So a question comes from me: How long without listening to an album do I need to go before it is safe to sell it off, forsaking listening to it altogether?
I ask because I keep taking CDs down to Zia to trade for DVDs. Like tonight I stopped in Zia and they had Lilo and Stitch and Spiderman DVDs used for about $20 for the two, and asked them to hold them. Tomorrow morning I’ll take the stack of 15 CDs I just selected from my collection (only one of which was from the dozen or so rejected the other day) to see which they’ll offer credit for, and hope they take at least 4. The average trade credit per normal CD is $5, sometimes more for double CDs or rare CDs, and I’d like to get those DVDs without paying more. I was trying to pick CDs I thought they’d like this time, choosing some I feel should stay part of my collection. Not because I ever listen to them, or intend on listening to them, or could conceive of a situation where I would listen to them, but … because … I don’t know why.
Some are less so; albums like the ‘Songs of Iroquois Women’ or the album with 13 versions of ‘Route 66’-themed songs that I had gifted to me one way or the other, and doubt they will take, except that they were never really commercially available… Or the two Phillip Glass CDs… I like Phillip Glass, but it rarely if ever occurs to me to listen to his music. And will Zia think one of their customers would want to listen to Phillip Glass? But I’ve also got a couple of never-opened CDs that I bought and just never got around to opening. And a couple of soundtracks; people like soundtracks, right?
Where was I? Off topic, huh? What was the topic again? Oh yeah. So in an effort years-long to try to reduce the number of unlistened-to CDs in my collection, I began marking my CDs with dots about 18 months ago. That is, every time I put a CD into a player of some kind, I put a tiny colored dot sticker on the edge of the jewel case. I’ve been doing this consistently with my CDs the full 18 months, and with my DVDs for about 10 months, so I know that the 300+ CDs without dot one have not been listened to in the last year and a half. Probably longer. Which brings us back to the question:
How long should I let these dot-free CDs go before I get rid of them? I try every time I need to choose something to listen to to choose something without a dot that I might like, but it’s been slow going. Most of what it occurs to me to listen to is the same stuff that it occurred to me to listen to before. Worse, for music I’ve never or rarely listened to, I often don’t know what the tone or emotion of the music will be. I used to buy albums for a single song a lot, so I have a lot of albums I’ve only ever put in on that one track and hit repeat, or never at all if I forgot what the track was. (I’ve got two albums by Blessid Union of Souls in my stack that I’m listening to right now to try to figure out what song or songs I bought them for. If I don’t find at least one song I like, these albums don’t even get a dot, they get to go to Zia.) Is it safe to just rip the one song and sell the album? What if I would have otherwise liked the music?
Aargh. In another 18 (or 12, or 6, or 36, or whatever) months do I just sell off everything without a dot, no matter what? I’ve definitely been making a very strong effort to listen to every new (to me) CD I buy at least once. What is the expiration date on un-used music?
I don’t actually buy it unless I want the cd so badly that I rip it open the minute I get into the car and then listen to it a million times. I have a bunch of cd’s that are in my car and have been for over a year. (I am getting a little sick of my car collection now though.)
That doesn’t really help you with your quandry though. If it hasn’t been listened to in 18 months and you don’t love it like an old friend that you couldn’t say goodbye to then sell it. I just wonder if you really need all of these DVD’s. Do you really watch all of those movies? Maybe you could start trading DVD’s too? I am sure that there are some in there you wouldn’t miss. Will you really watch the new ones that are wanting to buy?
I don’t actually buy it unless I want the cd so badly that I rip it open the minute I get into the car and then listen to it a million times. I have a bunch of cd’s that are in my car and have been for over a year. (I am getting a little sick of my car collection now though.)
That doesn’t really help you with your quandry though. If it hasn’t been listened to in 18 months and you don’t love it like an old friend that you couldn’t say goodbye to then sell it. I just wonder if you really need all of these DVD’s. Do you really watch all of those movies? Maybe you could start trading DVD’s too? I am sure that there are some in there you wouldn’t miss. Will you really watch the new ones that are wanting to buy?
I really do watch that many movies. I’ve already watched two of the movies I bought today, plus all their special features. I’ll probably see the other two tomorrow, though … I may save Spiderman. I have some friends who may want to watch it with me, and even though I like it a lot, I don’t think I could watch it twice in 2 or 3 days. I watch a LOT of movies. I watch most movies when they hit the theatres, which helps me know which DVDs to buy later. There are a lot of movies that i would like to be able to see a lot of times in a theatre, where the experience is so much bigger and louder and immersive, but I can’t afford to. So those are the movies I tend to buy. I may have one or two that I wouldn’t miss too much… let’s see… I just took a look at my collection of 155+ DVDs and there are maybe three or four I would consider selling. Of those, three of them I bought because they remind me of Sara, more than because I liked the movie for the movie’s sake.
Anyway, I tend to watch movie ‘marathons’ apparently. It seems totally normal to me to see two or even three movies at a theatre in one night, and when I am sitting at home, drawing or painting or doing homework or working on the website or whatever, I tend to put in DVDs from my collection. I am increasingly unentertained by television, it seems. I’ve even started doing little themed days of movie watching, like I did a cameron crowe day, then a keanu reeves day, and an M. Night Shyamalan day (admittedly short, since I don’t have Signs yet), and I have a borrowed copy of In the Mouth of Madness, so I was thinking of seeing if I can do a Sam Neill afternoon. I’ve actually got a DVD paused in the other room to come post this.
Oh, and yes. With music now, I am mostly that way. That excited about a CD and have to listen to it way. Except that there’s the problem of not knowing what exactly is on an album. I try to be cautious about buying music from unknown bands because of a hit single. With movies, I’ve seen the movie already (most of the time) and know before I consider buying it whether I’ll like it when I get it home, but with CDs I have almost no way of knowing. So for a long, long time I bought things on other people’s recommendations, or just accepted CD clubs’ monthly picks, or selected CDs based on singles or on past performace of a band. Which is bad, since Pearl Jam has a couple of really bad albums. Except how would I know (legally) that their new one is any good without buying it? I don’t know much how to get excited about a CD anymore. I don’t want to just stick with old favorite bands; there is good, new music out there. Argh. It is tough.
Now I’m off track again. The CDs I have. What I really want to do, but have not taken the time and effort to do, is to give each album I already own at least one fair chance before I go to sell it back. What if it’s an album I’d love but never knew it? Like I’m having to do with mom’s old CDs. I claimed as many of them as I could, partially because I know they were what was playing during most of my memories, but I don’t know one song or singer from another. so I have to listen carefully to each album to see if maybe that one had a song on it that mom listened to over and over again, and whether that song has any meaning for me. I guess I just have to keep going through the other 300+ CDs (probably 400+, I hate to count them) that way until I’ve sorted out which ones I like and which ones I don’t.
how do you know if you like something? i can’t remember buying 3/4 of the ones I haven’t listened to in that long. Why did I buy this one or that one or this whole set? How long will it take to figure it out?
I really do watch that many movies. I’ve already watched two of the movies I bought today, plus all their special features. I’ll probably see the other two tomorrow, though … I may save Spiderman. I have some friends who may want to watch it with me, and even though I like it a lot, I don’t think I could watch it twice in 2 or 3 days. I watch a LOT of movies. I watch most movies when they hit the theatres, which helps me know which DVDs to buy later. There are a lot of movies that i would like to be able to see a lot of times in a theatre, where the experience is so much bigger and louder and immersive, but I can’t afford to. So those are the movies I tend to buy. I may have one or two that I wouldn’t miss too much… let’s see… I just took a look at my collection of 155+ DVDs and there are maybe three or four I would consider selling. Of those, three of them I bought because they remind me of Sara, more than because I liked the movie for the movie’s sake.
Anyway, I tend to watch movie ‘marathons’ apparently. It seems totally normal to me to see two or even three movies at a theatre in one night, and when I am sitting at home, drawing or painting or doing homework or working on the website or whatever, I tend to put in DVDs from my collection. I am increasingly unentertained by television, it seems. I’ve even started doing little themed days of movie watching, like I did a cameron crowe day, then a keanu reeves day, and an M. Night Shyamalan day (admittedly short, since I don’t have Signs yet), and I have a borrowed copy of In the Mouth of Madness, so I was thinking of seeing if I can do a Sam Neill afternoon. I’ve actually got a DVD paused in the other room to come post this.
Oh, and yes. With music now, I am mostly that way. That excited about a CD and have to listen to it way. Except that there’s the problem of not knowing what exactly is on an album. I try to be cautious about buying music from unknown bands because of a hit single. With movies, I’ve seen the movie already (most of the time) and know before I consider buying it whether I’ll like it when I get it home, but with CDs I have almost no way of knowing. So for a long, long time I bought things on other people’s recommendations, or just accepted CD clubs’ monthly picks, or selected CDs based on singles or on past performace of a band. Which is bad, since Pearl Jam has a couple of really bad albums. Except how would I know (legally) that their new one is any good without buying it? I don’t know much how to get excited about a CD anymore. I don’t want to just stick with old favorite bands; there is good, new music out there. Argh. It is tough.
Now I’m off track again. The CDs I have. What I really want to do, but have not taken the time and effort to do, is to give each album I already own at least one fair chance before I go to sell it back. What if it’s an album I’d love but never knew it? Like I’m having to do with mom’s old CDs. I claimed as many of them as I could, partially because I know they were what was playing during most of my memories, but I don’t know one song or singer from another. so I have to listen carefully to each album to see if maybe that one had a song on it that mom listened to over and over again, and whether that song has any meaning for me. I guess I just have to keep going through the other 300+ CDs (probably 400+, I hate to count them) that way until I’ve sorted out which ones I like and which ones I don’t.
how do you know if you like something? i can’t remember buying 3/4 of the ones I haven’t listened to in that long. Why did I buy this one or that one or this whole set? How long will it take to figure it out?
That sounds like quite a task ahead of you. If you decide that you don’t want some Mom’s after listening let me know which ones and so I can see if it’s one that I want before you sell it to Zia’s. I went and bought a couple of tapes (cause they’re cheap and I couldn’t find ’em used) for the songs that kept playing in my head, but I might want something else that you decide that you don’t.
It might be cheaper for you to get the Blockbuster pass. It’s $18 a month and you can rent any two movies on DVD or VHS that you want and keep it as long as you want. Of course if there isn’t one close enough to you it wouldn’t work out too well. Great excercise though! If you had to run out to get new movies once or twice a day you could really do great on that weight loss plan!
That sounds like quite a task ahead of you. If you decide that you don’t want some Mom’s after listening let me know which ones and so I can see if it’s one that I want before you sell it to Zia’s. I went and bought a couple of tapes (cause they’re cheap and I couldn’t find ’em used) for the songs that kept playing in my head, but I might want something else that you decide that you don’t.
It might be cheaper for you to get the Blockbuster pass. It’s $18 a month and you can rent any two movies on DVD or VHS that you want and keep it as long as you want. Of course if there isn’t one close enough to you it wouldn’t work out too well. Great excercise though! If you had to run out to get new movies once or twice a day you could really do great on that weight loss plan!
Here’s the issue I, personally, have with renting DVD’s. There isn’t any penalty, at this point, to people who return the discs scratched. And even if they insert some penalty and very clearly advertise it, they then have to be vigilent about checking the discs as they get returned. I am convinced that people are renting DVD’s with the thought that they are dog food rather than movies, then returning them when they realize their mistake. I would say that easily nine out of ten DVD’s I have rented have been scratched to the point that at least one of the scenes had to be skipped. I have a good Sony DVD player, so I don’t suspect my DVD player, I suspect the gauges in the discs. I rented from NetFlix for a while, and they were bad AND I couldn’t check them ahead of time. Then I rented from Blockbuster and Hollywood and they rarely had a copy of a movie I wanted to see that wasn’t scratched.
So I don’t rent anymore. I buy them new, mostly. It tends to cost about the same to buy a movie on DVD as it does for Ginger and I to go watch it in the theater, and we get all the bonus features like extra footage, director commentary, and sit-our-asses-on-the-comfy-couch technology.
Oh, and Teel, if for some reason you felt like moving to Sierra Vista Arizona, they may have a better job market for you, between the three movie theaters they have all the movies, and the most expensive ones are $3.50. And all the stores down there give you all the free candy you want. And the puppies are all purple. It’s a weird place. Actually, it’s only a model.
Here’s the issue I, personally, have with renting DVD’s. There isn’t any penalty, at this point, to people who return the discs scratched. And even if they insert some penalty and very clearly advertise it, they then have to be vigilent about checking the discs as they get returned. I am convinced that people are renting DVD’s with the thought that they are dog food rather than movies, then returning them when they realize their mistake. I would say that easily nine out of ten DVD’s I have rented have been scratched to the point that at least one of the scenes had to be skipped. I have a good Sony DVD player, so I don’t suspect my DVD player, I suspect the gauges in the discs. I rented from NetFlix for a while, and they were bad AND I couldn’t check them ahead of time. Then I rented from Blockbuster and Hollywood and they rarely had a copy of a movie I wanted to see that wasn’t scratched.
So I don’t rent anymore. I buy them new, mostly. It tends to cost about the same to buy a movie on DVD as it does for Ginger and I to go watch it in the theater, and we get all the bonus features like extra footage, director commentary, and sit-our-asses-on-the-comfy-couch technology.
Oh, and Teel, if for some reason you felt like moving to Sierra Vista Arizona, they may have a better job market for you, between the three movie theaters they have all the movies, and the most expensive ones are $3.50. And all the stores down there give you all the free candy you want. And the puppies are all purple. It’s a weird place. Actually, it’s only a model.
Hey Iam a songwriter.Iam about to enter Mewd school and need about $3000.So what do I do?I figure I can sell of my songs and get on with it and I don’t know howand I willbe real glad if there is any one there who knows what to do to get back to me
Hey Iam a songwriter.Iam about to enter Mewd school and need about $3000.So what do I do?I figure I can sell of my songs and get on with it and I don’t know howand I willbe real glad if there is any one there who knows what to do to get back to me
Med School
Med School