What would become of it all if you/ they had a massive heart attack tomorrow? 

Do you have someone in mind who you'll definitely pass your collection on to, who will get even half the amount of enjoyment out of it as you have? 

For those with larger collections, do you think you'll downsize it all in later years, selling much of it to a dealer, so as not to leave the onerous task on the shoulders of another elderly person?

For myself, I have no children and no-one I know who will enjoy my CDs at all... my other half would box it all up and take it to a local charity shop, whose staff really wouldn't know who Edgar Froese was, or whether they'd be able to sell it...

I don't know ... but at this point all the books on theater, film and music are probably going to end up in some trash bin ... the LP's will probably be dumped out somewhere to a Salvation Army ... and me? a few ashes thrown over the Columbia River would make me happy ... as much as I loved all the music, the theater and films for many years ... in the end, it meant nothing to anyone ... but in all honesty I'm not into it for attention or appreciation ... I'm into it for what I see and that inspires me ... the rest can jump off the pier into the dark void.

So, let's see ... some 1500 LP's, some 2K CD's and about 200 DVD's ... what me worry? .... I have them all in my heart and that's how I will take them with me! And not having a place to live and facing a possible move in the next few months because my SS is not enough ... doesn't make the weight of all those LP's, CD's and Books ... a good thing ... without the LP's I already have 11 boxes full  (12x12 each) ... and the question still is ... where do I go from here?

I try to focus on the music itself. I enjoy listening to the music much more than looking at the discs. I really like the cover art, and I have high quality images in my digital collection, so I can see and enjoy it when I'm listening to the music.

Hi,

Same ... but I have one example that ... well ... I guess it ended up fine. 

My dad passed away in 1979 and he left behind a huge library of Portuguese, Brazilian and Spanish Literature to the tune of at least 30K, possibly 40K books ... from then on until 1996 or 1997, my mom published more stuff from my dad's everything, than he did in his whole life. In the end, what was to "happen" to it all was not to "benefit" the children at all ... it was all sent to Lisbon to be setup as a memorial to the writer and civil servant that was buried with honors there. I'm almost 74 now, and doubt I will ever get on a tuna boat to go visit Lisbon and see this personally ... not that I am not interested, but the feasibility is beyond my means. I sincerely doubt I will travel any more at this age ... the energy is too much for me to endure.

At least the whole thing did not end up in a wasteland ... T. S. Eliot style. But my own collection is not so much about progressive as it is eclectic or even eccentric ... and I'm not sure this will get any of the stuff anywhere at all. There is no interest that I have ever found ... I would donate all the theater books to a school that does theater for example, but none of them want anything ... they already own it all and have enough toilet paper for several lives! The same for my film books and DVD's ... I wanted to send them to THE ACTOR'S STUDIO, but they were not interested at all ... and a lot of my theater stuff is on the groundbreaking experiments and new theater ... I still have, somewhere, a bunch of issues of the DRAMA REVIEW ... a veritable fountain of information about experimental theater and film anywhere! 

None of it means anything for PA, or even how so much of it is a part of what I write here at any time .... I wish there was a place where these things can go ... but I'm sorry to say that I have not found anything with any interest whatsoever, and a place like PA, or internet places, are not the best at being able to compile all that stuff into a knowledge base of about the art form ... instead it's like it is making a knowledge base strictly by the numbers of bands added to its database. I'm not sure that is the right way to do it, but then 100 years ago folks joked about going to the moon, didn't they?

I'm much like you, Jared: no  kids (they would hate me if I left them to junk all that stuff, anyways)

Can't remember who said this, but he's onto something:

Trimming down (seldom used/read stuff) and getting rid of the dead wood (stuff you never re-read/relisten/re-view) is what  I will start doing, if not now, as soon as I retire and regroup the stuff over my two pads spread out over two countries.

I've been thinking for donations to libraries, or setting one up with my own stuff, but I'm not sure the formers would be interested (probably already owning a lot of it - though a good-shaped copy might be interesting to replace their worn-down ones)  and the latter would have setting-up & running costs - finding a good Samaritan that would do it graciously is another worry.

Well, it could be bringing an OK amount of cash, and the stuff sold would probably find a suitable & welcoming home for a few decades or so.

I would never start selling my CD collection while I'm still here though - although I might make an exception for Cliff Richard. 

On top of that, I have over 1,000 books, a somewhat large postage stamp collection, and a rather large baseball card collection. I got bit by the collecting bug at a rather young age. The book collection has actually shrunk by a couple of hundred as I've found e-book replacements and was able to free up space due to this (I donated these to a local charity that holds book sales every year). I may eventually sell the stamp collection as I'm no longer actively adding to it and haven't been for years (likely will split up and sell on eBay though I might keep my New Zealand and local posts collections as I'm still fond of them). I doubt I'll part with my baseball card collection while I'm alive. I'm actively adding to it and have my own YouTube channel covering product openings and visits to antique malls searching for them.

I'm not that far from retiring from my job. A good project for that freed up time might be converting the CDs into digital format and then selling the CDs. Something I'm thinking about but not yet ready to commit to. It would give me more space for baseball cards!

My wife also has a very large swung vase collection. I don't know what she plans on doing with that, though these kinds of collectibles are a bit easier to pass onto relatives and sell well at auctions.

Stuff. What to do with all this stuff?

Very interesting idea of a thread and a question I've already have been thinking quite a bit about, as my stepdaughter, who is very dear to me, has said that she would like very much to inherit my collection. At the present time, I certainly don't think that she "will get even half the amount of enjoyment out of it as" I have, and I doubt much that she ever will.

Beginning rather many years ago, I've kept my collection at a rather small seize (about 400-500 albums), "small" when concidering my great passion for music since teenager, but on the other hand, my collection will in general be considered of very high quality and today including about 350 artists from 40 countries, and mostly LPs.

Anyway, at this point of time, I can't bear the thought of should be separated from my collection, it's like to think about my death, or even worse, and I don't want to think about it. 

          Someone once said to me, Doug, you do not have a collection, you have an archive...

     I had a friend who once wanted me to will my collection completely to her, which did not ring right with me, as she is not into my kind of music much at all; I think she wanted to make some coin off of it, needless to say, I did not go along with that, and am no longer a contact of hers... 

But okay, at this point of time I think that it would be best to sell my collection to a large second hand shop, as it would be the best way to assure that my LPs and CDs would go to some people that would appreciate them much. But if my stepdaughter really wanted to have them, I might not be able to say "no" to her. 

Long story short: When I last visited my mother, I took the time to go through the cases and threw away a third of them. Will throw away another third in December and then keep the remaining ~300 CD cases, plus all of the actual CDs.

The weird things we do 

Yes but they'll inherit your money (presumably) so in some weird way that could be seen as you paying them for their efforts. 

So, a thread which started about the disposal of our music collections upon death, has inevitably become about more than that....

And, who is it who continue to amass huge record collections or collecting deluxe anniversary editions? Generally its music lovers aged 50+, not young people... so, I'd suggest the quote above used to be true, but today, the older generation's disposable income means many are continuing to acquire... and ultimately, for what purpose? So their family can box them up and take them to a dealer in 15-20 years time, after they've been out of their cases half a dozen times?

For myself, I have never had a large collection; a transient lifestyle in my younger years got me into the cycle of disposing of, before buying more. I have an oak, wall-mounted cabinet which only holds around 400 CDs. Every so often, 20 more go on eBay to allow me to buy 20 new ones, although this has slowed down as I'm more or less happy with what I've got. Yes, I do regret off-loading some prematurely, but it does mean that my partner has little to off-load when the time comes...

Problem is someone would have to teach her how to use the hi-fi system . We've talked about stuff like this and I told her I will one day write up instructions on how to spin the records.

mmmmhhh!!!!... I'd hate to think how high my vinyl/cd stacks would be (I was a late convert to CD), if I hadn't abandonned most of my vinyls at the turn of the 90's in a buddy's attic in Toronto, because I didn't have the money to ship them to Europe.

By the time I returned back for a visit in the mid-90's (planning to actually ship some of it), he'd move twice, so he had sold most of my vinyls, but really got a rather good price for them (he kept a list).

At first, I was rather upset (I mean, he could've warned me about doing that), but soon realized that I didn't care all that much (though I'm sure I had some original releases), so I spend the money on a good feast/party for him and I that lasted three days.

But then again, I've moved myself some 15 times since getting out of the parents' house (they've moved quite a bit themselves) and right now, I'm still living in two different countries, so I've never really let my acute collectionitis go over the top, which is why I'm trimming it regularly.

.

only if you're nice to them, Greg... 

My collection will go straight to my home library if they want some "prog snob music".

Hi,

Goodness .. Evelyn Waugh all over again ... can I have a golf course added to it, also ... and Jonathan Winters narrating the events?

Hopefully my wife would sell it as fast as possible, and enjoy the money she earns from it. I don´t have a nostalgic relationship with my vinyl and CD collection anymore, although I would never dream of selling the collection while I´m still alive.

What I would much rather see preserved are my reviews. That´s what I consider my own legacy, and hopefully they can live on in some form or other after I´m gone..
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Vynils and CDs will end taking mould in a garage and my downloads will be formatted together with my own home made stuff.