To open or not to open? That's the question.

One of the big dilemmas you face as a record collector (at least I do), is whether or not you should open the more rare records you buy.

One of the most recent purchases in which this is a big problem for me is the new Killing Joke album "Absolute Dissent".

 

This particular edition comes in a slipcase and includes a printed slipmat. This version is also handnumbered and limited to 400 copies.

Mine is number 49 out of 400, as you can see, and I still haven't split the seal on it. I really want to hear the record as I think Killing Joke is a good band. I know it's on Spotify but we all know it's not the same ;)

An easy solution would be to always double up on these rare records, but I can't even afford to buy one copy of all the records I want, so I think that's out of the question.

It's not that I want to save this copy and make a good profit on it later on (I hope I never have to sell my record collection...) so what's really stopping me?

I believe I just have to use Spotify for this purpose if I still want the record sealed and rethink this...