maybe something like 5/5/90

I'd say I'm pretty close to this. Also, ditto on the not buying enough older albums. I'm trying to remedy that though.

80%
15%
5%

i do pretty much the same exact thing, sometimes buying more new releases each week.

i tend to wait 6 months to a year to buy new releases until the hype has died down and I get a chance to find out if I will really like these new albums or not. I buy a lot more albums from the last 2-3 years than most people, I imagine.

Last few years

15%
15%
70%

From 2003 to today:

36% - New
45% - Less than 5 years old
19% - More than 5 years old

I love my spreadsheets.

This is slightly skewed away from New lately because I was out of work for parts of 2003-2004, so a lot of 2005-2006 has been spent playing catch up.

It's been gradually changing over the last few years, but at the moment it's something like

new - 30%
<5 yrs old - 40%
>5 yrs old - 30%

I tend to pick up a fair bit of stuff from the previous year early in the next because I usually have money after working all summer.

I'm also making a concerted effort to buy older albums since most of them are new to me (in that my parents don't really listen to music much) and I'm still a good 5-10 years younger than a lot of you probably are so I haven't yet amassed much in the way of a comprehensive collection

thanks to the library i think i keep it just about even with :

36%
28.37%
35.63%

with a confidence interval of +/- 5%

Geez, I dunno...probably about a 25/35/40 split, I guess.

And as far as being a completist for older bands...I can relate, as I'm going thru a big Slade phase right now.

I'm probably like 90/10/0. I've pretty much already got everything I want that's over 5 years old.

np: Talking Heads - "Life During Wartime"

Much of my money is tied up in monthly bills, so my buying habits tend to consist of

1. Hear it online.

2. Temporarily appropriate it from not-quite approved sources or from music director's comps.

3. (If not comp) Get it off Amazon later in the year for about a third of the price.


That said, it still tends to be about 30% this year, 20% less than 5 years old, 50% more than 5 years old, primarily because many of my old cassettes are worn out or vinyl is damaged/missing and I've been buying (as cheaply as possible) CD replacements online or from clearance bins.