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Best way to get rid of about 150 old CDs?

spaceballl

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2003
2,940
365
San Francisco, CA
Hi all,

So I've got about 150 old music CDs. I've decided that i'm pretty much over having an actual collection of CDs. I have an iPod adaptor in my car and an airport express attached to my stereo...

I want to get rid of these and maybe get an XBOX 360 in exchange. What do you think the best way is to go about it? Some are mainstream... some are more obscure punk and metal bands.

These are the options I've thought of...

1. eBay them indidividually.
- too much hassle, too many eBay fees, etc

2. Put them in a few "bundles" and eBay the bundles
- this would be low in hassle, but I think I'd get a low price per CD

3. Take them into a local record store
- I think they only give like $1 / CD

Or if anyone wants to take these off my hands and give me an xbox 360, I'd love to do a one-to-one exchange haha!

Yeah but seriously, anyone have some ideas on how to sell these things?? Thanks for the advice!
 
Yah I don't want to keep them though. I'm getting ready to move into a new place. I don't have room for them. I back up my data regularly so between my laptop, my iPod, and my external HD, i'm not too worried about a backup copy. I just don't want them anymore so as long as i'm getting rid of them, I want some extra $
 
If you can get $1/ CD from a store, do it. eBay will take far too long and then you have the hassle of listing, packaging etc.
 
I have been slowly selling of my CDs on eBay. If you automate the label printing through PayPal and print your own postage, selling them singly on eBay is the way to go. Just don't feel that you need to sell them all at once. Make it a slow and leisurely project. You will get a lot more than $1/CD if your CDs are in as new condition. Junk the others or sell them for a dollar. I just made one pile of CDs without scratches, and they were the ones I offered on eBay here. I still have a lot to get rid of, but I have brought in around £300 for about 50 CDs so far.
 
netdog said:
I still have a lot to get rid of, but I have brought in around £300 for about 50 CDs so far.
Click to expand...

That's pretty good going isn't it, it's funny this thread has popped up actually, because I've been considering getting rid of all my CD's and DVD's too, to save me having to lug stuff around everytime I move.
 
iGav said:
...I've been considering getting rid of all my CD's and DVD's too...
Click to expand...

If so, put together a list and I'll give you some dosh for some of them. I've liked what little I've seen of your musical tastes... :)
 
By getting rid of the CDs, aren't you technically getting rid of your right to own the music?
 
bartelby said:
By getting rid of the CDs, aren't you technically getting rid of your right to own the music?
Click to expand...

A deafening silence fills the room.

I wonder how that would apply to the majority of my CDs that have gone into the recycling bin. That said, I haven't sold any since I started to consider the very point that you raise. We don't buy the music. We buy a license that is attached to the disc. If we sell the disc, I do believe that labels, publishers and artists would correctly assert that we have transferred our license to the buyer. Hence after the initial 50 or so discs, I haven't sold anything. I am left wondering what to do with these discs as I simply do not want to port them around anymore. It's a very inefficient medium as all the data from some 1200 CDs fit easily onto a 500GB drive. That, its spare, and another drive kept offsite seem to be all the security I need. Hope I am right about that. :)
 
I've always thought of selling off my CD and DVD collection. Heck, with the money I would make I could probably afford a shiny new Mac Pro! But I know I'd come to regret it a few years down the line. What would I pass on to my (prospective children)? Transferring your MP3 collecting over a network isn't quite the same as passing on your tangible CD collection :rolleyes:

If you want to make the most money, sell it over eBay over a period of time.
 
Blue Velvet said:
I've liked what little I've seen of your musical tastes... :)
Click to expand...

*Surreptitiously erases, potentially reputation killing music from music list* :p

bartelby said:
By getting rid of the CDs, aren't you technically getting rid of your right to own the music?
Click to expand...

Sssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
 
FleurDuMal said:
I've always thought of selling off my CD and DVD collection. Heck, with the money I would make I could probably afford a shiny new Mac Pro! But I know I'd come to regret it a few years down the line. What would I pass on to my (prospective children)? Transferring your MP3 collecting over a network isn't quite the same as passing on your tangible CD collection :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My father thought the same thing about his 78s. Your children probably won't have anything to play them on. Why not just save your kids a pile of your old floppies instead? ;)

As for passing along your MP3s, I can't emphasize strongly enough that it really is best if you have the storage space to save in a lossless format. 44.1 really isn't such great resolution to begin with, but at least in the future you will still have every bit and byte that came on the CD. My motto is always archive at the highest resolution possible. Your mileage may vary.
 
netdog said:
As for passing along your MP3s, I can't emphasize strongly enough that it really is best if you have the storage space to save in a lossless format. 44.1 really isn't such great resolution to begin with, but at least in the future you will still have every bit and byte that came on the CD. My motto is always archive at the highest resolution possible. Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

I have thought of doing that before, but really, what would I store it on. The 400+ CD's and DVD's would take up terrabytes of storage, would it not? And even then, you'd have to back up.

Maybe when I get a Mac Pro souped up with 3TB's of storage, but till then, it's just a pipe dream.
 
FleurDuMal said:
I have thought of doing that before, but really, what would I store it on. The 400+ CD's and DVD's would take up terrabytes of storage, would it not? And even then, you'd have to back up.

Maybe when I get a Mac Pro souped up with 3TB's of storage, but till then, it's just a pipe dream.
Click to expand...

You can now get 2TB external drives...
 
Killyp said:
You can now get 2TB external drives...
Click to expand...

For a small fortune you can.

If I were to go down that route, I'd just buy a few internal drives and put them in enclosures for a lot less (I think).
 
Chundles said:
3TB now, you can get 4x750GB drives in an external. Cost a pretty penny though.
Click to expand...

How much does an enclosure with four SATA drives cost? Would it not just be cheaper to get four separate enclosures (given that they go for £30)?
 
Can I make a suggestion that might save a bit of money for you and still reduce space? How about buying a large CD Binder thingy-thing. Tuck your CDs in there - it's a lot cheaper than building Chundles's dream, and saves a lot of space. You can save jewel cases if you want; or you could sell them en masse on eBay, making money and still having the backup/license...
 
netdog said:
I have been slowly selling of my CDs on eBay. If you automate the label printing through PayPal and print your own postage, selling them singly on eBay is the way to go. Just don't feel that you need to sell them all at once. Make it a slow and leisurely project. You will get a lot more than $1/CD if your CDs are in as new condition. Junk the others or sell them for a dollar. I just made one pile of CDs without scratches, and they were the ones I offered on eBay here. I still have a lot to get rid of, but I have brought in around £300 for about 50 CDs so far.
Click to expand...


Good going netdog! :) Perhaps you should consider trying to sell your CD collection this way spaceballl. :)


But if you do not want to deal with the hassle of eBay, then I would just take them to your local record store. Perhaps you can negotiate with them to give you more than $1 for some of your discs. :)
 
FleurDuMal said:
I have thought of doing that before, but really, what would I store it on. The 400+ CD's and DVD's would take up terrabytes of storage, would it not? And even then, you'd have to back up.

Maybe when I get a Mac Pro souped up with 3TB's of storage, but till then, it's just a pipe dream.
Click to expand...

400 CD's in Lossless = 160Gb max
 
I find Amazon.com marketplace so much easier for buying and selling CDs, books and DVDs. You know what price you're going to get and the buyer knows what they're going to get too.

B
 
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