No new music for me in 2011

I'm thinking of making a resolution like this only not as strict. I won't buy any new music this year except for my birthday, anniversary, Father's Day and Christmas. The longest stretch will be between Father's Day and Christmas, but I think I can make it.

 

I have been scaling back on buying over the last 5 years, and been selling off all the dupes in the collection. I had too many old records that were replaced on CDs that sound just fine. And I may even sell off some CDs of the titles I have on finer vinyl pressings. I'm not sure, but it is fun to see thousands come into the paypal account, and not even miss any music from the sell-off. I have that big 1980 UK Harvest Box of Pink Floyd albums, WYWH and DSOTM in Quad, plus assorted color vinyl of certain albums, I could no longer justify owning Japanese pressings, nor any US pressings of these titles as well. Same with Beatles, you don't need more than a good UK blue box and some MFSLs..., maybe a Mono or two, oh and those colored vinyl UK EMIs from 1978. I dumped all my US and Japanese Beatles.

And a storage room below my apt. I went through it and sold off a bunch of that stuff, it was the junkers of the collection, and it fetched around $5,000 after tallying up the take.

I don't want to be 65 years old with more vinyl than anyone could ever deal with.

So I may be done buying vinyl for good. And just pick up the odd 5.1 SACD, or vault release here and there on CD. I have more than what I could ever listen to. It's time to enjoy what I have and spend money on other things. Besides the collection I do have, looks to me a lot more interesting than the used bins at Amoeba do. I have better condition on my shelves than the used stores offer.

I even leave my stereo off sometimes for a week so that the music sounds fresher and more vibrant when I do listen.

But as has been said, better to sell off this stuff while the market is still hot. Let someone else enjoy it while you pocket the profits of collecting.

 

i've been slowing down the past 2 or 3 years. I probably only bought 20 releases this year, which i think is acceptable. The main reason for me is that i wasn't taking the music in enough, with most things getting 1 or 2 plays only. This has changed and is giving me the chance to really get inside an album, like i used to. I have shelves for about 1200/1300 LP and 1000 Cd's and i'm keeping it at that. Having a cull when it gets beyond.

 

Thanks Neighbor

 

I do believe sticking to one format (the vinyl LP) for my enjoyment has definitely helped me. I decided in 2010 to get rid of duplicates of secondhand LPs with the exception of LPs that were hard to find. I have been so disappointed with the quality of most of the reissue labels that I have sold them all off with a few exceptions.

I found it very difficult to sell off the LPs but once I started it got easier, it allowed me to get my collection into shape (in other words off the floor).

I never though I would say this but I have been very 'disillusioned' with the sound of new releases on vinyl, they just don't have the 'magic' that got me to stick with vinyl in the first place. So rather than deciding to not buy any more vinyl it probably has been decided for me.

One thing never ceases to amaze is the amount of members who have loads of stuff that is still sealed and I ask myself WHY? Every single item I have bought has been opened and played for the enjoyment. If you can't get the enjoyment what's the point!

If I were you I would start'culling' the collection, getting it down to a manageable size, become much more selective, and stick to one format for a while.

Best of luck with your resolution!

JG

 

First thing I'd do if i was not going to buy any music in 2011 is make sure I never got on this forum again.

 

Yeah; I'd have to abandon this place to have any hope of meeting a "no music in 2011" goal.

 

Happy New Year from the UK. May this work well for you. Remember you may have to do it day by day or even hour by hour or minute by minute at times. You may find you enjoy listening to music this year more than you have done for some time. Lots of music to discover or rediscover in your collection. Should be more fulfilling than the short term high of removing the shrink and looking at the product. All the best!

 

Make "listening alone" into your new vice; that should discourage any further "help" from the family AND it'll give you something to do instead of buying music! Like you say, unless it's particularly limited, it'll still be around in 2012!

 

I have personally resolved not to take in any more oxygen. I've been doing it all my life but enough is enough. It'll be tough...but I think I can do that....

I'm sorry...I had to. Really, I wish you well but if you collect music anything like the way I do, you are in over your head on this one. I, too, think you're entitled to that vice. You aren't hurting anyone and it's a beautiful experience. I hope you'll re-think this one. I'm sure we'd all understand (your wife included) if you reneged on this one...

Ed

 

I have considered this notion a few times recently. In my case it is not something I want to do yet or feel would be beneficial at this point (as Matt W. mentioned the McCartney remasters are coming! ) but I do think that I CAN commit to spending a little more time with some of the CDs I haven't really listened to that much (and the 50 CDs or so that I haven't listened to at all yet.)

In some long ago thread here someone who I forgot mentioned the fact that they realized that, due to the limited time we have in this life thing, there were probably CDs in their collection they would never get around to listening to again. That was a really sobering thought and made me think about my own mortality in a way. I am 45 and have I would guess a couple of thousand CDs. There are probably some albums that I am just not going to get around to listening to again in the years that I have left. Some are just as well left unplayed, but I am sure that there are some albums that I actually like that I just won't get around to playing again ever. Who knows what it will be. Maybe XTC Go 2. Maybe Fairport Convention's House Full. Maybe Godley Creme's L. Who knows ... it could be anything. The thought just makes me a little sad.

There are also some artists that I know I "like" and bought up a lot of their albums but haven't had the time to listen to them as much as I want to. (A typical example for me are The Pernice Brothers.) I have also been recently trying to catch up on buying CDs by The Fall after getting exhausted by their release frequency and dropped out of following them in the early 90s so I have a lot of those to listen to.

I still remember the days from my childhood and even high school years when I would buy an album at most once a month (if that) and each album purchase was an "event" that I lived with for the weeks that followed - listening to the album and hopefully liking it or at least trying to like it (for some reason I bought a Leo Sayer album in 1978 ... that was a bad few weeks.)

So that is my goal - listen more to what I have already and make better acquaintanceships with some of my neglected CDs and possibly renew some old friendships with some things I haven't listened to in ages.

 

I have just ordered my first two CDs of the year off Amazon, by Space Opera and the Junior League Band. Who knows, this could be my last year on earth....why hold back.

 

cracked yet?

 

With a bunch of FYE's folding and a local used shop blowing out a second tier of CDs for a buck(picked up Amadeus ST,Carpenter Singles,Atomic Basic,a Verve Mercer comp,etc. for a buck each just yesterday)as well as Blockbuster and Borders demises probable in 2011,I could never make that resolution stick.I try to limit $10/week,but it's probably $20 with DVD purchases thrown in(damn those Big Lots $3 bins!),it's not gonna happen.And just when one thought that the out of reach album or B-side is never gonna become available,2010 saw an affordable Thelma Houston "Sunshower" and Paul Williams' "Someday Man" in my house,as well as Santa bringing me the Sinatra DVD box of TV.There are still a few goodies that need reissuing,and I have a job,so let's see what's next.Oh,complete five season boxset of Bullwinkle out next week?Now, if only it was close captioned....

 

Some of you people aren't being very helpful. It seems a bit like when someone tries to give up smoking and their smoking friends try and bait them back. Have a heart guys.

 

I went a calendar month once without buying something. February of course.

Don't think I can stop completely but I'll cut back. Maybe after today's classified day garage sale.

 

I ran across a dozen of these on sealed vinyl over this past summer for about $3 each.

 

So it's January, Happy New Year everybody, and for this month at least I am with prognastycator. That said I did send out 2010 with a bang, ordering in the last few days a couple of the Blue Note XRCD's, a couple of the Blue Note APO SACD's, and Steve's Nat King Cole SACD's. I figured if they were sold and shipped in December I was safe.

 

Not a resolution for me as I know I could not and would not want to live up to it.

 

Moderation is the key here, buying no music for a whole year? good luck with that one.

 

I have two,opened. One an ABC/Dunhill bought in the day and a budget Motown reissue. And an Ampex?Motown cassette.The new CD has the 45s from the era.Jimmy Webb found his muse with Ms. Houston.

 

The issue for me is that if I buy any more music, I have NOWHERE to put it. I'm already down to my last few spaces on my shelf system. Which means I am going to have to buy a new shelf system (this weekend).

Heck, I just bought a double disc Killers set and 'Ten' by Pearl Jam at Walmart on Thursday night. I'm squeezing those in right now. And I have a few more off the top of my head to purchase, and I just bought a bunch more discs online that are coming in the mail.

I did quit buying CDs for a long while earlier this year or last year due to budget concerns. It was pretty bad, as I'm addicted to music purchasing. Every time I drove past CD Warehouse my skin would start to tingle and I would literally have to force myself from pulling over and going inside.

Of course, I had to stay off sites like Amazon too (too easy to point and click).

 

Alright... 2/3rds of the way through my first music purchase free day in months. Hmmm. I wonder what's going on in the Classifieds?

 

You don't want to know.

 

Anyone fall off the wagon yet? I decided to start my resolution tomorrow since there were a few CDs I needed to get to fill some holes in the collection.