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I'm ruthless. If I don't LOVE a recording (for performance or sound quality or both), I trade it in on my next visit to Recycled Records!
Sturgeon's Law asserts that 95% of everything is crap
It is a reductive fallacy to assert that 95% of everything is one thing. I'm certain the author of this statement intended provocation rather than elucidation. That being said, I would like to say that the majority of my record collection contains some pretty great music! If it's no good, throw it out. Shelf space is at a premium in our house.
My percentage is high because I don't keep a CD for my collection unless, after listening, I believe I will enjoy listening to it AT LEAST several more times. I return to my CDs over and over again at different times, even though it may be a while due to volume. But I usually re-enjoy them again. If I can't feel this about a new CD I buy, it gets thrown out.
I do constant sweeps of my collection and add the less-than-desirable discs to my "sell" pile. These discs are generally impulse buys gone wrong, CDs I bought for one song, outright dead dogs, or things that I used to like. Once I've collected enough, I trade them in at my local CD shop, and, yes, buy more CDs. I've managed to keep my collection rather "pure" this way. It hasn't been economical; I'd estimate around 6000 CDs/tapes/LPs have passed through my hands, and my "stable" collection is only about 1500 strong. At the average price of $15 per CD and $4 trade-in value, if you do the math . . . argh. I probably could have afforded Pipedreams (and the house to put them in) had I been a bit more discerning in my purchases.
A simple test is to consider which LPs or CDs you are willing to trade in for a new selection. In my case that comes down to few LPs that are so scratched that I fear for the mechanical integrity of my stylus, and a couple of CDs that were inadvertantly used as Frisbees (Frisbettes?). Anything else I will keep, at least until I have to move. Ergo, I love them all, even the ones I really hate!