Accumulating = Collecting + Using

["allan carrano" <allan.carrano@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     Every so often the recurring theme of collectors vs users draws heated 
     comments on the list.  The last go around (or perhaps I should say the 
     current one) seems to show an evolution toward a better understanding 
     that there may not be an "us and them."  There's a lot of gray areas 
     when items bought for use go on the shelf because the new toy takes 
     precedence.  Whether or not the shelved item is taken down within some 
     arbitrary time frame for use once again will classify the 
     collector/user as one or the other by someone's definition.
     
     Personally, I do admit to having a "toy box" that contains 3D items 
     that see occassional, little or no use.  If that constitutes 
     collecting, then I'm a collector.  I guess I also collect books.  
     After I read them, they become my references and sit on a shelf 
     collecting dust, when they could go to someone else to read for the 
     first time.  Does my occassional (or maybe never) revisiting of these 
     texts justify my hoarding and depriving other readers of their 
     contents?  To me it does.  And the same goes for my "toy box."  The 
     toys are mine to do with as I see fit.  
     
     If I have to justify (and I don't really feel I do) the non used or 
     little used stereo equipment I have, it might be by mentioning that 
     most of these items were found in a state of disrepair, and were 
     restored to functional conditions at expenses beyond the then current 
     market values.  I don't have pretty paper weights just for show.  At 
     some future date, these items may be sold off (for profit or for any 
     other reason I choose to do so), and they will return to the field of 
     play for the enjoyment of future hobbiests, who have yet to discover 
     the "WOW!" of stereophotography.  But I'll continue to enjoy my toys 
     until then, whether the enjoyment is in using them occassionally or 
     just putting them on display.  Shame on me.
     
     Allan  
     


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