Compact Disc and Vinyl Habits

     Hello.  I was wondering what medium people use and prefer for their music collections.  Also how large is your collection?  Members may want to comment on genres preferred and where they purchase their music.  I’m a big compact disc collector and fan.  I grew up with vinyl and am getting back into vinyl as a collector and for the luxury of that analog sound. Vinyl is also nostalgic as my youth was spent listening to vinyl and even reel to reel and I did a lot of recording from vinyl to reel to reel and cassette. Compact Discs are so much more practical with me.  I can throw a disc on in the car and load up my cd changer at home for a long round of listening.  They stay clean, don’t crack and pop, last a lifetime and are much easier to store.  With a decent sound system they sound good.  I see the value in both vinyl and cds.  Vinyl is like a fine wine.  Again I’m going to be investing in a vinyl system in the future.  Music is very important to me as it is healing.
      My collection is at about 1200 cds currently.  It was a lot larger yet unfortunately someone stole most of them.  I’m working on replacing the titles stolen and my collection constantly grows.  I buy about 20 cds+/- monthly.  Sometimes more as I’m again replacing a lot of stolen cds.  My collection is primarily progressive rock.  Classic rock and jazz fusion also occupy a place in my heart.  Cds are primarily bought from an online vendor called “The Lasers Edge.”  A lot of the titles being replaced are hard to find as mainstream is not listened to at all.  I listen to music at home on headphones as I live in a condo. The openness of speakers and the large sound stage etc is missed.  
     I’m not a big streamer as I like to see and feel the medium.  The artwork and lyrics are also important. I like to have the artwork on hand rather than look up the artwork and lyrics online.  There’s also the point of supporting artists. Progressive rock hasn’t been in the mainstream since the very late 60’s and early 70’s with bands such as King Crimson, Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Renaissance, ELP, Jethro Tull, Van Der Graaf Generator, Camel, PFM, Banco, Le Orme, Atomic Rooster, Eloy, Caravan, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Uriah Heep, Rush, Morse Code, Ange, etcetera etcetera. I grew up with these bands and progressive rock has continued with a large dry spell in the 80’s, though it’s nowhere near as popular as its heyday.  It’s important to support artists so they can keep producing music.  
     Nothing comes close when it comes to rock music in general, in my humble opinion to the plethora of quality and exciting music the heyday of rock produced from the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s.  Even so there is a lot of exciting quality music to be unearthed and discovered in the years following the heyday up until now.  I’m primarily speaking of the music I like encompassing the many sub-genres of progressive rock.  My collection has just as many artists from more recent times as the heyday and this balance is shifting towards more recent prog as more is released.  The cds that are being replaced from the heyday does balance this out too.  There’s a lot of classic rock to be replaced yet as I prefer progressive rock and am replacing this first.  I didn’t mention names of more recent progressive rock groups.  There’s plenty out there including new and interesting sub-genres.  Maybe another time.

       Vinyl is missed in the case of the artwork.  Limited and special edition versions of cds are put first as are mini lp and hardbound book editions.  Music is an art form in many shades.  Box sets are also sought after.  I had a large amount of box sets go missing and this is the hardest form to find new and replace.

     Just throwing some questions and thoughts out to anyone who would like to comment. Hope your Christmas/Holiday was full of family, friends and good memories.  Happy New Year.  Stay healthy friends.