4 ms·

Been buying records pretty much non-stop since 97. Aside from a few pictures, photos and gig ticket stubs, they're pretty much the only physical form of referen

Been buying records pretty much non-stop since 97. Aside from a few pictures, photos and gig ticket stubs, they're pretty much the only physical form of reference to my cultural interests I have from the last 25 years. This is probably anecdotal, but I can recall a huge amount of my collection pretty much instantly when someone asks me which records I have by artist X, or which records did I buy in 2019. I have the complete opposite for books I read on my Kindle - if someone asks me which books I read last year or who the author of the last book I read was then I find it a challenge to recall. The tangibility of physical media just seems to give me a better connection to the album, artist, label and songs. But yes, moving house is an absolute pain and it's a ridiculously expensive hobby.

function_seven 6y ago
> but I can recall a huge amount of my collection pretty much instantly when someone asks me which records I have by artist X, or which records did I buy in 2019. When I first started buying CDs, in 1992 or so, I kept them in the order purchased. By the time I went to college, I had about 150 albums on one long rack. No groupings by artist, or publish date, or genre, or anything like that. Just ordered by when I acquired them.* It was a strange system, but I was surprised how easily I could locate any of them, and I think you're right. The tangibility of it. Now I have probably 20 times as much music on my phone (plus access to everything else on Apple Music). And It's harder than ever to decide what I want to listen to. I strongly suspect I wouldn't have this issue if my entire library was physically in front of me. (* Things got muddy when I'd get 10 or 12 CDs at a time, by repeatedly joining Columbia House or BMG under new fake names. Those just grouped together in the rack in a random order within the subset)
- siquick 6y ago
  > Now I have probably 20 times as much music on my phone (plus access to everything else on Apple Music). And It's harder than ever to decide what I want to listen to. I strongly suspect I wouldn't have this issue if my entire library was physically in front of me. I got rid of Spotify a couple of months ago and started fresh with Tidal. I purposely haven't build a single playlist and just have a collection of 20/30 albums on rotation saved. I've found the whole thing really liberating - I was so reliant on the playlists that I'd built up on Spotify over the last decade and was pretty bored with my own taste. A lot of people I know rely on their Spotify playlists for music so much that if you put them in charge of the music at a party then they would barely be able to think of 5 songs off the top of their head.
- dzhiurgis 6y ago
  I've read on r/shortcuts today some people put NFC tags on their CD cases so they can listen them albums on phone because they like physically experience...
- crtasm 6y ago
  Makes sense to me, I do similar for music I download- remembering that I got an album approximately x months ago and it was definitely before I heard that EP I just scrolled past is often easier then recalling an artist's name.
soylentgraham 6y ago
Who's records (new music) were you buying in the early 2000's? Genuine question; I cant recall anyone selling releases on vinyl around then.
- siquick 6y ago
  If you look through Discogs [0] there were over 2.7m records released in the 00's - pretty much everything that's been released between 1950 and maybe 2010 was pressed to vinyl at some point. Now it's probably the opposite way around since the democratisation of music publishing. The tricky part is getting a copy because the pressings are usually fairly limited outside of the more mainstream stuff. Most of the music I was DJ'ing at the time (underground house and techno) was only available on vinyl to people who weren't friends with the producers who could burn you a CD copy. [0] https://www.discogs.com/search/?ev=em_rs&decade=2000 https://www.discogs.com/search/?ev=em_rs&decade=2000
- armadsen 6y ago
  Can't speak for the OP, but in the early 2000s, I was buying new-pressing indie, electronic, and some classic rock musicians (e.g. Neil Young) on vinyl. But mostly I was buying older used records, which at the time were cheap (they've gotten much more expensive around here). Some of the new pressings I bought back then go for a fair amount used now, because they were pressed in very limited quantities and there were way fewer people buying vinyl.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >I cant recall anyone selling releases on vinyl around then. I know that at least garage/psychedelic bands released on vinyl all the time then (and now and always).
- Xylakant 6y ago
  Can’t speak for the OP, but I have quite a few albums released in the ‘00 in my shelf. A limited edition pressing of portisheads “Third” (which came with a p-shaped USB-Stick with digital copies), Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, quite a bunch of electronic titles, some jazz. Vinyl hasn’t really gone away, but a lot of the pressings were not intended for the mass market. It was often for enthusiasts, heavy presssings, often with gorgeous full-size booklets that rivaled an art book. Colored vinyl or even prints. The Portishead Album comes with three disks in a box that’s about 5cm thick. I have prints from a small hamburg label that are wrapped in linen cloth and tied with a tarred rope (impractical as hell and smelled like harbor the first few years) So you’d not find LPs in the large chains back then, but it was always available in small record stores or on order.
danieldk 6y ago
This is probably anecdotal, but I can recall a huge amount of my collection pretty much instantly when someone asks me which records I have by artist X, or which records did I buy in 2019. I used to be the same, but then with CDs. I could still remember where I bought a particular album and the emotions first listening to it. I probably had ~1000 CDs. Of some single artists I had 50+ CDs (e.g. Frank Zappa and John Zorn). Two years ago I put an ad on a local site that someone could pick them up for free, except for stuff that is not on Spotify et al., like most John Zorn. To be honest, I haven't regretted it for a single moment. It became annoying every time we had to move (takes a few boxes and they are very heavy). It takes up a lot of space, in our previous house I had already put half of the CDs in the basement. I wanted to rip the albums in FLAC format, but always gave up after 40-50 albums, since it was so much work. Now it's one less thing to care about. I have pretty much every album in my pocket through Spotify. It's much easier and especially more affordable to discover new music. And if I want to 'connect' to an artist, I can go to a concert, buy a t-shirt, of subscribe to their mailing list.
tuatoru 6y ago
> it's a ridiculously expensive hobby. No it isn't. Sailing is ridiculously expensive. Competitive rally driving is ridiculously expensive. Buying your music in physical form is cheap as chips in comparison. Even if you're buying limited run LPs made by one of the few engineers who still know how to get the best out of the format.
- smabie 6y ago
  I mean, a good turntable and listening set up is going to set you back thousands at the minimum. I go the "budget" audiophile route and opt for a $600 pair of Grado headphones and a nice external DAC/Amp.
  - antfarm 6y ago
    A decent vintage turntable, e.g. Dual CS 505-3, costs about 300 Euros, add 100 for a new stylus and 200 for a phono preamp and you're ready to go.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    Ever price a sailboat? Tens of thousands is still entry level. The modifications done to cars run just as much if you do most of the work yourself.
  - coffeefirst 6y ago
    I’ve found it’s really a spend what you want hobby. I’ve got a turntable and powered speakers and it sounds great. You can build a setup with more features or more vintage equipment but that’s not actually necessary to enjoy it. And certainly not as a barrier to entry.
dijksterhuis 6y ago
> But yes, moving house is an absolute pain and it's a ridiculously expensive hobby I feel you. I have to reserve at least one day for packing up the collection whenever I move. But at least it's cheaper than a crack habit!

function_seven 6y ago

> but I can recall a huge amount of my collection pretty much instantly when someone asks me which records I have by artist X, or which records did I buy in 2019. When I first started buying CDs, in 1992 or so, I kept them in the order purchased. By the time I went to college, I had about 150 albums on one long rack. No groupings by artist, or publish date, or genre, or anything like that. Just ordered by when I acquired them.* It was a strange system, but I was surprised how easily I could locate any of them, and I think you're right. The tangibility of it. Now I have probably 20 times as much music on my phone (plus access to everything else on Apple Music). And It's harder than ever to decide what I want to listen to. I strongly suspect I wouldn't have this issue if my entire library was physically in front of me. (* Things got muddy when I'd get 10 or 12 CDs at a time, by repeatedly joining Columbia House or BMG under new fake names. Those just grouped together in the rack in a random order within the subset)

siquick 6y ago
> Now I have probably 20 times as much music on my phone (plus access to everything else on Apple Music). And It's harder than ever to decide what I want to listen to. I strongly suspect I wouldn't have this issue if my entire library was physically in front of me. I got rid of Spotify a couple of months ago and started fresh with Tidal. I purposely haven't build a single playlist and just have a collection of 20/30 albums on rotation saved. I've found the whole thing really liberating - I was so reliant on the playlists that I'd built up on Spotify over the last decade and was pretty bored with my own taste. A lot of people I know rely on their Spotify playlists for music so much that if you put them in charge of the music at a party then they would barely be able to think of 5 songs off the top of their head.
dzhiurgis 6y ago
I've read on r/shortcuts today some people put NFC tags on their CD cases so they can listen them albums on phone because they like physically experience...
crtasm 6y ago
Makes sense to me, I do similar for music I download- remembering that I got an album approximately x months ago and it was definitely before I heard that EP I just scrolled past is often easier then recalling an artist's name.

soylentgraham 6y ago

Who's records (new music) were you buying in the early 2000's? Genuine question; I cant recall anyone selling releases on vinyl around then.

siquick 6y ago
If you look through Discogs [0] there were over 2.7m records released in the 00's - pretty much everything that's been released between 1950 and maybe 2010 was pressed to vinyl at some point. Now it's probably the opposite way around since the democratisation of music publishing. The tricky part is getting a copy because the pressings are usually fairly limited outside of the more mainstream stuff. Most of the music I was DJ'ing at the time (underground house and techno) was only available on vinyl to people who weren't friends with the producers who could burn you a CD copy. [0] https://www.discogs.com/search/?ev=em_rs&decade=2000 https://www.discogs.com/search/?ev=em_rs&decade=2000
armadsen 6y ago
Can't speak for the OP, but in the early 2000s, I was buying new-pressing indie, electronic, and some classic rock musicians (e.g. Neil Young) on vinyl. But mostly I was buying older used records, which at the time were cheap (they've gotten much more expensive around here). Some of the new pressings I bought back then go for a fair amount used now, because they were pressed in very limited quantities and there were way fewer people buying vinyl.
coldtea 6y ago
>I cant recall anyone selling releases on vinyl around then. I know that at least garage/psychedelic bands released on vinyl all the time then (and now and always).
Xylakant 6y ago
Can’t speak for the OP, but I have quite a few albums released in the ‘00 in my shelf. A limited edition pressing of portisheads “Third” (which came with a p-shaped USB-Stick with digital copies), Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, quite a bunch of electronic titles, some jazz. Vinyl hasn’t really gone away, but a lot of the pressings were not intended for the mass market. It was often for enthusiasts, heavy presssings, often with gorgeous full-size booklets that rivaled an art book. Colored vinyl or even prints. The Portishead Album comes with three disks in a box that’s about 5cm thick. I have prints from a small hamburg label that are wrapped in linen cloth and tied with a tarred rope (impractical as hell and smelled like harbor the first few years) So you’d not find LPs in the large chains back then, but it was always available in small record stores or on order.

danieldk 6y ago

This is probably anecdotal, but I can recall a huge amount of my collection pretty much instantly when someone asks me which records I have by artist X, or which records did I buy in 2019. I used to be the same, but then with CDs. I could still remember where I bought a particular album and the emotions first listening to it. I probably had ~1000 CDs. Of some single artists I had 50+ CDs (e.g. Frank Zappa and John Zorn). Two years ago I put an ad on a local site that someone could pick them up for free, except for stuff that is not on Spotify et al., like most John Zorn. To be honest, I haven't regretted it for a single moment. It became annoying every time we had to move (takes a few boxes and they are very heavy). It takes up a lot of space, in our previous house I had already put half of the CDs in the basement. I wanted to rip the albums in FLAC format, but always gave up after 40-50 albums, since it was so much work. Now it's one less thing to care about. I have pretty much every album in my pocket through Spotify. It's much easier and especially more affordable to discover new music. And if I want to 'connect' to an artist, I can go to a concert, buy a t-shirt, of subscribe to their mailing list.

tuatoru 6y ago

> it's a ridiculously expensive hobby. No it isn't. Sailing is ridiculously expensive. Competitive rally driving is ridiculously expensive. Buying your music in physical form is cheap as chips in comparison. Even if you're buying limited run LPs made by one of the few engineers who still know how to get the best out of the format.

smabie 6y ago
I mean, a good turntable and listening set up is going to set you back thousands at the minimum. I go the "budget" audiophile route and opt for a $600 pair of Grado headphones and a nice external DAC/Amp.
- antfarm 6y ago
  A decent vintage turntable, e.g. Dual CS 505-3, costs about 300 Euros, add 100 for a new stylus and 200 for a phono preamp and you're ready to go.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Ever price a sailboat? Tens of thousands is still entry level. The modifications done to cars run just as much if you do most of the work yourself.
- coffeefirst 6y ago
  I’ve found it’s really a spend what you want hobby. I’ve got a turntable and powered speakers and it sounds great. You can build a setup with more features or more vintage equipment but that’s not actually necessary to enjoy it. And certainly not as a barrier to entry.

dijksterhuis 6y ago

> But yes, moving house is an absolute pain and it's a ridiculously expensive hobby I feel you. I have to reserve at least one day for packing up the collection whenever I move. But at least it's cheaper than a crack habit!