I recall there has been some discussion on "completism" before, and may have crossed over with this.
For those who buy physical media, do you get rid of stuff or tend to just.. keep it?
Has it changed in recent years?
Does this change effect on how careful you are buying something?
I recall one friend concluding he prefers to buy LP, for sake of re-sale value. Generic 2nd hand black metal cd would be worth very little, but LP could be at least half of what you paid for, sometimes even more valuable than it was when you bought it.
I don't really relate at all to this attitude as if music is "investment", financially speaking.
It appears as if 2nd hand market has changed rapidly.
It seems as if "golden age" of private individuals both buying and selling their collections was some years ago. Postage rates, censorship/restrictions, all sorts of technical nonsense was on level that you could basically send out items globally. Now in many countries postage rates are too high to really justify buying cheap LP or cheap CD. With shipping included, price becomes so near of top-wanted hot item, that selling items that aren't that wanted is probably difficult? And on other side, the price tags of wanted stuff seem to have barely any sense.
Ebay basically ended(?) when discogs was popularized. Also a lot of physical stores disappearing, and you could no longer drop your excess to be someone else's problem.
A lot of people I knew, were annoyed about discogs policy changes, and simply either removed their items for sale (myself included) and some restricted sales only to domestic sales.
How, where, one "cleans up" the collection from stuff that is not wanted anymore? Is it easier to just keep the stuff, even if you would not listen it - until there becomes problems with lack of space?
I usually tend to like what I take to my own collection, and it is very small % of what goes back into circulation. Advantage for me is running both physical store and mailorder, process of re-selling is as simple as putting items on shelves of store. There are some items that was being listened this year and felt like no point putting it back to my own shelves. Just put it in 2nd hand records of store. For a lot of people situation is far more difficult, and the most horrid stories I have been told, is the simplest and easiest solution of just... throwing stuff to dumpster. If there is merely ton of work and effort, throwing stuff away as means of making space suddenly is most realistic way of doing it, huh...
Everything too dusty i resell or trade after a while.
I recently went through my whole collection to see what I wanted to keep. Or rather what I'm still too emotionally attached to to be able to get rid of. Just set an arbitrary limit for myself: keep 4 shelves of LPs.
Tried selling off the rest by sending lists to some record stores but the price I was offered was so low that it took me a couple of weeks, or a month, to amount to that on Discogs and still have hundreds of records up for sale. But I'm just so tired of owning a bunch of shit.
Selling on eBay seems dead except for bootlegs or really rare/expensive records. And I hate that you can't sell boots on Discogs.
Can't see a reason to sell via eBay since mostly everybody uses Discogs to see what a fair price would be and then it's just easier to have the sale there as well.
Hated the Discogs shipping shit at first but after half-assedly setting it up I actually think it's ok. Even though I hate that they forced it upon everyone.
The obvious impact has also been that it's been harder to find bargains since most stores use Discogs to set their prices as well. So the only reason to buy records in stores would be that you didn't have to pay the shipping...
Hardest thing was to decide what to keep/sell. Especially in the conflicts when you decide to keep one record but sell another and compare the 2 records. For example I like 'Kuknacke' more that NMAs 'Impurity', but still the first one is in the selling bin.
Quitting the collecting is weird. Since I have a hard time convincing myself to buying digital releases. Even if it would only be to support the artist.
I for sure was more careful what I was picking up the last year of collecting. Maybe since it was a gradual thing, but also since I didn't want to have records just collecting dust. Either deciding after listening to it beforehand or by a recommendation of someone who's taste I trust. I don't know how many times I've picked up records at shows, listened to them 2-3 times and then just forgotten about them.
Never bought stuff for the re-sale value. Isn't that what the whole Record Store Day shit is about? Seems like a whole manifestation of the investment type of record collectors.
Has anyone in a larger city tried to have a private sale out of their garage, or on a table in front of their house, once a month etc, putting up a flyer at local record stores (or outside record stores ala the ol' telephone pole or hand out a flyer at a show or walk around a show with a flyer pinned to a backpack as a walking billboard) to sell their collection? If someone can run ads via social media when they have a garage sale, I wouldn't see a problem running a collection-focused garage sale. A pop-up store. It might take a little legwork at first, but I would assume you could quickly develop a local customer base if you ran periodic sales. Larger collections would be a hassle to try to sell all at once, so piecing it out would make it manageable. Or sell out of a car trunk at shows and get the word out before hand? Setting up a table at shows?
I never got rid of any item of my collection, altough I maybe should have. Until 3 years ago, I lived in a house with my then girlfriend and her parents, and I got a room in the cellar just for my own. I could listen to music and noise whenever I wanted and how loud I wanted. I now live in an apartement in a house with seven another roommates in other appartements. Right now I don't have the place for all my records and books, and it's becoming a bit of an annoying mess. But still, I like to have records in physical form, and not digital. Some of my friends don't really get this, their problem, I guess, at least for me.
I for sure have some records, that I could sell for really high price, but that's not something I'm interested in. I like to listen to them, whenever I have the feel that I want to. There's no amount someone could ever pay me for a record that's absolutely important for me on a very personal level. And there are a lot...
Sorry for bad English and bit of exaggeration.
But I would be glad to read other thoughts on the theme.
I go through my collection about once a year. Mostly to check if any records need to be replaced by better copies or original pressings, etc. I filtered my collection a few years ago to get rid of the stuff I really do not like but sometimes I still see a record that annoys somehow and I put it up for sale or give it to a friend. The sleeve usually make the difference; an ugly sleeve and mediocre music is worse than the other way around in my world. I'm mainly a collector of 7"s (about 3500 in the collection right now). Had new shelves custom made last year with room for about 1000 more so lack of space is not an issue. This makes it easier to decide keeping all of them. I also have a few shelves of LP's and 2 closets full of cd's. I go through them also sometimes, mainly to check if any jewel cases need to be replaced.
I collect tapes basically. It's 2 years now that i always say i ll start selling some in batches but still i dont do ! I have thought about it, why, and how my approach will be. That there are no taboo / fetish items and that -almost- everything has its price, though i wont do it "Here is my collection. Make offers for anything" but with small 'balanced' batches of stuff. Balance of stuff i care or not, rare or not, etc. Reason for this is not to save space, neither to make money, but to refund new purchases. Recycling. If i cant get something 'equally' good, then i am gladly staying with these i have. - I also support the idea of rare stuff changes hands after some reasonable time. After all, if you dont let yours go, how you expect others to let theirs ?
But something stops me. For some reason i cant let stuff go without 'keeping' its audio first. And it's not only for releases i like i feel this way. Pretty much for everything ! Since starting to digitize tapes systematicaly is time consuming and i am boring to do, my selling plans are always postponed for the future. Meanwhile if i see anyone looking for a release i have, i discuss it.
actualy that brings the question, how do you all have the time to listen to the stuff several times?
Quote from: Goat93 on September 06, 2021, 11:29:17 AM
actualy that brings the question, how do you all have the time to listen to the stuff several times?
I listen to everything minimum two times (often 3-4) in the beginning before I add it to the collection. A few records I already put on sale after these initial listening rounds. When I am on the move (traveling, hiking, at the gym) I always listen to a selection of older stuff. There are records in my collection that I have not listened to for more than 10 years but I am not in a hurry. Usually I pick records to listen if they fall into one of these 3 criteria:
1) It is something great I feel like listening to at that moment.
2) It is something I have not listened to a long time.
3) It is something I think I might not get a huge kick from anymore and could possibly get rid of.
The third one is a good way to keep my collection not just an archive of records I have bought during the years but a collection of records that have some importance to me. I used to keep albums that had one or two great songs but the rest nothing special but nowadays I tend to get rid of those as well. Same with splits with one good side and one bad. If the good side is especially fantastic then I might have to rethink my strategy :)
I'm a hoarder- I keep everything... although I've slowed down the rate of acquisition
I´m actually in that phase of "cleaning/trimming" of my collection, basically because I went through different phases in my life, where I used to compulsively buy all the new releases of this or that genre and focus myself only on that genre (including noise / industrial), and after a while slowly experiencing a lack of interest which brought me to accumulate lots of stuff which I didn´t really listen that much (due to slow or temporary lack of interest or to time) but I still used to keep.
Now I realized that I don´t have that much time to listen to all the stuff I don´t know and I decided to purchase less and also cut some stuff in my collection. Is hard to go through the lower or higher attachment one can have to every single item in its collection, it´s not very automatic for me and sometimes I need a bit and some repeated listen before deciding I really want to get rid of that item. But it´s also extremely satisfying to resell some stuff you purchased just "on the rush of the moment" for some (sometimes a lot) money and re-finance your new acquisitions in that way.
For a long time I basically wanted to have as large a collection as possible, so I bought a lot of stuff. Then, some years ago my attitude started to change as I realised that a) I actually don't like that much music (both in terms of genres and musicians/bands) and b) I don't have that much time to listen to music (since I only listen to music on my hi-fi and don't work from home). So for a while now I've been buying less: I think carefully before any potential purchase and also listen to samples or the whole release in advance, and more often than not I come to the conclusion that I don't need the given release.
I'm also halfway through trimming my collection. I've gone through my CDs and tapes and have quite significantly reduced their quantity. I took items I wasn't sure about keeping and listened to them to see if I still needed them. The answer mostly turned out to be no. Most of the stuff I purged I actually didn't mind listening to, but they were either not outstanding or I was no longer interested in that genre, so there was no point in keeping them. I still have my vinyl collection to trim, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of releases I won't be needing any more.
So my aim for a while now has been to have a collection that's fairly small but consists of quality items. The goal is for it to be a size where I can listen to everything with reasonable frequency. I think after thinning my vinyls, my collection will comprise around 1000 items. It'll keep growing, but slowly. Of course, maybe even 1000 items will prove too many, but we'll see.
I have a friend who probably has around 6500-7000 items in his collection, and he keeps buying stuff like there's no tomorrow. I basically used to be like him, but now I consider collecting like that a pointless waste of money and space, just collecting for the sake of it: you simply can't listen to that many releases (at least I can't, and neither can he), and I don't like that much music to the extent that I'd be willing to spend money on it anyway.
As for the stuff I no longer want to keep, I put it up for sale on Discogs. Luckily the mandatory shipping policies were surprisingly easy to set up for my country. I realise there are a couple hundred releases I will only be able to sell over a long period of time and a lot of it I'll actually never sell, but I have no other options besides Discogs.
I've never bought anything with a resale value in mind. That has never even crossed my mind.
I'm not especially collector minded. I originally got into noise/power electronics through live events, and to this day physical media remain secondary to that. I mostly get tapes/CDS through trades. I listen to everything I get at least once or twice, but rarely get attached to any particular thing.
I brutally tidied up my collection like 10 years ago. By that time I had stopped all my underground activities for a while and also had plenty of left-over stuff from my dead mailorder. All those boxes full of shit were always getting in the way and I had to move them from one corner to the other due to limited space. So one day just couldn't take it anymore and threw it all away including parts of my personal collection that I thought I would never need again. Same as my VHS collection which took away too much space. Even old band/recording equipment and shit and some of that has been in miserable condition anyway. Really, I could have opened up my own landfill site...
Obviously, when I got back with my activities like 2 years later I did regret some of that stuff missing. Occasionally I still order few things here and there, and I'm still doing trades, but after all I'm not that collector guy anymore. These days I don't even have time to listen to vinyl anymore, so I wish a lot of my records (that I ironically had purchased to replace CD versions) were rather on CD (or even just digital versions) instead. So it's probably just matter of time before more of my vinyl is getting sold. I figured it's just a bit of a hassle to put it up on discogs and judge the exact condition, some people are very picky here. Other stuff doesn't sell at all so could just dump it either way.
I just gave away tons of stuff to friends, and what I couldn't give a way I just dumped. Fuck it. Just made up my mind that I didn't want a whole lot of shit and didn't care what happened to it. It's just plastic and cardboard anyway. World's already choking on it so it hardly matters. People get too precious about objects, especially in this scene. It's ridiculous.
Some people are just born collectors, I suppose. I used to live next door to a couple like that. I remember helping them move - they had an entire room you couldn't get into because it was just so full of shit. I'm of the view that the line between "collector" and hoarder is thinner than most might feel comfortable with.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on September 07, 2021, 02:17:05 PM
I'm of the view that the line between "collector" and hoarder is thinner than most might feel comfortable with.
I know hoarders and I know collectors. The most important difference is that a collector has a sense of 'curatorship'. The best record collections are usually not the largest.
I keep only what I deem essential or what's in my current rotation. Most of my listening is done via headphones (spotify and bandcamp) or youtube anyway when working at home. It's mostly just the weekend I pull out the records and cds.
I used to have a bad completionist complex where I simply needed to have everything of artists I liked. Couldn't stand the clutter after time, or when it came to move. No use having 20 releases of an artist if I only listen to 4 of them.
Many years ago I completely gave up the idea of collecting anything for the sake of completion. Too many genres I liked, too many labels releasing too many releases. So I decided just to pick what caught my attention, or what friends may have released. Due to lack of space, every few years I select what I know I will not listen to anymore and get rid of it. That used to be discogs (for 5€ if it was generic cd), and if that didn't work, trash can. Now that Discogs has shit the bed, not many options left...
My solution for trimmed collection has always been that I don't buy new shelves for records, because of the limited space and possibility that we need move to a new apartment/house anyways in the future. If shelves are too full, something must go before I buy anything new. Luckily I live in a city which have few recordshops and 2nd hand places that buys and trades records. I also donate lots of stuff to friends if I am sure it is something they really enjoy.
I have given up with completism and sold huge amounts of vinyl from my collection during the years and there is only ONE record I kind of regret selling even though I have that music on cd also... Best example could be band like Boris; I had almost everything they have done including "collectibles", different pressings, same album in cd and vinyl format. After a while I realised that I don't actually ever even listen to this band anymore. Now I have only one Boris album in my cd shelve hehe. No need to own any "classic album" for the sake of owning it.
Sometimes I have tried to reason do I really need even this amount of stuff (I don't have huge collection afterall) and the answer is: yes I do haha. I spend most of my time in home listening music or reading books and I still don't fully "trust" in all this streaming shit what is going on. It is lame when you absord yourself with piece of art and then the streaming service bugs and crashes or there are some problem with the internet connection etc.
Quote from: impulse manslaughter on September 07, 2021, 03:18:24 PM
I know hoarders and I know collectors. The most important difference is that a collector has a sense of 'curatorship'. The best record collections are usually not the largest.
Second that.
Collector or hoarder, well with me its been a case of not realizing until we have to move. One very difficult recent move began a year ago. (Moving house in a lockdown!!!!). First I had all the review copies from Vital. Decided to send these back to Frans, My Hermes fairly cheap. Then others to charity shop as well as books. We have lived for 9 months with most of our things in store, and really it seems not that much of a pain. Still unpacking boxes. And two boxes of old Vinyl – which again we never play. Might try to sell the Two Virgins and Life with the Lions. The rest isn't worth the bother?
My cousin died a few years back who was a hoarder, strange sorting through his stuff, (I was an executor of his will) postcards and letters from his youth, even books of stamps in 'old money', before decimalization. No end of batteries ?... A room of paperbacks... holiday photographs... very poignant...
Quote from: V.T.R on September 08, 2021, 11:16:23 AM
My solution for trimmed collection has always been that I don't buy new shelves for records, because of the limited space
this is my approach as well the last years.
I consciously stopped having FOMO and ordering impulsively, and the high vinyl prices also makes it easier to skip stuff.
My time is also limited these days to actually listen to physical stuff, and i still have a big 'unlistenend' pile so lately i really think about what i want to buy.`
i sold some black metal or older records lately which were obviously worth a bit of money and i didn't listen to them anymore. But i don't feel i want to go through much hassle to sell records which are not worth too much.
I'm thinking of selling most part of my 7" collection as they are in storage anyway and i stopped buying 7" for the most part with some exceptions.
There's a couple of people i know who literally sold out of their garage or attic and it was a succes.
Quote from: urall on September 08, 2021, 05:21:06 PM
My time is also limited these days to actually listen to physical stuff
Quote from: Goat93 on September 05, 2021, 11:49:51 AM
Everything too dusty i resell or trade after a while.
Quote from: JLIAT on September 08, 2021, 12:09:03 PM
And two boxes of old Vinyl – which again we never play.
Quote from: CannibalRitual on September 07, 2021, 01:55:07 PM
These days I don't even have time to listen to vinyl anymore
Quote from: Into_The_Void on September 06, 2021, 04:39:31 PM
Now I realized that I don´t have that much time to listen to all the stuff I don´t know
Reading through all answers makes me feel a bit disillusioned. Many are writing about buying less, no time to listen, listening only to digital files, selling collections. I tend to think that it's due to aging listeners -> family life sucking the drains out. But on the other hand young people don't buy much physical either now? Not good having a vinyl mailorder these days, hah...
The most interesting thing for me in this thread is the degree to which the past tense dominates. Like every single poster is "moving on". Which is simply not how I feel (or have ever felt).
I will say. I tend to get very excited about particular artists. And then just try to get everything I can from said artists. Because I'd like nothing more than-
Quote from: cr on September 05, 2021, 11:07:50 PMto listen to them, whenever I have the feel that I want to
[dot dot dot]
When I think about it, yes, I've got shitloads of shit. But so what. I just infinitely enjoy getting to know this or that artist over (usually) a course of several years. For better or for worse. I'm not in any hurry.
I tend to look at that as the differences between a hoarder, collector, and archivist. Some would take issue with the label of the latter, but eh, that's not my problem. Some would also see this as nothing more than semantics, but eh... I've been all three. To have access and to store, as in a library. I haven't been able to quite shake that one yet, but that perspective has also functioned, in very small part, to keep interest. Be it physical or digital, I've never noticed lessening interest. But JLIAT's post reminded me of a 2-month backpacking trip when I didn't think about music even one time, and all my stuff that wasn't within eyesight evaporated from my memory until I was home and feeling its albatrossian weight again.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 08, 2021, 07:20:05 PM
The most interesting thing for me in this thread is the degree to which the past tense dominates. Like every single poster is "moving on". Which is simply not how I feel (or have ever felt).
I will say. I tend to get very excited about particular artists. And then just try to get everything I can from said artists. Because I'd like nothing more than-
Quote from: cr on September 05, 2021, 11:07:50 PMto listen to them, whenever I have the feel that I want to
[dot dot dot]
When I think about it, yes, I've got shitloads of shit. But so what. I just infinitely enjoy getting to know this or that artist over (usually) a course of several years. For better or for worse. I'm not in any hurry.
I do listen probably as much as it is possible to listen. Morning might be checking masters, deciding releases etc. All day at work goes with cd/tape/LP's. Yet despite that, I tend to listen 1-3 albums still at the evening.
For big part, I am GLAD I did not get rid of stuff I thought were not very good, lets say back in 2000, 2010, 2015 even! Returning to some of the stuff clearly displays how they aged very well and are now better than ever.
It is due running label/shop/mailorder, that there is neverending stream of incoming stuff, but besides that, I do even buy things what I don't otherwise get. Only thing what is unavoidable obstacle, is that whatever is the size of shelves, rooms, house, storage... it eventually is filled. Nevertheless, I find myself often thinking where the hell are all my Crawl Unit stuff? Why I only have handful of Hands To? How come I ever thought one would not need all the 90's Merzbow CD albums?! I feel absolutely zero desire to get rid of stuff, for any other reason than fill the 5mm void it makes, with new - hopefully even better item.
I do see a lot of people "growing up" so to say. What growing up to me means, was mostly kicking TV out of living room. That seems kids stuff. I prefer listening noise records, like grownups. Not hiding in sad mancave, or feeling bad about cluttering house with obscenities, hah...
Quote from: bogskaggmannen
family life sucking the drains out.
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland
Not hiding in sad mancave, or feeling bad about cluttering house with obscenities, hah...
I live together with my girlfriend and my 2 sons. All my vinyl is in the living room on 6 meters of shelves. Cd's, tapes, books, fanzines and records with special packaging are in another room upstairs. I always have about 20 cd's laying around downstairs to listen to. When I'm at home there's usually a record or cd playing. We listen a lot to punk, metal, industrial, new wave, ambient, etc. My youngest son likes harsh noise as well but I play the extreme stuff mostly in my car or late at night when everybody is upstairs sleeping. My girlfriend doesn't mind the obscene stuff but when we have visitors she makes sure the porn and swastikas (just a few extreme sleeves in my collection) are out of sight. My oldest son started buying vinyl a few years ago when he was 11. He now has a a record player and a small collection of punk/hardcore records in his room. Mostly listens to Spotify on his phone though. I've been collecting music for 30 years and never slowed down. I check Discogs, eBay and sites of my favorite distributers almost every day. Absolutely not interested in downloading or streaming digital content. It does not satisfy me at all.
At this point I basically have a cluttered library. The only reason I'd want to get rid of stuff is have that "All killer, no filler" kind of collection; because, let's face it, there is A LOT of filler.
I also don't see anything wrong with listening to something one time and shelving it. I think of it like going to a show. You enjoy it while you are there and it's over. Of course there are still plenty of items that get replays, just a lot that don't.
That and I'll never switch to a digital collection.
Quote from: bogskaggmannen on September 08, 2021, 05:53:05 PM
But on the other hand young people don't buy much physical either now?
We're at a point where persons who bother with physical media are mostly looked upon with bemusement, much like the regard no less bemusedly bestowed upon "special" persons with special interests. Chalk one more to the ever-lengthening list!
Though I could be bothered to take back the latter part of the principal, above, considering for instance the mainstreaming of "ambient qualities". Apparently, there's no accounting for taste, including and perhaps especially taste that is broadly shared.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 10, 2021, 06:38:20 PM
We're at a point where persons who bother with physical media are mostly looked upon with bemusement, much like the regard no less bemusedly bestowed upon "special" persons with special interests. Chalk one more to the ever-lengthening list!
Lots of people who listen to music go for physical media. The mainstream music industry still has its annual "record store days". Loads of bands, from The Beatles to GWAR are still putting out box sets of stuff. People in different genres from hip-hop to experimental still love to produce tapes and vinyl at least. CDs are perhaps being looked down, I suppose because they're not analog/nostalgic/"authentic" enough, but they're still being manufactured and consumed.
Noise/etc is just a part of this marketplace. Nothing's "special" any more.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on September 11, 2021, 03:55:44 AM
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on September 10, 2021, 06:38:20 PM
We're at a point where persons who bother with physical media are mostly looked upon with bemusement, much like the regard no less bemusedly bestowed upon "special" persons with special interests.
Lots of people who listen to music go for physical media
I'll concede I edited my original post from "
I can see a point where...", but hyperbole aside I'm actually seeing that to a large extent from persons at a generational remove. Not special but on a precious curve. Shit can sneak up on people real quick.
i have stopped buying records pretty much 10 yrs ago, or at least cut down to a microfragment of what it was. still i have ?15? meters of records and piles everywhere. since i i have been away from my main stash "for reasons", i have to say that life goes on effortlessly even without it. i remember one morning i felt like "i should listen to column one right now"... opened my eyes and remembered... it's in a different city! easy solution was to look online, then just listen anyway.. so what exactly did i miss?
i have removed whole blocks of records at some point, to make space, to hopefully have someone else appreciate them. i am no one to judge the level of "seriousness" of someones appreciation... ("hmph, i'm not selling/giving it to some superficial hipster, gotta be a trve person before putting their filthy hands on MY record" hah)
i dont have anyone particular who will inherit my stuff. since discogs went to shit and finnish the post system is crippling down (bad service, insane prices) i see no other option than one day just dumping it all, either to the library, red cross or roadside. yard sales suck, i hate hassling with people... "i offer you 5e for this"... argh ...
also i'd rather give records away if someone relly "needs" them. once a friend offered me 200e for 3 samhain records. made me laugh. i gave them to him under 2 conditions: he cannot sell them, and if i "need" them back i will have them, no questions asked.
I feel like I've been able to identify with all of the sentiments expressed here at one point of my life or another.
As far as selling items goes, I've done 30-50 sales of individual items from my collection in the last decade. Maybe half of those were LPs and tapes I bought for regular price and then appreciated to an obscene value despite being just ok quality. So those got sold to buy several records of better quality, or at least that's the goal. I don't love contributing to the gross inflation of second hand record prices, but sometimes it feels dumb to take less money for stuff than you can easily get for it. A couple years ago I sold about 40 tapes and 35 records to a record store here in the US, most for $1-$5, if memory serves me. Domestic media mail made it cheap enough to ship for both parties, and I hope he was able to sell a lot of that stuff.
Other than dumping a ton of shitty CDs from adolescence a decade or so ago, I very rarely sell CDs because they always seem to be the most damaged and the least desired so I've now got a lot of CDs that barely play and I don't want but have nothing to really do with them.
Generally my hope is when I sell things off or trade from my collection, whether in bulk or piece by piece, the person who winds up with it likes it more than me. I'd rather a person who really enjoys it have it if I don't care about it.
As far as collecting, well my pace has definitely slowed down. From 2011-2015 I was picking up 250-300 items a year, but as my living expenses have grown, my focus has shifted more towards movies, my free time has diminished and I've bought so many of the things I've wanted, my pace has slowed dramatically. Somewhere between 100-150 records/tapes/CDs a year. I also like to think my tastes have become more refined, even if the range of genres is expanding. One of the things that has always "boosted my numbers" is listening to a lot of electronic music. I buy a lot of new and old techno and drum n bass 12"s every year. It's not a lot of actual music in terms of length but it's a lot of "items". When I get lucky I might pick up 10-20 old d'n'b 12"s for less than $100 so the collection just grows!
I'm lucky that at least right now I can listen to music at work at home and in the car every day. Granted most of the time its digital versions of tapes, LPs or CD rips, all of which I've done myself, but it's still better than nothing. Home is where I get to listen to my tapes and LPs. But my appetite is voracious, typically hearing 4-6 albums a day, at least. And again, listening while working is not the best way to hear music, but it's better than nothing and it lets my memory build up a sort of reserve of what these albums sound like so when I do more attentive home or car listening I can really get into it. I've been doing it this way for about 15+ years and I've liked it so far.
At this point I'd like to think 75% of my collection is good to excellent stuff; 15% is stuff that I'm learning to appreciate or determining it's shit; and 10% is crap I can't part with for sentimental reasons. This all being subjective of course. As was mentioned, I've definitely sold a tape here or there that I wish I hadn't because I didn't give it a fair shot. Shit I've even re-bought some records because I realized their excellence too late. And lastly, I find lately I re-buy records I already own on new formats just to see which format I like best, which feels kinda dumb but what can I say...
All this being said, there is so much good music coming out I still feel excited when I get label and distro announcements, even if I'm a bit slower on the draw and pickier when I order than I was in the past.
Have been on a kick recently selling stuff that I hadn't touched for months to years in my own collection. It was a pretty relieving feeling to get rid of the stuff, though like many other posters here, I mostly used the money to make other purchases, so the actual size of the collection hasn't decreased dramatically. It's been an issue of space, mostly, with a lack of interest in the projects contributing as well. Trying to "downgrade" a lot of stuff I had on vinyl (because it was the only format or first released at the time) to tape or CD, as I do most of my listening either in the car or on a walkman at work.
Edit: another reason I continue to collect music on physical formats is the ever-increasing problem of censorship. People who are reliant on streaming/YouTube might be shit out of luck if they wanna listen to something considered too "sketchy", if it's even up there in the first place.