how to choose what to buy

[Ivor]

    How do you choose what to buy given the superabundance and assuming a not-unlimited budget?

    i used to sweat buckets and be at a loss and spend hours when I first bought LPs - not many.

    now I can find s-h LPs so cheap, i buy by the barrow-load. So that was one of my problems - little money when young when I wanted so many.



       Ivor

[barry guerrero]

Wow Igor, that's always a tough dilemma. I believe that in order to make true discoveries, one has to be willing to make mistakes on their own too. However, I know that funds are a problem for the vast majority of us mere mortals. But even though I'm quite opinionated on the things that I do know about, I feel that it's very important for people to develop their own likes and dislikes. In my earlier days of listening and collection music, I hit the libraries quite hard - often times travelling to local university libraries, in order to hear things that I hadn't heard before. That really helped me a lot. From there, I was able to make educated guesses as to what recordings I'd like, and which ones I wouldn't. For the most part, I've been right. So in other words, take advantage of as many free or low cost avenues as you can.

Barry

[Leo K]

Thats how I started to...using the library for years...checking out LPs or CD's.  These days, I'm buying vinyl again because it's much cheaper.  I limit my "new CD" purchases to Mahler.

I usually decide after reading reviews here and on other sites, like musicweb or classics today...but sometimes I just take a chance on something.  Also, trading is another great way to hear different recordings.

--Leo