sold your CD collection. Do you regret it?

[ramonesfreak]

i have been debating this for a while now.


my problem is not that sentimental...although each one represents a trip to the store, a gift from a girlfriend, or whatever.. im more concerned with having a hard copy back up in case my hard drives fail or get stolen or lost

however, i realize i can no longer afford to keep moving and storing this stuff. ive moved at least 15 times in the past 20 years. i never play the CDs. I hate listening to CDs because i have become so used to arranging the digital files into playlists that i enjoy much more. When i want to hear the entire album or look at artwork, i have quite a bit of vinyl

i rarely have regrets. but doing this feels like i am going to regret it. its not like this collection came about over night....25 years of overspending and hunting them down and alot of parties

how about you? do you ever look back and get mad that your CD collection is gone? i realize this is a personal choice and we all feel different about such things...just wondering.

[Dottore]

I would never get rid of my CD collection. I like the artistic integrity of each album. This was how the artist envisioned it. I like to hold it in my hand. I like to look at the liner notes and lyrics. I like choosing an album off the shelf. I like the ceremony of choosing and playing music.

I like the whole schmear.

Can't imagine just living with playlists.

[masraum]

I trimmed mine down a bit and used the money to purchase new CDs. I kept about half. The half that I got rid of was stuff that I didn't think I'd ever listen to again. I guess there may be a few albums that I wish I had kept, but for the most part, I'm OK with it.

If you still want the music, then I would absolutely keep the CDs.

[aleerpsoftware]

sometimes.... hehehe

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by Dottore

I would never get rid of my CD collection. I like the artistic integrity of each album. This was how the artist envisioned it. I like to hold it in my hand. I like to look at the liner notes and lyrics. I like choosing an album off the shelf. I like the ceremony of choosing and playing music.

I like the whole schmear.

Can't imagine just living with playlists.

i understand completely. especially with jazz and blues CDs. but i feel more strongly about vinyl being in my hand compared to CDs

i wont try to convince you of the joy and practicality of play lists except that i will say, my own play lists put pandora to shame. i cant even listen to pandora

[azasadny]

I like to keep my CD's because they are relatively small and easy to store, compared to cassettes or LP's...

[RWebb]

uh... I still have a bunch of cassette tapes...

[VINMAN]

I kept everyone of my CDs, 400+vinyl albums, god knows how many 45s, and all my cassette tapes.

[kaisen]

Sell them while they are worth something. Very soon, they will have almost no value

[mikester]

If you sell your CDs you sell the license to the material as well (unless you've bought digital copies as well).

You're not entitled to rip it and then sell the hard copy. You are entitled to rip it and keep the hard copy.

Soooo....

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by kaisen

Sell them while they are worth something. Very soon, they will have almost no value

Like they're worth anything now? I probably have 3K+, half being commercial releases. I used to go searching the stores (every Tue. - new release day) trying to find the next "blues release" to add to my collection...started in '85 when NOTHING was available, rock or blues except for greatest hits rock collections. The other half of my collection are from my DAT taping/CD mastering/trading daze, and those "can't be sold" by moral agreement with the bands that allowed free taping/trading of their shows...NEVER to be sold. Many from bands that most have never heard of, but high quality cds none the less. Although they're all boxed up right now, my stereo broken down during house renovation, they will return. I do have the capacity to have almost half of them at my remote control fingertips stored in high capacity multi-disc players (another "sonic" compromise over LPs). It's been part of my life...virtually worthless to anyone but me . Haven't had a turntable hooked up on a regular basis for over 20 years, but still have all my college albums too (many w/ CD copies) ...same story, just a different time in my life...

ps: Anybody want to buy my $2k DAT taping rig? I figure I can get at least $25 for it...time marches on

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by mikester

If you sell your CDs you sell the license to the material as well (unless you've bought digital copies as well).

You're not entitled to rip it and then sell the hard copy. You are entitled to rip it and keep the hard copy.

Soooo....

you force me to edit my posts so i can sleep at night

i wonder how many people got busted who made tapes of their records and then sold their records? im guess zero

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by KC911

Haven't had a turntable hooked up on a regular basis for over 20 years, but still have all my college albums too

I still have albums that date from the late 60s & I haven't played them since the late 80s - my last TT setup. Many I will never replace. Some music just doesn't age well & some does.

Ian

[KFC911]

Ironically Ian, I heard on the news earlier today that album sales were up last year! Got any bell bottoms (that you can fit in) still laying around? We'll be the coolest at the home some day! Queueing up the Feat's "Old Folk's Boogie"

[911boost]

I still have all of my cd's and tapes. I just can't get rid of them. I have a terabyte of music just about, but I still enjoy going to the cd, pulling it out and listening, similar to Dottore.

With that being said, i dig your avatart. Rocking the old PP....

[sc_rufctr]

I have vinyl LPs, CDs and tapes... All stored on shelves in my den. I still play them and the tapes still sound good.
I also have some 8 track stuff that belonged to my dad.

I would keep them but I have the room.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by mikester

If you sell your CDs you sell the license to the material as well (unless you've bought digital copies as well).

You're not entitled to rip it and then sell the hard copy. You are entitled to rip it and keep the hard copy.

Soooo....

your comment sent me into a researching frenzy last night. i started reading about this issue and couldnt stop till 2 in the morning. its very interesting.

i dont wanna blab on about my opinion but i feel like making a couple observations from my reading last night: 1) this issue seems to be in a grey area. its untested. 2) the outcome is very fact specific. case-by-case basis is needed, and even then, there are many contradictions in this area of law.

For example,

1) assume i have 1,000 CDs that I purchased full retail price at some point, and then i rip them to mp3 because i want to use the ipod i got for valentine's day. after a while, i stop using my cds because i prefer the mp3 versions because im a playlist junkie! my apartment is 100 square feet because i live in NYC, so i decide to sell them to a pawn shop for $500. I take the money and buy a few records and some cigarettes ($10/pack) and some pizza slices. I continue to use my mp3s for the rest of my life, and become the cool guy of the neighborhood because my music collection is the best

2) Now assume the above, BUT, that i start distributing the digital files on my blog because it drives up traffic to my site which increases my advertising revenue.


potentially two very different outcomes.


what i find most interesting, is that the resale for profit of used recordings is perfectly fine. entire businesses are based on the used market, yet the copyright holder never sees anything of real tangible value from it. the copyright holder only got one shot at the apple. its possible to imagine that some of the CDs out there have passed through 5 or 10 transactions in the past 20 years....sometimes even to the same store over and over

hmmmm...

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

your comment sent me into a researching frenzy last night. i started reading about this issue and couldnt stop till 2 in the morning. its very interesting.

i dont wanna blab on about my opinion but i feel like making a couple observations from my reading last night: 1) this issue seems to be in a grey area. its untested. 2) the outcome is very fact specific. case-by-case basis is needed, and even then, there are many contradictions in this area of law.

For example,

1) assume i have 1,000 CDs that I purchased full retail price at some point, and then i rip them to mp3 because i want to use the ipod i got for valentine's day. after a while, i stop using my cds because i prefer the mp3 versions because im a playlist junkie! my apartment is 100 square feet because i live in NYC, so i decide to sell them to a pawn shop for $500. I take the money and buy a few records and some cigarettes ($10/pack) and some pizza slices. I continue to use my mp3s for the rest of my life, and become the cool guy of the neighborhood because my music collection is the best

2) Now assume the above, BUT, that i start distributing the digital files on my blog because it drives up traffic to my site which increases my advertising revenue.


potentially two very different outcomes.


what i find most interesting, is that the resale for profit of used recordings is perfectly fine. entire businesses are based on the used market, yet the copyright holder never sees anything of real tangible value from it. the copyright holder only got one shot at the apple. its possible to imagine that some of the CDs out there have passed through 5 or 10 transactions in the past 20 years....sometimes even to the same store over and over

hmmmm...

All of this assumes you never have a hard drive failure or data loss.

That's a good enough reason for keeping them IMO.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

All of this assumes you never have a hard drive failure or data loss.

That's a good enough reason for keeping them IMO.

yea sorta

you can avoid loss of digital copies by mirror copying your hard drive to multiple hard drives which get stored in different locations which would include at least one fire proof location. If the RIAA or anyone else thinks I wouldnt have multiple hard drives given the rate of hard drive failure, then fine..ill be happy to use my legal skills to defend myself against any fair use silliness. bring it on! I paid alot of money for those discs and ill protect my investment my way even if it means making 50 digital copies of Xanadu

its impossible to safeguard your CD collection at this level...considering, break-in theft, fire, moving company loss, etc....

so how valuable as backups are the hard copies really?

[legion]

I still only listen to CDs. I don't own any digital music that didn't come on a hard copy.

I refuse to be forced to periodically rebuy my whole collection. (I came of age when CDs were taking off. It is the only format I have ever owned.) I refuse to be denied fair use of the content I have purchased.

That, and most digital formats, like MP3s, have inferior audio to CDs.