Sell That Funky Music, White Boy

Well, I recently finished my latest, most exhaustive pruning yet of my CD collection, and I have to say I was more-or-less happy with the results. In a way, I had kind-of hoped to find more CDs to get rid of than I did, but then I did find over 75, which was impressive, if not a huge percentage (7.5%) of my total collection of over 1,000. What did impress me, though, was how much those discs were worth to the local shops ... I got $130 in trade credit between two stores ($75 from one and $55 from the other), and they took all but three of them! Needless to say, the credit yielded from those 75 CDs will be spent on obtaining a carefully selected handful of titles over the next several weeks.

It was a difficult task, deciding what to keep and what to part with. I was eager to cast off any titles to which I no longer had an emotional attachment, or whose appeal had simply disappeared for one reason or another. These CDs, I told myself, deserve to be put up for "adoption" and end up in a home where they'll be better appreciated and more frequently listened to.

At the same time, I couldn't help feeling pangs of guilt ... some of the CDs might have been ones I had been given as gifts or recommended to me by friends or family. There was also a sense of "loss", in a way ... the thought that, if I got rid of certain CDs, I might end up with a less comprehensive music collection. But, I realize that neither of those feelings are warranted. I can't exactly help it if I don't love music I didn't discover myself; and I know I still have a much more well-rounded taste in music than many other people.

So anyway, now the number of CDs in my collection that I never listen to has been significantly reduced, those CDs are on their way to happier homes, and I have some store credit for the new Rooney, Rufus Wainwright, and Maroon 5 CDs that will be making their way into stores over the next several weeks. Life is good.