I've been realizing lately how much of my cd collection I just never listen to and maybe never will listen to again. I'd estimate its between 30-50% of the cds I own. And this is after paring my collection down and ostensibly getting rid of anything that I don't really like.

I'm curious whether I'm alone in this. If not, how does it color your new music buying and listening. I'll always want to hear new or at least new to me stuff but I know that I'm far more selective these days. I really don't want to buy a lot of stuff that's just going to get lost in the collection after a few months of occassional listens and I do mentally often think is this likely better than something that I own and never listen to when I consider buying something new.

Do other people do this?

Just out of curiosity billy, what did you pare your collection down to?

About 15-percent, probably.

But 60-percent of my wife's cds, yeah.

I'm not sure but probably around 3800

wow.

who on this board has the most you figure?

Less than 5%, probably only a handful that I'll never listen to again. And that's not counting that I'm trying to go through my whole collection, even downloaded stuff, and listen to pretty much everything lately.

I have a lot of stuff just for completist purposes that I might only listen to once or twice more in my life. Other than that, I'm pretty good at getting rid of things I don't like and listening to all of the stuff that I do. I do seriously need to curb my buying and general music intake, though.

don't know what % to give this. i'm re-recording all cds-to-higher-quality-mp3, but as i go thru 'em, i often think "i doubt i'll ever go out of my way to hear this again". on random, i'm cool with it... just too many mp3s to revisit in album format after the initial bunch of listens, and i do my best to ...

I haven't done a cd count in awhile, I'm probably due. I would say definitely under 5%. Never is a long fucking time.

There's alot of stuff I bought in college on a whim and some stuff I got for free that I will never listen to again. When I moved into my new apartment, I listened to about ten to fifteen albums I hadn't listened to in four to five years.

I think Aural has 5000 or more. I'd guess Hideous Lump has around that many or more. I'm not sure about others.

i haven't pared down my vinyl collection in many years, but i just went through the CDs and picked out only maybe 1% that i know i'll never listen to again. i'd guess that maybe 20-30% of my records are kept for either dj nights or potential mixtapes. there is a ton that i haven't listened to throughout since buying, but i only own one album that i've never listened to from beginning to end.

I have been waging a similar struggle for a while now...

If I never sold back CD's over the years, I'd be over 6000 by now.....But with limited apartment space, and the new external hard drive, I have been even more stringent with what I keep and get rid of now....I have been able to maintain (with constant downsizing) about a 2100 CD collection for a few years now.

Im having a tough time figuring out the criteria anymore either.

I love buying.....As easy as Soulseek or Itunes is, I like the general rush of going to a store and browsing CD's and walking out with a bag full..

The reality is these days is.....I look at the CD packaging once, rip the CD to my drive and/or Ipod, shelf the CD, and rarely if ever look at it again....

I can't seem to come up with anything in my head on what to keep or not....Of course, there are some no brainers...But there are plenty that I am sure that I could just rip to my drive, get rid of, and free up more space......I can't seem to fully get over that hump though....

Where do I draw the line? What consitutes a CD that is worthy of remaining on my shelf for the rest of my life, even if I never intend to pull it out again, since i have the music on an ipod or accesible drive somewhere....

thats my battle. i'd like to get my collection down to 1500 if possible.

I make a concerted effort to go back and listen to stuff that I haven't heard in a while. So... while there are probably some, it is less than 5%, methinks.

I guess what's making me more aware and bothered by this is that when I moved a few months back I abandoned my cd shelfing and when to 3 cases of drawers with jewelsleeves. I still haven't printed out the labels that allow easy browsing so I have to lift the jewelsleeve out of the drawer to see what it is. I've been pulling so many out and such a high % of things that I can't remember the last time I listened to them, I know I like them so I don't feel inclined to trade them in, but I still don't feel necessarily like listening to them now and wonder when and if I will.

To answer your question though, I ham trying real hard to purge my collection of stuff I am at least 80% sure I will never listen to again. Worst case scenario, I rebuy it, or just download it...

I'd say 20% of my collection will not be played again, and its only a matter of time before i get rid of it.

Under 5%.

I'm absolutely horrible at organizing my cd collection, so whenever I need to find something, I inevitably have to go through 50 or more cds to find it. I've uncovered discs that I didn't even know I owned. Every cd I own has at least one gem on it that will keep me coming back.

Probably around 25%. I'm gonna do that eBay thang this summer, I think.

I have 5200 albums on disc, but fewer than 700 actual CD's. Ive sold so many, mainly because of the storage space. I doubt Ill listen to more than 50% of them ever again.

No idea percentage-wise...but I'm at about 2000 CD's right now, & around 400-500 vinyl records. And I consider the collection pretty "lean". There's some stuff in there that's mainly for reference, but not a whole lot I could say with authority that I'd never listen to "ever again".

I hardly ever listen to my vinyl, though. When we moved 120 months ago I gave away probably about 200 vinyl records. Mainly stuff where all I'll ever need is the "greatest hits" CD...I doubt I'd ever listen to the 4 ABC albums I had again.

All that said, when I go to the Wall Of CD's I still have trouble finding something I wanna listen to.

Of my store-bought CDs (and vinyl) the total is probably only around 5%, if that (course, I've probably sold as many albums as I've kept over the years). If I only take into account CDRs, then the figure's gotta jump up to at least 25%.

But whenever I go through those stretches in which there's absolutely nothing new I want to buy, and I'll dig through the collection for stuff I never gave a fair listen (or just haven't heard for years). I end up getting through everything eventually. Hell, I've even played The Bends in recent weeks (and yep, still mostly blows).

part of my problem is in considering what is actually a "lean" collection. i'm at about 1200 combined (CDs and vinyl) right now and could probably purge a hundred of those. my idea of staying under 2000 will be absurd in ten years at this rate.


you moved ten years ago?

I think I'm in the 11-25% range. I don't own nearly as many cd's as some of you (I've got less than 1000), but there are clearly cd's I keep in my collection for nostalgic purposes because while I might *think* about listening to one of them every once in a while, most of the time I don't follow through.

Billy, I think you and Aural should start your own internet radio station with those kind of numbers!

I'm at the 4-5000 range, and the idea of purging is very much a reality. I've never sold albums I've bought, just giveaways.

When you guys sell them, do opt for record store credit, or cold hard cash? Ebay or taking them to a store?

I've never tried ebay, but I generally feel like store credit is my best bet. I'm sure you could probably get more money on ebay, but it seems like more trouble and more of a gamble.

I'm generally satisfied with about $4 store credit per CD. Sometimes I can get a little more, but that's about what I expect on average. No store around here will give you much.

I'm all about store credit.