Estimate how much money you have wrapped up in your music collection

[biscuithead]

This is following on the hooves of the recent Mr. Pig post...
After seeing that a strong 13% of us on AK value our main rig at over 20k, this got me thinking about the music.

I've been buying albums for about 30 years, and I estimate my cost on my music collection at over 50k. When I was younger I did the BMG and Columbia membership deals... multiple times. I have at least 5000 cds and more records than that. I have about forty 8-tracks, about 200 reels, and at least 500 cassettes. I have never paid to download a song, and I know nothing about I-tunes.
This poll should be about what you currently own, not what you've bought then let go of.

-Just curious if our music is just as or more valuable to us than our gear. I hope it is.

 

[ictwoody]

I don't really have to estimate it... discogs.com does that for me based on actual sales in their network.

- Woody

 

[portnoy]

I estimated conservatively between 3-5K. I have 6010 holdings according to discogs. Of course i must have at least 200 records that I haven't put into discogs because there is no match and I haven't put in the effort to submit them. I generally pay about 50 cents per record but sometimes as much as two dollars per. I might quite possibly have up to 6 K invested but maybe just a little less then 5K. Now I just need to take the time and listen to each and everyone that I have

 

[soundboy]

I have over 1000 SACD alone. I don't want to do the math since I know that's more that the cost of my new car from last year.

 

[chef free]

I definitely have more money in media, CDs, DVDs, etc. than I do in gear (and I have four Mac products!)

 

[the_nines]

I don't even want to think about it.

Scary money..

 

[crazy-in-az]

This is the "worth" of my record collection at the moment. However, I think I may have spent less than $1,000 over the last ten years.

 

[wu6fiend]

Since I've been buying music since the 1970s, the term "scary money" is certainly most accurate. But since I've never spent any money on booze or cigarettes, I don't worry too much about it. When I'm gone, there will be a hell of a garage sale!

 

[Ken Boyd]

I don't even want to think about it.

Scary money..

I bet, I hate to think of how much dollars in Japanese pressings alone.

 

[RichPA]

I picked $20-50K, but it could be more than that. Certainly at the top end of that range. Of course that's over more than 40 years of collecting.

 

[parman]

Very hard to give any kind of accurate estimate.

 

[sheltie dave]

6000+ CDs and 500+ dvds puts us over $50k.

It is interesting to watch our 14 year old son assuming control over the purchasing department. All us 50 and 60 somethings are wondering who the Arctic Monkeys are.

 

[JoeESP9]

I have 3500 LP's and 1600 CD's . I selected 5K to 10K.

 

[rwartner]

I have 2300 CDs ripped to music library. I enjoy researching and finding them. Music costs more than equipment and I buy more. Lately its surf and surf revival.
My question is where to put them all? I filled up the dressers in the guest room and now they are in piles on top of the dressers.
Has anyone ever found a convenient box? Something simple to store them in.

 

[timmo]

I have aprox 2,000 lps alone and arbitrarily said up tp 3k.

 

[SA-708]

9,000 CDs (including a good number of CD singles, but many purchased new at full price back in the 80s), 200 DVDs, 4,000 12" inch records (LPs and singles) plus about 100 each of 10" and 7" records. 35 years of buying and I hardly ever sell. I estimated that I'm in the top category, much more than my audio system.

 

[BOUXY]

TOO MUCH!

 

[jelly_bean]

Can't risk my wife seeing this post... But I voted on the poll.

 

[jeremyjustic]

oh jeeze, this is a much harder one to figure out, I haven't bought out of the dollar bin in years and for the last year or two I have really focused on rare records and test pressings. I would say my average was $20ish a record but now is up to $100-150 a record. Also most of my records seem to be coming from Europe ( mostly France) here lately, I probably pay $15-20 a record just for the shipping. Hell now that I'm thinking about it, it would be cheaper for me to fly to France to go record shopping once a year instead of paying all that shipping. Oh well, you work hard and got to spend it on something!

 

[OMGCat!]

I'm somewhere in the middle/low end of the range I am thinking. I've got a bunch of music here and a bunch more back home in storage but as to count I really don't know.
I was lucky to have family working at the Capital Scranton plant back in the 80s-90s and got an absolute TON of music for about a 10th of the going rate at the time. They'd have spring and fall clean out sales where tapes were $1 and CDs were $2, no limit on amount. That was a huge boost to the library back when I had minimal money to throw around.