Music Collection

securespark

securespark

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We are having lots of plastering and decorating done and while we're at it, we are going to sort out all our possessions. We have a large detached 5 bed house, but it has, for the last quarter of a century, been stuffed with too much gear. We came from 2 homes into 1 and never properly sorted out our stuff.

So, the question here is: we have between us a humongous collection of 45s and 33s, 7 and 12inch singles, CDs and cassettes.

Bearing in mind the huge space needed for storage of cassettes, LPs, CDs etc....

Do we:

1. Keep the collection and invest in the necessary hardware to play them and enjoy retro sounds, or

2. Bite the bullet, get rid and subscribe to a cloud music service, or

3. Get the whole shebang digitised and put on a flash drive, or

4. Download copies of all the songs.

What would you do?
 
securespark said:
We are having lots of plastering and decorating done and while we're at it, we are going to sort out all our possessions. We have a large detached 5 bed house, but it has, for the last quarter of a century, been stuffed with too much gear. We came from 2 homes into 1 and never properly sorted out our stuff.

So, the question here is: we have between us a humongous collection of 45s and 33s, 7 and 12inch singles, CDs and cassettes.

Bearing in mind the huge space needed for storage of cassettes, LPs, CDs etc....

Do we:

1. Keep the collection and invest in the necessary hardware to play them and enjoy retro sounds, or

2. Bite the bullet, get rid and subscribe to a cloud music service, or

3. Get the whole shebang digitised and put on a flash drive, or

4. Download copies of all the songs.

What would you do?
Click to expand...

That's a very emotional question. Some years back, I got rid of all my C90 cassettes, but kept CD's and LP's, then last year invested in a record player that I rarely use. Bottom line is I use the radio or my spotify subscription, but wouldn't want to lose the rest.
It does become clouded by emotion. There is no practical solution, well, there is, but that involves throwing out LP's you bought in your teens.
 
Thank you. I feel the same...emotional, but Mrs S is happy to chuck everything out and can't understand why I'm struggling with the decision.

I've got loads of cassette tapes recorded when I was at boarding school of the Top 40 on Sundays on R1.
 
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In 2010 i loaded up software to begin digitising my album collection and spent a happy year wandering along memory lane before selling most of 'em, taking more to the Red Cross shop in town and boxing up a select few that cannot be parted with for love nor money - like my copy of The Wall: battered, stained, ripped and writ upon, i could no more part with it than lose an eye. I'm down to about 200 albums now, maybe 50 singles and a box of mix tapes that's gathering dust in a spare room. Sometimes i'll play one of 'em but the effect takes me right back to the time it was made so only to be played with caution. It's like throwing away a piece of your self so choose wisely. Nothing evokes a memory quite like a piece of music.
 
Once things are digitised, you can keep listening to them.
However, if they are non-rarity recordings, you should be able to get them on download anyway.
CDs should be ripped, no question.

Like others have said, getting rid of them is not an easy task. I have got rid of all my tapes, and digitised those tracks I needed. Vinyl? Still got most, but I sold some at the last yard sale we had. Also digitised what I couldn't download. It was quite liberating, as many were quite excited by what they found. I rarely play vinyl, but there's some I will never part with (eg. my complete King Kurt collection).

Its an enjoyable task going through them.

CDs: I still buy sometimes, and rip them to the PC. Once transferred to listening devices, they go under the bed.

Some CDs rip very quietly (eg. my Pogues albums), so a normalising function maybe helpful.

I don't stream, as I have a music collection already, and buying new music from the artist benefits them more than a streaming service.
 
I prefer to listen to Joe's Garage on vinyl. I got used to the scratch on the 2nd side opener long ago.
 
There's a middle ground. Although easier said than done (decisions decisions decisions) keep the original vinyl of the ones you really like and/or value whether from a financial and/or sentimental pov. The rest, get rid, maybe digitising ones that were in your 'unsure' bundle just in case you want to listen to them at a later date.

But you have to be quite brutal with the process, otherwise there's little to no point.
 
securespark said:
500-600 between us.

We have two cupboards full, two boxes of cassettes, a CD tower and 2 large drawers full.
Click to expand...
And you want to get down to...what; one cupboard, one box and a drawer? If you start today you might get to that target by next year - if you're not doing anything else, that is. :cool:
 
Well, if we find somewhere that will put them all on a drive, we could get rid of the lot.
 
Cheers. Now looking for a company that will transfer the music to a digital format.
 
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