World's Largest Record Collection' for Sale on eBay

By Eliot Van Buskirk February 19, 2008 | 11:20:20 AMCategories: Digital Music News, DRM-Free Music Stores, People

A physical music collection purported to be the largest in the world is on sale on eBay, with a minimum reserve bid of $3 million. The collection includes more than 6 million songs on 3 million records and 300,000 compact discs. If you were to buy the whole thing on iTunes by the song -- not that you'd be able to find all of them -- the collection would run you $5,940,000 (in that sense, $3 million is a bargain).

Paul Mawhinney, the Pittsburgh-based publisher of the Music Master record price guide, started the collection about 50 years ago with a Frankie Lane record. His plan hit a rough patch as the collection passed the 160,000 mark: His wife told him that either he had to go or the records did. He stayed, and the records went into a climate-controlled warehouse.

Mawhinney says he kept collecting because he believed "someone had to preserve the music ... the history," but that he's selling now due to "declining health and associated financial concerns."

Here's what your $3 million bid will get you, according to Mawhinney's website: