# Has your music purchasing evolved into a genuine compulsive buying problem?



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Just curious what your experiences have been here. I know we often chuckle about the plastic wearing out on our credit cards from multiple music purchases, in jest, or maybe in half seriousness (a vice, but what a good vice to have!) type situation.

Do any of you though have a genuine problem compulsive spending, either with music as part of or the main problem? That is me. Not missing any mortgage payments or anything, but I realize in 2016 I SPENT at least a full mortage payment on music. 2017 started off better but I've gotten out of control again. And yes, it's a joy to end up having all of this wonderful music I get great pleasure out of but I'm too the point where it gets tough to actually have the time to listen to it all.

The insta-buy availability, credit cards, really makes the impulse spending easy. There is no physical feel of spending money. So, I just took my credit card off of Itunes and Amazon, and will be doing the same for emusic as well. I don't spend nearly as much with my debit card because the purchase is immediate and present and on my bank statement with my husband.

I might reduce some of my usage of the forum too...hope not too much! But while discussing various recordings can be great fun, I never had the urge for multiple recordings before this. we'll see how it goes


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I know the feeling but as long as the bills / mortgage are paid on time and some saving for unexpected things like washing machine, or goodness forbid music installation...... other then that. ......life is to short.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

For some time now, I have stopped buying CD's at full price, because the collection is already ridiculously large. I cannot pass up good bargains though. Per CD I do not spend more than 5 euro nowadays, and usually much less.

For the handful of pop/rock artists that I consider my all-time favourites I will continue to pay full-price for their latest efforts (like Steven Wilson, Tori Amos).


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Sonata said:


> Just curious what your experiences have been here. I know we often chuckle about the plastic wearing out on our credit cards from multiple music purchases, in jest, or maybe in half seriousness (a vice, but what a good vice to have!) type situation.
> 
> Do any of you though have a genuine problem compulsive spending, either with music as part of or the main problem? That is me. Not missing any mortgage payments or anything, but I realize in 2016 I SPENT at least a full mortage payment on music. 2017 started off better but I've gotten out of control again. And yes, it's a joy to end up having all of this wonderful music I get great pleasure out of but I'm too the point where it gets tough to actually have the time to listen to it all.
> 
> ...


I feel your pain. I would elaborate, but I have to leave to purchase yet another cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

I only put in large CD orders a couple of times a year these days. What I do is enter any CDs I may want to purchase into a spreadsheet. Over time, I'm able to evaluate whether I really want to buy those CDs or not. It's easy to evaluate CDs now with so many of them being on YouTube and other streaming sites. It's not unusual for me to go back to my spreadsheet, listen to something on the list, and wonder why I was interested in it in the first place. So, yeah, I think this method cuts down on buying CDs that I'll only listen to once. 

I'm not too worried about the cost of buying CDs. CDs are pretty much the extent of my entertainment budget. I usually wait until there is a sale or a coupon before I put in orders. I only have a limited amount of space for CDs though and I don't want to fill my house with them. I don't want to be some sort of hoarder who has CDs in the kitchen cupboards. That does cause me to be a little more selective, but I don't want to waste money either.

I usually visit one of the local Half Price Books stores in town at the end of each week to see if they have any interesting CDs. I enjoy shopping for CDs at B&M stores. I often find interesting and unusual CDs at HPB that end up following me home. The good news is that single new CDs at HPB are usually $7 or under (multi-CD recordings and box sets are rarely over $15-20). Used CDs are usually even cheaper, but there are some rare cases where used CDs are more expensive than new ones if they are rare. 

I often times buy music that I'm not familiar with from HPB. Sometimes I'm not even familiar with the composers. I'm willing to take gambles if the music is from an era I generally enjoy. These gambles almost always work out. I've discovered a lot of good music this way. Just this week, I brought this CD new for $7. I had never heard Franz Xaver Mozart's music before, but I liked what I heard on that CD. I discovered some other nice works he composed. I also enjoyed the other three works on that CD from the better known composers. A few weeks back, I brought a nice Boismortier CD set. I didn't know anything about his music beforehand, but the gamble worked out as I enjoyed it. One nice thing about the HPBs near me is that they get a lot of CDs from smaller European labels that aren't normally available in the US even at places like Amazon.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Whoops, I forgot to put the link to the CD I was mentioning in my prior post. Here it is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trockne-Blumen-Century-Schubert-Mendelssohn/dp/B00000DD46


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

As I’ve gotten older, the desire for possession and ownership has diminished. Rather than looking for what I want, I look for what’s available. I enjoy this adventure of discovery and I often end up discovering what I wanted in the first place. It’s sometimes hard to do, but there’s a certain satisfaction in learning how to let something go and move on to something else. The savings in terms of dollars and cents is monumental, as I usually find something of great interest gratis on YouTube, such as countless full concerts and operas, often very recent, in HD sound. Heard through an excellent sound system, the experience is highly rewarding and always on demand.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Sonata said:


> Has your music purchasing evolved into a genuine compulsive buying problem?


It's close.

Just a few months ago I started to think I was indeed powerless over my music consumption.

It's not just the CD's, LP's or downloads, it's also the subscriptions that "I need."

Digital Concert Hall, Spotify, PrimePhonic, Tidal...

and of course "I need" Gramophone magazine in both hard copy and on line.

Let's not forget that all this pales to a live concert.

And why go to a live concert if you have to drive back afterword and not make a night of it?

I will not even get into the audio equipment end of it but as you all know, you must have a streaming component, a CD/SACD player and of couse a Blue-Ray/DVD player in every room you use for listening.

Luckily streaming is good enough for the porches.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I have not purchased anything in quite a while now. BUT: I take care to keep some of my Elbphilharmonie concert tickets really well hidden because of the prices that stand on them :devil: At least, with CDs you can listen to them an unlimited number of times. A concert ticket is just for a couple hours of fun. For me the expenses are totally worth it, but I am not sure my other half would see it the same way. 

It is not that all concerts I go to are super expensive. Some of them have cost only a few Euros. Some over a hundred. What has become a sort of obsession of mine is going through the program over and over again wondering what else I could add to my bucket list which includes a dozen performances more (for some tickets have been purchased already, for some not - which means more expenses in my future). Right now I am listening to Mahler's 5th and thinking, "Well, this one comes on February 22nd..."


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I think I have spent about $4000 USD on music in the past two years. I am having fun though and the money is not out of the household budget, so...


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2017)

I haven't ever had that problem because I have always liked to pay as little as possible for recordings. Now my collection is so large that I have reached saturation point so I don't buy any at all.

My suggestion to Sonata is to have a monthly budget for CD purchases based on what you can afford. Keep track of your acquisitions then once the money is used up, don't go on to Amazon etc when you want to make a purchase but instead add the desired items to a wishlist. You can always buy them next month.

To be even more strict, you can have a policy of listening properly to a certain chosen number of unplayed CDs from the start of each month before you allow yourself to buy any more. That way you'll gradually reduce the backlog of unplayed CDs to ensure that you get the money's worth from your historical purchases.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Tulse said:


> I haven't ever had that problem because I have always liked to pay as little as possible for recordings. Now 1 *my collection is so large that I have reached saturation point so I don't buy any at all.*
> 
> My suggestion to Sonata is to have a monthly budget for CD purchases based on what you can afford. Keep track of your acquisitions then once the money is used up, don't go on to Amazon etc when you want to make a purchase but instead add the desired items to a wishlist. You can always buy them next month.
> 
> To be even more strict, you can have a policy of listening properly to a certain chosen number of 2 *unplayed CDs* from the start of each month before you allow yourself to buy any more. That way you'll gradually reduce the backlog of unplayed CDs to ensure that you get the money's worth from your historical purchases.


A couple questions

1 What about all the great new stuff you miss?

I could not take the chance of missing the next great recording.

2 Why would the average enthusiast have a stash of not played CD's?

Yes I have about 5 that came in the last week I have not spun but other than big box sets, that's about all I ever have not spun.

------------------

I do commend your pragmatic approach but to many with this passion it's just not reasonable! lol


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

I live on an "eastern" European, post-Soviet salary. I don't have enough money to generate a genuine compulsive buying problem. :lol:


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2017)

eljr said:


> 1 What about all the great new stuff you miss?
> 
> I could not take the chance of missing the next great recording.


Yes you're right. It doesn't matter how big the collection, there is always going to be more to be listened to. Its just that I won't have enough time to listen to everything much more than once before I become worm meat. So now, I just listen online to anything new I want to hear. I find it quite liberating not having to buy CDs, rip them and back them up any more. An age thing perhaps.



> 2 Why would the average enthusiast have a stash of not played CD's?
> 
> Yes I have about 5 that came in the last week I have not spun but other than big box sets, that's about all I ever have not spun.


I have a large number of box sets which have many unplayed CDs. I bought cheap, but I bought big!



> I do commend your pragmatic approach but to many with this passion it's just not reasonable. lol


True, that's what I thought when I did the original post!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Fritz Kobus said:


> I think I have spent about $4000 USD on music in the past two years. I am having fun though and the money is not out of the household budget, so...


Probably closer to $7000 now. But my buying is winding down quite a bit, though still strong. And I have a whole shelf full of stuff I haven't iistened to yet, maybe never will, but the other day as i was excited about Rachmaninoff, I browsed that shelf and found three CDs, one 2-CD compilation set and a single disk set with piano concertos 2 and 4 conducted by Haitink and played by Ashkenazy.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Since this last post, back in 2017, I was compelled to cut up my credit card on New Years Eve of 2017. I did REALLY welll for a year and a half. Then in May of 2019....I discovered audiobooks. Well I've been a bit "off to the races" on my audiobook purchasing since then. I think I'm going to buy what I want til the end of the year and get back on the Budgeting Horse in 2020.

I get so much enjoyment out of my books and music though


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I just don't count, you only live once.
 ( As far as I know)


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

It's all past tense to me now, as my hearing is too far diminished to make audio purchases an appealing investment. Back in my younger years, with still-adequate hearing, yes, I did tend to spend appreciably more on audio recordings and the gear to play them on than was financially wise. I amassed a collection of some 800 LPs, 800 CD, and numerous video discs, almost all classical music. They sit on my shelves unheard...as I can't hear enough of them to enjoy. I do still listen occasionally, but confine myself to YouTube heard through my PC sound system, which nowadays sounds far better to me than my much more expensive home audio system. I sound all whiny here, but I've a good many years of enjoyable listening behind me. No regrets whatsoever spending what I did.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> I just don't count, you only live once.
> ( As far as I know)


That was my attitude until I finally admitted to myself that my buying habits were out of control. I have not bought any new cd's for at least 2 years and feel fine about it. My 15,000 or so cd's and subscription to NML are good enough.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

"Music purchasing" is more of a broad term to me and can easily apply to items other than CD's or albums. This is especially true when applied to the term "compulsive buying problem." In the past I have suffered terribly with GAS, Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. The main symptom of this disease is that no matter how many guitars one may own, there still exists an insatiable desire to own one more. I own too many examples of fine luthier craftsmanship, yet I've been lately seen drooling over a Godin Multiac. I don't need a Godin Multiac........yet my inner guitar player is lusting over her fine hourglass figure and melodious tone. I'm like Odysseus, come too close to Thelxiepeia's song....resistance is fading........ Then suddenly my wallet smacks me in the face and says "Rooms, snap out of it." 

Whew, that was close. I'm temporarily sailing away from Scylla for now....but tomorrow's wind and tide may again tempt me.:guitar:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Uncontrolled/uncontrollable buying/shopping/acquiring can be as devastating over time as gambling or any other addiction. I saw it destroy a kayaking partner. His disease was not in endlessly buying more kayaks but rather in buying expensive cameras, lenses, darkroom equipment back when photography was dominated by Nikons, Canons, Pentaxes, etc. and being "a photographer" was cool. Already in debt, he underwent bankruptcy, lost his home, ended up moving from rented house to worse rented house, and taking any job he could get. Nothing put by for retirement. Lost track of him but pretty sure it did not end well. _Caveat emptor!_


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Bulldog said:


> My 15,000 or so cd's and subscription to NML are good enough.


That's a lot of CDs. I've got about 5,000 which is plenty.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

You big-spenders remind me of the purchasing habits of Star Wars fans, also notorious for spending hundreds and thousands on merch. :lol: It's the stuff you care about anyway.

I can't remember the last time I bought music for myself. Years ago. I listen to my older CDs, public radio and youtube as my main sources of music.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

MY music purchasing is very controlled. I always have my mouse positioned and ready to click the buy button. :lol:


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

15,000 CDs! Hmm, how to get rid of them when the time comes. Goodwill? Personally, there’s no one I know who would want my 15,000 classical music CDs (if I had that many)l

Btw, assuming the CDs have an average of 1 hour listening time per CD, my rough math comes up with around 5 years of listening 8 hours a day to listen to them all.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

DaveM said:


> 15,000 CDs! Hmm, how to get rid of them when the time comes. Goodwill? Personally, there's no one I know who would want my 15,000 classical music CDs (if I had that many)l


Well, I want them and will listen to them until my demise. After that, my wife will decide what to do with them as well as my clothes, car, and any other stuff I own. This is a morbid topic - let's live forever!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm pretty much sated now - my collection is substantial and I content myself with little else but the occasional bit of gap-filling these days. I'm not a multiple recordings (apart from some symphonies) freak or a fan of huge boxed sets devoted to one artist/conductor, so that has helped keep costs down. It seems that I haven't purchased anything for over two months now, and my expenditure for 2019 has been less than £200 - a far cry from the first dozen or so years of collecting when I would spend at least £2000 per annum.


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## TMHeimer (Dec 19, 2019)

I went through a period (about 1995-2005) when I bought just about any method book that would be beneficial to my clarinet playing. I've got a huge pile (including my own book of course), and one that was even published in 1896. Also bought several flute & trumpet books since the etudes/studies in them seemed appropriate. Stopped doing that as I just got so many. It wasn't a matter of just whipping out the credit card blindly and getting carried away. I am mostly of cheap Scottish ancestry, thus that will never happen.


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