The popular image of record collectors is of obsessive males, whose ‘train spotting’ passion for collecting is often a substitute for ‘real’ social relationships. This image can draw on some support from academic discussions of collectors and collecting, but it represents only a partial account of record collectors. This paper draws on interviews with sixty-seven self-identified record collectors to show how they demonstrate a complex mix of characteristics: a love of music; obsessive-compulsive behaviour, accumulation and completism, selectivity and discrimination; and self-education and scholarship. As a social practice, record collecting presents itself as a core component of individual social identity and a central part of the life cycle.