Multiple copies of the same album?


I’ve accumulated a lot of music in the last 4 decades, and I listen to music via LP, CD and hi-Rez audio. Among all that I only have a handful of titles for which I have copies in multiple formats- for instance, I have one recording in vinyl mono, vinyl stereo, CD and hi-Rez. 

For those of you that also listen across multiple formats are multi format versions a small part of your library or do you seem to have a lot of that in your library? 
128x128zavato
I try not to buy on CD what I already have on vinyl,  but there are some exceptions. Beatles, Stones and Mingus come to mind. I also have multiple vinyl copies of Hendrix, some still sealed, to be opened only on special occasions...

Like a new turntable or a London Decca Supergold. 
I have multiple copies of rock Lp’s and Cd. Then I started buying the remastered versions, only to learn that the originals in most cases had better sound.
Then there’s the 1970’s, a great period in vinyl, when artists released the same album with different cover art. I have about 10 versions of Kate Bush’s "The Kick Inside." She has different packaging depending on country of origin, plus collectable limited runs.

Now, I search Discogs for the best quality vinyl and CD when I have a disappointing US pressing (the best is often from Germany).
@bdp24 - do you have Fahey’s ’67 version of Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes?
BTW, your input would be valued here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/rythmik-subwoofer
@elizabeth - so nice to see you posting again. I got bored with traditional and straight ahead jazz, warhorses, etc. A friend got me into spiritual jazz- check out something like the B side to the Heath Bros "Marchin’ On" on Strata East- a piece called "Smilin' Billy Suite"- it’s a combination of almost classical style with very deft woodwinds. The subgenre has opened a whole new area of listening for me and revived my interest in jazz.

In the late 60’s/early 70’s, record companies were deleting from their catalogs the mono versions of LP’s. All through the 60’s, LP’s were offered in both formats, the stereo version selling for a dollar more, mono going for around $3, stereo $4. Rock bands were using the new multi-track recorders to create stereo effects, particularly of the "psychedelic", back-and-forth, ping-pong type. This topic came up here a few months back, people mentioning the first two Hendrix albums and Moby Grape’s debut, which contain that exact thing.

Nobody wanted mono anymore, except for myself and people like me who had discovered that quite a few LP’s were not available in true stereo, the "stereo" version of certain LP’s in truth being electronically-created stereo simulations---a horrible invention. The record companies either punched a small hole in the corner of the LP cover or cut off the corner, and sent them to retail outlets like drug stores, who sold the LP’s for 59 cents apiece!

I had a group of stores I would go to a few times a week, looking for mono Kinks, Beach Boys, etc. LP’s. I would buy every copy of a mono pressing of a "good" album I found, ending up with multiple copies of some titles. Those LP’s were used to do trades, with someone who had found a mono copy of a title I hadn’t. When I discovered Goldmine Record Collectors magazine in 1976, I started selling those 59 cent mono LP’s for $20.

I still have those mono LP's, but only one copy of each title. The multiples I now have are LP/CD duplicates, with different LP pressings of some titles particularly important to me, or unusual in some way. Here's a good example: T Bone Burnett's Truth Decay (nice pun!) was released on Takoma Records, the label originally being distributed by Chrysalis Records. The last song on side one ("Driving Wheel", a very cool song done in Rockabilly style) contains a "false" ending---the song ends, the sound of the instruments fading into silence. After a long pause, the band starts up again, and plays through a long, slow fade-out. At some later date, the Takoma label was distributed by Allegiance Records, who remastered the LP. Whatever engineer did the job didn't realize "Driving Wheel" has a false ending, and cut off the song before the band resumes playing!

Elizabeth said "IMO there are only so many really great Jazz albums. Easy to have both media."

Agree 100% - and explains why there appears to be many reissues. 

Post removed 
I've bought a number of classic titles on CD/SACD so I can play them in the car (less than optimum LP environment) and so I can load them on my classic ipod.  It makes mowing, shoveling, snowplowing much more fun and protects my ears from the racket.
@zavato   I did that with a jazz CD.  Good to know I'm not the only one who has done that!  Like you I gave the second to a friend.
Once I mistakenly bought an LP I didn't recall I already had- I gave the extra LP to a buddy. 

Yes, though mostly multiple different pressings of the same LP, often different countries or masterings. Most of the time I do this purposely, to find a better sounding copy, though I seem to have a habit of buying records I already own sometimes. In many cases, i haven't gotten rid of the multiples, but have selected the preferred copies, and back-shelved the others.