Show us your collection

[Glade]

A recent post got me rethinking an assumption I have long held, which is that among audio enthusiasts that my music collection was on the low side.

While there may be certain points of correlation among the size of a person’s music collection and the length of their time in the hobby, the amount of their income dedicated to audio, the breadth of their musical tastes, etc., I do not think of it as a litmus test of their relative dedication to audio or to music or of the relative authority of their opinions on audio or music.

For example, I would personally find it more relevant that someone with a more modest collection of 100 CDs/LPs listened to each of those recordings many times during the course of a year while another person with 1,000s of CDs/LPs rarely listened to any of them.

So out of curiosity, what is the size of other people’s collections, how often do they listen to the recordings in their collection and what criteria do they use when adding to their collection?

Unlike my DVD/LD collection (just over 1,200), which I partly view as a library to use in the entertainment of others, my CD collection primarily reflects my own personal taste in music (rock, funk, hip-hop, blues, reggae, classical (everything from piano-forte to opera), and jazz vocal). I buy recordings that either I know I will enjoy or that I think that I might enjoy. I always try to buy the best available recordings and performances but I will buy whatever is available if it is something that I want to hear.

At present, I own about 2,000 CDs. My confession, however, is that I rarely listen to the vast majority of them. Mood and lack of free time are probably the primary reasons but I tend to listen to the same handful of recordings while only occasionally rotating in other titles.

What about others?

[Bhagi Katbamna]

About 300DVDs(all seen once, don't repeat too much)
About 300LD(all seen once, sometimes repeated)
About 400CDs(most listened to more than 3 times)
About 150LPs(all listened to at least once, some Indian Classical LPs many repeats)

[audioguy]

600 LP'S
600 CD'S
400 DVD'S
1 CASSETT :>)

[Mr.Poindexter]

500 CD's
30 SACD/DVD-A discs
40 LPs
451 DVD's
45 D-Theater Tapes
160 Laserdiscs

[Kal Rubinson]

All numbers approximate:
2500 CDs
3000 LPs
800 SACDs/DVD-As
12 DVDs

Kal

[ABlakeG]

I am at:

1753 DVDs
2142 CDs
22 LDs

I was too young for vinyl (and don't have the time to invest now!)

Blake

[Mooneyass]

All numbers aproximate...

450 DVD's
20 SACD/DVD-A
450 CD's
50 HD-movies

Wes

[Mr.Poindexter]

Hey Wes, you and I are nearly tied!

[PeterS]

600+ DVDs
350+ LDs
750+ CDs
0 DVD-A or SACD

[Wireless]

512 DVDs
350 LPs
650 CDs
150 LDs
30 Dtheater

[oneobgyn]

Hmmm

According to Richie's personal standards none of us so far can be considered to be true audiophiles.

[Bugleboy]

1600 CDs/SACDs (I should be more organized)
20 feet of LPs
350+ DVDs

I listen to it all once a day.

[Ron Party]

Originally posted by Bugleboy
1600 CDs/SACDs (I should be more organized)
20 feet of LPs
350+ DVDs

I listen to it all once a day.

You're going Matrix on us. Send me one of your time machines.:)

----------------------------
Ron Party

[Bigus]

Hmm... never actually took an accurate count.

A little over 100 DVD's I think, a few hundred CD's, a scattering of DVD-A, and hundreds of hours of music I have personally performed (most on cassette, some in various digital formats). Does our sheet music collection count towards Richie boy's audiosnob definition?



I think Glade is right... it isn't the number of albums, but rather the amount of time spent listening to them and perhaps the level of variety in general that makes someone a lover of music (as opposed to a lover of technology, of owning CD's, of nostalgic LP's, etc.). Take my father as an example... he has 1000+ DVD's, 1000+ VHS tapes, and probably 1000+ combined that have never been opened. Perhaps 100 that he has actually taken the time to watch. Is he a videophile, or just a collector of movies?

[TheMadMilkman]

That I actually watch/listen to? I'd estimate...

50 CDs.
25 LPs.
100+ DVDs.

In terms of total collections, the number of CDs jumps to about 300. Most of that is crap that I either bought back in high school or acquired by getting married.

[Wireless]

Makes me realize I need to get out more as I have watched every movie and listened to every cd/LP at least once and most multiple times.

[markrubin]

600 Music CD's (in Escient Fireball E-120/Sony CD changer)

275 Movie DVD's (in Escient DVDM/Sony DVD changer)

40 DVD- A/SACD's

10 DVHS tapes

[PhilNYC]

1400 CDs (2000 if you include CDs stolen by a burglary in 1991)
150 DVDs

CDs were bought over the last 20 years, so many have not been listened to in recent times. Have a dozen or so that get heavy rotation during any particular month.

Some DVDs are still in their shrinkwrap. Others (like Elmo's Peter and the Wolf) have been viewed hundreds of times by my daughters (ages 3 and 1).

[mhafner]

Rough estimates:
- 3000 CDs
- 750 DVDs
- 60 DVD-A+SACD
- 20 LPs
- 20 MCs
- 300 HD Tapes
- 20 LDs
- 100 VHS (recorded from TV)
- 15 DV-CAM Tapes (home movies)
- 30 Super 8 (home movies)

[Krobar]

-700 ish CDs (Stored mainly in MP3 or APE on a server and some backed up to DVD-RAM)
-650 DVDs
-30 SACD/DVD-A/DTS-CD
-200 LD

What I love about the digital jukebox is random play and the availability of of all those cds instantly. I think I have listened to a wider range of my cds and listened more often since I transferred them to the "Jukebox".

[robena]

Roughly:

- 1200 LPs.
- 1000 LDs.
- 2280 DVDs bought, 1000 kept.
- 100 CDs, never really liked them.
- 1200 DVHS tapes.
- 5000 Blu Ray... estimated in 2008 :D

[Mr.Poindexter]

robena, you don't have at least 400 CDs? I guess you are a newbie... ;)

[Raul GS]

Rough Estimates:

1. 22 Music DVDs

2. 80 Animated DVDs

3. 850 Movie DVDs

4. 3,500 LPs

5. 250 CDs

[MAK]

I guess I am the really weird one in this group. Because at any given time I have never had more than 200 CDs in total. Over the last 25 years or so my taste has been evolving. There is music that I loved 10 years ago but can't bear any more. For instance I sold about 150 CDs from my collection about 7 years ago. I now have about 200 CDs again which I continually listen to

[Randybes]

1100 cd's
450 DVD's
1000 LPS
50 SACD & DVD-A

[Greg_R]

374 DVDs (linked below)
19 HD DVDs (recorded HD feeds)
5 WM9-HD DVDs
~350 CDs (listen to 1-2 albums a day, sell the discs I don't listen to anymore)
~100 tapes (gathering dust)

[John Kotches]

At last count:
~400 DVDs
~200 DVD-A
~200 SA-CD
~700 CD
~20 DTS CDs
10 D-VHS
3 WM9 HD-DVD
4 LP (I'm on them, so they have sentimental value)

Cheers,

[Randybes]

Originally posted by John Kotches
At last count:
~400 DVDs
~200 DVD-A
~200 SA-CD
~700 CD
~20 DTS CDs
10 D-VHS
3 WM9 HD-DVD
4 LP (I'm on them, so they have sentimental value)

Cheers,

John, Which LP's are you on?

[John Kotches]

Randy:

They're from college, and three of them weren't offered for for sale, they were concert performances of Wind Orchestra.

The one that was offered for sale, was
The Unknown Grainger / Crest Records / UCF Wind Ensemble (c) 1982 I think

This was captured digitally, I think it was with the 3M Soundstream format. I recall it used a Beta deck as mass storage.

Besides the incredible fun this was, the other memory I have is that I managed to tick the conductor off because my reed chirped during the coda of an otherwise spectacular take (dammit!)

So nothing that is well known, or that even sold a lot of copies :)

Cheers,

[Randybes]

I know you are close to St. Louis now (where I grew up)-where did you go to college? Well, those sound like good memories (at least now, maybe not the chirping at the time:) )

[John Kotches]

Randy,

That's what happens when you have a jazz saxophonist not getting enough playing time on clarinet ;)

University of Central Florida (where I grew up).

Cheers,

[Mooneyass]

Hey Mr. Poindexter,

We may almost be tied but I have a nicer system...... Ok, not so much... ;)

How are you liking the new setup?

Wes

[KWhite]

>1200 CDs all at 192kbps
>400 DVDs 8 drives
> 20 HD movies

All total takes up less than 1ft^3. :)

3TB and climbing

[robertawillisjr]

1000 lps
1000 cds
150 lds
100 dvds
120 dvds and sacd