How big is yours? Just how many cds DO you own?

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Ally (I think) mentioned that one of her coworkers has 8,000 CDs, which got me wondering two things...

How big is your collection (cds/records/tapes)?

And how many do you buy each week?

― Guy, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, to answer your first question, my penis is huge. I must tuck it in my sock. I own about 550-570 cds, I think. I buy probably one a week, as it averages out. But, I'm going to trade in about 30 cds soon. I know I'll only get 5 cds in exchange, but I don't care if I lose 25. Sometime you buy CDs and wear them out immediately. My curiosity gets the better of me often and I end up with stupid records like Residents "Third Reich & Roll" or King Krimson with the terrible painting of the big mouth on the cover. Recently, Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key of Life".

― , Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I had a co-worker who used to try to lure me into pissing contests to see who had the bigger collection, but as I'd always remind him (much to his fury), that it wasn't QUANTITY that mattered, but QUALITY! He may have had upwards of 3,000 discs, but nine tenths of them were unlistenable "Japanoise", free jazz, krautrock, and other arguably obscure estorerica. I have about 2,500, but I'm more embarassed by that number than anything else, as it's a howling testament to the fact that I take music-listening possibly a wee bit too seriously.

― alex in nyc, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmmm...I think I now have around 480 cds, 150 tapes and 50 singles...Most of which never get listened to anymore. I buy around 70-80 cds a year I think, I justify such crass expenditure by not smoking or drinking very often, and by walking everywhere if I can. If I bought an average of 75 cds per annum it would take me between 101 to 102 years to get 8,000 cds...

― james edmund L, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That should have been "esoterica," not "estoerica," which means nothing. Also, King Crimson's debut album is *NOT* a "stupid record."

― alex in nyc, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have about 300 CD's and 100 tapes. They are about 60/40 Classical/Pop. The Pop is mostly older.

― Joseph Wasko, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Okay, I'm supposed to be working really hard now but instead I'll count every single CD ALBUM I own *goes to CD collection* *comes back* Hang on i swear i had more than that! 205? Do things like free CDs count? Do double albums count as two? I didn't count any of those... I have tons and tons of albums on tape and minidisc, maybe more... i should really make a list, but i can't be arsed.

http://www.tefosav.co.uk

― dog latin, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

At last count, approximately 4500 CDs. The number likely has since grown. I seem to be at least a disc or two a week, but during buying binges this number increases. I've been known to buy, at odd occasions, upwards of fifty, sixty or so discs at a time.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

And Ned is not kidding: I have seen him buy 50. Keeping in mind my aforementioned "cheap bastard" status, I think the most I've ever bought at one time is about 10...and I thought I was being excessive!

Last time I counted, I had around 500. It's probably not much more now, since I haven't had time to buy much in the past couple of months.

― Nicole, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Personally - about 1800 across all formats and I have been buying fairly consistently between 1 and 5 albums a week for 20 years. I find if I buy more than 3 albums at a time I fear for my ability to listen to them properly.

I am amazed/impressed by Ned's binging confession - how on earth do you get to know 50 albums all bought together? Do you have mammoth listening binges as well?

― Guy, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was convinced for a long time that I had about 500. My wife bought me a CD rack that holds 750 and I was acutely embarassed when I filled the damn thing and had approximately 200 CDs left over.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I just get to them as I can, really. I'll say this much: writing for the AMG is a great way to get to reacquaint yourself with a lot of things.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have 12 records

― Marc, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

about 300 now on various formats. currently getting about one every two weeks.

― Kevin Enas, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I own ( & buy) very few CDs ('cause my record collection started in analogue form & pretty much continued that way despite whatever technical advances the rest of the world was making)...i don't buy as much of the other stuff as I used to, either, for various reasons (not much of a range of new stuff in the shops here...new rec's cost too much...etc etc) but I still manage to buy i guess at least 10 junk store singles p.w.
By the way (i guess i oughta start my own separate thread about this) what're the most frequently found thrift-store 45s in whatever part of the world you live in? anyone? (this is information that will affect future travel plans, should i ever decide to go overseas again)(so if you don't want me to come to your town & buy up all the cool stuff , you should say "Ranger's Waltz" by the Mom & Dads. [That's the most frequently found thrift-store 45 in NZ, I think] [actually I've never even heard it....maybe it's really great, i don't know])
Anyway sorry for changing the subj.
Does this kind of make me seem like more of a commodity fetishist than a real music fan? i hope not.

― duane zarakov, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This thread isn't a debate but I am finding it incredibly interesting. Thanks to everyone who has confessed up so far!

― Guy, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

For people who want even more of this kind of thing, including IIRC my answer, go here.

― Tom, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

about 1000 CDs and 100 vinyl records. a box of about 50 vinyl singles. i have three stereos, two tape-players and a minidisc. my buying pattern has changed: now i tend to buy only one record a week. only on holiday do i tend to go overboard. rrrreally overboard. i used to have a list of cds i wanted to buy. i threw that away a while back thinking it would cure me. it didn't.

― i am deaf. i just like looking at the covers., Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the vaguest answer on CDs is 1000 (very few are singles,) but they have not been counted in several months, and i tend to make a lot of CD-Rs in from trading collections with friends. Have about 200 vinyl, and 300 tapes, and even more taped albums and self-made comps from friends' vinyl collections.

I have a slackly enforced moratorium on new albums right now, but would buy at least one album per week, and sometimes up to five, with occasional splurges.

And none of these albums are organized in any fashion whatsoever.

― badger, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Are you counting cds that have been burned from mp3's? Because, due to recent budgetary indiscretions, I think that about 75 of the last 100 albums that i've obtained have come from napster. (The songs have all been at least 192 kbps.)

Do any of the rest of you engage in this shameful practice? In my defense, I am but a partially-employed student, and there's not a sub- $17 record store within 40 miles.

― Nick Bramble, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Engage in it? I *thrive* on it.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned, you have 4500 CDs. You do not need Napster to thrive.

― Mark Richardson, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

About 600 CDs. Biggest it's ever been.

I've traded/sold approx 2500, to pluck a figure from the air. My music purchasing has followed a distinct pattern over the past 10 years:

1) Become completely besotted with a genre. 2) Indiscriminately purchase EVERYTHING within that genre. 3) Bubble bursts, decide that genre totally sucks. 4) Sell everything from that genre, barring a few "classics". 5) Find a new genre, repeat process.

So, excluding the excesses of my current genre infatuation (accounts for probably 350 of 600), I'd say the rest of my collection has optimal quality utility for me: classics culled from many.

Receiving promos for many years abetted the above process - your collection expands exponentially without any financial outlay. And not paying for promos, it's psychologically very easy to part with them (including stuff you kinda like), and replace them with stuff you actually want. Plus new releases yield higher trade prices, making it possible to leave a used store with more items than traded, without spending a cent.

Current: no longer on the promo train. Average month, I'll trade about ten CDs, get about ten CDs. Am also addicted to Ebay, couple discs every month. Probably more, but I'm in denial. One thing I do know: there's no end in sight.

― AP, Saturday, 21 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not sure, but the number of CDs must be easily in four figures by now.

― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 21 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

So it may seem, Mark. And yet there's so much more music out there...

Besides, no Napster, no way I could have created my utterly essential, glorious and good 16-CDR Cure rarities/B-sides/alternates/live show collection. For that reason alone it deserves the praise of millions and the love of the nations.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 22 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've got between 900 and 1000 CDs kicking around in the house now, about 200 - 300 LPs and most of the cassettes I have are recorded by me, not originals. If I hadn't ever sold any of my albums, I'd have several thousand CDs and LPs, but since a lot of them were trades, I wouldn't have many of the new ones, either.

I used to manage a music store, and I would get 10 - 20 CDs a month during that phase. It's cut back to about half that now that I have a better-paying non-music-related job (I swear, staff discount at a record store almost makes up for a job with better salary), but now a lot of my CDs are from the used bins. I don't really buy vinyl any more, but I recently inherited about 100 classical LPs. I did, however, just buy the 7" single of Evolution Control Committee's "Rocked by Rape". Woo.

― Sean Carruthers, Sunday, 22 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned, what about vinyl? I have to ask...

― Mark, Sunday, 22 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmm... I don't even want to think about this question as it makes me rather disgusted with myself. I know it's hovering somewhere in the 400-500 range. I have all these piles around the room that I refuse to put with The Main Collection on the grounds that I haven't listened to them enough yet, but the piles have all swelled to become their own alternate collections. I usually take one look at my desk to shame myself out of buying more. These piles also prevent me from accurately counting the whole thing.

I buy, on average, four CDs from the discount bin every month. Please kill me. Thank you, and good night.

― Dave M., Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's curious, as per above answer and others (probably mine, too), how guilty and apologetic everyone sounds about owning lots of CDs. What's that about? I mean, I think I was just FAKING GUILT in my answer. I love my stuff! (Or, maybe the guilt comes from, um, buying and listening to music isn't contructively helping the world?)

― AP, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ooh, an opportunity to brag about myself. i think i have a paltry 2,000 CDs at this point (which seemed like a lot until i read ned's post), between 300-1,400 LPs (depending on whether me and my girlfriend are sharing that week), 100+ 7"s, 700 cassettes. most of it being "unlistenable esoterica," yahoo! i'd probably have 3,500 CDs if i didn't occasionally purge the dead weight (which i need to do again soon - anybody want 70% of an IDM collection?).

as for buying habits - usually i mailorder about $50-$100 worth of stuff every two weeks and drop about $30 at my local store. doesn't seem like a lot to me.

― your null fame, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Refer to my response when this question was previously asked a month or so ago.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought my collection was BIG!! but I have a mere 70 to 90 cds that's inculding singles and I have about 70 to 80 tapes which is mostly early 80's music.

― Debbie, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

twenty-three years pass...

Not this big:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media-library-service-media/75323ae0-0c58-485b-9141-8e8bc6eea1a5.__CR0,0,970,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg

― enochroot, Thursday, 9 May 2024 19:19 (one year ago)

great revive

― katy perry (prison service) (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 9 May 2024 19:35 (one year ago)

One

― calstars, Friday, 10 May 2024 02:18 (one year ago)

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