Do you completely finish consuming your media(books, vid games, etc) before you acquire more?

of course, i once got ahold of an entire CDr of NES/SNES/Genesis roms from a guy at work(who incidentally had a hand in later getting me fired), so that kinda threw things for a loop.

and yes, this does assume that the media you acquire is worth finishing. Unless it's like the add-on to Baldur's Gate 2, which really pissed me off since the programmers decided to just throw massively impossible enemies into the game to try to "challenge" your God-like character.

i have cds and dvds bought years ago that i still havent watched or listened to. about prob about 30% of personal library is unread.

i think i do this with nearly everything.

and after i've just finally finished acquiring "Mad Max 2"(thanks to playing Fallout and Fallout 2, which used the flick as its major design source), i realize that i still have like the last 2-3 eps of Spaced to watch, not to mention all the commentary tracks for each ep.

I have never finished a single video game in my life.

vid games: no. I buy cheap old ones and give up on many quickly (often too quickly). plus I go into phases where I only want to play certain types of games (eg platformers, computer adventures) and when that happens I give up on the ones I was playing. also, ROMS YES PLEASE
books: hell no
DVDs: usually yes but I now have 4 I haven't watched, hmmm
CDs: yes

if i did this my library would be about a tenth of the size it is

cos i tend to pick up stuff where i can - cheap or free or trades or whatever - i tend to have a bit of a backlog. and after 25 years, yeah, its more a library than a collection of stuff i have "finished with". this is books and cds and lps and to some extent comics (add to a run when i can...read when run is complete generally). i never buy dvds and i only get puter games for the kids.

yeah. i do. SO? WHY DO YOU CARE? !!!

guilty as charged!!!!

I vaguely remember that conversation. I'll have to check the AIM archives later.

It's all relative anyway, to me...
I have tons of DVDs that I will probably never listen to the commentary on, but the only ones I consider as ones I'm "not finished consuming" are the few TV season sets that I haven't watched all the main programs to.

I've only finished maybe half of the games I own, and am only interested in finishing maybe half of the ones I haven't. Again though, I'm not the type to think I've got to do all the boring side missions and get 100% etc to consider a game "finished". If I saw the ending that's usually good enough, unless maybe there's a "better" ending for doing all the boring shit.

Some books I read once cover to cover and just put on the shelf. Some I've never read completely, but I pick up often and read the bits that interest me. I kind of consider the ones I haven't looked at much (a little less than half my collection I'd say) to be a good future investment, i.e. at some point I"ll be motivated to read them completely and I'll be glad they're there.

I've listened to every CD I own at least once, but I'd have a hard time saying I'm finished with any of them. I certainly have a lot of CDs that I know I like and would like to listen to more and become more familiar with, but I have so many...being finished with a CD for me means it's going in the trade pile.

So since I can't consider any of these as being absolutes, I can't really see suspending my purchasing habits when I'd be some weird subjective criteria of "finishing" I'm going by anyway.

when it would be some weird subjective criteria

I'd put forth that all of these things take on added entertainment value when you have friends over (well, maybe books only if you have the kind of friends who would enjoy taking turns reading aloud), and it those instances the more stuff you have around the house to choose from, the better.

no, i'm of the walter benjamin skool, baby!

I'm guilty of having loads of unread books, unwatched DVDs, unfinished video games :(

I always listen to CDs before I buy more though. Listening to music is just the easiest thing to find time for, as I can do this at work.

Plus, I'm fairly useless when it comes to video games.

No rules, but I keep pretty much on top of music - though if I buy a large amount, that doesn't stop me buying more before I have heard the last lot. Books: I have a full bookcase of unread ones, and keep buying. I hardly buy videos and don't have a DVD, and don't buy games. Comics I read reasonably quickly, so I usually finish one batch before buying again, but in fact on Friday I bought a new lot when I hadn't quite finished the previous week's purchases.

The only video games I've ever "completed" are adventure games where I've cheated and read a solution.

Music, I do tend to listen to before I buy more. Books, definitely not. DVDs, I rarely watch completely anyway. My attention span's too short at home to watch an entire film without wanting to do something else before it's finished.

Jesus I am the worst with video games like this. I don't know if I've ever finished more than 2 or 3 games ever, and I have about 10 for the PS2. I use the net more than play PS2 I guess. I like the idea of playing games though, but one player bores me too much.

Yeah I do this often. My OCD is pretty severe - everything MUST MUST be in perfect order. On the upside my apt is always pimped to the tits, all my dishes get done multiple times a day, and I get a HORRENDOUS amt of work done in no time flat just as long as I get OBSESSED with the work. I've had girl probs with OCD, though, cuz I'm always tidying, which means I'll moving girls' purses/bags/clothes all over the room while I look for that dried orange peel because I haven't vacuummed underneath THERE yet, shit!

Why do girls hate it so much when you move their purses? I know girls get chapped if you go through their shit but come on, I can't even move it THIS FAR so I can vaccuum? Sorry miss, you're fired.

I think I have stuff from the eighties that's never been properly read/viewed/heard.

I've worked in libraries for nearly fifteen years, so I have tons of stuff, discards and gifts, etc. That's fine, because I never know when I'll need something for research.

I just moved, and I've got about 15-20 boxes of books in storage. I've finally matured to the point where I know what subjects I want / need, so I'm gradually hauling them up and weeding them. Now I hope to make a killing on half.com, but that's not likely since I'm keeping all of the art, architecture and photography books.

We occasionally get donations from people's estates, and it's really fascinating to see the range in people's collections, especially if they were a working artist or writer.

Except for library book sales (they're $1 each, why don't I buy ten?), I don't buy more than two books at a time because I know that by the time I finish the first one or two, I will be really interested in something else, get a new book, and put off reading the other ones forever.

With albums, I don't buy many because they're expensive; when I listen to the songs a lot online and then buy the album, I CONSUME IT COMPLETELY, but when I buy one that I haven't heard but I *might* like, it's often a disappointment and it just sits there in the hope that I'll like it next year. Therefore illegal downloading aids in the consumption of media.

There's a crazy book sale in the Chicago area every May - the Brandeis book sale. I think they have them in other cities, too - it's a benefit for Brandeis University. Anyway, they have a couple of circus tents full of books. I usually end up filling a shopping cart. Probably about a fourth of my library comes from this sale.