The record collection/Itunes library discussion thread

[adypole]

I thought it would be nice to discuss and describe our record collections. What's your favourite album, what's your most expensive purchase, how many records do you have? Do you buy CD or Vinyll, or do you download? Do You own any collectibles or rarities?

My collection of CD's isn't too large at the moment, but it's always expanding. Currently, my Itunes library (compiled entirely of CD's which I have bought) contains 20 artists and 720 songs. 200 of these songs are Bob Dylan, and I own more of his albums than anyone else's (about 16, I think). My proudest records are Dylan's bootleg series 4 as well as Blood on the tracks, but above all Pink Floyd's 'The wall' (IMO the only perfect album to ever have been made) and 'Dark side of the moon'. The album I most regret buying was Santana's best of. It was a big let down due to all the 'guest' apearances. My collection spans between the years of 1965 (Dylan's bringing it all back home) and 2009 (No line on the horizon).

I intend on adding some Janis Joplin to my collection and my next purchase will be the classical artist Ludovico Einaudi's 'Nightbook.'

 

[HCL]

Well, my iTunes library has... as of right now, 14191 songs. 2097 of those being U2. I have all of Dylan's studio albums btw, which are around 40 albums.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

vinyl: 273 (62 7", 71 12", 140 lps)
cds: 344
cd singles: 33
total itunes library: 21,164 songs; 141.21 gb.

favourite album: it's difficult to say i have one favourite album. sometimes i even have trouble picking a favourite album for just that artist. so i'll just cop out and say i don't have one.

most expensive purchase: this is hard. i've bought so much stuff over the years, i don't remember what most of it cost. i bought a four pack of u2 singles for $100. i was young and stupid and didn't know their values, i probably could've bought them separately for much less. it was one of the first things i bought on ebay. i bought one of my favourite band's first singles which was ridiculously rare. if i could get their first single, it'd be the holy grail.

preferred format: in terms of music quality, vinyl's best of course. but it's definitely not portable, and converting to mp3 is such a pain i've never even bothered. (which sucks because i have a couple things on record never pressed on cd.) cd/mp3 is best. i'm not a huge audiophile though so the sound of mp3s don't bother me.

do i own any collectibles or rarities? yeah. well, if you're a fan of the stuff i like, that is. i've got some out-of-print cds that don't even show up on ebay most of the time, one of which is hand numbered and signed. i've also got some of my records signed by the artists, that's always nifty.

 

[Saracene]

I've got 861 CDs, not counting bits and bobs like singles and CDs that come free with music magazines and suchlike. Plus about 50+ downloaded songs, some from iTunes, some live songs from fan sites.

Favourite album: To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey. I don't have that many rarities/collectibles: I've got PJ Harvey's B-Sides collections from 1995, a special box set edition of Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, deluxe box set of Muse's The Resistance (which I think is also my most expensive purchase to date). I also try to get the special editions of the albums by the artists I like, i.e. with bonus discs and pretty packaging and booklets and all that.

Album that I regret buying the most: Hats Off To The Buskers by The View. I've had some dud purchases over the years but I could find no redeeming value whatsoever in this shitty, shitty album. It makes Be Here Now look like a masterpiece in comparison.

I'm interested in getting the new Karen Elson album and adding more Natacha Atlas to my collection.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

oh god, i don't know what album i regret buying the most. it's hard to tell because when i was younger, i sold a bunch of cds to a used store because i was trying to get some extra cash. i don't even remember what for anymore, but yeah. that in itself was a move because a couple of them i wish i had now. oh well. but the worst album would probably be something in that batch. possibly never mind the bullocks here's the sex pistols. i felt it was something i had to listen to since so many people i like claimed them as an influence. yeah, i'm not much of a punk person.

there's also tons of songs and albums i've bought off itunes. i couldn't even begin to make a count though because some were bought years ago on a pc so my itunes purchased playlist isn't totally accurate anymore.

 

[corianderstem]

I have 1,352 CDs. I don't store much on my computer and nothing stays in my iTunes, so that's pretty much my collection.

I won't shock you with my nerdiness by telling how many U2 bootlegs I have.

 

[Bono's shades]

I have 200-300 actual CDs, plus another 100 or so old cassette tapes (many of which I have transferred to CD), and a dozen albums and maybe 100 or so individual songs I've downloaded from iTunes or some other service like eMusic that I've also burned to CD (and thank goodness I did, because my computer crashed recently and I lost all the downloaded music I had stored there), and a dozen or so vinyl albums and singles (some of which I've also transferred to CD). I don't have any actual collectables - I love my 12-inch U2 vinyl singles from the '80s, but I've not sure they really count. Oh, I also have three U2 bootlegs (I know, only three, that's shocking).

My favorite album is The Joshua Tree.

 

[VintagePunk]

I've never done an exact count, but I have 300 - 400 albums on vinyl, 300 - 400 cds, had about 200 cassette tapes (got rid of them several months back - while I hate to get rid of any music, I also hate that format, and anything important in it I'd replaced in other formats), and the last time I checked a long time ago, I had around 12,000 mp3s. If I had to guess now, I'd say that's over double, so probably around 30,000, and only a handful are rips of what I already have on cd. Besides all that, I also have a decent, although far from complete U2 bootleg collection.

 

[Pearl]

I know I have over 200 CDs and about 50 CDs I made on my own.

As for iTunes, I currently have 3,024 songs, which are either from downloads or my CD collection.

 

[greenlight7-11]

I have around 240 CDs in my modest collection and I buy CDs exclusively, save for a few random b-sides and things that I buy as MP3s. My favorite album is Automatic For The People and R.E.M. have the highest number of albums in my collection, at 19. My tastes and interests are always kind of mutating and if I still had all of the music I've liked in the past, my collection would be twice as big.

I only have about 1,700 songs in my iTunes library, which are ripped from my CDs. I like to keep my library small so that I don't rely on it so heavily that I neglect my traditional practice of listening to full albums on CD on my stereo. I add full albums only if they're favorites and then add my top 5 tracks from the other albums.

I don't really bother with any rare or highly collectible music because I know I'll just end up selling it when I need money (or I can't afford it in the first place) or it'll get damaged somehow (I'm kind to my stuff, but shit happens). I am, however, a total sucker for reissues and 2 disc deluxe package type things would be about as close to that realm as I would get.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

0 vinyl, 1 CD single, 0 iTunes. Not sure how many CDs I have...will have to go through and count them all sometime. And I'd only be going by the ones I have here-there's still some packed away back in Colorado I've yet to get back. I'm sure it totals into the small hundreds, though. I've got two CD cases, one for all the CDs I own by specific artists, and another for all the mixes I've made or other people have made for me, as well as miscellaneous CDs.

My favorite album is probably the Finn Brothers' Everyone Is Here. It's one that becomes more and more relatable to me with each passing year, the songs on there really mean a lot to me. Most expensive purchase? I have no clue. I don't think I've ever spent THAT much on a CD. Regrettable one? Um, well, I don't have it anymore, no clue where it wandered off to, but I'd probably say a Britney Spears single I brought back during my teen years when I was into her music. I don't really "regret" it, per se, but I sure don't listen to it anymore, so...

Out of all the artists, I'd say the Finns definitely take the majority. I've got their studio albums or copies that friends sent me, and then a whole bunch of live stuff that I've bootlegged or that generous friends have shared. I fully intend on expanding my album collection as a whole-there's still artists I love that I've yet to get albums by, and then whole other genres and such that I should really start investing in. I just need to be rich for, like, a day, and I'll go CD crazy .

Angela

 

[Carek1230]

I have a big box of cassette tapes in my garage. I have 344 vinyl including some U2 vinyl. Included in this collection is a plain white album of unreleased Bob Dylan that's worth some money and my prized Woodstock album which was one of my first records.

I've got 2,888 songs in iTunes, not including my U2 or Holiday music collections. I have a separate hard drive with all my U2 on it which is nearly full and insured, inlcuding all their singles and albums, early stuff, bootlegs and all live shows through all tours up to the Portland show , Vertigo tour. I'm behind in adding to the collection and really need to work on that! I have no idea how many cds I currently have-I recently sold about 100 of them but if I had to take a guess I'd say at least 400.

It's difficult to say which is my favorite album, I'd feel comfortable saying Joshua Tree. I have all kinds of music but country and listen according to what suits my mood.

I change music on my iPod frequently and actually feel the U2 iPod is old and in need of replacement.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I only buy vinyl now and have essentially misplaced all the CDs I once bought, other than the Beatles reissues from last year and a couple others. At last count, I had 160 albums on vinyl.

iTunes though? Oh man...that's a different story. 20,800 songs, 1992 albums, 140.30GB, 58 days.

You know you have a problem when you could literally listen to your entire music collection for nearly two months straight without repeating a song...

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Nearly 20,000 songs in my iTunes/iPod library. I only collect albums/compilations, so an artist with a few killer songs isn't allowed in my library (I don't want to scroll through an extra 1,000 artists or whatever on my iPod that have like one song).

I'm a very picky listener and everything in my library is an album or collection that I consider to be great, rather than good. Most of the stuff I own on CD (purchased from about age 10-16) failed to make it into my current library. In a given year, I listen to about 170 new albums (mostly via critical acclaim) and keep about forty in my library, so just by extrapolation, I've definitely heard over 100,000 tracks in my relatively young lifetime.

This year has been kind of disappointing so far though....only twelve albums have managed to stay in my library. Plastic Beach is my favorite and the closest we may get to a new Blur album. My all time favorite album is Joshua Tree, favorite band is The Beatles, and favorite song is "Streets".



New idea - Shuffle 25 songs on your iPod or in iTunes library to give people an idea of what your collection is all about:

1. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pray Your Gods
2. Sufjan Stevens - Detroit
3. Buffalo Springfield - A Child's Claim To Fame
4. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
5. Mountain Goats - Magpie
6. Passengers - Theme From 'The Swan'
7. Replacements - Take Me Down To The Hospital
8. Hold Steady - Don't Let Me Explode
9. Bunny Wailer - Rasta Man
10. Rick Nelson - Lonesome Town
11. R.E.M. - 9-9
12. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder Version)
13. T-Bone Walker - Love Is A Gamble
14. Besnard Lakes - Land of Living Skies Pt. 1
15. Silver Jews - There Is A Place
16. Laura Nyro - Smile
17. Olivia Tremor Control - Green Typewriters
18. Sufjan Stevens - A Loverless Bed
19. Volcano Suns - Jak
20. Hold Steady - Hornets! Hornets!
21. Chuck Berry - Thirty days
22. Husker Du - I Apologize
23. Neko Case - Bought and Sold
24. Pink Floyd - Lucifer Sam
25. Dinosaur Jr. - Goin' Home

 

[adypole]

In that case:

1) Fly-Nick Drake (Bryter Layter)
2) Fourth Time Around-Bob Dylan (Bootleg serires 4)
3) Forever young-Bob Dylan (Planet waves)
4) I want you-Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde)
5) Cowgirl in the sand-Neil Young (Everybody knows thi is nowhere)
6) The Stolen Child-The Waterboy's (Fisherman's blues)
7) Just like a woman-Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde)
8) These dreams of you-Van Morrison
9) I lookes at you- The Doors (The Doors)
10) Backdoor man-The doors (In concert)
11) Ballad of a thin man-Bob Dylan (Highway 61 revisited)
12) The Leader-The Clash (Sandinista!)
13) Hey, That's no way to say goodbye-Leonard Cohen (Best of)
14) Saturday Night-U2 (Medium, rare and remastered)
15) With or wihout you (U218 singles)
16) Sympathy for the devil (The rolling stones)
17) Nobody's fault but mine- Led Zeppelin (Latter days, best of Led Zeppelin)
18) Rock and roll-Led Zeppelin (Early days, The best of led Zeppelin)
19) Which Will-Nick Drake (Pink Moon)
20) Changes- David Bowie (ChangesBowie)
21) Yesterday's papers- Rolling Sontes (Rolled Gold+)
22) Romance in Durango- Bob Dylan (Bootleg series 5)
23) If You ever go to houstan- Bob Dylan (Together through life)
24) Bargain-The who (Who's next)
25) Grow Old with me-John Lennon

_____________________________________

Therefore no Cat Stevens, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads,Arcade Fire, The Cure or Lou Reed turned up.

 

[IWasBored]

at one point, i thought the 12" reprint version of u2-3 was the coolest vinyl i've ever bought (which cost me 5 bucks from the random box o' crap i was going through at the now-gone store i used to go to all the time after school). now i'm thinking ebay?

eh. i've got a milk crate of vinyl, mainly 7" singles from various bands. kind of stopped buying vinyl once my brother decided my turntable wasn't moving out with me. about 800 or so cds i'd wager. ipod has a little over 20k songs on it--that's every cd, record, and tape that got ripped/converted plus bootlegs misc other songs i aqcuired when i had streaming audio recording capabilities and bittorrented shit. i bought a song off itunes once. still have about 20 or so albums on cassette, but my old-ass tape player finally shit the bed last year.