Some people collect stamps, while others fill their homes with Beanie Babies or Pez dispensers.
Well, now there's a new gang in town -- people who collect America Online's shiny CDs.
The number of people who collect AOL's free installation discs is small but growing.
Containing software to connect to AOL's online service, the installation discs have been sent out in the millions through the mail or glued to the covers of magazines and cereal boxes.
Most people toss the free CDs in the trash. But for some, hunting down a rare limited-edition disc is a consuming passion.
"It rules my life," said Sparky Haufle, an avid collector from Bellingham, Washington. "I just had to go out and buy five boxes of Cheerios to collect the latest discs put out. I've put so much time and money and energy into it, I can't get out now."
"I don't even like AOL," said Martin Smith, another collector from Jacksonville, Florida. "AOL sucks. The fun part of it is going out and finding new discs."
Since 1993, AOL has distributed millions of the discs all over the world. How many, the company refuses to say.
Most of the discs simply say AOL, but some have unusual and colorful designs.
Over the years, AOL has released discs with every kind of product, movie and sports tie-in imaginable, from Michael Jordan and Spider Man, to Target stores and the Oscars.
"I don't know why I collect them, it's a weird hobby," said Mike Chang, a 16-year-old collector from Los Angeles. "You just want to find them all. They are only worth something to people who collect them. To the general public they are useless, not worth anything."
For years, AOL's discs were saved by only a handful of hardcore collectors. But as the discs age -- the earliest ones are now eight years old -- they increase in rarity and value.
In the last couple of years, the number of collectors has mushroomed to a few dozen worldwide.
Discussion groups like Yahoo's AOL Collectors Club and eBay are little hotbeds of trading activity.
Haufle, a 54-year-old banking executive, claims to have one of the largest collections in the world, with about 1,000 unique discs.
"Most people think I'm really stupid," he said. "They ask why I collect such a dumb thing. But just look at baseball cards -- they're just cardboard."
Haufle is so serious about his hobby, he keeps profiles on other collectors.
He also has a website for trading his trophies.
"It's like an Easter egg hunt," he said. "There's a moment of excitement as you find one. You keep hoping that you will find the granddaddy of them all."
Which disc is the granddaddy of them all, Haufle can't say.
In the absence of any records, no one knows which is the rarest AOL disc.
Perhaps it is a 1988 Denver Bronco's Superbowl disc, which was given only to people who attended the game.
Haufle spent $52 to get one on eBay, the most he has paid for a disc.
Another avid collector is Bustam "The Leader" Halim. Halim has 750 unique discs, which he proudly displays on shelves built specially to show off his prizes.
"The best place to find these discs is from people," Halim said. "I ask everyone I know: the guy who fixes my car, the guy I rent a video from, my chiropractor."
"The Leader has contacts all over creation," said his friend Smith, the collector from Florida.
Like Haufle, Halim admits that his collection has become an obsession. Despite this, he refuses to pay more than $2 for a disc.
"Eighty percent of my collection I got for free," he proudly boasts. "The most expensive one I bought was $10 and I regret spending that because I got another copy for free from a friend. By using all my contacts I can eventually track them down for free somewhere."
Nonetheless, Halim, a 29-year-old computer technician from Oakland, California, has spent more than $1,000 on shipping charges.
"I deal with a lot of other countries," Halim said. "I like to ship by airmail and that gets expensive."
Halim said part of the appeal is the artwork on the discs, but mainly it's the competition with other collectors.
"I don't want AOL to just send me the discs," he said. "If they just sent them to me then the collection would have no meaning anymore. The point of collecting is hunting down the new disc."
Halim started collecting three years ago.
"I used to collect comics but I kept getting the discs for free in the mail," he said. "The comics started to get really expensive and the CDs look good too, so I switched."
Halim's extensive website is full of useful tips on how to preserve and collect his "babies," as he calls them.
The practice of using the discs as coasters, common among the non-collecting public, fills him with horror.
And the growing popularity of collecting the discs has him worried.
"If it gets too popular then it will get harder to track down the CDs for free," he said.
Nicholas Graham, an AOL spokesman, said as long as people keep installing the software, the company is glad the discs are becoming collector's items.
"As long as the collecting is done in good taste and reason, with no copyright infringement, then we are happy people enjoy collecting them," he said.
