CD Purging Regrets

So, I have this idea that my music collection (CDs and LPs) absolutely must fit into these cabinets in my hallway. My CD and LP collections are not allowed to grow beyond this allotted space. So that usually means a couple times a year, I do a mass purge. I usually do this when I am in a anti-pack rat, unsentimental mood. It always feels good to purge and clean out. I sometimes have this unfounded fear of becoming a recluse with so much junk in my house that you would have to squeeze through narrow passageways among floor-to-ceiling piles of accumulated stuff... records, tapes, CDs, magazines, books, papers, etc. So, getting rid of CDs helps to keep this fear under control.

But then I find myself missing CDs that I've sold. One of the CDs that I regret selling is Barbara Streisand's Greatest Hits. I have no clue why I miss this one except that I love "Guilty" that she sings with Andy Gibb.

Another album that I miss is Down by the Old Mainstream by Golden Smog (featuring Jeff Tweedy). I went through a phase that lasted several years that I did not like Wilco or Jeff Tweedy's voice. It didn't have to do with negative associations with ex-boyfriends or anything like that. I just didn't like them anymore. But then when I discovered Wilco's Summer Teeth album just a couple years ago, my Wilco hiatus officially ended. That record was my favorite record in Spring 2005 and I played it all the time. We recently got the new Golden Smog record at WXYC called Another Fine Day. I really really like it (it's got that jangly poppy country rock sound that I crave), but it reminds me of how I regret giving up their first record.

Should I go back and repurchase these records of my regret? Or should I just let them go? I think I can skip the Barbara Streisand record and just get that "Guilty" track off Itunes, but I wonder about that old Golden Smog record. Maybe I'll just get their new one.

I think to avoid these regretful feelings in the future, maybe I should just go ahead and admit that I am a pack rat and stop purging my music collection.