What are better orgers to have a great physical CD collection or ipod/ipad library? Please defend your answer. Considering going to the dark side of ditching physical CDs (minus like 2-3 artists) what are everybody's thoughts?

CDs. Ditching them would probably be easier said than done.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I digitized my entire CD collection a few years back, and the biggest sacrifice as far as I can tell has been printed art and liner notes, both of which are accessible for many releases themselves in digital form. On the other hand, I've gained quite a bit: Saved space in my home; portability of my entire collection; greater flexibility to navigate, manipulate or copy my recordings. Seems a no brainer to me.

I will buy the hard copy of a title now only if it is not available in a digital format. I will, however, ultimately digitize it and sell off or give away the actual physical item.

[Edited 2/6/13 19:36pm]

I walk the line between the 2...

Ideally, I prefer cds because I like having the full package (artwork, physical album, the experience of going to a store and "hunting" for a particular album, etc). Some of my best, most relaxing days have involved losing a couple hours music shopping. As long as cds are sold, I still plan to buy them when I can, if only just to patronize music shops and help these places that I love to go keep their doors open.

However, I can't deny that the convenience and affordability of MP3s has sucked me in quite a bit over the last year.

Lammastide said:

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I digitized my entire CD collection a few years back, and the biggest sacrifice as far as I can tell has been printed art and liner notes, both of which are accessible for many relaeases themselves in digital form. On the other hand, I've gained quite a bit: Saved space in my home, portability of my entire collection, greater flexibility to copy or manipulate my recordings. Seems a no brainer to me.

I add, you'll listen more to your music collection. You can back your collection in a cloud.

Cd period. Nothing else 2 add.

i think if you don't listn to your music on vinyl and cd then you forget how good music can sound... i know i did... i'm going back to the physical form....

(obviously not when i'm out and about)

I buy physical CDs and rip them in lossless to my iTunes library so I can carry music around on my iPhone and listen to them on my computer, which is where I listen to it the most, since I don't have a sound system and I rarely listen to it without headphones on. I only purchase music digitally if it's hard to find or totally expensive because it's imported (I haven't the last Scissor Sisters album physically because it would cost over US$40 to get it and I don't have that kind of money). The fact that I haven't a credit card also makes it harder for me to order music online sometimes.

I want to have faith in that Apple will some day offer ALAC downloads through the iTunes Store. That will be a glorious day. I know it's snobby but mp3 and m4a don't sound good to my ears. It's all right but it doesn't compare to CD-quality audio.

The reason I got turned off from iPods after initially being turned to try it (thanks to my brother-in-law and sister) was because it was hard to transfer CDs to the iPod. It wasn't fast enough for me.

Timmy84 said:

The reason I got turned off from iPods after initially being turned to try it (thanks to my brother-in-law and sister) was because it was hard to transfer CDs to the iPod. It wasn't fast enough for me.

cds but I really prefer vinyl

Neither. I've got all my songs that I like from the CDs ripped into a computer that has never had internet on it and never will. No internet, no threats of viruses. All my CDs are packed in boxes and take up an entire closet upstairs and they have been there since I moved almost three years ago. I love having the songs in a computer where you can just type a song title and there it is instantly without going through the CDs but I'll never get rid of the CDs though because a computer isn't going to last forever. Whenever I come across a song that I may have overlooked when I was ripping the CDs, I simply search the internet and download it from my laptop, burn it on a blank CD, and then rip it into the computer rather than going through all those packed boxes looking for it.

I always need music in a physical form though or I don't feel like I truly own it and with CDs, I've always felt like I only had a copy of a song rather than owning it, especially when CD burners and recorders were invented. CDs, like tapes, you can record yourself so why buy them? I haven't bought a single CD since I moved because if I did buy one, it's just going to be ripped into the computer and put in one of the boxes in the closet so why buy it if you can download it for free. Hell, I can use that money for something else. I've bought tons of vinyl though and since it's old and used, it's cheap. I never felt like I actually owned a song unless I had it on vinyl anyway. And if I have a song on both vinyl and CD, I don't rip the CD into the computer. I record the vinyl onto a blank CD and then rip it into the computer so it has the sound of vinyl because it sounds better.

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[Edited 2/3/13 20:19pm]

I still have all my cd's but I got rid of the jewel cases and put them in folders. Saved tons of space. I buy some stuff on itunes just because it is so easy, and it is often cheaper (as it should be)

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

The reason I got turned off from iPods after initially being turned to try it (thanks to my brother-in-law and sister) was because it was hard to transfer CDs to the iPod. It wasn't fast enough for me.

It was an annoying process before iTunes 11 -- but right now it's a **nightmare**.

NDRU said:

I still have all my cd's but I got rid of the jewel cases and put them in folders. Saved tons of space. I buy some stuff on itunes just because it is so easy, and it is often cheaper (as it should be)

I did the same thing! Have all my cds in a bunch of huge binders (except I left the Prince ones in cases).

Only annoying thing is they are a pain to organize

thekidsgirl said:

NDRU said:

I still have all my cd's but I got rid of the jewel cases and put them in folders. Saved tons of space. I buy some stuff on itunes just because it is so easy, and it is often cheaper (as it should be)

I did the same thing! Have all my cds in a bunch of huge binders (except I left the Prince ones in cases).

Only annoying thing is they are a pain to organize

yes, it is! Even though I would leave a page or so between letters, I have a lot of "B" bands, and so I end up having to take everything out and move it down the line

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

The reason I got turned off from iPods after initially being turned to try it (thanks to my brother-in-law and sister) was because it was hard to transfer CDs to the iPod. It wasn't fast enough for me.

Seriously that shit took like a fucking hour. I said after a while "fuck it".

I vote for CDs.

As a matter of fact, when I used to have mp3 files (mostly at 160, mind you!), I used to burn them to CDs as audio. It goes to show you that ever back then that I had no interest of buying a mp3 player.

TonyVanDam said:

I vote for CDs.

As a matter of fact, when I used to have mp3 files (mostly at 160, mind you!), I used to burn them to CDs as audio. It goes to show you that ever back then that I had no interest of buying a mp3 player.

Shit I buy a pack of them and burn my MP3s in it. Better than having an iPod. Least if you have a stereo, you can put it on, press play and enjoy yourself. Anything shorter than that is a no-go...

i like the fear of not knowing

Timmy84 said:

TD3 said:

Seriously that shit took like a fucking hour. I said after a while "fuck it".

WTF! What were you trying to download? Damn an hour I would've said "f" it too, that's ridiculous.

I'm annoyed with iTunes right now because I bought something on my phone, and now it's not showing up on my computer. Only on the phone.

NDRU said:

I'm annoyed with iTunes right now because I bought something on my phone, and now it's not showing up on my computer. Only on the phone.

Did you update to 6.1 or whatever it was?

I haven't used CDs in years and years.

I tend to have my favs on CD and then anything I just want to check out as digital, I've lost alot of music in the past when laptops/ipods etc have died - I know I should learn to back it all up.

That being said I think I have more vinyl than CDs now

Any cd I may have are now in my itunes library, I still buy cd's but very rarely. I no longer carry cd's with me, I listen to all my music on my ipod

TD3 said:

NDRU said:

I'm annoyed with iTunes right now because I bought something on my phone, and now it's not showing up on my computer. Only on the phone.

Did you update to 6.1 or whatever it was?

Yeah I did.So there are a whole host of other problems!

It's an audiobook, and I know that there are some issues with them (as they are sold through Audible) but other books I have bought on my phone are also on the computer, just not this one

Vinyl. Google it if you don't know.

I stil have my rare and hard to find CDs but nothing compared to the 1.38 Terrabyte of digital files...some which I don't even know the artist

I don't defend anything, just glad they can't fuck me for another copy of a digital file...

[Edited 2/4/13 11:02am]