaw-dropping. Not that I am lacking in new music to listen to!!   

[Mark]

Bruce, Brian, thank you both.

And of course, there's always our very own Broadcast Thread.

[karlhenning]

Whenever you think you want to shop for a new disc, open one on your substantial already-bought pile.  Make it a positive pile-reduction strategy 

[Mark]

Whenever you think you want to shop for a new disc, open one on your substantial already-bought pile.  Make it a positive pile-reduction strategy 

Good strategy, one I'll be sure to adopt.

And let's not forget, I get 100 downloads every month. This month, that amounted to 16 new albums. I'll scarcely be suffering.

[Brian]

And of course, there's always our very own Broadcast Thread.

Some of the early links are broken  like the Dobrzynski Piano Concerto, Karlowicz tone poems, and Paderewski. Last weekend I trawled through the whole thread for new stuff.  Can't wait to put on the Rostropovich Dvorak Cello Concerto.

[Mark]

Can't wait to put on the Rostropovich Dvorak Cello Concerto.

THAT'S up there? Which post number?

[Brian]

THAT'S up there? Which post number?

link
Live performances from 1969 (Szell/Cleveland - the one I grabbed) and 1999 (Masur/New York).

[Mark]

link
Live performances from 1969 (Szell/Cleveland - the one I grabbed) and 1999 (Masur/New York).

Good man. I'm on it.

[Great Gable]

It beats me how you can have so many unlistened-to CDs. The most I have ever accumulated was about 15 - and that's buying at a rate of 22-25 a month for the last 15 years. Mind you, I have got around 600 DVDs I have not watched yet but, to be fair, they take far longer to get through.

[Mark]

It beats me how you can have so many unlistened-to CDs. The most I have ever accumulated was about 15 - and that's buying at a rate of 22-25 a month for the last 15 years. Mind you, I have got around 600 DVDs I have not watched yet but, to be fair, they take far longer to get through.

Much of this back log is the result of boxed sets. But even discounting those ... hell, I've miscalculated. Make that nearer 300+ unheard CDs.

This buying break can't come soon enough.

[marvinbrown]

Sounds like you're going to have the year from Hell.  My advice is not to be so extreme; just cut down and only acquire the most appealing recordings.  Moderation is the gateway to Heaven.

 Mark, my dear friend, I must agree wholeheartedly with Don.  Moderation is the gateway to Heaven, and in the words of Aristotle (Moderation is the GOLDEN MEAN).  If you go on this extreme- and Don is 100% right here- "fast" you are going to have the year from Hell. There is nothing worst than depriving yourself of something that gives you so much pleasure (unless you are short on funds).   Which brings me to the issue of e-music. You say that you will continue to subscribe to e-music- I have been thinking of joining e-music also because ripping CDs is becoming a pain in the neck, so my question to you now is:  what is it that e-music is lacking that is causing you to continue to buy CDs?  Do they not stock in their catalogue those "definitive", or "must have" recordings?  

marvin

   

[Mark]

 Mark, my dear friend, I must agree wholeheartedly with Don.  Moderation is the gateway to Heaven, and in the words of Aristotle (Moderation is the GOLDEN MEAN).  If you go on this extreme- and Don is 100% right here- "fast" you are going to have the year from Hell. There is nothing worst than depriving yourself of something that gives you so much pleasure (unless you are short on funds).   Which brings me to the issue of e-music. You say that you will continue to subscribe to e-music- I have been thinking of joining e-music also because ripping CDs is becoming a pain in the neck, so my question to you now is:  what is it that e-music is lacking that is causing you to continue to buy CDs?  Do they not stock in their catalogue those "definitive", or "must have" recordings?  

marvin

   

Thanks for your thoughts, Marvin. I'm a guy who likes to try out extremes - I've always been pretty all or nothing. I once won a bet that I could go without alcohol for a month ... by laying off it for 15 months.

As to eMusic, there's only one aspect that may be a drawback for some: you can't download music from Universal (DG, Philips, Decca, etc), Warner (Erato, Teldec, etc), EMI, Sony BMG or RCA. However, with DG's and EMI's recent move to end DRM on their downloads, it'll only be a matter of time before they join the fold - eMusic is the biggest seller of downloads after iTunes Music Store.

The labels which are available include: Naxos, Naive, Harmonia Mundi, Avie, Atma Classique, Coro, Nimbus, BIS, DaCapo, Marco Polo, Channel Classics, Zig Zag Territories and Ondine (amongst others) - though not Chandos, who have their own download store (which is very good), or Hyperion ... yet. With so much great music appearing on these independents, there's a big enough choice for me.

[gmstudio]

Here are enough FREE concerts to last you for quite awhile, and you can either listen on the spot or download for later.  (I won't comment on your admirable pursuit, other than to say that I think I agree with Don: moderation could work just fine.  )


--Bruce

I may be daft, but how does one download for later?  I seem to be only able to get the streaming version...

[Maciek]

Some of the early links are broken  like the Dobrzynski Piano Concerto, Karlowicz tone poems, and Paderewski.

They expired (nobody downloaded them for a very long time - sometimes I wonder if anyone downloaded them at all - well, I know of one person ). I only noticed that a couple of days ago - I've removed the misleading links. Let me know if anything specific you'd like is gone though - I can always re-upload on mediafire. So far, they've no expiration periods over there...

I'll be rooting for you, Mark. After the first two months - I think you'll manage quite easily. If I may suggest anything - I don't mean to be too strict but I think this point seems too much of a loophole:

4) I am allowed to make an impulse purchase in a charity shop ONLY if the item is as rare as rocking-horse shit.[/b]

I'm saying this based on my own "withdrawal" experiences. Wait a couple of weeks and you'll be able to convince yourself that a disc released a month or two months earlier is a rare find...

[Maciek]

Another thought after reading your last post (which I skipped previously 0:)): I think all that will happen is that you will completely switch over to downloading (for ever)...

[Mark]

Wait a couple of weeks and you'll be able to convince yourself that a disc released a month or two months earlier is a rare find...

I'm thinking of stuff like the elusive Melodiya Sveshnikov Rachmaninov All-night Vigil release that I've been after for ages. If THAT turns up amongst the old P-Diddy CD singles in some forgotten corner of a charity shop, the rules can go hang.

Another thought after reading your last post (which I skipped previously 0:)): I think all that will happen is that you will completely switch over to downloading (for ever)...

For reasons of space, not a bad plan.