[Applerill]

Do any of you guys worry that, one day ten years from now, you'll have so much music that you won't know what to do with it?

Recently, as I've been approaching 500 albums in my collection, I've been wondering about this.

When I grow up, I want to be able to be a good steward of my time, and while I'm currently doing okay listening to my favorite albums every 4-6 months (listening to 2-3 albums a day on average), I'm gonna have to cut that down a good bit if I want to fulfill my goal of becoming a Harvard MBA five years from now.

I think that, if my collection's growth slows down a good bit, my current collection can be great, where I listen to most albums just once or twice a year. But if I keep on buying 2-3 albums a week like I have been the past year, I don't know what I'll do.

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I'm sorry if I'm rambling on annoyingly, and I'm sorry if I'm being a downer. But that brings me to my question: Do any of you guys worry about "music overload", where you have so many albums that you can't possibly listen to them all? If so, what do you guys do to solve that?

[Bork]

Sort of. I'm at some 4,000 albums and there are some I picked up but probably never listened to. Often I find myself not wanting to listen to a full album, so that is where categorizing and rating stuff becomes essential. That way I can choose to play random songs that I like (or random genres with just top-rated songs). I also put all four-star or higher songs into "channels" so I can just pick one after what I'm in the mood for, such as 70s Rock & Roll (which tends to roll a lot), or Rockin' Blues, or Truck Drivin' Country...and so on.

I am still buying some five records a week, but this way I can keep track of most of it.

[RFNAPLES]

I have an MBA and over 3000 CDs and have listened to each at least one time, most more frequently. The biggest problem is not time, but organized storage. Maybe when you get to 4000 CDs you will own CDs you have never heard. That would not occur in my situation, I never buy a CD that I haven't researched and previewed first. (I will admit that in my early days I did purchase some discount vinyl albums based artists and cover only, but I no longer own any vinyl, and learned my lesson.) I tend to listen to the entire CD and listen to tracks only on my computer or phone (don't use a dedicated MP3 player although I have a few, just more junk to carry).
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RFNAPLES
Bubbling Under The Top 100 Greatest Mus...y RFNAPLES

[cartoken]

[Bork]

[RFNAPLES]

Today I rarely go into one of the few remaining music stores. Instead, I purchase almost exclusively via the internet. But I do remember the days thumbing through the bins and the cutout sections. Guess I am more conservative/deliberate in my purchases than Bork. Didn't really mean to mock him though. Stores love impulse buyers and it is probably good for the overall economy.

I agree that you probably can't overload your brain listening to music. Sometimes I listen to music even when nothing is actually playing in the real world--just in my head! It's almost as pleasant and doesn't disturb the neighbors! Another benefit is you don’t have to put the CD away.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RFNAPLES
Bubbling Under The Top 100 Greatest Mus...y RFNAPLES

[Commuter Rock]

I realize that this is an old post, but it's really interesting to me. Don't slow down buying albums during your first 30 to 35 years... all of a sudden, and this happens to just about everyone, you will stop liking new music and will go back and enjoy all the greatest music that you've liked during your younger years. I'm in my late forties and had several thousand albums and CDs, and now MP3s. I plan to spend the next several decades listening to music from the mid-60s through the mid-90s and I'm pretty sure that I'll never run out. The albums or CDs that you're collecting now will become meaninful art to you. Sure, you won't listen to a lot of them, but the truly great ones will stand the test of time.
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Check out my album blog: http://commuterrock.wordpress.com

[HigherThanTheSun]

I think some people take this whole listening to music thing too seriously, almost as if it's a task, like you MUST listen to every new release or X amount of albums per week etc. Like it's a quest to listen to as many albums as possible, or every one ever made or something.

As long as you've got enough music to listen to and enjoy then you're fine. Sure I might be shown up for my ignorance on BEA but I can live with that.
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Shut up mate you're boring!

[pearljammer13]

Jeez my collection is only in the low 300's and I wonder the same thing. I have a bunch of albums I haven't listened to in forever just because I've been listening to so much new stuff. It's always great finding new music and constantly expanding your collection, but I do wish there was more time to listen to everything more often.

For me, if I get an album and really enjoy it, I usually immediately get every album by that particular artist. Depending on how large the artist's library is, this often keeps me occupied with one band for weeks at a time. I love listening to new bands and getting to know their whole library, but it frustrates me that I get so preoccupied and don't listen to older albums I love nearly as much as I would like. Just not enough hours in the day I guess...

[Chemical Smile]

I'm currently at 3,439 albums all on an external hard-drive. I've kept 50 or so of my favourite albums on cd, and had 20 other favourites on Vinyl. There are some albums i have that i've probably never listened to. I manage to listen to around 8 hours of music a day during the week (at work with headphones on), so it's great to have a large collection and being able to listen to whatever my mood feels like. The other thing i love is chucking the whole library on shuffle and seeing what comes up - i've discovered some great stuff that i forgot i had....oh yeah, and i'll always keep adding to the music library.
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"Bunch of opinionated, hipster twats!"