Physical or digital media?

[yesno]

I've also let my staff go and have replaced them with various Roombas.

Don't they get underfoot? 

Until there exists an e-reader that one can use in the bathtub, I will continue to consume books.

That's why, I think, Amazon has been focused on driving the price of e-ink readers down.  As hardware, the newest Kindles feel like chintzy pieces of shit. I think the Nook is actually better in terms of hardware (the screen's the same). But they're so cheap you can just get a new one if one breaks or you get it wet.  That said for ebooks I *usually* either just get them free from Project Gutenberg or I read books I have no pressing desire to really own.

A couple times I've bought the hardcover AND ebook.  In the case of "I, Partridge" I bought the audiobook and an ebook and I will buy the hardcover once it's available in the US at non-crazy prices.  (Some audiobooks are wonderful things in and off themselves.  Steve Coogan reading the Alan Partridge book is obviously wonderful.)

There's another issue for digital media-centric types.  You need to back your shit up.  There are a lot of ways to do it.  Despite my usual Mac-centricity I recently bought a tower PC and filled it with hard drives to be a media server.  External hard drives are unsightly and a ripoff.  Then  I back everything on it up to an external RAID connected via a fast eSATA connection.  I keep looking for offsite or cloud backup solutions, too.  I am totally paranoid about something happening and my digital media collection getting wiped out.

[fonpr]

  I am totally paranoid about something happening and my digital media collection getting wiped out.

That fear is real.

When my laptop burned up, I lost 1,400 photographs and dozens of audio pieces.

Isn't backing up on Time Machine enough?

[yesno]

  I am totally paranoid about something happening and my digital media collection getting wiped out.

That fear is real.

When my laptop burned up, I lost 1,400 photographs and dozens of audio pieces.

Isn't backing up on Time Machine enough?

Yes, Time Machine is great if you are storing your media on a Mac.  It gives you one level of redundancy. You need to have at the very least a separate hard drive with your media backed up.

Ideally, you'd have an off-site backup of some kind just in case your home is demolished by a meteor.  I use a RAID for backups because it allows me to have a very large backup set and keep old versions for a while.  RAIDs are also good because they are redundant in another way--if any one of the 4 hard drives in the RAID fails you don't lose any data.  Drobos improve on RAIDs in some ways but are slow and prone to getting corrupted.

[fonpr]

I also had one of those hard drives freeze forever.

Aren't you the guy who said "it's not my job to archive the world"?

[yesno]

I also had one of those hard drives freeze forever.

Aren't you the guy who said "it's not my job to archive the world"?

Probably. That's more on the point that you don't need to collect every piece of music ever or worry about having only perfect lossless files. There's definitely a tendency to think, as a music collector, that you need to have all the important recordings ever.

[dave from knoxville]

If you've seen my bit on the Best Show premium DVD, you got a very fast tour of my favorite store on earth. the Disc Exchange. I suspect that when they inevitably shut down (cutting hours has begun), I will quit buying CDs, or frankly, music of any sort, but I toss them more discretionary money at this point than I can really afford, out of some dostorted sense of mission.

[snacoman]

If you've seen my bit on the Best Show premium DVD, you got a very fast tour of my favorite store on earth. the Disc Exchange. I suspect that when they inevitably shut down (cutting hours has begun), I will quit buying CDs, or frankly, music of any sort, but I toss them more discretionary money at this point than I can really afford, out of some dostorted sense of mission.

I used to live in Nashville and had friends who went to UT Knoxville.  Every time I went up to see them I went to the disc exchange.  Awesome store.  I hope they don't shut down

[Paul DeLouisiana]

I only buy vinyl for reasons like: it sounds great, its a piece of history(I love bringing home some used records and a note or business card from the 60's slides out), it's a wildly affordable way to own music from past decades, and the artwork can be beautiful. I also buy new vinyl. I have a player within arm reach of my computer and one in my living room so I guess my convenient setup helps.

[Hugman 3.0]

And let's be honest, Vinyl makes us feel cool (sung to the tune of Ghostbusters - "bustin' makes me feel good").
One time I was having a happy hour beverage after a trip to Amoeba when these two dudes approached me with a challenging, "What's in the bag?"
So I pulled this out

and they shut the fuck up.

[JonFromMaplewood]

With music, I buy anything. I don't care. CD's, vinyl, mp3's. What have you. 

But if I really love an album, I will do my best to own it either on vinyl or CD.

[JonFromMaplewood]

And let's be honest, Vinyl makes us feel cool (sung to the tune of Ghostbusters - "bustin' makes me feel good").
One time I was having a happy hour beverage after a trip to Amoeba when these two dudes approached me with a challenging, "What's in the bag?"
So I pulled this out

and they shut the fuck up.

I regret posting right after this. Everyone needs to read it. True and awesome.

[Christina]

Probably. That's more on the point that you don't need to collect every piece of music ever or worry about having only perfect lossless files. There's definitely a tendency to think, as a music collector, that you need to have all the important recordings ever.

I agree - you can get pretty much anything you want again. I replaced my old Ipod classic earlier this year w/a new one but I really didn't want a giant 160GB thing - my old one was shot and I needed something right away - I just don't know enough about other players out there to pick a good one - also, how do you un-Apple-fy all your music?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I've gone in phases -- I spent close to a grand on iTunes (well, probably less, I purchased about 1,000 songs, but some of them were on $9.99 albums with more than 10 tracks) in the first couple of years I had an iPod. Then I discovered eMusic and downloaded some great stuff, but I just ended that, mostly because of Spotify but also because they kept changing their TOS and a few small labels I liked pulled their stuff. I also went through a music blog kick, stuffing an external hard drive -- a move I'll probably regret, as I can't figure out how to format the drive and make it work with Time Machine, so I'm sure to lose it all sooner or later. I'm not sure if I'll start paying for Spotify once my six months is up, but I probably will.

I got a record player in 2008, re-bought the (mostly hardcore, surf, and psych) collection I carelessly sold off in 1998 or so, and now buy a good amount of vinyl. I try to keep it under control, and Spotify helps with that -- I listen to records for free a bunch of times and if I really love them I'll purchase the vinyl. I kept all of my pre-2005 CDs but the only CDs I've bought in the past five years or so have been kids' music, mostly to play in the car. I feel a ton of inexplicable affection for cassettes, but I have no desire to own a tape player. Some guy in my neighborhood was selling a desktop 8-track player with a complete collection (Led Zep, Wishbone Ash, Boston, etc.) and I briefly considered buying it for work as an affection.

As far as books go, I am a physical book guy. I have a Kindle that I occasionally use for scripts, and that I loaded up with a couple hundred public domain books. Sometimes I'll take it on a trip if I'm almost finished with my book and can't decide what to read next, but that's about it. I've been reading Pride and Prejudice for nearly a year this way.

[Gilly]

There's another issue for digital media-centric types.  You need to back your shit up.  There are a lot of ways to do it.  Despite my usual Mac-centricity I recently bought a tower PC and filled it with hard drives to be a media server.  External hard drives are unsightly and a ripoff.  Then  I back everything on it up to an external RAID connected via a fast eSATA connection.  I keep looking for offsite or cloud backup solutions, too.  I am totally paranoid about something happening and my digital media collection getting wiped out.

If it's RAID you're pretty safe aren't you? I've been thinking of setting up a RAID server for my movies because I've spent a lot of time on that collection and no longer have the physical copies so I don't want it to vanish. Cloud solutions are non-existent or cost way too much for the amount of space I'd need. However, a RAID server isn't exactly cheap either and I've only had one hard drive fail on me in my life. This is stuff I want to keep around forever though.