How long do you keep your old music mags?

[RABid]

I used to try to keep every issue of every music magazine. Yesterday I decided enough is too much. I tossed all old issues of Electronic Musician pre January 2002. Next will be older issues of Sound On Sound, Remix, Computer Music and Future Music. Once I do a major cleaning of my apartment I will decide on back issues of Keyboard Magazine. The two early 80's copies that my mother did not burn will be saved but the rest will be evaluated on a per issue basis. It seems that most of the information I treasure in those back issues can be found on the Internet.

 

Robert

[Cowfingers]

well ive kinda given up buying mags - the budget of a student doesnt really allow it! but for years my father or myself would buy every issue of Personal Computer World. Each one is the size of phone book, and so 6 months ago when half a room was taken up with them, my mother said enough was enough and binned every single one...and no one misses them a bit! in high-insight keeping them was a complete waste of space.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

I keep my back issues of Keyboard and Electronic Musician for about 8 or 9 years. I hate to throw things out, I'm kind of a pack rat.

[freddynl]

Untill my wife says

 

"can you take these computer and music mags to your hobby room, they are in the way now"

[Synthguy]

*gasp* You guys throw those away?? Say it ain't so!

 

Actually, I'm a pack rat too, Keyboard and video game mags dating way back into the previous millenium. Whatta treasure I never look at!

[D_dup3]

After about a year I edit before I give them to friends or the public library bookshop.

That is, I xerox anything that I haven't internalized...scores; gear reviews I might want for reference; hot tips; etc; but you can't keep everything forever....can you?

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by d:

but you can't keep everything forever....can you?

Why not?. Magazines make wonderful acoustic treatments for music studios. (OK, mags and books - my wife and I are both book nuts and have more books than my local lending library in my youth (I grew up in rural towns in Australia so that is not hard to do).

[EricG]

I keep all my keyboard magazines (Other magazines I throw away, after a while...)

I have almost every issue from june 1990. I am missing 5-6 issues in this 12 year period, and it is irritating me. (OK I am a little nerd.) One issue just got to wet after a five day mountain trip... arrgh.

I have all my keyboard magazinessorted by date in my living room. My friends are telling me that this MUST be the ultimate chick checkup line, but it hasn't worked yet But the day it works I know I have found the right one

[JimmieWannaB]

I've only been buying KB for the last year (used to go to the library and read them. Okay, so I'm cheap ). If my electronics magazines are any indication, I'll probably keep them for ten years or more. Until I tossed everything to move once, I had 20 year old copies of Electronics and Popular Electronics.

 

I even hold onto old Time magazines. My collecting habit comes from my childhood. I stayed with my Grandmother one summer and spent most nights reading her 30-40 year old collection of Readers Digest.

[doug osborne]

My ex-wife threw out my complete collection of EM, Musician (originally Musician Player and Listener), and Acoustic Guitar, from issue one, after I moved out.

 

There is a place in hell for ex wives

[Jazzman]

I started collecting mags for quite a while. I have all of MIX and Recording mags for about 10 years now. I go through EQ, Keyboard, Modern Drummer, and Electronic Musician, cut out the articles that I want and then pitch the mags. I generally keep them for a year before I cut out stuff.

 

Jazzman

[eric]

I began buying Keyboard magazine in 1983 or 1984 and have been subscribing with no gaps since 1985. I have since gone back and obtained every issue (missing 3-4 still) from 1976 up through when my subscription commenced. I have a shelf in my music room dedicated to Keyboard magazines, with a separate 12-month box for each year. It's quite a sight and I am very proud of my collection. I refer to the back issues frequently.

 

Often, I will grab an entire box and skim through a bunch of them to take myself back to that era. There is a lot of valuable content in those 26 years of magazines.

 

Regards,

Eric

[seclusion]

I've made time on my Sun morning to hit the local chapters..

Grab a coffee and read Mix, Keyboard etc. then put it back on the shelf. I really hate clutter, so if I did buy one it's out the door in a couple weeks.

I find a lot of over lap in most the mags anyways. So unless there's a great interview with someone in Mix, I can get away with an hour or so and it gives the wife and I some quite time together out.

Bri

[Gulliver]

No single issue of Keyboard Mag was thrown away since my very first one (subscribed in 1995, May). Now I use them mainly as an "acoustic treatment" for my home studio as well, though still refer to one or another from time to time.

[Tusker]

I keep them (especially Keyboard) forever.

 

I have even picked up some old ones on Ebay. They are Gr-r-r-e-a-t!

 

More filling.

 

Jerry

[D_dup3]

Originally posted by Byrdman:

Originally posted by d:

but you can't keep everything forever....can you?

Why not?. Magazines make wonderful acoustic treatments for music studios. (OK, mags and books - my wife and I are both book nuts and have more books than my local lending library in my youth (I grew up in rural towns in Australia so that is not hard to do).

Well, literally building a house of music sounds good but I like the feeling of passing the information I've benefitted from on to others.

[b_3guy]

Forever.

[Odyssian]

My collection consists of Keyboard, EM, and a couple of others. It goes back to around 81 with a few issues from the late 70's. A few years in the 90's are missing from when I got out of music.

[Graham English]

I have boxes going back to the early Eighties!

[burningbusch]

I'm going to be throwing out (recycling) my old mags. I have a bunch in the attic which are probably mid-1980s to present. I'll keep the Keyboards, but everything else goes which is mainly Electronic Musician, Recording, Mix. If anyone is in the Seattle area and wants any of these, or if you're a diehard and are looking for some past issues and are will to pay shipping, let me know. They are not in pristine condition. They've been used.

 

Busch.

[Raymar]

I thin them out from time to time, reminds me of when I used to sell off my old vinyl LPs(some of which I'm turning into CDs now). A few years back I bought an old issue of Keyboard for 25 cents at the library because it actually had a full double page add for my U20. No way am I parting with that!

[Wiggum]

Forever......

 

I've got a closet full of Keyboard and other mags from the past 15 years.

 

Wiggum

[tenthplanet]

I usually keep them about as long as back issues of Playboy. Funny thing though; the Playboys seem to increase in value and the Keyboards dont' . Truth is I toss all back issue magazines after awhile; there is no room to keep this stuff I think in the future magazines will migrate to CD-Rom or maybe a magazine version of the e-book. It would save on storage room.

 

Michael