Why so much????

Speaking for myself, every month hundreds of new albums are released. While they might not be 'great', they're generally still worth spinning a few dozen times. For example, I recently purchased The Killers album Hot Fuss after seeing them at the ACL Fest. The music is ultimately derivative but it's still pretty good. Moreover, unlike the music it derives from I haven't heard it a hundred times. In some ways it's more interesting to listen to a B recording that you've only heard a few times than an A recording that you already know inside and out.

That said, I *know* that I have records or CD's that I'll probably never listen to again (these tend to be the albums that I'm almost embarassed to own). But what should I do with them? To me the two or three bucks that I might get for them isn't worth the opportunity to listen to the album forever.

So the collection continually grows.

To be completely honest, I probably have a collectors mentality as well otherwise I wouldn't be such a sucker for special issues and colored vinyl.

I don't think Ashra has asked unreasonable questions. If someone collects porcelan figurines and has all of their walls covered with shelves (each holding 100), any of us might think they are a bit crazy. The collector may even admit to that, and laugh about it. There may be collectors among us who are a bit crazy and have hundreds of Xmas albums they will never listen to. And so what? I don't think its unfair to ask questions about what is reasonable consumption. This is a world of finite resources that we live in, and everything has consequences. And we all have areas in which we feel our passion, or our necessity, dictates a level of consumption above the "average". It doesn't put us past the question though. And sometimes one might say - I love it so much, I just don't care. Some "collections" are just right for the level of passion, some are "amusing", and you can't say that some might just be overconsumptive. We make our choices. Not all of them are what's best for the world, but we decide on the balance that is right for us. Although I may have a bit more equipment than I need, I tend to live simply in other ways, and I don't feel bad about it. But I feel we should all be open to the question and be open to thinking about what is an appropriate level of social responsibility. We must make allowances for our passions! I don't think that means we are 100% consumers in ever area. That is the nature of "balance". Sorry for the rant!

I would have a lot more if it wasn't for this endless pit that's high-end.
As others have said, there's no limit to curiosity. The more things I find, the more I think "maybe there's still something else..."
The "mistakes" done are easily "sold" on ebay or amazon.
Einstein:
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

I'm one of those with a fairly large collection?
probably 1,500-2,000 LPS
300-500 cassettes
1,000-1,200 cds
Unfortunately, there have been times where I've been a collector, not a listener
I'm 62 years old so i've had a long time to make a fool of my self. Started collecting when in college. I probably frequently listen to less then 10% of these. Whether I'm crazy or not, i'll leave others to judge, but certainly neurotic/compulsive. I've started placing ads as i've reached a time in my life where there's too much clutter in the house and will be soon downsizing our living space.

If someone doesn't understand why you have a large music collection, then no explanation can make them understand. The answer is self-evident. Either you get it or you don't.