I was browsing through some old blog posts and I found that in January last year, I had a year-by-year analysis of my CD collection, so I figured it would be a good time to see how 2019 added to the pile. As a quick recap, I added to my collection each year:
2016: 207 new
2017: 254 new
2018: 327 new
And in 2019, I added 262 new items. Not as aggressive as 2018, but I can understand why. Last year, I sort of struggled finding stuff that I actually wanted to buy. I was interested in filling gaps in my collection as opposed to growing it in new directions. It’s the year I made peace with the idea that my collection is going to be incredibly focused on 1980’s releases. Not that that’s overly limiting, because there’s a lot of sub-genres to explore and there’s a lot of music available in just that decade.
Also, I was focused a bit more on adding collectables, like target CDs and gold CDs from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Purchases like these are not your $1-2 thrift store buy (unless you’re lucky). As my list of wanted target CDs shrinks, the availability of those CDs shrinks accordingly and the prices increase accordingly as well. So, spending upwards of $25 for a target CD I want isn’t unheard of. Gold CDs I have always held a price cap of $30, although I did pay $50 for one that I felt was a sure buy.
So at this point, I have 82 target CDs (excluding duplicates) and I have 18 gold CDs. These numbers grew substantially in 2019 – I added 8 gold CDs alone. I expect this segment to continue to grow in 2020, which will continue to add significant and durable value to the collection (spoken in my CFO earnings-call voice). No one should ever collect anything as an investment, however, you can be intelligent with your purchases and buy quality when you can – a balance of quantity and quality will satisfy everyone. When it comes time to divest the lot, separate the rare from the common and liquidate each group appropriately.
On the topic of breadth, I did discover more smooth-jazz artists to add to my stable. It all fits together that early CD adopters were more affluent, the technology was more expensive, and their tastes were more refined (or snooty, if you think). So there are a lot of jazz titles available in the early 80’s. And because the 80’s were an era of early synths and drum machines – sounds that are now generally despised – you can find albums in this genre quite cheaply.
2020 is hopefully going to be another year of quality. The quantity is already there.
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