Pruning your physical music collection (CD, vinyl, etc.)... thoughts?

Guys, I recently read this Paste Magazine article by Maura J. and wanted to discuss a certain aspect of it in more detail (couldn't find an existing thread for this; if one exists please do point me in the right direction). I'm sure each of you with CD/vinyl collections have experienced the need/urge/desire to "prune" your collection at some point, right?

Maura's article puts it like this:

For most of my music-consuming life, my collection has had an imposing physical component. I crammed huge racks of CDs into tiny dorm rooms and slightly less-cramped apartments. I scoured furniture stores for storage units that had shelves more than 12 inches deep. And I agonized over what to cull when I needed space for less essential items, like clothing or food.

In the old days, pruning my record collection was an elaborate process that would start with struggling to squeeze an ill-fitting jewel case into an unyielding rack and end with a trip to the Princeton Record Exchange, where the "what do I get rid of now?" cycle would inevitably start anew thanks to the store's copious bargain racks.

That said, I just wanted to generally discuss this experience, and exchange thoughts. I've noted in previous threads that I steadfastly refuse to start downloading (paid or otherwise) and enjoy the process of carefully selecting what to buy, when to buy it; the sheer thrill and joy of finding a copy of something I've wanted for years to track down; etc.

Inevitably, all the buying also at some point leads to, "Hey, maybe I don't need/want/enjoy ______ as much as I thought I did when I previously brought it home," which then begins the collection pruning process.

A few questions I'd like to explore --

How often do you prune your record collection?

At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?

How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)

Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your life, but that you no longer listen to)?

Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?

How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?

Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?

At this point I'm happy to open the floor to your general thoughts, remembrances, eulogies to rare/out of print vinyl that you've sold in error or because you've needed to clear space or pay the rent, etc.

Let's discuss.

I find it very painful.

I wrote something on the subject not too long back.

Nice, thanks for the link, Alex.

Where I'd sooner part with certain vital organs than jettison any of my prized compact discs (and don't get me started on the vinyl)

So... do you sell anything? Or just not the really good stuff?

I mean, there are plenty of "prized" discs in my collection as well, but bordering on 3,000 or so CDs, I can hardly say each of them means the same to me. There are some I've played dozens of times and would never sell; but, others I've played once, part of the way through, or not at all, that I don't really treasure or even hold closely or in much regard.

I prune my collection every time I move; as I've been at the current place for five active years of music buying they've piled up a bit. Most I ever sold at once was about 600 cds when I left Baltimore. Literally didn't have room for them in the truck.

I've sold a pile of stuff... generally the discs wherein there's only a song or two that I like.

I just did this for the first time in about 5 years.

For the CDs, I didn't want to get too nostalgic so I went through and just pulled about 250-300 that I was comfortable parting with (leaving about 900 or so). Those met a combination of "I haven't listening to this in forever", "I can easily get this again if I really want to hear it again", and "I'm fine having this as mp3s." Most went to Waterloo and Cheapo, and then about 5 or 6 I thought I could get more than $10 for I sold on eBay. It felt great. I got a huge chunk of store credit at each store and immediately got stuff that I'd really really wanted.

For the vinyl, I sold about 25 or so lps/singles (of about 1800 or so still on the shelves) that were both "never really dug this" and "I can get at least $20 for this." Most of them were ones that I think were pretty overvalued on eBay, so that's where I sold those. Now I have a bunch of paypal money to just buy stuff when I want that doesn't affect my checking account. And lots more room on the shelves.

No regrets at all. I don't think I could even remember most of the CDs I'd sold en masse. And with a toddler in the house (and now three pets) its nice to have the room.

Most went to Waterloo and Cheapo

Ahh... my local stores. Maybe I'll run across something you sold, did you put anything good into those used CD racks? ;-)

Some relevant threads:

Maintaining a Digital Music Collection

The Data Migration Thread

Read, and have bookmarked, both of those. :-)

Late 2005, I was in a moderate money crunch and had time to spare, so I methodically put just about all my CDs up for sale on Amazon Marketplace. Did pretty well, about $6K in sales over the next 12 months as I recall. (Sold some books, too, but that's a tougher slog.) This was before the bottom really dropped out of the market -- I didn't bother listing anything that had comparable sales under $9 or so, which is kind of hysterical to think of now. I think I culled about 30% of my CDs, all of which I ripped to HD or burned copies of after selling/before shipping.

Ned, I know you must sell armfuls of promo CDs all the time... but I'm curious, do you prune your personal collection, the stuff you pick out and pay $$ for because you're a fan, not the stuff sent to you for free?

How often do you prune your record collection?
- several times a year

At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?
- when my Paypal account is approaching zero, and I'm running out of space on the shelves

How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)
- is it actually any good, even if I used to like it? Even if it's ok-not-great, will I ever play it again? Doea it make my shelf look more impressive by its mere presence? (this never happens tbh)

Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your life, but that you no longer listen to)?
- no, fuck it, space is more important

Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?
- Ebay, as I don't have to deal with being sneered at in the Music & Video Exchange. Anything unsold goes to the charity shop (or bin)

How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?
- sometimes, but I'd have more regrets if I'd kept everything. Having said that, WHYOHWHY did I sell the Metabolist LP 25 years ago??

Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?
- god no

I shifted everything to MP3 and got rid of about 80% of my music collection last time I moved. I just couldn't bear the logistical hassle of trying to house the myriad dusty, snapped and broken CD cases I was already hording and not listening to (now that everything was on HD). So for me it was more about what to keep rather than anything else. I pretty much gave most of my discs away (many many of them were copied, so filtering through them all and taking them to a music exchange in return for about £20 just didn't seem worthwhile. So I had friends just pop round and see what they wanted and I said "help yourselves". I got a few favours out of it, and I was pleased to see them go on to a better place.

The CDs I kept were things that were either rare, had sentimental value, nice packaging or had been given as presents. So I kept all my Pavement reissues, Beach Boys two-fers, Reggae boxsets etc. And gave the rest away in big plastic bags.

Ned, I know you must sell armfuls of promo CDs all the time...

Understatement of the year. This is however undergoing a very notable shift as more and more labels/PR folks switch to streams, downloads, etc. As I said years back, "How does one sell a used mp3?"

A very relevant piece from Randall Roberts a couple of years back:

http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-25/music/who-will-stop-the-music-industry-gravy-train-confessions-of-a-promo-junkie/

but I'm curious, do you prune your personal collection, the stuff you pick out and pay $$ for because you're a fan, not the stuff sent to you for free?

Well, this is why my long term plan has been donation to the radio station I used to work at, though friends have expressed interest in other parts of the collection as well, wouldn't mind making some scratch from that. I have sold off a variety of things over time and I've noticed inevitably that it's stuff I never bother going back and listening to anyway, even after I've ripped it.

The CDs I kept were things that were either rare, had sentimental value, nice packaging or had been given as presents. So I kept all my Pavement reissues, Beach Boys two-fers, Reggae boxsets etc. And gave the rest away in big plastic bags.

Kinda where I'm at -- those CDs I'm planning on keeping are currently held in a couple of racks in my closet.

just the once when i migrated from the north to the south of england.
i got rid of a bunch of vinyl that i never ever expected to want to hear again.
biggest fucking mistake ever.
so, now i have an creaking attic and a complete avoidance of estate agents.
for the mountain of one track promos that flooded into this place back in the glory days of distribution lists, the regret was negligible.
they were recycled on a regular basis. (some recycling depots have special bins for cds)
but the very thought of my pristine edition of 2* 12" drinking gasoline can reduce me to tears.
that pain runs deep.

> How often do you prune your record collection?

Annually, at the end of the year when I merge in the past years new acquisitions. I started this habit in college, when the idea of swapping 3 crap records for 1 good one was quite appealing.

> At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?

It's part and parcel of the above mentioned process. After I've pruned, I take my bag'o'CDs off to sell.

> How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)

Back in the day, when I HAD to buy CDs in order to hear the music, I built up quite a bit of research & development material that I decided I didn't want, so it was easy to pull out things that were deemed failures. Over time, those were all disposed of and of course now I don't have to buy CDs in order to preview them. So I've had to move on to the next tier of material, which is stuff that's disappointing but not necessarily a failure, stuff that is just not going to be played because there are better choices for that particular artist. E.g. Belly - King, Jesse Malin - Glitter In The Gutter, Beasts Of Bourbon - Little Animals, Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger. None of these are downright awful, but there's so much better work from each artist on my racks.

Similarly, there's plenty of stuff that I look at and simply can't remember, which isn't a good sign. Look, I've also got thousands of CDs, if something isn't memorable, why keep it? I've ripped about 90% of my collection - there's 400 or so left unripped, and I ripped in order of pleasure so these are the bottom 10% of my collection and probably should just be moved along. I try to get rid of between 50 and 100 pieces each year - I have finite space on my CD racks, it's all got to fit there ultimately.

I plan on ripping the rest of my vinyl (maybe 100 pieces) and my cassettes (mostly bootlegs) and disposing of those - I have no need for those formats anymore. I've been reluctant to sell stuff like my complete XTC 12" collection, though - I'd rather find a good home for them.

> Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your
> life, but that you no longer listen to)?

Yes, I've had to battle that feeling. Some years I can't bear to face it, others I'm hardcore and just push passed it. But even though I don't play my Depeche Mode CDs, and they don't mean as much to me as they did when I was a teenager, they're still worth keeping.

> Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?

I've sold a handful of items on eBay, things I knew would fetch decent coin. I used to drag everything to local stores in Boston but in the past 5 years they've gotten so picky that it's not worth it. I now drive a couple hours to a store near a friend of mine which takes everything all at once.

> How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?

I've sold tons of items over the years and only repurchased a handful. So, it's pretty rare. These days I rip everything before selling it, anyway, just to have that security. But it's never amounted to anything so far. I used to actually listen to everything I was going to sell first, but that put me in such a dour mood that I cut it down to previewing a few songs, but even that I can't be bothered to do anymore. Do I think that I may have been hasty in selling something that I barely remember? Maybe, but if I pull something out and it has either a negative connotation or nothing at all in my memory, it's gone without regret.

Additionally, in order to guard against this, when I do cull things I put them in a bag in my closet and they sit for a year, just to see if I'll miss them from my racks or find a reason to pull them out. I almost never do...

> Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?

Never.

How often do you prune your record collection?
-Fairly often. Every few weeks I'll bring a pile of old crap to trade in for new crap. Maybe twice a month on average.

At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?
-When I'm broke. This often happens just after rent gets paid and I'd rather turn a stack of LPs into lunch money for the week than risk drawing my checking account down lower. Also, my shelves are full and I have things piling up on the floor.

How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)
-I sell stuff I don't listen to as much, generally. Sometimes I'll sell something just to make space with the intent of 'upgrading' later on. Did this with a few later pressing Grateful Dead LPs; gotta wait for those sweet green labels on Aoxamoxa (diff mix on 'what's become of the baby') and Workingman's Dead. I like to buy private press LPs with intriguing covers. Most of the time they turn out to be shit so they get traded in quickly, but it's worth the net loss of a buck or two to chance finding something really killer. Sometimes I have records with duplicate material; this mostly happens with old-time/blues/country re-issues. There are some Charlie Poole comps I have that are probably totally unnecessary, but I'm too lazy to sit down and compare track lists & sound quality & decide which to keep.

Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell?
-Not generally. It took me a while to get over this, but I don't really hold on to stuff I don't listen to anymore. This means goodbye all those noise records I used to love in high school, goodbye crummy indie/punk.

Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?
-I generally trade records in at the store where I work. I get the best deal this way. If something is particularly expensive I'll put it on ebay but that almost never happens cuz I'm lazy. I'd like to trade stuff, too, ideally! Trading records with ILXors has been a great experience in the past year or two.

How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?
-Not often. There are things I've sold & bought back, though. I can't remember what off the top of my head.

Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?
-Not immediately, no.

all answers: no/never.

we once played poker with records as bet. dont do this btw.

> How often do you prune your record collection?

Pretty much constantly at the moment, unless I'm too busy - cash money and more space are two things that are always a problem :/

> How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)

Recent promos - just whatever I'm not feeling. Older stuff - if I don't see myself putting it on randomly in the near future I can prolly do without it, tho this is liable to exceptions

> Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your life, but that you no longer listen to)?

A little bit but I dunno if there are that many records I got as a teen that are infused with ~meaning~ for me because of nostalgia - if I still dig em it's because they still hold up

> Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?

eBay. Once I get round to selling what vinyl I want to get shot of I might try Discogs, but for all the recieved wisdom that no-one wants to buy CDs anymore, I'm consistently surprised that there are people out there that want to buy stuff I list

> How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?

Not v often at all... when I was like 17 I sold my copy of the first DRI album cos I just couldn't handle its craziness, but in later life I wised up and repurchased

> Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?

Nah

I have gotten rid of almost all my CDs and went digital after most of them were stolen years ago, but now have a mounting collection of local and friends music with unique packaging that I want to hold on to. My records, on the other hand, I have about 800 vinyls. At least 3/4 of these are in Good or Fair condition and about 1/3 of them are thrift store oddities, 60s lounge, cheesy 101 strings, etc. At some point this year I want to sell nearly the entire collection, but the thought of putting each one up on ebay is daunting. Has anyone had experience selling record collections as a lot?

wd sell it all if I cd be bothered, will probly just give it to my li'l bro at some point

I'm not getting rid of any of my records (unless it's stuff I just flat out don't want anymore/don't listen to) but will happily ditch all my CDs once I've figured out how to back everything up onto this hard drive I have. I've always hated the medium of CDs.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3607/empty.jpg

now I own two CDs, buy a lot digitally, and am waiting to see what happens w/r/t streaming music

I love CDs, I wish I had more of them, I say that as someone who prefers mp3. I "pruned" a number of times in the past fifteen years, needed the money and some of them fetched as much as $50 (USD), which is currently ridiculous. I feel bad about parting with those CDs - I also feel bad about selling things for more than $15 (USD).

Selling is a pain in the ass, you worry about it cracking during shipping no matter how well you pack it. I only sell if I need the money.

now I own two CDs

So which disc of Have One On Me did you sell back?

correction: i own four CDs

three of which are HOOM discs

fourth is a disc full of unicorn jpgs

How often do you prune your record collection?
Fairly regularly now - most times I buy something new and move CDs along the shelves to fit it in I spot something and think "I could probably do without that". The big clearout in earnest (which involved me actually starting to sell things on Amazon) started before a move at the beginning of last year.

At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?
I think a lot of times I just have a gut feeling that I'm not going to get anything more out of a particular record. A lot of things I bought on spec turned out not to be my sort of thing at all - this happens less now with the download-to-try/Spotify thing available.

How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)
See above really although I'd add that I'm more inclined to sell something if I've got other, better albums by the same person - I had three Dirty Three CDs at one point, I'm down to one now, I'm happy with that. There are also genres I used to be really into that I only ever dip into my absolute favourites now - particularly Dischord-type post-hardcore.

Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your life, but that you no longer listen to)?
I started off like this but have got less so. I have kept mp3s of a lot of it, just in case.

Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?
Amazon for me, it's pretty straightforward compared to eBay and it's not like I'm desperate to get rid of things quickly.

How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?
I re-listened to my mp3 copy of God's Son by Nas the other week and regretted giving the CD away, it was far better than I remembered. I think that's the only one though, which isn't bad out of 350+ albums.

Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?
Never immediately, actually I think the only album I've ever sold and bought back was Underworld's Second Toughest In The Infants and that was over a decade ago.

Que, 800 MB is not enough, i have three externals for that

that's what she said

still wouldn't let her take the externals

I've lived in 4 Canadian provinces and London, England in the past 6 years. That pretty much ended the idea of a physical music collection. It was a crash course in digital music. I've since sold about half my CD collection... though I still have a tendency to pick up vinyl at thrift shops etc.

It was a crash course in digital music.

ha... actually I've been pretty lucky in that regard.

How often do you prune your record collection?
Once a year. Spring Cleaning. Just did a batch. You get so little money for it, but the real estate is worth something.

At what point do you decide it's time to sell stuff?
When I start to run out of room, get embarrassed by the clunkers, and want some "free" cash.

How on earth do you choose *what* to sell?? (this is a big one...)
Duplicates are the first to go, though deciding which format to get rid of depends on pressings, condition, bonus tracks, etc. Next to take the hit are things that I never listen to, especially things bought on a whim--though exploratory buying happens a lot less now than in pre-Web days when you often had to buy something to check it out. And lame promos take a hit, too.

Are you nostalgic about what to keep/sell (e.g., will you sell music from your earlier years that meant something to you, or that you played consistently, at one point in your life, but that you no longer listen to)?
Sometimes. A corollary is that my standards for holding onto things from places I've lived, or by bands I know personally, are gentler.

Where do you sell your stuff (local record stores, Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else), and why?
Regular stuff at stores (I'm in NYC: good cds to Other Music, bad cds anywhere, vinyl to Academy), the occasional rare thing on Ebay. Though by now the rare stuff I've got is the rare stuff I want.

How often do you have regrets once you let go of the CDs/records you have sold?
I usually let the pile of discards sit a bit before hauling it to the stores, so there's time to retrieve things. I have more regrets about things I put in my college station's collection that I didn't appreciate at the time. Crash Course in Science 12", and so on.

Have you ever sold something, then bought it back immediately?
No. Though I did once buy a used copy of a compilation I released. Didn't have any left of my own, and it looked so forlorn in the bin...

As for everyone else here, the hard drive has made these decisions a bunch easier. Held on to so much over the years for archival purposes--the ability to refer to an obscure 1992 release while writing a review in 2005. But the mediocre stuff gets digitized, and the collection proper is better, and more manageable, for it.

Hard to get rid of run-of-the-mill indie cds at this point. Did OK with the punk, classic rock, jazz, and post-punk cds. Indie vinyl, too. But promo generic indie cds (Voxtrot, Sons and Daughters, Foals, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Rogue Wave, etc), not a dime for.

And this is a bit off-topic, but I can't get a line on this anywhere...anyone have a feel for the value of the Guided by Voices vinyl box set on Scat? You'd think there'd be one up on ebay, but no. Seems like those GBV-collector folk are a bit nuts, but I don't know how nuts. And they shouldn't get off too easy....

Amazon:

Box by Guided by Voices (Vinyl - 1995) - Box set
2 new from $174.99
1 used from $398.00

This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
4.6 out of 5 stars (9)

http://www.popsike.com/php/quicksearch.php?pagenum=3&searchtext=guided+by+voices+box+-sand&incldescr=¤cy=&sortord=&thumbs=

Yeah, thanks. Did see that...I guess it's the best guideline out there. though by definition an Amazon listing hasn't sold, so an ebay final number will always mean more. Maybe just throw it out there with a high reserve and see if any GBV crazies start a frenzy.

Michael, I bought my copy of the GBV box for $50.

Oh, the Popsike is very helpful. thanks.

re. CDs, i've pretty much sold everything that i don't really want, except for some things that are worth big money or might be worth big money (in my humble estimations). so it's a matter of occasionally finding a few things here and there i don't listen to at least a few times a year, or don't hold some personal value aside from this....

right now i tend to find a lot of stuff (CDs and vinyl) cheap that i can resell at a profit. surprisingly easy to do. i hold on to it until it sells. and the money i earn permits me to buy more stuff. i tend not to buy stuff that i wouldn't want to keep or hear--that just seems too weird to me. but if it's like, some reissue of african music that's worth $$, i'll buy it, keep it for a while, if it doesn't knock my socks off, i'll rip it to MP3 and sell it at a profit. i probably make $300–$900 a month on this stuff (in a really good month i can make $1,500).

all that said, my record collection (modest by ILX standards, maybe 600-700 LPs) needs pruning. this summer i'll probably pull out 100-200 LPs, put a few of 'em on ebay, sell the rest to reckless for a wad of cash and a few things i'd been coveting.

a lot of the "excess" vinyl is from lots i've bought. like, 20 LPs of caribbean folk music for $40. some i honestly will never listen to which is regrettable but, you know, life is short. but i'll pick out maybe four i really like and eventually sell the rest. maybe not necessarily at a profit but i won't lose too much money.

this all started like five years ago when i accidentally discovered a frank sinatra CD i had was worth like $200. then i got curious and realized i was sitting on a fair amount of stuff that was worth money. so i sold that, used some of the profit to buy stuff i wanted and some of it to buy stuff that i could sell at yet more profit. my record collecting is pretty much self-sustaining at this point.

I've prolly sold as much as I own -3000+ LPs- over 30 years, usually through straightforward poverty. Some big regrets now: TG 2nd annual report, Alien Soundtracks, Deceit spring to mind, but there's many more. I sell stuff I think I'll get money for, which means what remains is often what no one would buy, so the bottom few hundred of he collection are either unsellable because they're shit or for condition issues. I've gotten good recently at dumping stuff in charity shops, although it spoils the digging experience for me in that shop for a while.

I've never sold a CD because, a) I don't buy very many anyway -300-400? - and b) I can't really believe they're worth anything. If someone was to offer me a euro a throw for all of them I'd take it....

I've yet to purge any of my collection, even the embarrassing crap I bought when I was 15. More laziness on my part than anything.

Giving it all away wasn't as painful as I thought.

I am a robot tho.

i sold all my cds for rent/food $ several years ago. then kinda kept swapping things out when i was working for a music store (where it's so tempting to just pick up anything, given employee discount and 8 hours at a time looking at records/cds). never could be bothered to sift through my records because the stuff i want to get rid of ain't worth putting up on ebay. and i really don't want to haul this crap around and have a store reject 1/2 of em or whatever. i'll probably get around to it when i move next.

Once while moving I left a box filled with Prince bootlegs and 12"s in the old apartment...huge bummer