I don't mean storage systems, racks, alphabetizing etc. What I mean is how much is enough? How do you prune back without trading a bunch of stuff in that you'll regret? What's the point in keeping stuff you haven't listened to in years despite it being stuff you'd call really good if asked? What's the ideal size of a collection?

I've been debating these issues with myself lately. I think the first gut answer from most of us is that the ideal size would be some rediculously large amount like 10K and that you'd never trade in anything that you even liked a little. But that just makes the decision of what to put on more difficult, and I'm confronting some real storage issues. About half the wall space in one room in my small apartment is dedicated to cd racks. I don't have room for one more rack without moving. I've got several high stacks of cds now on my floor next to one rack and a big box of cdrs in my closet of stuff I downloaded and burned to disc years ago that I never got around to listening to. Yet there are still a bunch of things I still want.

I could trade in a bunch of stuff but the most obvious things of any value I've already traded in. I'm also afraid if I do any large scale trade-ins, especially given my current anti-rock phase, I'll end up regretting a bunch of them. I'm already feeling that my collection is getting shifted too much away from Rock and most of the stuff on my shopping list is funk, soul, jazz and world music. HELP!!!! How do you guys deal with these issues.

np: Bryan MacLean "Ifyoubelievein"

very, very poorly.


a few years ago i put well over half my discs into books in a brief attempt at making my music more managable (moving 6 times in 3 years does this right quick). Do not do this. I would rather have sold the discs off for Motorhead bootlegs than what i did. in short: no books.

i put all my cds into cardboard boxes and then put them behind the luggage in the closet.

i never ever trade anything in. i sometimes have the oddest hankering and i never know what exactly i am going to regret. besides, it's not as though anyone is paying any decent money for the stuff that i feel safe getting rid of.

however, if you really want to get rid of stuff, invest in a cheap external hard drive, rip your shit, and sell it back.

I used to trade in a lot but lately I have been much more careful about what I buy so this has slowed down. I now have around 1000 albums or so and I could probably part with 500 at least...some albums, once you have heard them 5 or 6 times that is really all you need.

I've traded some stuff in, or sold stuff back (in those desperate times that I needed $) and I regret it. Especially since I'm a cd purist and love to have the artwork, etc... I find parting with cd's difficult (even though I move often and it's a pain in the ass).

I'm no help. Sorry.

I've been on a bit of a tear lately, buying probably more than I should so I've been feeling that way too. When is it too much, I'm currently at about 3k right now. I'm looking at my racks right now and I can see a couple I haven't listened to in a couple years. They should probably be moved. Most of the stuff I don't listen to regularly ends up in banker boxes. I used to sell and have regretted it. But I don't know either what I should do with the 'excess'. If you find out, let me know, and I'll apply the same principles to the thousands of magazines currently occupying space.

I have been thinking the same exact thing.

Without selling/ trading back, I'd have over 6-7000 cd's....

right now, I have about 1800...after the last year of pruning...

Im at the point now, where i pretty much like everything i have, or have some of 'those cd's that youre not nuts about, but just can't seem to part with'...

Id like to get my collection down to about 1500..

i think i am gonna pick out all the cd's that I only like one-four songs on, and just make compilations, and sell em back...

yeah, thats the new plan.

i traded in some things years ago that i now regret. so now whenever i think i should trade in some music, i pull from the stuff that i know hasn't been in rotation in years. i put it in heavy rotation, then decide whether i want it or not then. if i think i want it again, i keep it. if it doesn't do anything at all for me, it goes.

my collection is only just over 1000, so i'm nowhere even close to a point where i think i should be trading in to conserve its size.

i practice this technique. i think i'll be alright until my collection starts reaching ~ 2,500-3,000 or we need "my room" for something else.

I follow the "2 year rule" - if I realize that I haven't listened to something for 2 years, I throw it on and see what it does for me. If I'm not digging it, I put it on eBay. I've only regretted one sell-back (REM's Fables of the Reconstruction), but I recently found a used copy for $4. That's not bad for 150+ CDs sold. My collection is somewhere in the 650-750 range (not including emusic or other burned stuff).

I do my best to buy used or promo discs, so my overall loss (purchase price minus selling price) is usually only around $3 if I unload something on eBay.

I sold some things towards the end of grad school in order pay for rent and food. I wish I had some of it back.

I "manage" my intake, rather than what I've already amassed. I simply don't buy on a whim like I used to, so the stacks don't grow as fast.

This plays a large part in why I haven't ventured into a "non-rock" phase. I am pressed for storage space, and I do not have enough time to devote to listening to everything, nor do I have the money to build a collection from scratch--I maintain a relatively small cache of my favorites that I play when the mood strikes, but I'm not done with rock and roll yet. Plus, the only time I really have to listen to music is in the car, and I require music that is suitable for my approach to motoring. Jazz generally doesn't fit that bill.

Whenever our music collection gets too big I sell my wife's stuff.

Steve

as i keep buying cds, i keep putting them in milk cartons, storing them in the garage (for now). i have some marked for re-sale, but mostly i keep 'em.

i'll eventually have to go back thru them to re-rip those i didn't rip at top-vbr. that'll take a while.

yeah, my wife's only got like 5 cd's left, she really likes those 5 so I gotta look at my own collection now

the worst is REBUYING something you had already bought once but sold back.

my 'official release' collection is under control.
i would even have more room if i move my videotapes and dvds.

my problem is all the live stuff. it's out of control.
i have books upon books. and spindle upon spindle of stuff.

and hardly any of it is in any kind of order.

i'm so ready to chuck it all. it stresses me out to even look at it sometimes.

I've had this problem a couple times...

Just limiting what I buy from now on, trying to absorb what I have. Lending out CDs you aren't that into currently also helps - for every one that gets ganked and never comes back, forcing you to rebuy it, 2 will be forever lost with minimal recognition by yourself...

I rarely go through my "stacks" for stuff to trade in...but I've been thinking about it lately...

I'm about to have room issues so I should start prunning. I tried to pick out stuff ready for trade in but I never really completed it. I kept telling myself it's mediocre mid to late 90's Electronica, no one wants it. It would be nice to dump some stuff, not so much for room just to get credit. I just wonder how much credit I'd get & where to draw the line with what I dump? I'm lost too. I should just do it

i took some stuff to this place called 'record exchange' a few months ago..... they were going to give me hardly anything.....
so i brought it all home and sold it all on ebay. made much more than what they were going to give me.

That doesn't bother me that much. If that happens it basically means that I just didn't really get the album and something made me see the light years later.

In college, In bought and sold:

Television "Marquee Moon"
Velvet Underground "VU & Nico"
New York Dolls S/T

I've since repurchased them and enjoy them all. Television is now one of 7 or 8 cds that rotate in and out of my top five. But big whoops, I didn't appreciate them then and for years they would have just collected dust on my shelves. I'm sure that I got something I liked and actually listened to with the store credit. It probably cost me the equivalent of a couple of beers a piece to rebuy them.

I'm currently on my third copy of OK Computer, being a sucker for wanting to know what I'm missing that other people hear and love once again. I hear it more this time but still really wouldn't miss it that much if I sold it for the third time.

I guess I've always considered it a good move to occassionally trade 50 things you just don't listen to for 15 things you will even if you end up rebuying one of the 50.

The ones that are a bit tougher to swallow are when you just have an itch you'd like to scratch by listening to a cd but don't really think its worth it. I've been debating rebuying Happy Mondays "Bummed" for several months but I have a feeling it would disappear into my collection after a few enjoyable listens. I didn't sell it cause I didn't like it. I sold it cause I very rarely felt like listening to it.

I've been more careful with my buying over the last 2 years or so though and have less obvious choices to trade in. I need space though.

np: Yankees postgame

I have entertained the thought, but 2 things stop the E-Bay route. 1 I don't want to part with CD's for a tank of gas, I want store credit. The fun part is to get more music even if the trade ratio sucks. 2 I don't work in an office, so the mailing part becomes a hassle.

A friend of mine is still selling & getting good money for vhs movies on E-Bay. Crazy.

Yeah that's my thought too. Dalen suggested posting 'em here but its the same issue. shipping's a pain and I don't really want cash.

I usually wait til I have a big pile of crap to trade and make an amoeba run. That way I know I'll really be trading for stuff I want. No point in trading my crap for someone elses.

np: Vaselines "Way of the Vaselines"

Here's an idea: Store the excess albums at my house.

I am always wary of selling something that I haven't dug much, because there have been so many times when I've bought an album, given it a listen or two, didn't listen to it again for years, then picked it up and was amazed. There are some albums I've bought which are clearly duds; I have no problem selling these. If, however, I have even some doubt about whether I should sell it or not, I don't.

Skeet shooting.