Very similar to others, I collected library music to get hold of the long lost tunes I heard as a child. Be it on the test card, incidental music on TV programmes (including Prisoner Cell Block H, The Sweeney etc), TV themes that used library music, advertisements etc etc.
With the help of some others we purchased a variety of library albums from all sorts of labels with a view to complete some old tapes that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and S4C here in the UK used for their test card music. This took some doing.
Websites along the way included Vinyl Vultures which later became Very Good Plus (VG+), various re-incarnations of this great forum with those very knowledgeable members helped complete the gaps by sharing our vinyl rips. Much like we do here today.
It grew from there. Once I'd completed and achieved what I wanted I then continued my search for other treasures. Again, with the help of others here I've listened to more libraries, more artists and songs that I care to remember. Most good, some not so good. It's a question of taste. Even within this genre, there are plenty of albums that I've listened or flicked through and probably never listened to again. Every now and then, someone here will comment about an album, be it a request or upload and based on comments, there is the odd one I've gone back too and really liked. I think it's an age thing and tastes change.
That said, there is nothing like obtaining an album and listening to it and even if you don't know why you bought or downloaded it, there is often a track, or whole album that makes it all worthwhile.
When I first started out buying library albums, I wanted to rip them immediately so I could listen again easily without digging out the vinyl again and having to play. Here was the problem. Back 20 years ago, hard drive space was much smaller than it is today. Just looking at a 1TB HDD back then would have set me back hundreds of pounds. When I started ripping at 320kbps and my HDD filling up fast I didn't think twice but to reduce the quality to 128kbps. I kick myself for it now. I had to sell my vinyl collection in 2012 around 10 years after I started.
Not long after I started to collect, I was sniffing around eBay and spotted a 'library haul'. It had 500+ albums that were saved going into a skip from someone at the BBC. He tried to log them and sell separately but was too time consuming, so ended up selling as one large lot. I was up until stupid o'clock and spent a large sum of money on them. I collected from a services off the M40 on the outskirts of north London and my boot was full of boxes of vinyl. I had an idea what they were but not the tunes they contained. Lets just say, I didn't have much sleep those first few weeks listening to them and ripping them. It was like a drug. The next album had tracks I recognised and this helped me re-create most of what Channel 4 used along with S4C and some what the BBC used. I couldn't believe it.
Going back to 2012 when I had to sell them. I was gutted. I was looking at online prices as a guide and sold separately. Needless to say I made more than what I paid for and them did something similar by listing a 'library haul' for around 200-250 albums. I remember the guy picking them up. His eyes were hanging out of his head and thought to myself, that was me 10 years ago. Would I do it again ? Probably not. Prices are heavily inflated and most know what they are worth, plus with PayPal and postal costs spiralling, it's an expensive hobby.
I'm happy with my collection held on my HDD from my own collection, and over time when hard drive prices came down and members here and elsewhere downloaded in lossless, the desire to replace my heavily compressed recordings engulfed me and really proud of what everyone here has achieved and how we help out library family with missing albums or upgrades. Thanks to those people, and a big thanks to those who have helped compile various compilations along the way including David Evans who has his own C4 test card website, Lord Thames who, to be fair if he doesn't know the answer to a question or clip of something it is incredibly rare. Wish I had his knowledge !, the admin here and regular contributors who make this forum what it is. Fantastic ! Sorry, I've rambled on long enough. Thanks for reading and happy collecting everyone !
