A way to listen to a large collection

OP

That is EXACTLY the method I have been using for CD and vinyl for a while now although all of my CD are stored in my Vault2 as well.
Of course when streaming I still have to think unless I just hit a playlist and let it rip

rvpiano, an interesting approach. Somewhat similar to mine, but a tad more arbitrary I think.

 I too have a huge collection accumulated out of curiosity which has only rarely been purged of anything other than musical trash. (I don't own a recording of Wellington's victory, even on Telarc :-).

 I have 3 types of music: 1) Music that demands attention (where you have to sit and ' listen'!);  2) Music that is known and generally familiar, but not examined in detail, and where recording quality is important so it does not become a distraction and performance not so much. Excellent for reading which I do a lot; and, 3) plain old wallpaper music, such as movie themes, lots of easy listening jazz, pop vocals, etc.

So I let my activities and my mood determine my music.   Probably 80% of my listening  is to category 2.  10% to 'great' classical and 10% to less challenging stuff. I'm retired so I have more than enough time for critical listening, even to 'audio'. :-)

This is an enjoyable and worthwhile practice when I want to listen but just don't have a craving for any piece of music or musicans in particular.

+1 

I have for the most part abandoned my CD's.
Spotify, and to a lesser extent, Tidal (mostly due to their abysmal cataloging system), has exposed me to more composers I never knew of.
The 'Discover' tab usually offers something I would never have clicked on. 
Bob