Are you addicted to buying music?

I used to be more compulsive, going to shop for music and buying based on impulse. Now I keep a smaller group of recordings, and focus on great records.

 

I have gathered more LP's, tapes and CD's than I care to count and my habit tends to be more buying-related as I can't drive past a thrift or record store without imagining that someone has just dropped off a juicy stack of classic rock they collected while stationed in Europe 40 years ago.... . I used to bring home anything that interested me but now that I measure my collection by the square foot, I have adopted prohibitions and placed limitations on my buying habits, the main one being that if I can't give it a quick clean and listen, then I can't bring it home. Over the last 10 years or so, I've left behind records with scratches, flaws or dirt that just tore me up and some particular Blue Notes still haunt me but I'm holding fast and maintaining a modicum of control so my answer to the poll is a qualified 'No'.

 

I used to be addicted and sometimes it was more about buying and owning than listening.

Now that the art of browsing in stores is gone I limit myself to streaming online via my Beats subscription. I find that a few listens to an album generally tides me over.

 

You need an AA meeting... Audiophiles Anonymous.

God grant me the serenity to accept the low dynamic range I can not change,
courage to search out the best mastering available,
and the equipment to discern the difference.

 

No. I'm addicted to good masterings.

 

No. I know I have enough music to last me the rest of my life but I also know that only a small percentage of it really turns me on. It's the search for more music that really turns me on the causes me to still buy more.

 

I have probably a few hundred albums on a mental list (I do makes notes on the computer and look back at them weeks later to find that I could multiply that, so many times over) and with all the very regular impulse buys, I would say so!

But I used to be a lot worse than this (yes, a LOT... believe me) and don't consider myself obsessed anymore - not that I ever did, of course.

 

I was at my local HMV a few weeks ago buying new music, when I get home there's a note on the kitchen table saying she's leaving me. And I thought wait...what? I was married?

 

Certainly not as much as I once was. I guess no.

 

Yikes

 

Starting last spring, I didn't buy a CD for more than six months because of financial constraints, so no obsession here.

Glad I'm now able to buy again though.

 

I think I am.Therefore I am...
But its definitely better for my teeth than my old one.

 

I was, I am and I will be

 

I'm not addicted to buying music. I'd be perfectly happy if I got it for free.

 

My need to buy music is not an addiction ... it is just a fact of life, I need to buy and, more importantly, need to listen to music in the same way I need oxygen.

 

Completely cured-

Can't listen to what I already have.

Took along time to accept this reality.

Boxed up a lot of discs.

Don't miss them at all.

 

Not anymore, but I'm definitely addicted to listening to it.

 

Yes and the only thing stopping me is money. I do think about what I can sell to get more.

 

I wish I could say -- like Reb above -- that I'm completely cured. I went on a binge this month after having been a very occasional buyer in the prior year. I did find that buying a single MP3 track gives me a "fix" and is a lot less expensive. I tend only to buy bottom of the barrel anyway -- the stuff selling for $1 or less on amazon marketplace. But a 99 cent or even better a 69 cent MP3 file gives me the satisfying feel of buying music with a lot less expense. But now I see those 5 CD Original Album Series sets for $9.99 at barnesandnoble! Yikes. Be still my beating heart...

 

Any hints on how to stop buying? Thanks (I mean it).

 

Yes, absolutely. My part time job doesn't make enough money so my music buying habit is taking a huge hit. Which sucks! Music is more important than anything in my life that isn't human. Music moves my soul, it's my heroin.

 

I may have had to think about my answer a few years back, but now, my collection has grown to the point that I am pretty much set for the rest of my life. I now have probably 90% or more of what I consider to be the essential stuff as part of my permanent collection. A good chunk of the other stuff is easily accessible on YouTube which is where I find myself spending more and more time.

I do still have a list of stuff that I still want, which is a mix of that 10% above and the few recent albums that I feel that I need, but...what I do is now is create now is link to those at Amazon.com and grab them when they are at their lowest price point. Part of the reason is, I have learned to be thrifty as I need to be saving more and more money now for eventual retirement, and , frankly, it's fun. I no longer have that "need to have it now" mentality that really used to drive me in the past.

So, I do think that I have my buying under control, at least, a lot better than I did in my youth.

But, I certainly ain't knocking my peers here.

There are far worse, far more dangerous, and far more unhealthy things that one could be spending their money on other than music ...

 

Yes. I'm in the acceptance stage.

 

I voted yes. Not as bad as in the past but I love to sample new music and sometimes get caught in the remaster/reissue thing.

 

Step 9!