How many LP's do you own? How long did it take?

I just got into vinyl about 7 years ago. I don't know how many LPs I have, but I've got about 10 feet of albums.

My collection started with my father's stuff. The summer before I went away to college, we got rid of a bunch of stuff because my parents bought a new house. My father told my mother he got rid of his albums, but I stumbled across them in the basement about 7 years ago. He said he didn't have the heart to get rid of all of them. He got rid of a bunch, but his classic rock stuff reminded him too much of Woodstock.

I'd been toying with the idea of getting a turntable for a year or so before that, but didn't have the funds to start a record collection. He gave me the albums on the condition that I buy a turntable. We went out together and bought one the next day.

Whenever he comes over, he spins a few of his old albums. The way I look at it, they're his until the day he dies. Then they'll be mine until I meet my maker. I've bought some albums that I have no interest in, but know he'll like. Haven't told him that though.

My former secretary's husband gave me a bunch of vinyl about 2 years ago. Funny thing is his stuff basically filled the gaps of my father's stuff.

Like a previous poster, my KAB USA EV-1 has been a godsend. Combine that with a steam cleaner, and stuff that's been sitting in a basement and an attic for for about 2 decades sounds practically brand new.

I've bought some used stuff from garage sales and record shops. The majority of what I buy is new releases. Between my father and my friend, I've got pretty much every classic rock album I've ever wanted, and then some.

Bought my first LP in 1975 in Plattsburg NY, Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin.
Was buying albums at a rate of about 5 to 6 a month till I bought my Proceed CDP. Slowed down buying LPs until I met up with Mike L where he opened up my ears as to what I had been missing for quite a few years.
Since then I have been buying both new and used Lps.
Some from the Sally Ann, garage sales, and our local music stores.
Unfortunately most of our good local music stores have had to close their doors so my purchases have slowed down accordingly.
Never counted how many I have but measuring them I have 22' 7" worth of Lps.

I lost interest in Vinyl several years ago and sold off my entire collection. I was happy not having to perform the vinyl ritual anymore then, alas, the bug bit hard again. I started collecting about a year and a half ago and my count is up to 700+ LPs.

I bought my first album (a Johnny Cash Sun Records best of collection) off a TV ad circa 1968 or so. BEfore that, my sister's had some around the house that I spun more than they.

TOday I have 5 bookshelves worth (not sure how many that is), more than I have time to listen to, but modest size compared to many.

I will buy almost anything that is in good condition and promises to sound good on vinyl these days for 50 cents or a buck or so when I see opportunities at yeard sales, flea markets, Goodwill, etc. I mostly go for older titles from teh "golden age", 50s-early 70s, from the time before I started collecting myself that I had overlooked for many years. A $30 investment or less (the price of less than 2 new CDs often these days) can yield a bounty of good sounds to soak in. Life is good!

Tpreaves - I bet that's a familiar story. I too sold off some lps before I made the decision lps are what I want.

Approximately 8500 now. Started buying in the late 60’s but in 1970 got a part time job in a record store where almost every penny was spent buying albums. Then in the late 80’s when everyone else was dumping vinyl for Cd , I was given thousands and bought thousands for next to nothing. I cleaned and kept the best and gave the rest away. I made a considerable effort to have a great blues collection as part of them.

Evertime I think of selling down to the hundreds, I start looking through the genre and alphabetized lists I have and think to myself, it’s not about never being able to listen to all of it , it’s about being able to listen to any of it at anytime I feel the urge. It’s also nice to share that ability when people visit and pick a few out themselves to spin and hear again or for the first time . It’s nice having a large music collection and art collection all combined in one as well.

I have around 3000.  started in the seventies.

Here's a question: How many have estimated the number of LPs they own and then actually counted them, using any reasonable method such as LPs per foot of shelf space?  I see that in 2012, I wrote here that I owned ~2000.  Later on in 2012, I mentioned that I had a friend with 7,000 LPs from whom I could borrow freely.  Since then, and very sadly for me, my friend developed dementia and eventually died. When it became obvious to everyone that his LP collection (and CD collection and mountains of audio and video equipment) would never again be used by him, his wife gave me the keys to their house and told me to go there and take whatever LPs I wanted. (She had moved herself and him to assisted living, by that time.) Faced with such overwhelming abundance, I nevertheless took "only" 800 or 900 LPs, mostly jazz and blues LPs, a few in the classical genre.  (She gave away the rest!!!) I had to purchase a new cabinet to store my new acquisitions, which forced me to take a rough count of what I had plus what I got from my buddy.  I now estimate a total of 2500 LPs, which means I was over-estimating when I earlier stated that I owned 2000.  It was probably more like 1500 to 1700 back then.  The good thing about acquiring his LPs, besides the fact that I can silently thank him for the wonderful music contained on them, is that he was just as anal as I am; his LPs are in "like new" condition and don't require any maintenance on my part, like running them through my VPI record washer. 

Someone wrote about yard sales and the like as a source for bulk purchase.  I won't own an LP that is scratched or gouged on the playing surface, which is most of what you find at a yard sale or at Goodwill.

Next question. How many do you actually listen to?

Like someone else wrote, I listen "regularly" to maybe 100 or 200 different LPs, where the term "regularly" may mean only once or twice per year.  But I do delve into the shelves now and then to drag out an LP I may not have heard in a decade, and nowadays, I do seek out novel LPs that I got from my friend's collection.  His taste and mine did overlap, but he was in general more eclectic.  I am especially appreciating his R&B stuff these days.  Also, I find that new LPs can catch my fancy and break in to the cycle of regularly played ones. I don't necessarily want more LPs, but I don't want fewer, either.