Record collecting versus hoarding


At what point does "collecting" records become hoarding? Unless you are in the business of selling records either primarily or even secondarily, why do so many people here talk about having 2,3,4,6,10,000 records and CDs? It's not stamps or coins.

Let's say you listen to records 15 hours a week (a good estimate for me) that equates to about 750 hours a year or 1000 records a year. I like to listen to mine at least once every three months - I have 300 records and change. In the rare instance when I replace one for a better sounding one (I've done it maybe 4-5 times), I immediately sell the old one - with only one exception. The Sgt Pepper UHQR. I already had it on the Beatles Collection and do occasionally listen to it when I want a treat. It does sound better than the regular Mofi one, which sounds great to me.

Why would you have multiple copies of the same record and not just listen to the best sounding one and sell the rest?

Why would you want records you listen to less than once a year?

Maybe some people listen a lot more than me (and replace cartridges/styli pretty ofter or have a bunch of them)?

The reason I bring this up is because Acoustic Sounds is releasing Steely Dan's studio albums from the 1970s on their UHQR brand (not sure how they now own the name and not Mofi, but that is not the point), I am a huge fan and will be getting a few of these overpriced (IMHO) records, which will replace a few of my non-audiophile (except the Aja Mofi) records. I plan to sell the Aja Mofi immediately after getting the UHQR, which I am sure will sound much better. That is worth a few bucks, but the others I sell should be worth $10-15 in trade at a record store.

Anyone with records they play less than once a year or keep multiple pressings of a single album, please let me know your rationale.

Are you a hoarder? Too lazy to get rid of them? Like the way they decorate your room?

sokogear

I never counted them but I probably have about 500 titles. I still have the first CD I ever purchased, Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Mine is not a huge collection but I don't own anything I've ever regretted buying. Some titles are listened to frequently, others maybe every few years or so. My music is purchased and played because of a memory it invokes, or because I'm simply in the mood to hear that particular song or album. None of it will ever become obsolete to me. I'm currently working on an Oak "bookshelf" to hold my music and DVD's. Maybe I'll count everything once it's all on the new shelves.

I have a good friend who just paired his record collection down to 16xxx! The reason for him selling about 6xxx of his records is that he’s getting ready to move. 
I called him a hoarder once and I got the eye roll.

I already told him that I wasn’t going to help him schlep all those boxes of records!

 

 

 

 

I have 5,000+/- records. Just last night I played a record I bought in 1982,  for only the 3rd time. I only listen to it when I’ve made a major change in my system. It’s a Teldec pressing (Hamburg WG) of the digitally recorded RCA Red Seal Digital of Eduardo Mata’s Dallas Symphony Orchestra. A truly amazing recording/pressing that many carts can’t handle. When I first bought it, played it, I knew my college system wasn’t up to task. It reveals flaws/weaknesses.

The rest I play when I’m in the mood. Or, with 19 tables, I play what I want to hear with that arm/cart. Not all records sound good on the VPI Signature.

I would go nuts with only 300 records. I have to have variety!!

 

 

There are different vinyl collectors, the ones who go out and buy large collections just to amass a huge amount of records to tell you how many they got, I have a neighbor like that. And the ones who have collected vinyl for the last 50+ years one by one because they loved each and everyone of them. Of course, the ones who amass ungodly amounts of records probably have listened to only a small amount of them and could care less about their condition. As for the true vinyl music lover, he has probably cleaned and washed every single record in his collection, making sure they are at least VG+ or NM condition before they belong. I am proudly a part of the true vinyl collector camp, caring about every single album I own. Each has be fully washed and properly stored and I have listened to each album of my 2k+ album collection at least one time all the way through. Unless you do that, you are just a hoarder. 

 

The cure for hoarding records is streaming. .

 

Millions of songs with zero physical space. .

 

Happy