Years ago, my father had given me his record collection that would otherwise have gone to the landfill. I had a small collection myself that quickly grew now that I didn't have to buy all those records that I grew up listening to. Fast forward a few years my children, now older, took interest in collecting their own vinyl. I think in my case they will divide up my collection among themselves once I'm gone. My wife might hold on to her favourites as well.
I agree on the purging. I do it every year or so. I don't want any fat in the collection. As an example, I try to keep the collection such that if I pull a random album, I would be happy to listen to it. Thanks or the vid.
I turn 50 in March, so I’m right behind you. My dad died in June, and he was a collector too (comic books, baseball cards, board games, ephemera), and now he’s gone but all his stuff is still here. He had kids to inherit his things so it’s being passed down. I don’t have any kids. One of my big fears has been I’ll die, and my record collection I’ve spent decades collecting is going to end up dumped off at a Goodwill or something. With my dad dying I’ve become way less attached to “stuff” but the other factor is that vinyl is probably at peak value right now. I have about 4000-5000 records, and I have a ton of things I paid a couple bucks for that are worth a lot now. So, I’ve started selling off some of my records. Not all of them, but a decent amount. If something is worth considerably more than I’d pay to acquire it now I can cut it loose without too much regret. Having money now and using that for experiences and to enjoy now is better than dying and just having a bunch of records left I can’t take with me.
My condolences on the loss of your dad. You raise an interesting point about peak vinyl... this is something else I have been thinking about. Are we at peak vinyl? Or can is still go higher?
My plan beginning in my 40's is to cut back on collecting. I only buy the discographies from bands that i truly like. (stop caring about new artists) Every year i get rid of a few...but i decided i'll purge everything at 70 & hopefully by a year later i would've sold or gave away everything.
I bought new speakers lately ( Wilson Audio Watt Puppy) that are very revealing or more precise. I’ve decided to listen to all or most of my records ( about 800) to hear which ones sound best or get me emotionally. The ones that don’t pass will sold.
@@SaintMartins You apparently know when you will die which means you can predict the future which means you can give me Saturday night's lottery numbers.
Hi Frank. I am 64 but I knew what I'd do with my media collection (Vinyl, CD's, Blu-Rays & DVD's) back when I was 30. When I pass, my sister will turn my room into a temporary store. My family will go shopping & get what they want. After that, my friends will come get what they want. Whatever is left? My movies will be given to senior retirement homes & my music will go to homes with disabled & mentally handicapped children. My media will have a future beyond me & I love that! --- Bill (From Mt. Holly, NJ)
Once in a while I'll use a random number generator to pick out an album from my collection. I'll divide the collection into the different racks that hold them (the CD's) selecting the rack at random. Then I'll randomly pick one from that rack with the number generator. This causes me to hear an album I would not normally reach for on purpose. This kind of random listening has the effect of reintroducing me to music I've forgotten about. Sometimes the album I pick out is something I'm not in the mood for, but I play it anyway. Usually I get in the mood and end up enjoying it a lot more than I would have thought.
It’s normal to go up and down in one’s collecting journey. It’s good to take time and just appreciate what you have already amassed, and let new things pile up out in the wild for you when or if you ever want to dig again.
I think the thing I love most about vinyl is that once I got most of what I wanted, I was forced to discover new music. I felt 16 years old again, discovering all this new great stuff that i’d been neglecting. So many of my favourite albums are from newer artists i’d never have other discovered
This episode is funny and totally relatable. I believe the underlying concerns stem from the guilt we feel as adults when spending money on items that, while genuinely bringing us happiness, might appear wasteful. The escalating costs are the main reason people feel guilty not listening to a certain album for months or years on end. I've also had discussions with record store owners who also voice frustrations about these increasing prices, because it has affected sales. For me, the excitement of the hunt has largely been tamed down due to pricing. It sucks. Only a recession will fix this. But nobody wants that.
@@Extremesam43 Yeah, that was the beauty of it. $50 bucks would go a long way, buying bands that nobody cared about. I remember finding KISS records below $10, now they're all above $25 and in terrible shape too.
You keep It and Drag It around,the Stereo Equipment and the Records,even though you haven't listened to the music nor set up the equipment in over 30 years. That's My Partner. Started building It when he got his 1st job at 17 .Turned 69 this month .He keeps saying he will Set it up,but It is still sitting on the Floor in the living Room. We moved a few times. Thankfully he hasn't a large Record collection ,maybe a couple of 100. The Stereo Equipment takes up more Space than the records.
I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't gamble. I don't do drugs. I don't have kids. I don't mess with hookers. My expendable cash goes toward record collecting -- a quite enjoyable vice that does no harm. My taste in music is all over the spectrum, so the collection is like a vinyl smorgasbord.
@@Choochill Hehe. Same here... married to my wonderful husband 18 years, have the odd ciggie, maybe smoke a joint at a holiday party or something.... we have a now college age daughter...... still buy a shitload of records, tapes, and cds. I might actually have to turn to being the hooker to keep the habit going.
I remember during 2016 - 2020 i would buy 300 - 400+ records per year and would travel all over the US to find records. Like you, the thrill of the hunt has diminished because I have all the records and "Grails" that I sought out to purchase...plus scalpers and prices have become ridiculous. Now I only buy records that were out of print that have been re-issued, RSD, or deluxe box sets.
Great video Frank. You chose some terrific questions. Gotta say, as a 50yo male that came up on rock and hair metal, I share similar answers to the questions posed. The only place where I might disagree, is the purge. I listened to mostly cassettes as a teen, sold some off that I was t into. And with the advent of CDs eventually got rid of them all. I sold off CDs that I didn’t listen to, and bought new. But, never sold them all off. I didn’t have many records as a kid, but got into record collecting about 2015. I’ve been reluctant to purge my records. Mostly because I fear that I’d be disappointed with the financial return. Also, because I feel that streaming has helped me from buying records that I would not like.
What I love about my music and my instruments is that they'll always be there, so if I am busy or not finding time for them, they'll be there when I do and will be ready to thrill me all over again.
I'm actually going through my collection and randomly pulling 5 LPs I purchased more than 25 years ago. I'm doing this to see if I still enjoy the music, but more importantly to determine if I need to upgrade to a record of better condition due to clicks pops or skips, or sleeve defects. I then hit Discogs and look for NM or VG+ copies for upgrades. That is my primary purchasing strategy these days. I still do purchase new releases such as the new Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix but after collecting records for nearly 50 years I'm going back in and getting rid of and replacing any versions that I don't find pleasurable to listen to due to their condition. Thanks for the video.
Good question Frank, it's one I've been considering for a while now! I'm approaching 77 years old and got my first record when I was 5 years old. Some have come and gone over the years but most of what comes in the house stays in the house. My big weakness is 45 rpm records ,currently there are over 9000 of the in the collection. My lps are a modest 2000 plus and cds are at about 3000. All my records and cd's have been priced and my children are aware of the value and the people trying to get them for next to nothing. One child had a career in the music business and has a degree in marketing so I feel that the collection will be handled properly. There are times I play music and other times I enjoy the silence. One of the pleasures of collecting "oldies" is there are always something lurking somewhere. Many times it is just an obscure recording or a regional hit but it's new to me. One of my habits is to clean and record a record after getting it. I am able to digitally reproduce the sound in an analog mode. I can ( if I want ) remove clicks, pops and hisses using software.. I then store the music on my phone and can listen whenever I want to listen.This is also handy for just having some favorite tracks from a lp. My favorite software for this task is Audacity ( it is a free download and it works ). I enjoy you weekly podcasts and wish you well! Remember: Too much is never enough!
I have entered my record collection into a random name picker, which tells me what record to listen to next. Listening to an average of five records each day, it takes me about two years until I have listened to every record in my collection. Some rules: I do not listen to records my wife does not like when she is around. I do not listen to records my wife particularly likes when she is not around. New records will be listened to first. I am not a slave to this system, so I feel free to listen to any record I want to. I do not listen to every song on every side of every record, sometimes it is only one song. I am doing the second run-through at the moment, so I have listened to EVERY record in my collection during the last three years. (Covid was really helpful in this case!)
I am 53, started around 2 years ago again, started from scratch and have 200 titles now. Some new, but mostly secondhand from the 3 - 15$ range. Sure I don't listen as much as would like too (and still have 500+ CDs), but if I do I really enjoy. What happens with the stuff when I am gone? No idea, but I try to get my daughter into listening music 😅.
I’ve sold some albums that I admitted to myself that I would never really play…and honestly the credit you get at the store to buy more records in the future is a cool feeling. .
I'm 52 and just started a year ago. Bought some grail pieces and great box boots at 3-400 ea. I'll give it a good decade or so then piece it off. I am enjoying it now
I tend to listen to less music in the spring and summer months, because I am outside doing work in the garden or just relaxing with the family. What i try to do is put aside a few hours, for example on a Sunday morning to listen to a few records.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! It's never too late to catalogue your collection! It took me awhile to get mine done (and I included cds after the vinyl was done, I won't buy the vinyl if I have the cd already). I am glad I did, now I just catalogue on my phone as I buy new records, it only takes a few seconds. I have slowed my purchasing down as well, I have collected mostly everything I love. If I find new to me bands that I can collect on vinyl, I will, if it's affordable. I still buy cds, and I stream to preview new music, so that I know if it's worth it to me to buy the record . I am getting pickier with new music on vinyl. The whole album has to be good, I don't want to have to listen to filler if I am spinning. Great video Frank!
Playing records in the summer, away from your lovely sound room can be easily done. I bought a pair of Fluance Ai41 powered speakers. I bought Audio Technica`s reissue of the Sound Burger portable turntable. And I love them both. I listen to albums in the backyard and at the cottage. All summer long. Fantastic.
I have the 1st Led Zeppelin from the UK and I personally think it has the best sound compared to all the other releases I have. I myself have the largest Led Zeppelin collection in Sweden at 4,076 pieces of records. I hope you continue with your channel for a long time because I am a faithful follower. SINCERELY. Michael
I've been into HiFi and records for about 45 yrs. Even sold HiFi gear as a "campus rep" in me early years. I love my records and whether or not I play all of them isn't really the point, is it? I have a great turntable and cartridge that I love and when I do play (my favorites), I enjoy them immensely. And yes, sometimes, I'll do a deep dive into my collection and listen to something I haven't listened to in a long while. It's just one of those things that adds a little bit of interest or flavor that helps make a life interesting. Do I listen to them often? No. But when I want to , I can!
Loved this Q & A session. I am at a point in collecting where I had to establish some very clear criteria for my music "hunt". So I try to collect only albums (not compilations), only versions with the best mastering possible (here is where vinyl records come in more and more often and almost never remasters), only music I really like to listen to (contemporary jazz, fusion, electronic, some artists in particular), mostly original music (artists playing their own compositions), and I only have 2 to 5 artists for which I am a completist. Everything that I collected before this point is purged. And I have to agree with you that purging is actually as interesting as collecting. Is an essential part of maintaining a collection. And playing with it besides listening. 🙂 What will happen with my collection after me? Do not really care...but I feel a bit sad knowing that it won't be loved as much as I do. Do I have time to listen to all my music? No. But I try to listen to most of it. And I rarely stream. Only if there is an album I really couldn't get. Though I am very aware that streaming is like listening to radio...not really listening but more like creating ambiance from a gigantic online compilation. The kind of music I do not collect (any more - my compilations are on sale or sold). 🙂
Its never to late to do discogs your collection plus you may even find albums you want to listen to and find new appreciation for within your collection
My collector evolution mirrors quite a few out there, I suspect. 70s and 80s = vinyl >>> early 90s = tapes >>> 90s to 10s = cds >>> 20s and on = vinyl. I have been selling my cd and DVD collection on Discogs for the last 5 years, financing my vinyl purchases (and beyond). However, now that I hit the big 6-0, I am considering selling off the whole collection (including the vinyl) and going fully digital. I am building an extensive digital library of all of my fave stuff by band, sub-genre and decade. I guess that I'm simplifying my life as I turn the corner into the last phase!
Hi, since I’m using the Randon Item feature on my Discogs collection I can go back to records I haven’t heard in years. I find it very useful because otherwise that random lp that appears probably will not be played on God knows how many years more. Great video thanks.
That last question is one that I have thought of quite a bit. I will turn 59 in two months so... yeah. I have told my sister who is very good at carrying out someones bequests. I want my one friend who loves music to take/have any of them he wants. The rest to be sold and the money donated to help a music program for kids to buy instruments or what have you. I have marked some of the most valuable albums with a sticker on the plastic sleeve. Many of my albums have come from friends who have passed away and I think of them when ever I pull those albums out to play.
I go through periods where I’ll play records and then I’ll go through a reading period. When I read a few books and get tired of that it’s back to the records.
Interesting discussion in the comments. I’m in the process of downsizing my collection of 1,200. Most of my records were bought at thrift stores when I started collecting records again in 2008. All of my records are in a spreadsheet. I have a number of plays column, which is updated every time the record is played. My plan is to donate or sell records that are infrequently played. As far as what happens to my records after I’m gone, I have no plans. My children aren’t interested collecting, but I have hopes for my grandson who listens to a lot of music and plays a couple of instruments.
Great video Frank and very timely as I have asked myself those questions as a 58 yr old. The summer season and not staying indoors to spin.. I added a turntable to the main floor in my house and got in the habit of spinning new purchases when I got home without having to go down to the music room. I log all purchases of new albums with barcodes to Discogs right away because it is easier. I make a point to log some special purchases as well. Goal is to identify what may be the most valuable items in my collection to guide my family in the event of my passing. In addition to purging, my plan is to advise my family to take my collection to a record store to sell what they don’t want. Likely best way to get value with less time investment. Thanks for the great content. Keep on spinnin!!
I do purge my collection, and recently brought about 20 CDs to the local record store for their perusal and possible purchase. I use amazon or iTunes to sample songs before purchasing them on vinyl or CD. New music comes from channel surfing Sirius XM in the car.
New fun can be had on almost a continuous basis. Buy stuff you've never heard of, and the odder the better. Don't miss out on spoken word, comedy, novelty, samplers, appliance and bank promotionals, test and demonstration discs.
When I lived in Seattle and was "waiting" for a few years for my move to my new place in rural Kentucky (pre 2011), one fun hobby was to hit the plethora of estate sales for "stuff". Nobody really wanted their vinyl (especially the middle aged children of the recently deceased). I got five or six GOOD vintage turntables from the 70's or 80's, never paying more than $30. Obviously that is with cartridge. And I bought about 2500 records "by the box" for around ten cents apiece. FWIW, I gave away about half of them when we moved because there was a fair amount of "101 strings", etc. and duplicates. BTW, I no longer put Herb Alpert and the TJB in that group. Anyway, I currently have about 3500 records but don't expect to ever listen to all of them. I do still have some duplicates. That paid off when my grandaughter got into vinyl and I was able to give her some Elvis and Linda Rondstadt. She really liked both. And my county finally went "wet" a couple of years ago and a fantastic new bourbon/cigar bar opened up a few weeks ago. I got to know the two couples that owned the place and my wife and I really hit it off with one of them. And they are avid fans of vinyl. They love old stuff and the sweet spot is the Sinatra type stuff. I have tons of that and a lot - I mean A LOT - of it has no real monetary value. Anyway, it's fun to pull stuff out and just give it to them. I'm gonna try to get them to put a turntable in the bar for the occasional record spin. I think it can add character to the place, just as it does in a lot of movies nowadays. But after all that rambling, my point: I really don't "need" any more vinyl and have caught myself buying stuff I already have - Only twice so far. But I travel all over the US and I found something else that is fun: Purchasing store branded swag. Specifically this has meant store branded record mats. Though most stores don't offer them, about 40% do. I have roughly 25 of them and they make great decorations around the mancave. I've recently moved to buying t-shirts as well. It's fun in central Kentucky to show up to a gig with a "high voltage records" T-shirt from Tacoma, or Waterloo records from Austin.
Frank. You are the best brother. I have the same everything you mentioned. When I go into my LP room, I look at what I want to spin, and I'll walk away. But, i know I've worked too hard and spent too much. But I would like to know how to make a spreadsheet. Well, my friend HB🎉 and another awesome video. Keep rocking my brother 🤘
These are great and very relatable questions. One thing I've been doing to enjoy my vinyl outside the confines of my music room is to "rip" them digitally. I'll record entire albums as WAV files, then encode them to 320kbps MP3, so I can listen to my vinyl in the car or anywhere. That way I'm not necessarily stuck with st***ming. 😄 Anyway, awesome vid, thank you.
I've been doing this since the 70's. Originally to cassettes, now the same as you with high res mp3s for portability and convenience keeping my albums as "master" recordings. And I don't know about you, but I prefer to listen to whole albums instead of individual tracks. And only certain albums at certain times of the year. E.G. Jethro Tull's Christmas album is not for an August day at the beach !
Same here, I use Cool Edit Pro to make perfect wav files, this phone has a micro SD with 3000 songs all from my vinyl. I usually digitize at least 3 or 4 songs from every album, and make a mix cd. Then, I rip them to this phone
@kenr.4526 I've been waiting for Tulls Xmas album to come out on vinyl. Has it? I've got all up to Catfish Rising on vinyl, and Roots To Branches is too expensive on vinyl.
@@dawnpatrol700 It was kind of scarce a few years ago. I finally caved and bought it on CD after the holidays when the price came down.. (right before the holidays people jack the price). Would have preferred it on vinyl, but the CD sound is "acceptable". They did a decent mastering job on this one.
I don't buy multiples of the same album but I will buy 2 of the same album. One of the reasons is that when I was young any album that came with a poster I would tack or tape that poster on my bedroom wall. The would end up with the poster being kind of torn/beat up. So I have gone back and bought many of those original pressings with all the inserts/posters intact. I do end up with multiple copies of albums just from buying or being given a collection of albums.
Great questions and related to where I am in my music journey. I sold my collection long ago. Today my journey is different than the physical road you collectors are on. I now live in Florida and outside most of time. I’ve drifted into creating playlists on Spotify by deep remembering songs that mean something to me. The other new playlists are discoveries I find mostly from movie and TV series… sometimes recommendations from Pandora/Spotify.
When you get all the titles you really want and get rid of those you don't want, you turn to another hobby - CDs, cassettes, but also movies (VHS/DVD/Bluray), books, watches, so on. And when you do other stuff and somehow look back at the vinyl collection you think "hell, those were the days".
I spent a whole winter cataloging my collection on Discogs, a few dozen at a time till it was finally done. Actually replaced old sleeves and cleaned a few while at it. A total pain in the butt but so glad I did it. As for summer the odd Sat night will spin some tunes but this is mostly a winter hobby as you said our summers short in Canada, gotta take advantage.
Same here Frank. I collect movies and is sitting on roughly 1000 plus titles and shows. Most of which I do not watch regularly. I only have maybe 10 or 20 that I watch frequently. But it's there should on the odd chance I want to see a particular title. I have it.
My listening room is right off the living room so I can’t listen while my wife is watching TV. So Saturday I get to listen while my wife is out shopping. So most weeks I get 5 or 6 hours a week of listening. I have a very short commute and don’t even bother turning on the radio. Over the last couple years I’ve had some health issues so activities I love like mountain biking have been put on the back burner. So Saturday’s are my day
I was intending on purging my collection of albums of the ones I don't really care that much about as I got new ones I really want, but the price of vinyl has put the kibosh on that, so I haven't really done any of that yet. As far as buying multiple pressings or releases on an album, I do not intentionally do that, but when I was buying records a couple years back, I would buy a box of records and end up with 1 or 2 that I already had. If it was significantly different, I kept it, if not, I kept the one in the best condition and just gave the other to a friend. I totally agree with Sterling's question, as I have days when I go into my music room, look at my vinyl, and say, maybe tomorrow!
Great video Frank. If I had enough time to listen to all of my records I wouldn't have time to do anything else. Life is too short. I'm thinking it's time to divest and only keep what I cherish.
I started with 8 tracks and hate them to this day then i went records got quite a few but i ran into a travel with my music to play everywhere and started buying cassettes then as cassette tapes were becoming hard to get i turned to the ole cd and sold all my records and tapes. I still have my massive cd collection but they sit in storage as i once again switched to mp3s which is now larger than my cd collect i wish mp3s would have come out in the 70s/80s it would have solved alot of problems with travel and saved my alot of money. Thanks Columbia and rca clubs.
New subscriber here! So, sorry this comment is 8 months late (and you may not see it). But I just wanted to respond to your "too late" comment. Within the last five years I decided to go ahead and input ALLLLL of my records into discogs. I just chipped at it for maybe 45 mins at a time until I finished. It took me a few weeks, but the whole collection (about 1600 records) was eventually cataloged. So, it's not too late for you! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be (especially since I tackled it in little bits) and I am so glad I took the time to do it.
Frank, it is NOT too late to enter your collection into Discogs. I did mine when I was about 57 years old six years ago. It's easy, and fun. There's a way to do it by scanning the UPC/Barcode that really speeds up the process.
I have a couple of thousand records, probably 1200-1500 CDs, and about 800-1000 cassettes. There's no way I can listen to all of them before I die, but I've already listened to a lot of them, so there's that. I collect music, but I really don't sell it. I have given away more records than I've sold. My kids can do what they want with it when I pass on. I just won't care. But I am leaving instructions for them to box it all up and send it to Frank - especially the old-timey Gospel stuff, since he said he didn't have any of that. I stream in the car because my 2020 VW "doesn't support" iPods and there is otherwise no media player. Oh, well. I play records when I want, CDs when I want, iPods when I want, tapes when I want, and stream (Spotify with commercials) when I have to. Cheers, Frank. Great video as always.
I stopped buying regularly when prices shot up - what? 5 years ago? 10? I still buy but I'm much more choosy now and, frankly, have most of what I want from past releases. As to listening, I listen to at least one record everyday with my coffee - great way to start the day! Weekends often see more spinning, no matter the season. I also track which discs I listen to and so know that I listen to 95% or more of my collection each year (spoken word/interview/sfx records don't get much play, however)
It's a lot like book collectors, sport card collectors or eve funko pop. It's my library of music, i love it. I might one day start selling it. I told my wife its value... she should easily get .50 on the dollar by selling the collection to another collector or if need be, a record store. I did just get my Red Sox, Rolling Stone lp, I will keep sealed. I listen to the blue, alternative artwork cover from their website. Great record! Thanks for sharing this information.
There’s always new music to discover even if that was first released 40, 50, 60 or more years ago. For me, I prefer listening to vinyl but for discovery of music streaming is amazing and unsurpassed, well beyond what FM (free music) was
Exactly this! I have curated a collection list of about 250-300 records (TBD). The massive majority of these are “classic” records I had never heard before including certain albums by Pink Floyd and the like. Albums I had never heard before. Streamed selections from the albums and then added them to my buy list or not from there. And the ones I picked are albums I still have not heard most songs on.
I know people who regularly purge or cull their collections, only keeping the records they listen to the most. I can’t understand this. I’ve been collecting since my parents bought me my first record player in 1970. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 LPs, 800 7" singles, and 12,000 CDs. I love having this collection. I tend to listen to one artist for a while then move on to another a few days or weeks later. There are artists I haven’t listened to for 35 years that I’ll "rediscover," and I really love being able to do that.
Yep, I find it strange to buy records to just purge them later on. Seems like a waste of money, unless you paid almost nothing and/or the value has skyrocketed.
I'm in my 50's and also don't want to burden my family with my vinyl collection. I often thought that when the time is right, I would just rent a table at a few record fairs/shows and start selling off my collection as another vendor. While I don't imagine I would get the money the collection may be worth, I think it's better than seeing it end up in a yard sale at the end of my driveway. Has anyone else thought about doing this (selling your collection at a record show)? Is this plan realistic?
You can always set up an online Discogs store. Selling cds are a snap - get some bubble wrap envelopes and you're on your way. However, selling vinyl is more difficult in that you need the special mailer packaging and have to charge alot for shipping. That said, I simply retain the mailers from my incoming vinyl purchases and reuse them for shipping out my vinyl sales from Discogs. Keeps costs down!
Record collectors descend on flea markets so you might want to consider that instead of record sales, although you still have the boxing and transportation hassles that temporoboto mentioned. I'm realizing that I'm not ambitious enough to do that. I'll just sell the whole collection to one buyer when the time comes (I'm old) and let him find happy homes for everything. No way I'm going to try to sell via the mail. Too many issues about loss and condition and dishonesty. The two parties are never looking at the album at the same time to determine a fair price.
If and when my hearing goes bad, I will begin to worry about disposal. Most likely my youngest son wants them. The point is I plan to play Hendrix and Miles on my expiration date! There is a bunch of stuff in this hou
Everytime I consider purging my collection to make room for new records I find myself looking up the IKEA homepage and buying a new Kalax and spend the next day figuring out where to put it. I will never learn to remove something from my collection.
I have around 12,000+ albums. No way I could listen to all of them in one year. Some of them haven't seen the turntable in years. But I love when the wife and I are hosting a party and someone asks, "Hey, do you have . . ." and I pop it on the turntable. I especially love to put something on and I hear, "When did this come out?" "I didn't know this was on vinyl!" Those obscure 1990 - 1996 vinyls get them every time.
I am doing more listening than buying these days. I'm very happy with what I have already. I just culled 100 records that I realised I didn't really like or never listed to and donated the lot to a charity shop. I've already instructed my loved ones to give a record store owner or dealer a call and sell the whole lot in one go. I don't want anyone to be burdened by my collection if I'm not around anymore.
I think every record collector's goal or wish is just to have some sort of a cool music library or entertainment room where you can getaway from ordinary everyday stress and transport into a world that you have created. In a perfect sense, to have a vision that you can control and experience to some degree, and share with others. This way, once you are gone, it becomes like a shrine or museum in remembrence of who you were, and passes that enjoyment and musical history on to future generations and family. This would be in a perfect world, of course, and we all know how that goes.. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed your shows on the subscriber's Music Rooms or Libraries. That would bring me quite a bit of satisfaction and content, to have that. My collection is in disarray.
I rotate what i listen to, sometimes its Metallica for a few weeks, then its random movie soundtracks, synthwave, Slayer, constantly rotating what interest me at the time. I have stuff that I regularly listen too. But mostly go thru fases that last weeks or months and then move to the next.
Hello there! I am Christian rock collector and that's probably why my vinyl collection is small, barely 300. When a band like Stryper releases a new album I usually get several copies. For example, for the last record I got 4 copies (vinyls: crystal clear, yellow splatter and yellow pop up editions plus the cd) and I love the multiple copies. I don't do that with many bands though
You guys are jumping on the latest trend and not serious hardcore collectors. I have done it for 50 years since age 7 and I still get excited every time I go to the record store or when I hunt down a record on line. This is not a fad its a way of life.
Hi Frank, I have a bluetooth transmitter to play my records out on the patio. And yes I also have multiple copies of certain albums. Great show Keep on spinning 🤘😎
10:15 This is indeed something most of us have to do 🙄 There are times you become a completists of an artist/musician/band because of you like a particular sound or creative direction which often times is absent on subsequent releases.
Good questions. Im super thankful I get to work from home these days. I usually listen to about 5 or more records a day. throughout the day. Some are singles / EPs so not always a full length and I have gone through stages of listening to mostly CDs to get through ones I picked up. so 5 records a day x 365 = about 1800 records a year.. of course when Im spinning a DJ set or live stream I can go through 30 records in an hour (again not the whole album but just a song per record in those cases). The key is also to have multiple turntables around the house, at the office / studio etc. so its super easy to throw a platter on! thanks for doing these vids Frank! always fun to watch
I was late with using Discogs to categorize my collection too. I started doing about 20-30 records a week about a year ago. I’m still working on it as it takes time especially with older records. I’m 45 years old so I thought this would be better for the wife/kids down the road. I would hate for them to be taken advantage of after I’m gone as I don’t have any plans to sell them off.
I work from home three days a week and listen to my records all day, so about eight hours a day. If I didn't work from home it would be a lot less but I write books and when I have free weekends I write and play records. If I didn't do those things my record listening would certainly be a lot less. I too have been collecting since a kid, now I love record shopping to keep my listening choices fresh. I love discovering really great used records it is such a joy. I recently found Wings at the Speed of Sound for £5 and oh boy it's great.
Have you purged records you later regretted and ultimately bought again? Sometimes at a higher price. 7 years ago I sold half of my collection. Many of which I have repurchased and others have become too expensive to replace.
Great topic Frank. Our records are probably worth a small fraction of what we paid for them unless you are in the business of selling them. Discogs is a great way to catalog them and not at all difficult or terribly time consuming to do. Buy what you love and listen to and purge what you don’t.
I’ve been selling off a lot of my records, especially the more valuable ones. I plan to continue selling them off and only keeping the less valuable ones I don’t have to worry about scratching or playing until they wear out. Streaming for the win here, nothing to burden anyone with.
I collect records because I want to be able to listen to something when I want to listen to it. Not through earbuds or headphones but through speakers that fill a room. And not through a subscription service that decides what's available to me at any given time. There's a peace of mind that comes with knowing that I have the music physically within reach. That's the best I can explain it. I have thousands of records and CDs (many of which I've burned to hard drives for instantaneous playing through Roon, the closest thing digital has to offer to the analog LP experience -- but I've still got the cases, booklets and artwork for most of them) and I know many of them by heart after a life of listening and collecting. So, I don't need to hear them constantly -- but if I only play a particular record once every five or ten or twenty years, that's fine. I know it's there when I want it, when I CRAVE it. I'm just fortunate to have been able to accumulate these discs, and I never forget what a privilege that is. But think about it this way: If you've set up shelves for 12-inch LPs, how much space does a record take up on that shelf? Maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch? That's a pretty economical use of space!
I was just trying to buy one of every Beatles album’s variations … a couple thousand LP’s later I’m sure I’m nowhere close. Give me another 50 years .😂🎸✌️
I enjoy Sirius XM quite a bit myself. I really like the Classic Rewind Top 100 channel. There's also a Queen channel right now, for a limited time. I'm listening through my browser on PC and I'm beginning to wonder whether a streamer would give me even better sound quality.
I agree wiyou Frank. Living in northern Alberta my summers are spent outside enjoying and maintaining my acreage. I have over 800 records, and alot don't get played but are there when I want to. I don't collect multiple pressings. I pretty much focus on buying new releases as I want to keep my collection up to date. Cheers
Hi Frank Tedious that it is, I'm in the process of listing all of my collection, LP's CD's on Discogs so if anything happens to me my wife will have some sort of idea what my collection is worth..... Plus a little tip most of my CD collection (2000+) has bar codes on them and I have purchased a USB bar code scanner from Amazon for £15/$25 - just hi light the search box and click. I'm about halfway through. As with the vinyl I make sure their cleaned and listed straightaway. I've just turned 60 this year and I'm not giving up yet collecting, still love the crate digging hunt...Great info as always Thanks
It's never to late to put your collection in Discogs...my sister introduced me to it and I joined in Feb 2020 and we have worked on and off putting my collection in there...almost 4000 titles on record and cd. It was a lot of work but we did it!
I just listen them all the time I'm home. Whenever I don't decide putting in CD. Why should having kid change that? Granted my boy is only yet a year old, (not going to play arch enemy etc... till his at sleep), he does seem to like the music😊
We have the opposite problem in Phoenix. The high heat from mid-June to mid-September keeps me inside except early in the morning. Outside usually becomes much easier to take in October.
Definitely more involved with collecting and listening in the cooler months Its probably just me but I noticed when I buy records in the summer months they tend to have warps to some degree
Regarding buying duplicates of your vinyl, it used to happen to me more in the past. I'd lose track of what I already had and go, "Hey, I like this band" and buy it, only to discover I had it already. I guess my taste's haven't changed over time. LOL Today with apps like Discogs, etc, it allows me to have in my pocket a live inventory what what I have, and what I want. My purchasing can now be more focused, spend my precious $$$ more efficiently and improve my collection.
It's funny... I remember in the days of video rental stores... a couple times I rented the same movie 2 or 3 times because I forgot I had rented it before, haha!
Yeah I had the same problem . Now I take a screen shot of the album I want and refer to it when digging so I don’t accidentally pick up one I already have 😎👌🎸
as far as that first question. i graduated high school in 1990 and i immediately started collecting Records and Action Figures. i spent the vast majority of my free time through the entire 90s going to record stores and show and looking through ads and sending want lists to stores all over the place, as well as a good chunk of the other free time toy hunting. BUT the whole reason i started collecting records in the first place was because i was into a lot of weird new wave and punk as well as into a lot of 50s and 60s music that at the time had not been released on CD yet and was out of print. and while i was going to all these record shows and stuff i was also seeing tons of old big hit mainstream albums in dollar bins and since i was collecting records anyway i bought that stuff to rather than buying new expensive CD's of it. but once the 2000s kicked in and Napster and the like started i basically stopped going to shows and buying records because i was able to start finding all that weird obscure stuff i wanted for free rather than spending years looking for some really rare over priced record. basically ever since then i keep digital rips of all my music on the computer and unless i am in my car i just always use my computer to listen to music, but also for the absolute life of me i have never once been able to ever listen to a record and think it sounded any better than a CD or cassette. i know all the audiophiles will swear up and down to eternity that records sound better and will tell me i must have just had shitty cheap equipment and maybe they are right, i just know it all sounds the same quality to me. even when i am at a friends house with a much better set up than i can afford. hell i would even say a lot of the time a songs sounds the absolute best to me is when it organically comes on the radio station in me car with its cheap factory system. i always go inside because i turned the car on in the middle of the song or have reached my destination and dont have time to finish the song, so i go inside and play the song and it never sounds as good as it did when i was just in the car not expecting it to play.
How many stamps do a stamp collector really use? It's a collection, and lots in the collection is there almost more for peace of mind knowing it is always there. I'm actually on the point where the next 5-10 years is just to set up for a comfortable old age, and then there is going to be a lot more use of the collection.
Ah. What is going to happen to my record collection when I'm gone? Well....my wife says that she is going to put them out on the curb. I told her, if she does that, I will come back and haunt her. I keep telling her that many are worth alot of money and I have everything inventoried on computer. This also includes how much I originally paid for them and how much their book values were when I added them to my inventory. Included are boxes and boxes full of sealed records which I have been collecting for years. Back when there were many online companies giving massive discounts, I would buy a 2nd copy to save and eventually sell. There are also people like Chad Kassem who will buy entire collections. My wife doesn't have to through them out with the trash. Now, I haven't gone to record shows for years now. They are overwhelming and just too many to look through. I used to buy alot of records online, like eBay, but it was very stressful. I was always worried if the 78's would survive shipping or if the seller's graded the records correctly. I had one Elvis 78 that the seller mailed it in one or those Priority Mail envelopes. Ofcourse it arrived in pieces. Many would just give me my money back, no question, and some didn't even want the record(s) back. I have been going through my LP and some of my 7" 45 collections, recording them as lossless .wav files to external hard drive(s). Having had one large external hard drive crash, and it took me over a year to recover them from back-up dual-layer DVD's(almost 100 wouldn't play back), I learned my lesson and save everything I do now to 2 other external hard drives. DVD's often didn't work out, and they took up alot of room(4 100 DVD stacks in the spindles they came in). I am about 1/3 of my LP's and had to stop doing that for awhile because I have been busy recording the new records I get before I inventory them and put them on shelves. Listening to my record collection? Well, the new records as I record them takes alot of my time, but the old ones on the shelves, seldom. Most of the records I play are because they come to mind and I want to hear them or to compare them. Then there is my quadraphonic record collection. I will play them on my quadraphonic system, sometimes comparing them to new so-called audiophile re-issues. Like with the recent Steely Dan audiophile re-issues, the quadraphonic versions usually win out(including playing them back as regular stereo. I have recorded all my CD's to hard drives(2,000 to 3,000 or so), so if someday I lost or sold them all, I've got them backed up. That's also the plan for my record collection. Streaming? I used to stream while I was on my computer. I'd usually go for oldies, but then they would throw in something out of the category. Besides, I have so many records and CD's recorded to hard drives that I could set up my own streaming channel(s). So, streaming is useless to me.
What's gonna happen to my record collection? I have a collection of over 1000 records (plus CD's and Cassettes). I have recored them in Discogs, but of course to get those prices you need to sell them over a long period, so they are largely irrelevant to my family selling them off when i'm gone. Solution: We have a hospice near us that has opened a shop selling vinyl, musical instruments and hifi. It is a busy shop and they ask appropriate prices for the items, so they are not just sold off for nothing. That's where mine will go, along with the my vintage hifi, and musical instruments😀 ....... and it's a weight off my mind!!
I’m 56 and I used to collect vinyls and CDs. Then there was a long period of not owning any of them. But when I decided to go back to ownership I had to think long and hard about it. Going vinyl route was no an option due to the fact that I have no space and time for it. I also ruled out CDs as they can take considerable amount of storage space. As a result I settled on digital collection + good quality DAP and earphones. This is primarily because I can listen to music while at work and during commute. If I like some artists I buy their music. Otherwise I stream what I do not want to own. Streaming can be tricky. With the vinyl you know what sound you can expect, but streaming can have different shades. Finding the right one may take some time and effort and surprisingly it doesn’t have to be expensive.
