What to do about it?

Well . . . there is not much you can do about it unless he admits to his problem. Intervention simply will not work. He will wonder why a group consisting of his family and best friends have bothered to gather just to tell him that his habit is out of control-- and it is more than likely his friends are fellow collectors. Withholding sex will do no good because it will only allow him more time to record shows. Withholding food will only lead to starvation, ill health, and maybe even death. Cutting off all funds can be equally dangerous. Music collectors are, generally, good people who have no need to break the law-- so why put them in a situation where they might be tempted to turn to a life of crime?

No. You must try to approach this situation with compassion and understanding. You must work with him and remind him that there are other things in life as good as crisp, clean soundboards. Remind him that man comes from nature and that fresh air will give him more energy to do his taping chores- that the children he has been raising need to know that they have a father once in a while. Question why he can tell you every time the Grateful Dead played "Dark Star" in 1972, but can't remember the date you were married or any of his kids' birthdays.

Can a problem trader only collect once in a while?

If a person is suffering from this disease, collecting in any form cannot be risked. A new recording is just the beginning of more whether it is a show he has been looking for for years, a show he was at, or just a show that someone sent to give him an idea of what a new band sounds like. For the obsessed, one more show of any band is likely to be too much, and twenty more shows can never be enough. Obviously, few collectors are going to get out of control with just one or two more shows-- the collector knows this as well as the next person. This will lead to them convincing themselves that they will just get a few shows from a quick trade and then quit. Occasionally, they may actually follow this program for a number of days or weeks. Eventally, they decide that as long as they are collecting, they may as well get everything they can from that trader-- who is likely suffering from the same collecting illness. So they increase their acquisition of recordings-- or, even worse, they switch to harder stuff-- like DVD-R (some may even babble on about the future, hoping that they will be able to fit every Grateful Dead show that has ever happened onto a small half-inch cube that they can ingest).

Casual Collector v. Hardcore Collector?

Most people with trading problems will say that it's how you record, not how often, that determines whether or not you have a problem. Many can go weeks, months, and occasionally years between their bouts with collecting too much. During these periods of "no trading," they may not give collecting a second thought. Without mental or emotional effort, they are able to take it or leave it alone, and they prefer to leave it alone. Then, for some unaccountable reason, or for no reason at all, they go off on a first-class binge. They neglect job, family, and other civic and social responsibilities. The spree may last a single trade, or it may be prolonged for days or weeks. When it is over, the trader is usually weak and remorseful, determined never to let it happen again. But it does happen again.

This type of "periodic" collecting is baffling, not only to those around the addicted person, but also to the person still collecting. He or she cannot understand why there should be so little interest in collecting during the periods between binges, or so little control over it once the trading starts.

Be sure and visit the rest of The Music Archive Music Site

Collectamitus: A psychological condition wherein an individual undergoes a psychotic and obsessive compulsion to gather and archive live music. Extreme cases are manifested by lack of sleep, crumbling relationships with friends and family, loss of work, and a bad body odor due to a complete lack of concern for hygienic needs. Collectamites are everywhere and with the ease of collecting recordings on the World Wide Web there has been an alarming increase in reported cases. There is no known treatment. Scientists think it is a neurological disorder caused by the chemical recorditonin, but it might be a result of the reality that live music is better.

Top five signs there is a taping problem:

5. The piles of recording never seem to grow smaller-- even as the collection grows bigger. A well-balanced collector allows his blank media supply to run out so he can take the time to enjoy the collection he already has.
4. When you tell him you’re going to build a dungeon and lock him and his collection in there, he smiles and offers to help build it.
3. He spends quality time that should be spent with you designing strange items that you will have to wear to help him sneak his dat deck into those hard to-get-into venues (e.g. a bag that dangles between your legs because guards aren’t supposed to search there).
2. He just has to replace every casstte he owns with a cd-r (and knows that someday he will have to convert them over to dvd-r).
1. Ultimate sign that he is inflicted with this collecting obsession-- When making love, he stops every five minutes so he can burn another cdr.

Analog Cassettes versus DAT vs CDR
All three of these recording medias are part of the same problem. They all have the power to infect you. If one were to use alcohol as an analogy, one would not need to worry so much if an alcoholic prefers beer over whiskey, would they? No. These media types all lead to addiction!

Problems that the invention of CDR have added to the recording addicted.

• The goddamned things don't always burn right-- leaving you with useless discs to figure out something to do with.
  • The discs do not make good frisbees. Seriously. Try to play a game of ultimate with one and you will have to agree. Just because you can toss them across the room does not necesarily mean someone will have an easy time catching them.

  • They really do not make the best coasters for drinks. Remember the hole in the middle of the disc?

  • It is not your job to experiment with different mediums so you can come up with the definitive list of what brands are good and what brands are bad.

  • They are not an attractive alternative to wallpaper.

  • Do not, I repeat, do not use them as a spare spatula.

• You really are wasting your time if you are stockpiling them in the hopes that modern technology will eventually figure out a way to reburn them.

• Perhaps the worst problem of all is that the use of CD-r's is going to lead to much harder stuff-- recordable DVD is a future reality. Stop now while you can-- if you can.

• You walk into your tape vault and wonder what to do with all of the old analog cassettes and decide you should keep both a digital and an analog copy in case of emergency-- despite the fact that you can't come up with any emergencies that would justify such a thought.

• Finally-- they are cheaper. Discs cost less that cassettes. CD burners are generally as affordable if not more affordable than analog decks. And discs and burners are much cheaper than any of the DAT components. So what? Think about it? Do most hardcore alcholics drink the finest, expensive liquors so they can savor the aroma and flavor? Or do they buy what they can afford, generally cheaper booze, so they can alleviate any worry about ever running out of enough funds to stay intoxicated?

1. Admit that you are powerless over the allure of soundboards.
   
2. Try going to a show without recording it.
   
3. Understand that there are more important questions than who makes the most reliable blank CD-r's
   
4. Realize that the hole in the middle of the CD-r is not the approving eye of God smiling down on your archival efforts.
   
5. Admit that the Grateful Dead played some real shitty shows and you don’t need them in your collection.
   
6. Understand that DVD-r recordings are not a closer step to understanding GOD.
   
7. Take the time to go through your collection and remove the shows where the analog hiss is louder than the crowd noise.
   
8. Finally accept that hiss was not a plot by the recording industry to ruin the lives of collectors.
   
9. Admit to yourself that a newly discovered crisp Dat soundboard does not replace your wife's need for a healthy sex life.
   
10. Realize that you do not need to tape the arguments you have with your significant other for posterity’s sake
    
11. If you and your wife/girlfriend are out on a romantic outing and she tells you it is a perfect day and that it reminds her of the first time you dated, do not tell her that the day reminds you of the first time you heard a DAT transfer to CDR of a show that you used to have seventeenth generation anlog tape of.
    
12. If you and your wife/girlfriend are fighting, do not compare the experience to digi-noise.