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rockworthy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2007
21
0
I did a seach and after a page or two found nothing on this topic. I'm in the process of putting my entire collection of CD's on my iPod. Once I back everything up in iTunes theres no real need for the originals is there? They just collect dust and take up space. I have a few hundred and was thinking about getting rid of them. Is there a reason why I should hang onto them? What's the going rate for CD's now a days? Thanks1
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Your CDs are lossless backups. Unless you rip to Apple Lossless and also regularly back that archive up on an external hard drive and/or DVDs, anything else isn't a substitute... that's excluding the value you put on liner notes, artwork etc.
 

bartelby

macrumors Core
Jun 16, 2004
19,795
34
Also by selling your CDs you're actually selling you right/license to own the music.
So in effect you turn your whole collection into pirated music.
 

rockworthy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2007
21
0
By "Lossless" I take it that everytime I save or copy the music file a little bit of the quality is lossed? I've heard that about pics as well.
 

dops7107

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2005
995
0
Perth, Oztrailya
By "Lossless" I take it that everytime I save or copy the music file a little bit of the quality is lossed? I've heard that about pics as well.

Not every time you copy the file, but every time you encode the tune into a format like mp3 or aac. Also, if you were to burn a CD of your mp3/aac files and then re-rip it into mp3/aac, you would lose more quality.
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Yes, just like jpgs, if your rip the music to iTunes in a lossy format like MP3, it will not be as good as the original.

However, if you use Apple Lossless as a file format to rip with, it will take up a lot of hard drive space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_compression_(data)#Lossy_audio_compression

I say keep them for a few years yet. All my CDs get ripped and then I store them. I can rerip in a different format months or years down the line, if I like.
 

Doylem

macrumors 68040
Dec 30, 2006
3,858
3,642
Wherever I hang my hat...
I don't know whether to get rid of my CDs either (must be 400+ by now). I only know that I have a sentimental attachment to the CDs themselves that I don't have for the anonymous files on my computer and iPod. The CDs have a physical reality, the files don't...

For the sake of having a reliable back-up for my favourite music, I'll probably hang onto the CDs. I wouldn't want to part with them to a dealer, for a pound apiece... and I haven't got the time to sell them individually on eBay.

I've lost of habit of buying CDs, yet my music collection continues to grow (30,000+ songs and rising, gulp...). Draw your own conclusions... ;)
 

MAW

macrumors regular
Apr 29, 2007
155
0
Los Angeles
I did a seach and after a page or two found nothing on this topic. I'm in the process of putting my entire collection of CD's on my iPod. Once I back everything up in iTunes theres no real need for the originals is there? They just collect dust and take up space. I have a few hundred and was thinking about getting rid of them. Is there a reason why I should hang onto them? What's the going rate for CD's now a days? Thanks1

BlueVelvet has good points.

as far as "apple lossless" goes, it's been difficult for me to find someone who can readily spot a "deal breaker" difference between that format and the original, uncompressed wav file. (let the boxing gloves fly!)

personally, i loath the site of a stack of jewel cases!! it just screams '02!!:D
so ungainly and so un-apple. i've been trying to convince my wife to sell all her cd's just for the sake of space.

that said, i have 3 crates of vinyl so......
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
What I've sometimes thought of doing with my collection (almost 700) is getting rid of the jewel cases, and storing them with the booklets and inserts in archival envelopes and light-tight boxes with silica gel sachets, just to save on space. But that sounds like too much like hard work right now... ;)
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
I did a seach and after a page or two found nothing on this topic. I'm in the process of putting my entire collection of CD's on my iPod. Once I back everything up in iTunes theres no real need for the originals is there? They just collect dust and take up space. I have a few hundred and was thinking about getting rid of them. Is there a reason why I should hang onto them? What's the going rate for CD's now a days? Thanks1

You may of course sell your CDs and give them away, as long as you destroy all copies that you have made or give them to the person receiving the CD.
 

rockworthy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2007
21
0
You may of course sell your CDs and give them away, as long as you destroy all copies that you have made or give them to the person receiving the CD.

Like that would ever happen. Not gonna get into the stealing of music (I dont do it) but say I were to sell my cds after transfering them to my iPod. Hows that any different then buying the cd from iTunes? I own the music (bought and paid for) I just dont have the physical copy.

Back on topic; I'm gonna keep my cd's just in case I need them in the future. I'll chuck them in a box and throw them in the basement.
 

Doylem

macrumors 68040
Dec 30, 2006
3,858
3,642
Wherever I hang my hat...
You may of course sell your CDs and give them away, as long as you destroy all copies that you have made or give them to the person receiving the CD.

Hmmm... Over the years, I've bought vinyl albums, then casettes for car and walkman, then CDs, then some remastered and expanded CDs... plus 'greatest hits' CDs that, bizarrely, include one or two unreleased tracks amongst the hits. So, on the whole, I reckon I've paid more than my fair share to greedy record companies for the music I like. By keeping the price of CDs unreasonably high, the record companies have contributed, albeit unwittingly, to the rise of illegal downloading. I don't shed any tears for them...
 

bartelby

macrumors Core
Jun 16, 2004
19,795
34
Like that would ever happen. Not gonna get into the stealing of music (I dont do it) but say I were to sell my cds after transfering them to my iPod. Hows that any different then buying the cd from iTunes? I own the music (bought and paid for) I just dont have the physical copy.

When you download from iTunes you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of the store.
They have the same terms and conditions as when you purchase a CD, vinyl, DVD etc.
If you sold your computer or iPod you'd have to remove all the music as the purchaser wouldn't have a license for that music. As you would still hold it.
By owning the CD etc you have the right to listen to the music, but not play it for public listening (Clubs have a music license to cover DJs) or reproduce it for. Which is what the "All rights reserved" bit means.
You get rid of the cd, you get rid of your right to listen to that music.
 

bousozoku

Moderator emeritus
Jun 25, 2002
15,697
1,869
Lard
When you download from iTunes you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of the store.
They have the same terms and conditions as when you purchase a CD, vinyl, DVD etc.
If you sold your computer or iPod you'd have to remove all the music as the purchaser wouldn't have a license for that music. As you would still hold it.
By owning the CD etc you have the right to listen to the music, but not play it for public listening (Clubs have a music license to cover DJs) or reproduce it for. Which is what the "All rights reserved" bit means.
You get rid of the cd, you get rid of your right to listen to that music.

Exactly. It's like having a proof of purchase for the music, besides the lossless version.

Sell the CDs and you're suddenly a music pirate.
 

megfilmworks

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2007
2,046
16
Sherman Oaks
What I've sometimes thought of doing with my collection (almost 700) is getting rid of the jewel cases, and storing them with the booklets and inserts in archival envelopes and light-tight boxes with silica gel sachets, just to save on space. But that sounds like too much like hard work right now... ;)

You need air circulation for long storage periods or weird fungi may render you CDs unplayable. Keep them in the original case as that helps. Do not seal them too tightly. And by all mean keep them so that as codecs get better (or your storage media becomes unlimited) you can choose to rip them again in.


Also by selling your CDs you're actually selling you right/license to own the music.
So in effect you turn your whole collection into pirated music.

That is a very interesting point and you are right. Although, unless you are a big time pirate I doubt anybody would bother.
 

bocomo

macrumors 6502
Jun 29, 2007
495
0
New York
What I've sometimes thought of doing with my collection (almost 700) is getting rid of the jewel cases, and storing them with the booklets and inserts in archival envelopes and light-tight boxes with silica gel sachets, just to save on space. But that sounds like too much like hard work right now... ;)

i have my 300 or so CDs stored like this and i love it! takes up much less space, very portable too.

keep 'em for backups - i'm glad i did as i needed to re-rip about 20-30 of them recently due to an external HD failure!
 

sanford

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2003
1,265
0
Dallas, USA
What I've sometimes thought of doing with my collection (almost 700) is getting rid of the jewel cases, and storing them with the booklets and inserts in archival envelopes and light-tight boxes with silica gel sachets, just to save on space. But that sounds like too much like hard work right now... ;)

Yeah, well what's worse is when you do that, storing them in archival binders, and then decide you want them all back in the jewel cases. Which I haven't gotten around to doing in like four years.


I did a seach and after a page or two found nothing on this topic. I'm in the process of putting my entire collection of CD's on my iPod. Once I back everything up in iTunes theres no real need for the originals is there? They just collect dust and take up space. I have a few hundred and was thinking about getting rid of them. Is there a reason why I should hang onto them? What's the going rate for CD's now a days? Thanks1


There's no legal gray area here: if you sell your CDs and keep complete copies -- on your Mac, on your iPod, on CD-Rs, on so much as cassette tape -- you are in violation of existing copyright law. The law allows for some copying and giving away -- like the venerable mix tape that has now become the mix CD, or perhaps sending one or two friends a digital file version of a single track from an album in your collection -- or use in satire, new art or commentary. But there is no allowance for copying your collection entire -- which is what you've done in putting your collection on your iPod -- and then selling the original media. It's illegal. Giving the CDs away wouldn't be as flat ugly as selling them, but it's still illegal.

So I can't advise you to do it or not, but I can tell you that to do it you would violate the law.
 

rockthecasbah

macrumors 68020
Apr 12, 2005
2,395
2
Moorestown, NJ
Keep them, you won't get nearly what you paid for them so why not keep them as backups. Plus digital tunes are nice but there's something magical about having a physical album :)
 

Royale w/cheese

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2007
669
0
Keep the CD's. No gray area in keeping them, and unless you regret buying them in the first place, you don't have to worry about remorse down the line if you never get rid of them in the first place. Some could be worth something in the future too. For some reason, I could not find an album I know that I had in my iTunes. When I looked for the original CD, I couldn't find it either. When I went to look to buy it again, The cheapest I could find it was used at Amazon for $21. Some of the eBay auctions were going up to $60! But to make a long story short, I finally found it. And I am thinking about re-ripping my collection again at a higher but rate soon also. But it took me over a month and a half last time, so I am still waiting to muster up the courage, or a 8-core Mac Pro.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Right now my CDs are crated in their jewel boxes as of 2004, minus the CDs that I've gotten since then (which are either temporarily in a box here, where they go, or a few in a stack at my parents' house). At some point before I next move, I'll crate the CDs I've bought since 2004. I probably also ought to consider BV's suggestion, but like her, I'm too lazy at this point to do it.
 

zim

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2002
1,332
0
Just keep them and work out a storage system—this is what I did. The effort involved in selling isn't worth the return... plus there is the ethical side of this, which has already been commented on.
 
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