How many vinyl albums do you own you listen to?

~4000
When vinyl ended the first time, as well as a great deal of other classical vinyl, I bought many Decca and some other opera boxes, all used with 50s labels.  Mostly mint or VG++, it appears opera fans didn't listen very often.  I knew I had little interest in opera but these are wonderful performances by great artists most of whom have since left us, recorded and pressed by the premier company in the golden period.  Irresistable.  Many of them I have never heard.

I have been collecting vinyl since 1963, peaking in the 1980s/90s.  Now I often reprise the whole output of a particular artist or composer in chronological order, interspersed with a few other discs, usually ones I haven't played in decades.

TOO MANY LP’s: OMG. I’m SWAMPED.

And, I now realize: the idea of leaving the equipment and content to others has been made ridiculous by their preference for digital played thru nothing big or special. IF special, compact speakers, not big horns.

I certainly had too many (2,500) and now dealing with the 4,000 I just inherited, so around 6,500, WAY TOO MANY, THOUSANDS TOO MANY. (leaving a bit of extra space, around 90 lf).

Even if I sell/give away 3,500 that leaves me with 3,000, still WAY TOO MANY. I’ve got to keep less, especially since I have spent so much time upgrading the past year: TT; 3 Arms(MC,MM, Mono); /3 input SUT. mx110z with wonderful phono stage is now in rehab at Audio Classics (new gold plated input/output boards, YAY).

And, I now only listen to well recorded Mono (many, including 20’s, 30’s, 40’s are un-expectantly good), and Superior Sounding Stereo (many are not).

Mine were alphabetical (a few years ago, I fooled myself into believing I was done buying). Prior inheritances, my purchases, and many given to me when friends ditched them for CD. Many of those are not my taste, many of those are near mint, others, including some of mine beat to crap. I never bothered weeding mine, until now, to merge with the new ones.

I was already cleaning and selling individual LP’s on eBay to make room for new purchases (hard when alphabetized). (new rule: 1 in/2 out). Buying new to me and fresh copies of worn favorites.

First, (small interior garage of small split-level house) I had to buy 9 tall rolling shelving racks (5 to deal with our existing stuff) and 4 for the inherited lps (60 lf) (existing 30 lf). Happily they came with twenty 3 ft library shelves, maple with recessed metal tracks for movable dividers

Second I am FAST SORTING out of boxes to shelves: keep/sell/give away. Pretend they never existed, just decide: keepers go on the 3 easier to reach middle shelves; top and bottom shelves to go. Who needs 20 or more Louis Armstrong ...?

Third, have several friends over, one at a time, take anything they want. Anyone near Plainfield, NJ?

Fourth, have 4 nearby big buyers come here, make me a bulk offer for the top and bottom rows. They may also cherry-pick my keepers after that.

Fifth: Alphabetize Party: good weather, folding tables in driveway, lively music, beer, pizza.

Sixth: another fast weed, another bulk sale.

............................................

Exciting problem to have, and Donna’s behind me 100% as always.

I have 300 or so records of the 78 rpm variety.  I enjoy listening to them when I'm in the mood.  A great juxtaposition to the main rig.  Especially when I run across a track in 78 that I have on CD.   

It is interesting to learn from reading the other posts on this thread that most of us, or most of you, don’t own more than 1000 LPs. In my opinion, there really is a lot to be gained from having a large number of LPs. Because in that way you can occasionally enter a Time Machine and revisit different areas of your past life when this or that artist might have taken your fancy, and maybe now you forgot about that music. I really would not be happy with fewer than 1000 LPs at this late stage of my life. Maybe in fact 1500 is a minimum for me. A few years ago I inherited 900 LPs from my dearest audiophile friend who passed away at that time. I culled them from his 6000 LP collection. And I am fairly sure that his wife gave away the remainder after I took what I wanted. That is what put me up to the 2500 LP mark mentioned above. I truly enjoy listening to any of his 900 LPs. They’re all premium pressings in mint condition. It brings me closer to the days when he and I used to listen at his house on his system. 

Several months ago, I bought a pre-owned higher end turntable. I sold most of my records when I sold my last turntable a couple of years ago. I have around 250 records now, mostly reissues. I'm still working my way through the ones I bought recently. I have become a dedicated headphone listener and the CD format is just so easy. I'm even considering selling my Nakamichi cassette deck as I simply can't find the time to enjoy all the formats.