JLP’s QotD - How Many Music CDs do You Own?

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JLP’s QotD - How Many Music CDs do You Own?

By JLP | June 7, 2006

This is a bit off topic but it does have to do with personal finance because the little things that we buy can add up to significant amounts of money over the years. So, today’s Question of the Day is:

How many music CDs do you own?

Although I haven’t counted them in a while, I know I have around 900. Wow! It pains me to write that because 900 seems a bit excessive. Now before you go running calculations on how much I spent, keep in mind that I RARELY pay even close to full price for a CD. I normally buy my music through BMG and I utilize their special of buy 1 get 3 free. That cuts the cost per CD down significantly. So, although 900 CDs is bad, it isn’t as bad as it could be.

UPDATE: this part was added after I saw Michael’s post.

Oh, and thanks to Michael over at MusingMoney for his idea of adding a little “facts” to his post:

First CD I Remember Purchasing: U2 - Achtung Baby - Still a GREAT disc!

My First CD Player: Fisher bookshelf system that my parents bought my wife and me for a wedding gift.

I Have More [Insert Artist Here] CDs Than Any Other Artist: Pat Metheny Group and Spyro Gyra

# of CDs Purchased in Last 5 Years: 200+

# of Popular Music (Rock, etc.) CDs Purchased in Last 5 Years: Less than 5

I Am One of the Four People Who Bought Multiple CDs By: Dream Academy (actually, these were cassettes)

My Spouse Hates But I Still Love: Again, Dream Academy - if you have never listened to them, give them a chance!

You know, maybe I should start a music blog!

Topics: Question of the Day |

Comments to “JLP’s QotD - How Many Music CDs do You Own?”

LAMoneyGuy Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 10:10 am

Like maybe thirty or forty. I have never really understood the desire to buy music. Especially because I had a small record collection in junior high school, when CDs unilaterally took over. So, I thought, “what’s the point?” I just figured I would wait until the next format rendered CDs archaic. So, I hardly ever bought CDs. I’m not even sure how I ended up with the ones that I do have.

It’s kind of funny, but I prefer to stumble across an old favorite on the radio. It’s the surprise element.

Jenny Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 10:37 am

Probably around 10. I prefer to burn my own mix CDs.

samerwriter Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 10:43 am

When my wife and I first moved in, we had about 200 CDs in common, and about 600 total. We sold the 200 CDs to a used CD store, and used the proceeds to pay a couple months rent.

Now we’re probably back up to around 550. I don’t mind buying a CD if the entire album is good, but it pains me to see the number of CDs we own that have only 1 or 2 songs we really like.

Marsh71 Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 11:14 am

I now have about 100 or so. At one point I had a little more than 450. After two moves within a year of each other, I realized that most of them were bought for one song, and most haven;t been listened to in a very long time. I decided to sell them on e-bay. I found it easy to list them, and all of them sold, averaging about $4-$5 each. So what I ended up accomplishing was making a few bucks and getting some new space in the living room.

Michael Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm

Neat question. I blogged my answer at:

http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/weblog/2006/06/how-many-cds-do-you-own.html

And congrats, JLP, on the 1k subscriber mark!

Stacey Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pm

236 or so, 52 of which are country. I also enjoy Jazz, Sinatra, Dinah Washington, the Beatles, Elton John, and Billy Joel. Ditto on BMG: I cringe when my husband buys a CD at a retail store. Ouch!!

J.D. @ Get Rich Slowly Says:
June 7th, 2006 at 6:16 pm

At my peak, I had nearly as many CDs as you. However, over the past few years I’ve been selling them off for $3/each at garage sales. I make a lot of money on them. I’ve kept those that were very hard to find or to which I listen often, but I’m getting rid of everything else.

My first CDs were purchased for joining a CD club during my sophomore year of college in 1998. One was U2’s Unforgettable Fire, another was a big band CD, and another was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scherazade. I forget the fourth. (The Kinks?)

And, believe it or not, I too own mulitple Dream Academy CDs. Their first album is a masterpiece, a true under-appreciated gem.

Brad Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 2:03 pm

I have not counted them all yet, but I am getting close. Since March of 2004, I have been utilizing http://rateyourmusic.com/ to organize my music collection once and for all.

My official count today is 4618, but I know there are over 400 more I have yet to add. So, I’ve been saying over 5000. If pressed to guess, I’d say around 5500 total.

On April 29, 1988, my name was drawn in a giveaway for a home stereo. This was my first CD player. I still have the CD player and although the rest of the stereo is long gone - the CD player works most of the time. It is the costliest item I have ever ‘won’ as far as total spent on music since then.

My first CD purchased was Van Halen’s “5150″ followed soon after by The Doobie Brothers’ “Greatest Hits”, then Dire Straits’ “Brothers In Arms”, Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” and Alabama’s “Greatest Hits (I)”. After that, it gets difficult to recall as I ‘discovered’ used CD stores.

I can only recall buying two new CDs at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, Alison Krauss + Union Staion and Sara Evans that are only available through the chain in the last year. Other than those, most lately have been acquired for $1 or less from garage sales, pawn shops, and other places like http://www.zunafish.com which is much like a swap meet.

At some point this year or next, I anticipate archiving much of the music to hard drive, then selling a very large amount off, perhaps retaining around 1000.

However, these days career priorities have advanced ahead of getting much done with this project.

Oddly, while I envisioned a device some 20 years ago + that I would have much of my music on one day, I never thought it would be as tiny as the IPOD. I always thought it would be a large, heavy, boxy thing similar to a jukebox, but run like a computer with a keyboard attached.

Thanks for asking the question. It is always a pleasure to read your entries and questions. Congratulations on the growing success you are experiencing with the blog. Keep doing what you do and more success should follow.

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JLP’s QotD - How Many Music CDs do You Own?