Music Fan or Collector?

[DrJ]

I think my opinions fall really close to RDK's. I am both a fan of the music and a collector. I listen carefully to everything I purchase. I feel GOOD about it!

To put it another way: I have NEVER regretted picking up a title when I had vacillated about whether to do so. By contrast, I have OFTEN regretted NOT picking up a title when I had the chance to do so but didn't, only to have the title then become scarce or flat out non-existant just when I am feeling ready to give it my full attention.

Edited September 26, 2003 by DrJ

[connoisseur series500]

Don't give anything away! Instead, stop buying anything for a specific period, say six months.

Excellent idea! I definitely think this is the way to go for me.

That LIFO idea is brilliant as well.

Great post!

[Jazzmoose]

I most definitely have the "collector gene", but I don't think it affects my music buying that much. I mean, it dawned on me pretty early in the game just how impossible it would be to find every recording out there (even assuming immortality!), and I've never been good at "specialist collecting". While my collecting attributes affected me at certain times in my jazz buying (particularly during my Lee Morgan phase!), I don't think it ever took control. I just don't have the loot or the time to go that way.

I'll save my collecting for other areas.

[king ubu]

I'm a huge fan, an enthusiast, actually, yet I have the collector's gene, too. Don't think one has to exclude the other.

My collection (long time since I counted them the last time, but maybe somewhere in between 3000 and 4000), is usually alphabetically ordered, but there are always a few piles of either new stuff, yet little known stuff and some things waiting for a new discovery.

The library aspect of my collection is something I do like.

I usually don't give things away, rather seldom upgrade what I have (unless it's Mosaics or other box sets).

Then, being young (and foolish ) I usually soak up as much (new) music as I can. And staying around here doesn't make things easier

I often though about a self-imposed buying stop, but it's usually just then that I find like 10 or 15 new CDs for so few $$ that I cannot resist... However, I leave for vacation soon, and those two weeks at least I will not buy anything as there will sure be no good music store around...

ubu

[king ubu]

Ahem, and yes, I do hunt down OOP stuff (but NOT on ebay - as a student, I cannot afford that), like, I tried to get as many 32jazz and Avenue/Bethlehem releases - and they were cheap, too. A great way to make discoveries. And BN recordings will be reissued periodically every 10 or 15 years, I think, so it's not so bad to miss one or the other.

And I do not indulge in Japanes stuff at all. That would simply be too much for me to handle!

ubu

[Dan Gould]

Some might look at my collection, particularly my hunt for things like Argo LPs, and label me a "collector" but in reality I definitely consider myself a fan. I think its the hunger for the "new" that leads me to find obscure labels or albums, because I have largely exhausted the catalogs of the "majors". But its not a compulsive need to buy or acquire, its the thrill of the "new" (though there is an element of appreciation for the "rare" which probably gives an extra kick. But its all meant to thrill the fan in me above all else).

As to the point of keeping "touch" with your collection, I have made a strong attempt to do just that, as for the last several months, I have systematically shuffled CDs to the office-I can't recall how many months exactly, but just this week I returned from vacation and I have just started the process over again. The first time through, I picked out CDs I hadn't heard in a while, and now this time, I am trying to remember which ones I skipped over last time and will try to pick others. Not as systematic as the LIFO system, but I am pleased to be rediscovering a lot of great music, and on top of that, I managed to take a couple of months to do the same thing with my vinyl. Heck, I've even stuffed my Car CD Case with pop/rock/blues discs, so it will be about three weeks before I return to jazz in the car.

In the meantime, if I can just get through the music I got for my birthday, I'll finally dive into the box of 58 burns I received in August, so in some ways the mad acquisitions continue

[Parkertown]

Hey, thanks everybody. It's good to know that I'm not alone.

I've just got to learn to appreciate what I've already got, instead of constantly being on the hunt.

I mean, how much have I absorbed that Keith Jarrett Live at the Blue Note 6 cd box? Or the Sun Bear Concerts 6 cd box. And I just HAD to have 'em...

I really enjoyed reading everyone's perspective and methods on this topic. Lots of food for thought.

But then, Red Trumpet said my Dylan box set shipped yesterday! Whoo Hoo!

Edited September 26, 2003 by Parkertown

[king ubu]

Have fun with your Dylan box...

----

Somehow, while hunting down (or just buy, not to exaggerate all the time) older or OOP stuff, it gets less important to have all new releases and new reissues.

I mean I often only get BN titles when I receive a mail telling me this and that is going to be continued - this also has a further positive aspect in that I don't have the whole catalogue at home and get bored and don't know what BN titles I could still get. Same goes for other big labels.

ubu

[doubleM]

I guess I'm some of both. I collect mostly jazz, but buy many other types of music. Maybe 5:1 . I am also a huge fan, and love to play jazz, play along with the cd or lp, etc.. Sometimes I get a little O.O.C., buying impulsively, and compulsively. This never seems to be inversely proportional to my enjoyment of the recordings though, even if it takes a week to get around to playing them. I think that the feeling of unrest that comes with wanting but not having a certain title or some artist's entire discography--is where it feels like "collecting". Buying just to buy (to me) is like self-medicating. I do that on occasion, too... but I'm working on it. At least I'm not into collecting sushi or something! IOW, I get something out of it that I'll enjoy for years, possibly decades.