How do you use your record collection?

The vinyl is in no order whatsoever, a result of how we moved it. Stacked in cubes, about 800 10", 12" and LP. Nowhere to put the 7"s yet, so they remain packed.

MDs are in Muji carrycases - separated by category (field recordings/band practices/albums/radio shows).

Cassettes are in crates but have yet to find a resting place.

DATs/reel-to-reels/CD-Rs are stuffed into cabinets out of view.

I don't think I have any records that I've not listened to at least once, or at least once in a Walkman enviroment (dubbed to MD or MP3). Perhaps that V/Vm record that I bought for a pound.

I have a vanishingly small amount of free time thesedays and things conspire to prevent me from accessing many of my CDs (currently: two six-foot long flatpacks jammed behind the sofa, awaiting transportation to and construction in the bedroom).

However, I have run out of space on my main shelves. Therefore all of my folk music/field recordings/Nonesuch Explorer records, all of my techno vinyl, and all of the funk/soul/reggae/hiphop has been moved to a separate part of the room.

CD's and 45s are arranged similarly. Then there's a few hundred CDRs, about 50 DVDs full of flacs, and 200 gigs of MP3s.A

All of it lives in my room. I use it every day for listening pleasure, once a week for radio show.

There are probably a couple dozen that I still haven't listened to.

where is it? Scattered in boxes throughout Ohio and PA.

what comprises it (formats)? Uh...I thought we were only talking about records? Lots of LPs and 12" singles, hardcore 7"s and 45s

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally?
all the time.

what proportion do you use regularly? About....20%?

how many unlistened-to records do you have? Quite a few, but they are part of a collection of old Broadway musical LPs given to me by this old gay teacher of mine for helping him move out of his house.

what is its function and purpose? What?

when and where do you use it? On the radio. In my room. DJing other places.

increasingly by genre, then alphabetically*. i have a couple of 400+ rotating things that ikea don't sell anymore and 3 smaller overflow tower things from argos. splitting by genre means they the rotating things hold all the 'pop' and 'electronic' music stuff, alphabetically by artist, and the towers contain v/a stuff and the more 'dance' / 'ska' / 'oldies' stuff of late.

(*NB 'Nick Cave' filed under 'N')

> where

main room of flat. 12"s are in computer desk in bedroom and leant in piles of about 30 against random walls (need boxes). 7"s in xerox paper boxes piled in main room. tapes in xerox paper lids on top of these. it's all a mess and takes up a ton of space. (but not as much as the comics and videos)

> formats

have just ordered 3 credit card shaped cds from http://uk.heresmycardrecords.com/ which is a first.

> how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally,

am slowly digitising recent ebay vinyl purchases and ripping cds whenever i buy them / am reminded about them by random internet mentalists. listen to the odd cd whilst cooking, 'ipod' otherwise. plan is for some kind of media server that'll do everything... the 'pop' stuff is largely unlistened to. i did, some years ago, start listening to everything from the beginning. i think i lost the will to live around the 20th morrissey single...

> how many unlistened-to records do you have,

not many. i think there are a few slabs of recently ebayed vinyl still waiting for digitising and that'll probably be the only time they are ever played.

> when and where do you use it?

have taken to plugging the portable mp3 player into pc at work, pointing winamp at the base directory and choosing 'random'. need to get better at refreshing the portable's contents. have just written some scripts to help keeping it in sync with the main repository at home, so i know what i can just delete and replace and what i need to copy off...

That is the ideal, anyway. more realistically these become scattered all over my desk, bed, turntable, floor and any other flat surface that comes to hand.

my records are in crates on shelves and on the floor. there are maybe 6-700. the CDs, approx. 500, sit mostly unused on a wooden shelving unit. I almost never listen to CDs at home, except in the kitchen.

I listen to LPs every day. there is a crate and another stack leaning against my bed that constitutes the "recent listening."

I have probably about 30-40 CDs & LPs I have not listened to.

Everything alphabetical. World music at the end separated by country, comps at the end separated by genre, soundtracks at the end arranged by movie title. all genres mixed together otherwise. oh, classical music is separate.

The 12" vinyl is arranged into four three foot long stacks along an empty wall need my technics. There are also a couple crates with "rock" vinyl and some other "sampler food" records in an industrial shelving unit on another wall. The cd's are scattered around my living room.

The vinyl isn't really organized. It just winds up in clusters along genres. I decide to play an italio disco or a chi acid house set and then I go through my stacks and pull records. They all get stacked together in the front of one of the stacks and then I pull from the stack while I play.

where is it,

Some of it is in the trash, much of it went to used record stores in Michigan before I left, some of it is in three record storage boxes in my parents basement, and the rest is in my living room.

what comprises it (formats),

CD's
ACC's from the CD's
12"/LP's
very very few 7"s

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally,

I listen to cdr's fairly often in the car. I do not listen to cd's when I am at home. I mix records for a few hours maybe once or twice a week. I wish I had more time but with friends, a GF, and a 9-5 I do not have as much disposable time as I once did.

what proportion do you use regularly,

CD's/cdr's see nearly daily use in the car, the vinyl gets played when I am hanging out at home or doing chores.

how many unlistened-to records do you have,

Way more than I should. A lot of it is stuff that I want to have on hand if I want to play out. I have sealed copies of ESG and Liquid Liquid reissues that I have not touched. There is a bunch of other stuff as well. I buy between 50-100 dollars of vinyl every week or two and it is hard to keep up with everything.

what is its function and purpose,

It is mainly a library of musical ideas. I concentrate my buying on older dance genres. I buy mostly used Detroit, Chicago, Italio disco and a bit of electro vinyl along with a couple new releases each week. I am also building up my soul and jazz collection.

The dance stuff is for DJ'ing and the jazz and soul is for relaxing around the house.

when and where do you use it?

I use cd's when I drive. The vinyl gets played when I have a spare moment. I usually mix records on the weekends. I hate going out on Friday's so I usually sit at home a play records by myself.

MY VINYL WEIGHS
0.0017715717496999091 TONS

where is it: CDs half downstairs by the telly, half up here in my room. Stuff on computer is on my computer.

what comprises it (formats): CDs, Itunes

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally: All the time, format depends on where I am in the house.

what proportion do you use regularly: about 2/3-3/4

how many unlistened-to records do you have: Old man has a few, me none

what is its function and purpose: To provide me with a sufficient source of aural pleasure. And a great talking-point.

when and where do you use it? At home, in the car, whenever I'm awake and not watching tv or working

Some CDs that don't really have a good home, especially after having moved a couple times.

Hundreds upon hundreds of gigs of mp3s. The current listening stuff is on my iPod and my hard drive, and the rest is in five CD books of CDRs and DVDRs. The largest one holds 100 CDs. They are organized according to the order I burned them in, which is to say, in a way that only I can understand.

CDs: artist a-z; mixes; v/a compilations.
vinyl: not organised!

where is it

CDs are mostly in the back room of the house. vinyl is stacked across my bedroom floor atm.

what comprises it (formats)

CDs: about 750 or so at a rough guess.
vinyl: around 140 or so? mostly 12" singles.
mp3: all but a few of the CDs are backed up on my pc's hard drive @ 128kb bitrate for ipod listening - takes up around 60gb. add another 10-15gb of downloaded mixes and random slsk'd selections.

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally

CDs: not that often due to the nature of where they are in the house - the back room also holds the main TV, so if I listen it's after everyone else has gone to bed.
vinyl: not at the moment, as turntable is busted. that will change in a couple of weeks.
mp3: all the time!

what proportion do you use regularly

been listening to a lot of the same stuff lately, so currently about 10% gets used 90% of the time.

how many unlistened-to records do you have

95% of the vinyl due to the borked turntable. maybe 10 cds.

what is its function and purpose

the CDs because I like to listen to music, duh! the vinyl because I like to listen to dahnce music, the covers are nice, and I hold silly "become a DJ" aspirations.

when and where do you use it?

use the mp3s on ipod when out and about or at work.

My music collection is small, but it's a dear friend that has never let me down.

where is it,
In the music room / my living room / whatever you want to call it - I rent two rooms off my p[arents, one has my bed, desk and books, the other has my hi-fi, TV and music / film collections.

what comprises it (formats),
CDs, 12" and 7" vinyl, and MP3s (AACs, technically) on my iMac. There are also other MP3s scattered around on the laptop I share with my girlfriend, on my work PC, and on some CDRs somewhere. There are some old MDs somewhere too, but the player is all packed away.

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally,
I listen to at least one CD pretty much every day. I listen to my iPod for at least a couple of hours every day, via these:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/IMG_5448.jpg
Vinyl gets taken out maybe once every couple of months. It was meant to be more often after I bought the hi-fi rack, enabling better access to the record player, but the last couple of months have been a bit awkward (car crashes, trips, etcetera).

what proportion do you use regularly,
At any one time about 5-10% is in heavy rotation (once a day / week / month), with another 20-40% in light rotation (once or twice a year).

how many unlistened-to records do you have,
A dozen or so that are filtered onto the shelves, plus most of the unsolicited stuff. There are hundreds that HAVE been listened to, but not paid attention to.

what is its function and purpose,
Expanding my soul / mind / brane / shelves.

when and where do you use it?
In the music room in the evenings and on days off, on my iPod during my commute and during walks.

**where is it**

CDs on a long row of IKEA shelves (those tall thin units) in the bit between the 'washing machine area' and the kitchen. Vinyl + CD box sets in front room. 'Recent purchases' in front room near stereo.

**what comprises it (formats)**

around 1500 CDs and 500 vinyl albums. Some of the CDs tracks on a 40GB ipod. ipod library on PC and backed up on a hard-drive.

**how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally**

CDs/ipod every day. Vinyl session every week or so.

**what proportion do you use regularly**

A third?

**how many unlistened-to records do you have**

None

**what is its function and purpose**

To entertain. To show-off. To stimulate nostalgia. For me to rip off ideas for my own bands. To make compilations for people.

**when and where do you use it?**

CDs - in the car, while cooking, while relaxing, while trying to learn bits on the guitar, while working.

where is it - loungrm, tvrm, bedrm, study, in cupboards untouched by himan hands for 2 yrs, on mp3 whatsit, on laptop

what comprises it (formats) - vinyl 7, 12, 10 & LP, cds, cdrs, dvdrs, mp3s and wotnot

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally - 2-3 hrs day

what proportion do you use regularly - -ha, um, 3%?

how many unlistened-to records do you have - 50? 60? 200? i dunno

what is its function and purpose - yes. keeps me from soduku, jigsaw puzzles etc?

when and where do you use it? train, home. in conversation. i seem to have these (old age inspired perhaps) great aspirations to organise it, sum it up, create links, understand it.

where is it & what comprises it (formats)
Recent acquisitions and all 45s (5000+) downstairs in living room, LPs, CDs & MDs upstairs in spare room, cassettes & reel-to-reels in boxes in bedroom wardrobes.

how often do you use pieces from it,
All the time, certainly at least a couple of hours a day.

what proportion do you use regularly,
No idea. Maybe 2%?

how many unlistened-to records do you have,
Maybe 5?...those Jesus & Mary Chain reissues I was given last week.

what is its function and purpose.
I love music.

when and where do you use it?
At home. And occasionally to dj.

where is it,
vinyl in my bedroom (more space), cd's in my living room.

what comprises it (formats),
mostly vinyl (5 or 6000 lp/12"s, about 1000 7"s) slightly less cds (about 1500 cds), some digital (about 40 gigs of mp3s not sourced from the rest of my collection)

how often do you use pieces from it, either physically or digitally,
pretty much constantly.

what proportion do you use regularly,
define regularly. I would say I have a small core of records I return to consistently (kraut/minimalism, eno, bowie, fela etc...) less than 10%

how many unlistened-to records do you have,
about 5 I think. a couple of things I bought in the past few weeks and some stuff that I just wasn't in the mood for at the time I bought it and got lost in the shuffle... oh and I'm sure there's a wealth of mp3s I've stolen off other peoples computers I haven't got round to listening to.

what is its function and purpose,
it takes up space and I listen to it.

when and where do you use it?
all the time, everywhere. mostly at home.