Buying in bulk

Since moving to Japan, I've had to drastically change my CD-buying habits. Back in the U.S. of A., I would rarely buy more than two at a time -- but I'd go to a CD store at least a couple times a week. Right now, I'm sure the Borders on Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street is looking at its greatly diminished profits report asking "What happened to us this year???" Well, I left town. Sorry, guys.

Now I accumulate a list, checking everything off at once in huge sprees either at Tower Records in Shibuya or by mail order with my very best friends at Horizon Records, the most excellent record store anywhere, period. (Disagree? Go there -- it's in Greenville, S.C. -- and then we'll talk.) I don't get new CDs very often -- maybe once every two months or so -- but when I do, it's a big stack.

Having lived on both sides, then, I think I can safely assert now that the all-at-once way isn't as fun as it may sound. Back in the day, I would buy one CD, rip off the plastic immediately (the folks at Horizon, once they noticed me coming in all the time, used to take it off for me) and jam out on the drive home. Two days later, I'd buy another and listen to that at work or in my iPod or something. So each disc got at least a little time in the spotlight, and I felt as though I knew my CD collection pretty intimately.

But with the big-stack style, I go through an agony of choosing what to listen to first, and then sometimes things that are awesome (what a thing to complain about!) get stuck on heavy rotation, squeezing out space for purchases I might be somewhat less excited about. To be honest, while new Ryan Adams and Beck are STILL living in my 5-disc changer, some of the CDs I got on the same trip home last month are still (gasp!) wrapped in their plastic. Horrible, I know. Other discs from that trip I've listened to once or twice, but then I feel compelled to move on and never really get a feel for any of the CDs.

You'd think having an iPod might help this situation, but even that library is suffering. When I got back to Japan from my trip home to the States, I had a stack of 30 new CDs to be added to my iTunes library. Ick. While listening to stuff from your iTunes library is swell, adding stuff is annoying -- and it takes a while. So I'd say I've probably added only maybe five of those 30.

It's all just too much. Too much ... of a good thing, that is. :)