I'm thinning the herd....drastically.

[jsaliga]

Well, I have reached the point of critical mass in my music buying and collecting and have come to a sobering conclusion: I am a music pack rat...and it isn't even funny.  I have stuff that I haven't listened to in many, many years.  I have stuff that I have never listened to and can't even remember why I bought it (probably because it was cheap)

So I made a pretty drastic decision this week.  I am completely dumping digital music.  Every last bit of it must go.  I started this week by selling off all of my Mosaic jazz boxed sets.  Eight of them are still available to bid on if anyone is interested, but the listings end in a couple of hours.  Sorry for not mentioning it here before listing it on eBay, but I just wanted to get this stuff listed and sold.  The sale brought in $4K so far...which was about $2K less than I was expecting.  But I really don't care.  It needs to go.

After all of the Mosaic sets have been shipped to their new owners I will be listing about 20 Mosaic Select 3-CD collections.  When they go I will be putting up all of my Mobile Fidelity and DCC Gold CDs.  When that is done I will sell off any CD boxed sets that have collector value.  That should leave me with nothing but single CDs.  I will take the single CDs (about 2,500 or so) to the local Salvation Army Thrift store and donate the entire lot so I can take a tax deduction.  I hope to have all of the digital music out of my house by the end of the year.

Next year a lot of vinyl is going to go.  Most of it will be stuff that I bought for 50 cents per LP in bulk buys and yard sales.  I doubt I will be listing any of that stuff on eBay, but I want to shrink my LP collection by 1,000 to 1,500 records sometime next year.  So I expect to take those LPs to the Salvation Army and donate them as well.

I am still buying vinyl.  But the records I buy are mostly 45 RPM vinyl reissues at a rate of one or two per month, and the occasional vintage jazz LPs.

--Jerome

[StereoNut]

You're a brave man, Jerome!

[jsaliga]

I had to do it Bill.  The amount of music I have is long past getting ridiculous.  

I am going to use this pruning as a opportunity to force myself to be a little more selective.  I don't need 18 different readings of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, but that is how many I have.  When I am done I will have my top three favorites and the rest will go.

If I have never listened to something then it cannot be important enough to keep and will be automatically earmarked for the donation pile.  If I haven't heard it in five or more years then I will need to think carefully about whether or not it is something I have to keep.

When all is said and done I want my vinyl collection reduced to about 3,000 LPs, fewer if possible.

--Jerome

[StereoNut]

OK, Jerome... how much will it cost $$$ me for the address of your local Salvation Army and the dates and time of day that you expect to make your drop offs??? 



You can PM me the info., so as to not tip off the others here on AN! 

Thanks!
Bill

[allenzachary]

Any chance you could donate to the folks down here in South Carolina?  We could use your help...and your digital music 

[tmazz]

If word gets out which Salvation Army location it it they are going to have to call out the SWAT team to put down the riot. It will be the audiophile equivalent of Black Friday at WalMart. 

[djdube525]

When all is said and one I want my vinyl collection reduced to about 3,000 LPs, fewer if possible.

  That's after thinning the herd?

Be sure to take before/after photos...

Dave

[BobM]

Tom - see it can be done. There is hope for you too some day in the future.

[tmazz]

Tom - see it can be done. There is hope for you too some day in the future.

Nah, not in my DNA

Hey, are you going to Infinity for Record Store Day?

[Inscrutable]

Very impressive Jerome. You are a much braver pack rat than am I. Presume you converted all your physical digital to server-based? Have you found it more liberating than with lingering regrets?

[jsaliga]

I ripped all of my digital media to FLAC over the years, but even the FLAC files and my DAC are going to get the boot.

If I want to listen to some music I will have to put on a LP, which is the way I listen to music 98% of the time anyway.

As much as I honestly believe it really is about the music and format is not the most important thing, the truth is that I would rather spin a record than listen to digital music.  I can't deny that this strong preference for vinyl shapes my listening patterns.

Moreover, a great deal of the music I have on CD I also have on vinyl, and this unsustainable duplication is a complete waste of resources.

So yes, it is very liberating.

--Jerome

[topround]

I gave away all my cd's to a friend. Vinyl has become my only source and I must agree with Jerome it does shape your listening priorities. I always thought of it as why listen to a copy when you can listen to the original!

Besides most of us have more music than we can seriously listen to in the rest of our lifetimes, so are we really limiting ourselves?

Only in our mind..............

[BobM]

Tom - see it can be done. There is hope for you too some day in the future.

Nah, not in my DNA

Hey, are you going to Infinity for Record Store Day?

I might be persuaded. First have to visit Guitar Center with my daughter. Give me a call on the cell when you get there.

[Response Audio]

Hey Jerome
You don't have to do it this way. Just do what I did, wait for a massive flood to come along and wipe out all your music in one messy swipe

Saves a lot of time having to go through it all

[DaveC]

Ummm, if you want to send that hard drive with all your FLAC rips somewhere, I'm LISTENING!