When to Cull Your Collection?

[abazaba]

I realize that I'm a hypocrite in that I still own all of my CDs and records, but I will never go back to VHS or casette tape. Blech.

Well records/vinyl is gaining in popularity again; even some current popular artists are releasing new material on records. I don't think the same thing is happening with tape (either cassette or VHS).

 

[payn]

Well records/vinyl is gaining in popularity again; even some current popular artists are releasing new material on records. I don't think the same thing is happening with tape (either cassette or VHS).

Cassette tapes are having a moment for some reason.

 

[abazaba]

Cassette tapes are having a moment for some reason.

Ah. Thanks for the update.

 

[Deset Gled]

The value of the physical medium is a spectrum, of course. In one direction, of course we should value reality and art. In the other direction, the threat of the "boomer stuff avalanche" is a very real problem. If you have some time, I recommend going briefly down the hole of social media channels dedicated to people dealing with inheriting massive collections of things like Precious Moments, depression glass, Franklin Mint plates, old toys, etc. Somewhere out there, someone just inherited a library of RPG books that they don't want and can't afford to move.

That being said, I've always felt that books are a part of media more worthy of collecting. Their artistic value is high, especially RPG books with interesting artwork. They can be stored in a way that is both efficient and accessible. They can be enjoyed without damaging them (vinyl - I'm looking at you). They have a track record of long term demand and value. And it's nice to think all their information will survive The Great Solar Flare.

But books still have issues. They're heavy. If not stored properly, they can deteriorate. RPG books in particular are often odd sizes that are harder to deal with. And nothing is guaranteed to hold value; even staples like antique furniture have seen their market saturated. It's nice to think that RPGs have been around enough that they will be valuable to future generations, but I'm sure the hardcore Roy Rogers collectors though that the Western was a timeless genre, too.

And personally, my boxes of Hallmark Xmas ornaments in the basement means I'm possibly not in the best position to lecture others.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

On the subject of the destruction of books, it's a complicated issue. Speaking as a former librarian, libraries cannot keep everything, even in offsite storage. Some books are easily offloaded, but other books are more difficult to rehome and many libraries do not have the resources to do so. Some books are in such degraded shape. And some books contain outdated information (medical texts, for example) that would be actively harmful to keep in circulation.

It's easy to evoke the specter of book-burnings, but those were not some private individual or even an institution putting some books in the trash. Those were mass events aimed at suppressing ideas, reinforcing a particular belief system, and intimidating people.

This convo kind of reminds me of a discussion I had with a coworker who explained that they refuse to consume any media (music, movies or books) from pre-2000 as anything memorable or worthwhile from those works has already been absorbed into subsequent media (cultural osmosis).

You may agree, but I find it sad that some people feel this way; that they'll never watch original hand drawn animated films, listen to Pink Floyd (or Mozart) or read the Lord of the Rings (or Shakespeare).

Same with people who refuse to engage with analog, physical media and only give time to digital and/or AI content. Hopefully I'll be long dead by the time this becomes the norm for humanity.

On the converse, I know plenty of people who insist "good" media stopped being produced...oh, about when they were in their teens or early twenties. Either is positively maddening.

 

[Bunch]

I realize that I'm a hypocrite in that I still own all of my CDs and records, but I will never go back to VHS or casette tape. Blech.

Strangely I would do tape but not VHS. Tape I have fonder memories of waiting for a song to play on the radio so I could record it.

 

[cranberry]

Sell the unwanted game materials on Ebay.

 

[abazaba]

Strangely I would do tape but not VHS. Tape I have fonder memories of waiting for a song to play on the radio so I could record it.

Yup, so did I. Still not sure if I would go back to cassette tape though.

 

[Bae'zel]

On the converse, I know plenty of people who insist "good" media stopped being produced...oh, about when they were in their teens or early twenties. Either is positively maddening.

Oh yeah don't get me started! "There's no more good music being made anymore!" "no more good movies!" what

Dude, yes there is. Plenty. You just gotta look for it beyond pop culture or top 20 lists. You can find passionate musicians of literally ANY genre from the past 500 or more years. Young people too.

 

[Mannahnin]

Ereaders are literally books just in a different format. Thats my problem, digital product are just digital versions of physical product. Things made for digital first, like wikis, are a lot more efficient.

They have their uses and are certainly handy for looking things up quickly, but in terms of learning, absorbing, and retaining information based on reading, research shows that the physical motions of reading paper books, turning pages, eye tracking (and taking notes by hand even more so) help encode the information in memory and allow superior learning.