Do you have too many CDs?

[George]

Harry, I should've had a bet on with the local bookmaker that you'd be the first to respond. And to do so in the way you have.

There isn't a bookmaker in the world who would have taken your bet, Mark. 

[George]

Do you have too many CDs?

I don't know.

Can you ever hope to appreciate them all in the years you have left to live?

Fully? Probably not.

Would you not get more (or at least, as much) enjoyment from owning and playing fewer discs?

No.

Can you envisage a future where a substantial amount of your home's storage space is given over to your CD collection, and does such a prospect worry or excite you?

To be honest, I try to stay out of the future (or the past for that matter). There's nothing but trouble there.

The works change according to our tastes, naturally, but the sickness is the same for us all. Or is it?

Lets be honest here, too many CDs for you may be just enough for me. Therefore, I don't believe that it is the same for all. Is having too many CDs a sickness? At best it is merely the symptom of another problem. I think the sickness is the behavior that leads one to have too many CDs, behavior that one has little or no control over. Maybe what you are concerned about Mark is the compulsive buying of CDs, not simply having too many? 

Great thread, BTW! 

[rubio]

Not too many CD's, but too small apartment! 

[beclemund]

Over a decade ago, I was moving from one apartment to another (as a college student). I thought it would be wise to cull my CD collection which at that point was nearing more than two thousand. I used a very hard 6 month rule. If I hadn't listened to a CD within the last 6 months, I sold it to a reseller. My collection, quite predictably, shrunk to less than 200 CDs...

Now that I am a home owner with greater space, not a moment goes by that I don't regret that poorly conceived idea. My CD collection approaches that same 2000 disc level (give or take a few hundred) and while I haven't yet started repurchasing those items I've sold off, I could have been a little less heavy-handed in the culling. Many of the items I rid myself of are long out of print or rare oddities. Sometimes I find myself thinking of a tune and I try to remember on which disc it was recorded only to surmise that probably, it met it's fate on the great culling of '94... 

Do I have too many CDs now? My wife would say yes, but me, I still want more. Can I still enjoy them? Sure, but I generally listen to a CD many times after first buying it and do not revisit unless inspired by some new purchase. I hadn't listened to Jochum's Bruckner cycle for several years... It would have been cut in my culling had I owned it back then, but with some recent purchases, I've gone back to it just a week ago. That happens more often than it doesn't happen. I also spend a good deal of time investigating purchases these days. Gone are the days that I just impulsively added CDs to my collection. I check with reviews, I ask others, I borrow from the library and when not available at a library, I try to listen to a disc at a local store or sample individual tracks from a label's web sites to get an idea of the performance. So each and every disc I own now is usually very meaningful to me.

[Bonehelm]

Darn, I feel jealous looking at all your giant collections...I have CDs in the two-digits...

[johnshade]

.
Do I have too many CDs? Yes, but they give me untold hours of pleasure and a great selection. Even with "too many" I still buy about two must-haves per month.

[Steve]

Too many CDs!

As long as there is still room in my house/dorm, I will never have enough!

[orbital]

Probably not.
What is more frightening is that there is not a single CD out there that I have my eyes on. If I hear about something interesting I might get it, but other than that I go to a store or browse online, but nothing excites me 

I think it is high time I broadened my musical taste

[PerfectWagnerite]

Probably not.
What is more frightening is that there is not a single CD out there that I have my eyes on. If I hear about something interesting I might get it, but other than that I go to a store or browse online, but nothing excites me 

I think it is high time I broadened my musical taste

Ah, CD fatique. This ought to cure it:

[George]

Darn, I feel jealous looking at all your giant collections...I have CDs in the two-digits...

Yes, but if IRC, three of them are Borodin's Shostakovich. 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Nope.

While I have a fairly extensive collection, approx. 1500 cds, only about 1/3 of them are 'classical'. I've really only started diving into the classical music ocean over the past few years, although I've had several classical music phases during my life, so theres ALOT of music out there for me to explore. I'm loving the journey thus far.

But, its a good question Mark; how many is too many?

I can't put a number on it because my musical journey is an ongoing life experience so I'll just keep on buying new music to discover. I've always been a discerning music buyer, doing my research first before making a purchase, and I think the internet is a wonderful tool for that. For me the research is a big part of the fun!

But, like you, I've been updating some old performances for newer, better versions

[George]

But, its a good question Mark; how many is too many?

It changes, but one thing stays constant. It's always about 25 more than I currently have. 

[Mozart]

Can man have enough of anything?

[Valentino]

Came to think of it: If you feel like you have too many CDs, buy a turntable and start collecting LPs, or maybe download the entire Linn catalogue in hi-rez. Problem solved!

[vandermolen]

Yes, I have too many CDs (see my entries under multiple recordings)

It is an obsessive compulsive disorder 

[Christo]

No - but I happen to be the only person in my household to hold that opinion.

[Guido]

I now happen to think that once you have a special recording, a favourite, that nothing will really replace it.

Amen to that... Hugh in Finzi's Cello Concerto.

This makes me happy.

[Mark]

Amen to that... Hugh in Finzi's Cello Concerto.


This makes me happy.

Wallfisch on Chandos is passionless by comparison, IMO.

[marvinbrown]

  Do I have too many cds?

  I am beginning to suspect that I have too many operas (50+ and rising every week).  My sister says I have a problem, that I am in denial, that owning every Wagner opera (on cd and soon on DVD)  and  every other Verdi opera (both on cd and soon on DVD), most of Puccini's operas (on cd and soon on DVD), a substantial amount of R. Strauss' operas (on cd and soon on DVD)  is bordering on Obsessive Complusive Hoarding, and that I should start other hobbies like reading books (when I responded that I read opera libretti she said that her case had been proven- "case and point" were her exact words).   

  P.S.: Incidentilly anybody here know of a good recording of Wagner's Meistersingers von Nurnberg on DVD (that one is still missing from my collection  )

  marvin

[George]

No - but I happen to be the only person in my household to hold that opinion.

Reminds me of a joke by one of very favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg:

"I don't have a girlfriend, but I know a woman who'd be mad at me for saying that."