If you took an inventory of your audio software would it resemble a volume of an encyclopedia?  I guess that's what separates the pros and amateurs is the pros work with less.
 I can walk into a Guitar Center and look at their PC software and think "I already have that".
 How many of you habitually look at the "Deals" part of this forum or it's the first place you check?
 I have the bargain center of KVR bookmarked and the RSS feed. 
 When an app scans your VST folder do have time to enjoy a cup of coffee?
 How many of you now own an iLok or eLicenser because something was free after vowing to never have dongled software.
 
 I use to download every free VST out there.  It was just as bad when soundfonts where the thing.  I rarely download free VSTs since ones I've paid for do the same thing even if the free one is better.
 
 Then there's the group buys.  I've seen enough IK stuff people try to ditch on KVR.  They go for the buy 1 get 3 free and it sits on the hard drive. (guilty of that) 
 
 Every knew softsynth is the latest and greatest. If you have Komplete, are you close to being familiar with it? I don't know how many times when a new DAW comes out it is crowned king of the DAWs before it's even available for BETA.
 
 It gets just as bad if you have Kontakt.  There are plenty freebies sitting there on the drive you will never use.  When there is a synth emulation for sale people think it's great when you probably have some VST that can do the same thing.
 
 Pay Pal's pay later hasn't helped things.
 
Has anyone ended this madness? 
 

I have not ended the madness but as you say I (probably) have all I'll ever need, regardless if it's all that I ever want.
 
If I'm fortunate to live another 25 years I doubt that I can learn all the ins and outs of every library, synth, FX et. al. even I spent 24/7 working with it all.
 
Mostly now I look for the odd/end of the spectrum. Even if does sit on the hard drive I may one day use it. Or not.
 
In the last few months I bought maybe three or four products. In my heyday I'd buy that in a week. But finances are not what they used to be so I am very selective evermore.
 
BRB, gotta check out Deals.

I have a policy to treat software "things" in my studio as if it's all hardware.  I don't fill my drive with freebies as I know I'll never use more than half of them at all and the rest maybe only once.
 
I try to stick to the same old plugs and sims as if they were hardware, not because I'm lazy at learning new things (I am) but because I want to have "my sound" on everything I produce, not some random noise trying to sound like xyz producer...
 
It seems the height of fashion these days to use pre-produced sounds that some high flyer producer has released.  Lots of the questions in the forum ultimately boil down to "How do I make my stuff sound like....?"
I prefer to go with my own sound, and you only do that by sticking to a limited set of gear.
 
Who knows, maybe in ten years people will be asking "How do I make my mix sound like Karyn's?"  I doubt it,  but it's a nice thought.

Agreed Karyn.
 
Mooch recently said in the songs forum that "Bapu is certainly creating a signature (producer) sound"
 
One cannot hope for more than that.
 
It does come down to that I consistantly use very little of what I own on my productions. I foolishly thought (back in the day) that owning every plug known to man was going to be beneficial when doing collabs or if I was asked to mix someone's song (where they had plugs I did not). Probably a bad choce at the time but I was a neophyte producer.
 
Now I'm an experienced neophyte producer.

I'm all out of neophytes,  can you produce some more?

I think I've got it under control.
 
 
I very, very rarely buy on impulse and I usually have a clear idea of what I might "need" eventually. There's seldom more than 2 or 3 items on that list - actually more often than not, there's nothing.
 
I've learned from experience that whatever I need will go on sale at one point, and even more importantly, that it will do so more or less regularly. So missing a sale is usually no big deal, unless it's some kind of limited time offer on an upgrade.
 
I tend to wait until the last minute if something I want is on sale - often enough, simply spending an evening working with what I already own is enough to make me change my mind.
 
But I once was like those folks who's money is burning holes in their pockets, always looking for an opportunity to buy something, browsing forums in search of what I might need next. Obviously, that's a bad strategy because you always can find someone who'll recommend something you don't have.
 
Another thing that helps is that I hate having to install a bunch of different copy protection software on my computer, so I tend to stick with a couple of big names. 

I have it mostly under control. I rarely download freebies even unless it is something truly standout.  Occassionally I will grab a great deal like the 99 cent arturia deal recently posted. Even those, i tend to see if they have something that is truly useful and often delete. I would say my vsts are actually shrinking.  Samples are harder to weed out  but working on reducing those too.

No.

craigb
No.

better than me
 
 
i say know
 
and I suspect it's not rite

I'm getting better at saying no. Although they've got me itching for MSpectralDynamics over on the software forum (thanks in part for Bitflipper's excellent review). I'm also a sucker for freebies though, and don't mind if it's something I'll only use once a year. Sometimes none of your "main" effects are doing the trick and it turns out some obscure freebie that you've never used before is perfect.