Time to weed the LPs.... (choosing stuff to dump)

inna,  Thank you.  It took more effort to construct the funeral music recording than the eulogy last Sunday.   My father loved music as much as I do but he became a successful businessman with great sweat equity (he lived to 94 physically very strong, working until he was 89). 

I have sold 18,000 records in the past 40 years.  I also have another 4,000 which I haven't heard yet.  I collect only to listen, not as some (well three) acquiantances who have/had 1 to 1.5 million LPs and don't listen.  If I don't potentially want to hear a recording 3 times annually, out it goes.  Some genres have such limited release/pressings that I will never part with them as they are nearly or are one of a kind recordings.  And, of course, my own recordings I won't part with.  Luckily, I'm 62 and fit so I hope to enjoy my music for decades to come.  

elizabeth, my collection is smaller than yours and I still feel the need to reduce it.  I think many of us end up with records we don't listen to because of duplicate copies, changing taste, finding it was not as good as expected when we bought it, disappointing sonics/damage, etc.

But moving can also be a real stimulant to examining what we want to keep.  I made a modest start on that some time ago but that move didn't happen.  Now I'm faced with a much greater likelihood of moving in the near future.  So that will be a real motivation.

Another point that younger collectors don't likely consider, what are the chances of having time to ever listen to all of our collection?  Even with about 3K LPs I'm old enough to admit I'll not likely ever play some of them again.  And my favorites certainly deserve more than only one more listen.  So I've set a goal to end up with around 1,500 LPs that I know I'll enjoy listening to.  That is still many hours of fun and enjoyment.

The Brazilian collector has purchased about 8 million records, many from the estates of major record dealers in the U.S.  He has a full time staff cataloging his collection.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Freitas
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/record-collector-zero-freitas-worlds-largest-vinyl-hoa...
 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-...

And finally, an interview with Freitas https://thevinylfactory.com/features/inside-the-worlds-biggest-record-collection-an-interview-with-z...   where is says
U.S. Americans have the cult of memory. So the estimation is that the percentage of digitalised music reaches the level of 80% of all works ever released there. In a country like Brazil, it does not reach 20%. I’d say it’s probably even less because this is just 20% of the mainstream commercial market and outside it it must be close to zero. I have thousands and thousands of records with gospel music that were not digitalised. Even the majors that are the most organised of the music labels have no idea of exactly how many records they have produced. The available information is very vague.

And this whereby I must be one of those crazy people:   I have no contact with other collectors. In general they are crazy people. I do not belong to a collectors’ club. I made friends with some, mainly through theatre, but I don’t talk to them about records and music, because they talk about it all day, and I find it kind of a sickness.  

Yep, I recognized that Air Force check-list as well. Good to be within your company here.  Certainly nothing wrong with a little Death Metal, soothes the senses.   Happy Listening!