At What Cost?

Anybody who knows me knows that I have some nerdy tendencies.  One of those tendencies is to create spreadsheets of everything and anything I want to keep track of, whether it be financial, sports-related, or music-related.  One of my “dearest” spreadsheets is my Music Wish List, which contains a list of southern gospel CDs, most of them kind of old, that I want, along with the cheapest prices available on eBay, Amazon, and other sources.  I’ve also assigned each CD a priority (1 to 10) to help me quantify whether I should try to buy it or not.  When a little extra money comes around, or I spot a particularly good eBay deal, I’ll make the plunge and knock one or two off my list.  I’ve whittled my list down to 98 CDs, with a total cost of $1150.11 as of right this second.  Of course, it seems like I’m also adding to the list a good bit at times.

Not surprisingly, some of my highest-priority wants are also the highest-cost.  If they weren’t expensive, I would have already bought them by now.  Currently, my two biggest wishes are Greater Vision’s Sing It Again, priced at $42.98 (including shipping) on Amazon, and the Kingdom Heirs’ Anchored at the Palace, for $31.93.  The reason is simple: in the Greater Vision case, getting that CD would complete my collection of their music.  For the Kingdom Heirs, it would complete my collection of their music that has been released in CD form.  Right now, I don’t have the available funds to go on that sort of shopping spree, so I’m patiently waiting for a miracle price drop sometime.

What is the most you’ve ever paid for a southern gospel project?  Just how high would you be willing to go?  I paid $52.97 for the Kingdom Heirs’ Telling the World/Good Christian Men Rejoice double CD on Amazon, but only after getting a couple of gift cards for Christmas.  Besides that, I think the most I have ever spent is around $25 bucks.  Gold City’s Having Fun and the Kingdom Heirs’ Forever Gold both set me back about that much.  Of course, Forever Gold has since been made available for download on the Kingdom Heirs website for $9.99.  Ah, such is the price you pay when you’re addicted to gospel music…