CD Collection - What to do? Poll
 

I have over 700 CDs. The collection is starting to take up a little more space than is manageable (according to my wife). Couple questions:

1) Does anyone still buy CDs? If so what is your percentage of CDs vs. legal digital downloads?

2) What is the average collection out there?

3) Do you guys catalog your CDs with some software? If so, what would you recommend?

I honestly don't know how many CDs I have, but it's definitely over 2,000, and I do (much to my wife's chagrin) still buy them.

Yes I know I have a problem.

My wife hates my DVD collection more than my CD collection. I can digitally keep my music, so I can stash the CDs better... unfortunately I can't digitally keep the DVDs... anyway... I have somewhere between 500 and 600 CDs. I use the ones that aren't mainstream as risers on my DVD shelf... they are ripped to digital first. I think the best bet to sell them are the indy stores. They always buy used discs. Where are you? Good places in So. Cal. are Amoeba in Hollywood or Mad Platter in Riverside. Sounds Like in Riverside is ok, and Rhino Records in Montclair is good too. If you can go to Amoeba though... that is the best record store in existence (IMHO).

1. Oh yes. I do the Itunes but there's something about the tactility of the CD I like. I probably buy 50-60 CDs a year and download 4-6 albums perhaps

2. About 700 (constantly trading in old stuff for new stuff - at one point I had maybe 1000)

3. No but I really keep meaning to. Music Collector Ive downloaded a demo and it looks very good, but I just wince about the $40 price. But really not that bad considering:

http://www.collectorz.com/music/?fro...FQU6awodxnAlMw

Yes. Most of what I buy is on CD. I've got an emusic account, but I usually get things I'm mildly curious about there, and if I really wind up liking it, I'll eventually rebuy it on CD (usually used or at a discount if I can).

Average? Don't know. I'm at about 2400, but I've been collecting CDs for about 19 years now.

http://www.collectorz.com/ Great program that's supported well and has frequent bug fixes and improvements. Worth the money.

Also for storage: http://www.sauder.com/furniture/subcategory.asp?sc=16
(I've got two of these and various other smaller units)

Have about 350 in my closet. Same deal as everyone here, like having the cd/art/hard copy... I've been going thru them lately and traded in about 50...CD's are easier to part with if you still have the digital files in itunes... so I just keep the CD's I really like.

I still buy CD's all the time. I probably have over 2000, but i've never really bothered to count them. They are in alphabetical order though! I still download a ton of shit as well.

about 1400 CDs total, and I do catalogue them. microsoft excel is a very nice way to do it.

Yes, I still buy CD's every week. Get a lot of free ones via work, too. Between the two, I reckon it averages out to around 250 to 300 a year. As to percentage vs. downloads - well, I rarely, if ever download anything. I've used E-music once, as a free trail, and that was like 30 songs. So, in the averages of things I'd say it was along the lines of 99.8% CDs vs. .02 % downloading.

Couldn't say for sure, as I know mine certainly isn't average. I stopped keeping an official count somewhere after 6,000, or so. Just too much work to count them all now - although one of these days when I've got nothing better to do, I may just, to get a new 'exact' figure. And yes, I will freely admit it's an addiction, and has been for the last 20 years. (Before that, it was vinyl - I've still got over 2,000 pieces of that, too.) True, there are times I think that no one person needs to own this many CDs, but sometimes it's hard to part with them too. I got rid of around 1,000 one year to help finance my wedding, and it didn't even look like it made a dent in the collection. These days, though, I pretty much keep my collecting habit in check by only buying new stuff when I sell back or trade in my old stuff as used. This seems to keep my wife happy, as well.

Nope. Tried doing it once (used Excel), but there were just too many. These days, it's all in my head. Even with all those numbers, I can tell you what I have (or don't) & where it's stored in my collection. Hell, I could even tell you where and when I got just about every piece, too.

About 1200 CDs. I never buy albums digitally but I do download a song now and again.

I very occasionally buy a new CD, always the physical thing...maybe 6 disks a year, if that. Since I got my ipod I've enjoyed re-discovering my CD collection.
They *were* in alphabetical order in shelving, until we moved--twice. Now they're in boxes in the garage in pseudoalphabetical order.
I've probably got about 700 or so, like the OP.
What i would like to do is revisit my cassette collection and digitize some of them; they are in 4 big wooden slotted racks and 2 additional big bags (due to the aforementioned moves).

I got over 2,000 at least. I wish I had the time/energy to catalog them. I have bought duplicates by accident!

I'll take a CD over an mp3 any day.

I LOVE Rate Your Music...so much that i've donated to the site and sent submissions and corrections. I would call it the cd version of DVDSpot.

http://rateyourmusic.com/

My list: http://rateyourmusic.com/~danganet

I have well over a 1000 cd's.. i'm going to be moving next week, and i have no idea where i'm going to put them.. I don't want to sell them or trade them.. i'll be moving to a smaller place.. what to do, what to do?

i still buy cds, i own more than i download. my collection right now is around about 150 rap cds, 40 everything else

what i did tho was condence alot. i had maybe 200 more a year ago. but i have so many that i wasnt using them/buying a cd for only a few songs.

so maybe you should just download random shit and buy from artist you really want to support

wow! that's really cool! that just may be the type of site i am looking for.

I stopped buying new CDs a few years ago and just go for the iTunes. I do keep an eye on Ebay and if I see a cheap lot of cds I may pick them up, add to my pc, and then sell the CDs on Ebay.

That's what I use, but I only have around 500 CDs.

I still buy them if I like the album enough. As far as legal downloads, if I'm going to pay, I want the actual CD. :sarcasm:

If the price to download is the same or cheaper I'll download. I value my space, and the CDs would just sit there and collect dust.

I have about 1300 CDs. I would never download an inferior sounding digital copy of anything that is available on CD, though FLAC files would be the only thing I would consider if nothing else was available. Why pay for something that sounds less than what it could be and that you have to back up yourself? Anyway, I've not yet cataloged them as the task frightens me.

1. Yes I still buy CD's. I support the artists I love so they can continue. I download NOTHING. The only mp3's I have on my computer are a couple of songs that were never released here in North America and a couple of demos of a friends bands 2nd album. Even legal downloads i do not do as the sound is not as good and i would rather have the full package.

2. Over 2000 here. Not sure of the exact number.

3. I don't catalog my collection. I started to with an excel spreadsheet but gave that up a few years ago.

1. 100% CDs. Buying shitty mp3s is the lamest thing ever.

2. wow, no idea...has to be more than 300

3. No.

I still buy physical media - the sound of downloads is far worse than I can stand to listen to and I still love to have an actual object. Have no plans to stop or slow down any time soon.

I'm not sure how many CDs, specificallly, I have, but the whole collection (CDs, LPs, singles, music DVDs) is somewhere around 7000-8000 or so. I've got it all listed on Excel spreadsheets and it runs to about 130 or so pages. Makes it very easy to keep track of exactly which edition of which title I have, and which editions need to be upgraded as remastered or deluxe editions come out.

I still buy cds, never buy mp3s. The cds get put in a box under the stairs, after ripped to itunes. Someday, I will have enough space to put them out, but not right now.

100% CD's. I don't do downloads as the sound quality of my music matters to me.

I don't know, but I have nearly 1100 CDs.

As someone mentioned earlier www.collectorz.com. I have been a very happy customer for years. Constant upgrades and excellent support. :)

I definitely still buy CDs probably too many. I have only purchased 20 or so mp3s mostly since Amazon started selling them. Digital downloads I only get if it is exclusively digital or too hard/expensive to get the physical copy.

I wouldn't say my collection is average but I'm nearing 6600 CDs etc.

I use Excel for anything I preordered or want to get but for my collection I use Codeaero's Music Label. I tried Collectorz but I don't care that much for the UI even though I have settled on it for keeping track of my books. I have some of my collection at Rate Your Music under the name torso but haven't gotten around to added everything.

-wHH

I haven't bought a CD in years. ...

I've got right around 2200 CDs, I used to be a fanatic.

Nope, they sit up in my closet.

1) I have over 700 store-bought CDs. I occasionally purchase songs via iTunes, but I tend to buy albums much more.

2) Again, I've got over 700 store bought CDs, about 100-or-so burnt CDs from friends, and about 400 live bootlegs/demos that I've downloaded via torrenting, and burning onto CD.

3) I do, but very simply. I just type the albums I purchase into TextEdit, separated into categories (store bought, albums burnt from friends, bootlegs, etc.). My memory is good enough that I know what albums I have, without having to catalogue the UPC numbers and whatnot to prevent repurchasing an album by mistake.

Well, it's not necessarily about that. I've never re-bought an album by mistake either, but I do like keeping an accurate list of what I have, even if only for insurance purposes.

Plus, lists also contains info on which discs aren't first edition/country of origin pressings, which discs don't have booklets in mint condition or which discs have scuffed or incorrect (not matching country of production) jewel cases or trays, as I occasionally come across slightly better copies. I'll surely never have a collection consisting entirely of perfect copies of each title I want, but it's nice to have a checklist just to see that I'm getting closer.

Sell, and keep on mp3

Well i have about 500 cds in my collection, but since iTunes opened i have bought maybe a handful of CDs at the most. I got pissed off with buying albums that had maybe one or two songs that were good and the rest were terrible. I listen to an album first before i buy anything and then i just buy the songs i like. Unlike DVDs i just don't think they are value for money anymore and are still overpriced. At least when i buy a DVD i might get a lot of extra material.

I still buy CDs. you can often get new releases for less than what albums cost on iTunes.

I have a little over 1000 CDs.

I just use excel to keep track of the CDs. Not that difficult.

I've lost count of how many CD's I own (and they are everywhere in the house - my partner really really hates that). And I still buy them... I am also purchasing vinyl releases that are becoming commonplace, again. from the UK. I also buy the CD's (and the magazines) that accompany 'music' magazines.

I have a little over 1000 cds at last count.
I still buy them regularly. We (well, mostly I) have a big storage rack that takes up a wall of the office in our basement that I use for my drums. (i.e. the man room).

I don't do the download thing, either, for the same sound quality reasons.

I've been using just a simple MS Word file to keep the catalog organized, but I'm going to look into the Collectorz software. It sounds interesting.

I still buy CDs, as long as I want more than 1 or 2 songs. If it's just one or two songs, I grab them from iTunes, although I need to try the Amazon mp3 store.

I have somewhere around 700 CDs, but I haven't looked at the actual count in a long time. They are scattered across at least 3 shelves, and I'm running out of space again. I really need to pick up another spinning rack similar to what I use for DVDs.

I tried Collectorz, but I really hated the interface. When I got a MacBook a while ago, I found a collection of software at www.bruji.com that has apps for tracking DVDs, CDs, games, and books. I'm not as good about tracking the CDs as I am about the DVDs, but it's pretty close. Helped that the CD software asked to scan iTunes for the initial import, since almost all my CDs are in iTunes.