Why do we collect records?

Chicago psychotherapist (and music fanatic) Dr Gerald Stein has some thoughts on the phenomenon. And a warning:

The next time you find yourself at a garage sale, an estate sale, or an antique shop, stop for a moment. Where did these things come from? The same thought might occur to you as you visit the vanishing world of used book and CD stores, or their virtual replacements on Amazon and eBay. There are only two answers:

The next time you find yourself at a garage sale, an estate sale, or an antique shop, stop for a moment. Where did these things come from? The same thought might occur to you as you visit the vanishing world of used book and CD stores, or their virtual replacements on Amazon and eBay. There are only two answers: (1) People bought them and the same people have decided they want to sell them. Some might be collectors whose interests have changed, others simply in the business of making a living or clearing space. (2) The children or heirs of the collectors are doing their best to get rid of the burden of “stuff” left to them.

(I thought we did it to impress the other sex.)

Read Dr Stein’s illuminating essay here.