Comments on: Physical CDs, what should I do with them?

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:37:49 +0000

What about those of us who actually LIKE buying CDs? You know, collectors? People that actually enjoy going to the music store, buying CDs to build their collection. Some of us out there LIKE the CD cases and the liner notes, etc. Yes it does take up alot of space, especially if you have collected hundreds of CDs, but it really makes me sad to see that they are becoming obsolete. Don’t get me wrong, I have also backed up all my CDs to my computer, and I use the mp3s just as much as I use the CDs, but from a collector’s standpoint, I think it kind of stinks.

By: nick preston

nick preston — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:32:54 +0000

lets face it folks , the days of physical cds are over

By: Rabbit B.

Rabbit B. — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:42:31 +0000

I came across a chair made out of used books on Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/16/chair-made-from-disc.html

Perhaps with your cds you can form a big radio. A tribute to the archaic.

By: Allan Beatty

Allan Beatty — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:28:33 +0000

Don’t ask me — I still have vinyl! At least I can still play the CDs.

By: keith l

keith l — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:19:13 +0000

I can see how selling them would be illegal but how is giving them away against the law?

My two cents is; find some lower income school, donate them to the music teacher, (if they have one, if not art teacher/principal etc) ask them to bundle them up and give them away in packs to kids who really like music.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:31:11 +0000

Univenture binders have come in quite handy in my quest to save space.

By: anders

anders — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:53:10 +0000

if you just throw the CDs away, should the RIAA ever come knocking on your door how do you prove that you own the rights to have those files?

First, the RIAA has never "come knocking" on anyone's door in that way. If you're not sharing your files, you have nothing to fear there. If you are sharing files and get caught, you're screwed whether you have CDs or not.

Second, if, for some reason, they did come knocking, what would having the CDs gain you? There are two possible interpretations of fair use wrt ripping your CD collection. The RIAA has argued that fair use doesn't cover ripping your CDs to mp3 for personal use (they want you to pay them again any time you format shift). If that interpretation wins out, clearly keeping the CDs hasn't helped you. The more reasonable interpretation of fair use is that you have the right to rip your CDs for personal use and backup purposes. With that interpretation, there's still no burden on you to prove that you originally obtained the music legally (eg, imagine that you'd ripped your CDs for backups and then lost your CD collection in a fire. That's exactly what "backups" are for, right?).

By: Rnb

Rnb — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:35:53 +0000

I moved mine to binders. It’s not a perfect solution ’cause now I have a small stack of binders to shuffle around with me, but I was really, really surprised at how heavy and how much space those jewel cases took up when I tossed them out (which also felt pretty wasteful to me, but I didn’t know what else to do with them.)

By: Rafe

Rafe — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:51:57 +0000

I think I'm going to get some binders and move the CDs to the binder. I'll still have them around in case the music police raid my place or if something better than MP3 comes along later, but I won't have all of those annoying jewel boxes taking up space.

Throwing the CDs away seems wasteful and selling them or giving them to someone else is unethical (since I still have the electronic copies).

By: Dan Lyke

Dan Lyke — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:32:27 +0000

So, silly question: Say you rip the CDs to something lossless, maybe AIFF. The technology doesn't matter, the notion is that there's nothing more to be gained from the physical medium.

Clearly selling the CDs and retaining the files is illegal (and unethical), but if you just throw the CDs away, should the RIAA ever come knocking on your door how do you prove that you own the rights to have those files?

In these days of printers getting C&D letters, I'll be keeping my physical media, even if only in a box in the attic, for as long as I've got those files anywhere on my network. It's the only proof that I've got that I have some right to them.