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The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collectors Items (What the hell should I do with my 1,000+ CDs?!?)
Images of me unpacking and resorting my CD collection in my new London flat.
For those of you who do not know, I have been on my own World Tour of sorts as of late. In 1996 I lived in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1998 I moved up to Boston, where I met my wife (at a Tom Petty concert: find out how here). In 2002 we moved from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In 2005, we made the big move around the globe to Sydney, Australia. This past September we relocated to London; ironically we now live on Sydney Street.
There are two things I have always traveled with no matter where I have rambled: my wife and my music collection. Arguably these are the two most important things in my life; I couldn't do without either. Funny though, I have had a longer relationship with my music collection than my wife (she and I have been together over 10 years). My wife is not the jealous type, nor should ever have reason to be: I am an extremely loyal and dedicated man. Which is why she shouldn't be surprised at my resistance to want to shed my vast collection of CDs.
My collection is 1,419 albums and box sets strong, consisting of both CDs and downloads. Recently I have converted back to vinyl (75 albums and growing) after decades of turning a deaf ear on their sonic brilliance. You can read through it all here in a live-list I created in a Google Doc: Judd's Juke Joint. I update this whenever I add to it. There is also a tab for my music related DVD material as well.
Before I go any further, let me say this: as far as I am concerned my collection is 99% fat free. While I do think that size matters, quality is of most importance.
As you can see in the spreadsheet I am in the process of highlighting which albums are physical CDs and which are downloaded bits and bytes. In my rough estimate, just under 1,110 of my collection is in CD format (including box sets). That is a quite a load to haul around the world with me. I am thinking of making a move that scares the shit out of me: junking all of my physical CDs.
I am entertaining this thought for a few reasons:
- The sheer volume of CDs is cumbersome to move (around the world or otherwise)
- The majority of the CDs are on my two Macbooks. One of which is dedicated to just play music wirelessly around my flat.
- Because of #2, I hardly ever go to pull a CD off the racks to play it...I do only if I haven't already ripped it to my laptop
- My taste for vinyl.
Why am I keeping all of these CDs? I don't know, really. Part of it is that it is tangible. I love seeing this tower of CDs everyday. A lot of work and play (and $$$) went into amassing this collection. Yes, I am emotionally attached to all of that polycarbonate plastic.
Conversely, I LOVE sifting through my vinyl collection and physically playing and flipping records...which is not easier nor is it more convenient. This of course, is because the sound and the experience from vinyl is worth the effort. The CD experience in comparison is shit. Having to get up and move across the floor to flip the record is exciting...I am actively participating in the music. Yes, I am now emotionally attached to all of that beautiful black lacquer.
So, what is poor music fan to do, 'cept to play some ol' rock and roll bands...899.html">heh heh.
Here is what I am thinking about doing if I decide to do anything at all:
- Rip my entire physical CD collection to hard drives. I would put as much on my Macbooks as I can and the rest, in its combined CD and download glory, would be stored on external drives. I would back it up to as many as necessary until I feel secure. I could keep two on hand, get a safe deposit book for one and send one to my parents in New Hampshire for extra safe keeping. And If all fails, I can bury one under a rock in Buxton, Maine for Red to dig up when he gets out of prison.
- I would then take all of the CD inserts/liner notes from each case and store them in a photo-album or something similar. This way I can have the info if I ever need it (this sounds like madness, doesn't it...).
- I could hook up my external drive to the computer and play everything and anything through my wireless network set up throughout my flat. This is also very convenient for mobile-music
- I would find some young, deserving music fans and donate my CD collection to them. I would divvy it up into assorted chunks so that the recipients would get a good mix of blues, soul, country, etc. If I do this, I might have to forgo keeping the CD inserts.
This would leave me with all digital files, vinyl and box sets (I would keep those in physical form). I think...think...I could live with that. But how would I buy music?
Let's use the last Bob Dylan album, "Together Through Life", as a test case. I bought that on vinyl and it came with a CD of the tunes sans CD packaging fanfare. This is best of both worlds: my preferred vinyl in 180 gram goodness and a CD to rip to my digital collection...and I get to give the CD to a deserving music fan/friend. If the album had come with a code for download that would have been just as good.
Anyhow, this is where I am at with my collection. I am not in a hurry to decide. All I know is that my collection will only grow. While I LOVE the thought that it will get out of hand, it could get physically unmanageable as I move from place to place.
Are any of you in the same situation? What are your thoughts? How have you/would you act on this...if at all? How do you buy your music? What are the holes in my potential plan?
Tune Tags
I chose "Sparks" by The Who as the tune tag for this post. This was the song playing in the movie Almost Famous when a young William Miller was flipping through the vinyl collection left to him (...to liberate him!) by his sister.
- Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom
