3 ms·

Music is very important to me, I listen to a ton of it, and I build up quite a collection. But then I get rid of the collection periodically. I don't want perma

by joemi 3y ago

Music is very important to me, I listen to a ton of it, and I build up quite a collection. But then I get rid of the collection periodically. I don't want permanence anymore. Tried it for decades, and I'm over it. There are drawbacks to any collection method, physical or digital, and at some point those drawbacks start to wear on me and I start to loathe the collection process. After enough loathing, I get rid of it. Or if transferring it between computers or apartments is more work than I'm willing to put in, I get rid of it. Sure I've had to buy the same album two or three times on occasion, but not nearly as often as you might suspect (especially now that streaming services are a part of my listening habits). I'm much happier now that I'm not meticulously collecting and worrying about backups and such. I have an ever growing MP3 collection which is mostly stuff from bandcamp (and other artist-friendly digital sellers) and some ripped CDs. But I don't back it up, and I won't transfer it to my next computer (though most of the digital purchases are re-downloadable, at least for now). I stopped completely with physical media after living in a few very small apartments, and since I no longer have a turntable or CD player (or a CD drive, for that matter). So I just do streaming services or local MP3s (not meticulously organized -- I can just search the HD). It's not perfect, but neither were all the other methods I've tried (which include many of the systems people have suggested in the comments here), and this is far less work for effectively the same result. If anyone's feeling collector-burnout, I highly recommend just getting rid of your collection (throw or give away, don't try to sell the sell-able stuff) and starting again simply.

jcpst 3y ago
This is worth it. I purged my collection years ago. All I kept were my top 3 or so favorite artists, which were too obscure to replace, and bands I did shared gigs with or played in, and a few of my favorite studio albums I recorded. I started collecting on bandcamp and it was really refreshing. I picked up a few albums I used to own, but maybe only 1-2% of my collection. I like how they show you music that was purchased by people who share some albums in their collection with you. I tried streaming for a few weeks. It didn’t feel right, like I was ripping off the artist. I’d rather support bands I like by buying their album. I’d have to stream them thousands of times to give the same level of support as an album purchase. But of course I’m just a hypocrite because I stream television. Then again, I never collected video.
an_aparallel 3y ago
i relate to this to the extreme - i go through this with digital files...digital collection fatigue is a thing - i just cannot keep up with the absolute barrage of new music coming out. There's so much talent, but the same same-ness of the majority (especially if you are attuned to the subtleties of production) is incredibly fatiguing. I've digitised my collection and sold off physicals, in no way would i ever delete the digital copies!!
- joemi 3y ago
  > I've digitised my collection and sold off physicals, in no way would i ever delete the digital copies!! That what I used to think too until a (not backed up) hard drive with my entire collection died. At first I was devastated, but then I came to accept that it wasn't that bad -- for the most part, all that music is still out there somewhere, so if I really wanted to hear it again, there was probably a way. Meanwhile I was still listening to and collecting new music anyway, so my collection grew again. At some point later I upgraded my computer, and I intentionally didn't bother transferring my digital collection. It was fine. It doesn't need to be forever. At least not for me.

by joemi 3y ago

jcpst 3y ago

This is worth it. I purged my collection years ago. All I kept were my top 3 or so favorite artists, which were too obscure to replace, and bands I did shared gigs with or played in, and a few of my favorite studio albums I recorded. I started collecting on bandcamp and it was really refreshing. I picked up a few albums I used to own, but maybe only 1-2% of my collection. I like how they show you music that was purchased by people who share some albums in their collection with you. I tried streaming for a few weeks. It didn’t feel right, like I was ripping off the artist. I’d rather support bands I like by buying their album. I’d have to stream them thousands of times to give the same level of support as an album purchase. But of course I’m just a hypocrite because I stream television. Then again, I never collected video.

an_aparallel 3y ago

i relate to this to the extreme - i go through this with digital files...digital collection fatigue is a thing - i just cannot keep up with the absolute barrage of new music coming out. There's so much talent, but the same same-ness of the majority (especially if you are attuned to the subtleties of production) is incredibly fatiguing. I've digitised my collection and sold off physicals, in no way would i ever delete the digital copies!!

joemi 3y ago
> I've digitised my collection and sold off physicals, in no way would i ever delete the digital copies!! That what I used to think too until a (not backed up) hard drive with my entire collection died. At first I was devastated, but then I came to accept that it wasn't that bad -- for the most part, all that music is still out there somewhere, so if I really wanted to hear it again, there was probably a way. Meanwhile I was still listening to and collecting new music anyway, so my collection grew again. At some point later I upgraded my computer, and I intentionally didn't bother transferring my digital collection. It was fine. It doesn't need to be forever. At least not for me.