Overwhelmed by the amount of music that exists?

It's only overwhelming insofar as it takes time to sort through all of the average to good music to find the stuff that's great.

 

Not really. If anything, I've come to accept that there isn't much time in the day anymore to sit down and listen to music. Sometimes I'll go a month or more without hearing an album in its entirety. And when there is free time it's nice to listen to a favorite or a newer discovery that's in rotation. Music for me used to be more about fidelity and pushing boundaries, etc, but now it's nice to just have a peaceful break and listen to anything at all.

 

Story of my life. I just try and tell myself I'll get to all of it someday. Yea right. I do need to slow down though. Yea right.

 

I acquire CDs probably faster on average than I listen to them, but I like how as I listen to more music and more types of music I get interested in things I never considered before

 

There was a time when it felt overwhelming but I've got my collection down to around 1500 CDs that still need to be listened to...might make it within the next 2 years...then I'll be able to listen to whatever I want without feeling like I wasted the purchase...

 

age has a lot to do with answering this question...I've listen to massive amounts of music and don't feel cheated at all.

 

by choice or design?

 

The question appears to be referring to recorded music as a whole, which would be overwhelming at least in terms of even thinking about listening to 'it" all. But if we are talking about one's own collection, no, I don't feel overwhelmed.

But I suppose I could if it were larger to some extent of significance. This in turn I think explains why I buy less of it. It's not that I am categorically uninterested in what can generally be called new music, although coincidentally or not I do find less of that that interests me even if I do try it out. Because I also buy less "older" music, even if I do still buy it.

For example I recently ordered 4 CD's. One was a Vince Gill album from about 5 years ago, a new purchase. My vinyl of The Ohio Players Fire somehow got warped to an unplayable condition rather quickly, so I got the cheap CD of that. I'd had Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason for decades on cassette, and no longer liked the sound quality, so I replaced that with a CD. And I backfilled Cream Live at the BBC, never having that before. So one fairly new, one backfill and two what amount to replacements.

But in general I listen to my overall collection without a lot of new purchases. I think if I had continued to make large scale purchases over the last several years I might well have been somewhat overwhelmed by what that would have done to my collection.

 

Nah.
I stopped worrying about "keeping up" with the newest/hippest/most underground/etc. stuff. Even if I concentrated just on stuff within my favorite genres or by my favorite bands, there's just too much and I don't have the time, the patience or the disposable income to keep my ear to the ground like I used to.

I like what I like, occasionally something new still comes across the radar that tickles my pickle, but I got out of that "OMG I HAVE to own every note ever recorded by every artist I've ever liked in every format ever!" mindset a long time ago.

 

Frankly, I rarely give it a thought... The fraction of music that constitutes my collection is what matters to me, and if I'm ever overwhelmed by it, it's because of the quality, not the quantity of it.

 

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of music I've bought that I can't find the time to listen to

 

I don't have any interest in nowadays music.

 

The amount of music is not overwhelming but the amount to purchase more albums is overwhelming.
I listen to all the albums I have purchased but I am focusing on quality of albums and not quantity. I am still accumulating albums and the space for my music is rapidly becoming overwhelming. What am I going to tell the wife?

 

Completely overwhelmed. My biggest problem is reissues/box sets. Back when there was at most one new box set I wanted every couple of months it was OK. I remember having the time to listen to the first Stones ABKCO vinyl box and the Dylan mono box. But now, they seem to be releasing a new box set every week, a couple dozen at the end of the year.

 

gotcha...

 

I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of music I own, but it has almost all been played. All the individual albums and singles have been played. It's the box sets that haven't been played throughout. A good amount of it hasn't been played enough though. I also don't listen to as much new music as I used to relatively recently. I feel that I don't want even more music to catch up on!

I still think having a large and diverse music collection is a joy though and it makes me happy, it's also got me through some hard times.

 

Actually, I found myself quite relieved when I realized that I finally hit that critical point where I didn't have every moment of every item in my collection memorized. It was even better once I got to the point where there were items in my collection that I'd never heard, or only heard once and filed away "to get back to later." Maybe 90% of the time I'm in the mood for something specific, and I have a few hundred albums/mix tapes that will do the job. The other 10% of the time, I can grab one of those forgotten CDs in my collection and maybe find a new favourite.

...and that's not even getting into those times when I stumble across a reference to some artist online and then spend the rest of the day checking out their material on YouTube...

In short, I'm actually sort of glad that I can never hope to hear even a tiny fraction of all the music that's out there.

 

This is exactly what I was about to say. They’re coming out with sets and reissues I can’t do without at an insane pace lately. Just recently, in addition to RSD 2018, I’ve found it impossible to resist:

Buffalo Springfield-What’s That Sound
ZZ Top- Cinco 2
Yes- The Steven Wilson Remix Box
Intervention’s Matthew Sweet reissues (Smithereens on the way too)
I know I’ll end up with the new Stones box and the new Village Green release too.

All wonderful stuff, but yes, overwhelming.

 

It's more overwhelming to realize that you haven't been open minded. How can someone really be overwhelmed when they've already filtered their options based on so many things that don't even have to do with music?

 

I can relate to this. There was also a time when I thought I was completely saturated with music to the point that I was incapable of enjoying it the way I once did. But I got over that, thankfully.

 

Yes, but it's a good problem to have.

 

Every album I've ever bought I've listened to once. It's the insane amount of boot downloads from the den and dime that I haven't heard all of.. I have a lot of albums I've bought that I've only played once though.

 

Yes, I’ve listened to every album I have at least once too. That’s how I decide what’s worth keeping. Some have since been on a shelf unplayed for decades. Some are filed alphabetically in storeroom boxes as doubles. I have a hard time parting with anything worth playing.

Funny thing is, now that my youngest daughter (12) has a turntable she loves digging through those storeroom boxes. It’s like a free trip to the record store. All the records cleaned in MoFi inner sleeves and hermetically sealed. Can you even imagine? If I ever felt overwhelmed and wondered why I keep all these pressings, watching her discover all this music and loving it is one answer. Maybe, just maybe, I’m not completely nuts after all.

 

Not exactly...I know what I like, and I already own most of it. What I do continue to buy are re-issues of stuff I already own, if the remastering or bonus material warrants it, so there always seems to be 10-20 items on my want list. Every once in a while there is a new release I will buy, but I'm not interested in many artists who are still recording.

 

Yes, but lucky me. I only enjoy maybe 0.00000000001% of it.