Dancelot said:

NoVideo said:

I love to browse while listening too... but I do that online. Between Wikipedia, Allmusic.com and all the different lyrics sites and artists sites, there is far more reading material than what was typically availabile in the CD booklet.

yeah I enjoy that too, there is LOTS of information more out there. I remember when I got them Beatles Remasters I spent many days probably weeks online while listetning to all of it chroniologically, getting detailed background information to almost every single song. exciting eye opening experience that would have been impossible 20 yrs ago

still I want the physical experience, be it vinyl or CD

Absolutely, it's amazing how much information is available now that was impossible before. I remember when I was a kid scanning magazines for tidbits of information about my favorite bands, or learning what I saw on MTV - that's about it. It does take the mystery away a bit somewhat but i'm fascinated reading about an album's recording, facts about it, reviews, etc.. when I'm listening to it.

And another big part of that is interacting with other fans of the same artists and types of music, that is a really cool aspect of the information age when it comes to music :0

[Edited 10/19/12 5:53am]

smoothcriminal12 said:

Keep it!

breese said:

I really despise the thought of having a "music collection", but nothing physical to show for it. To me it's much more a "file collection" at that point. I want to hold something, look at the artwork and notes, and feel like I possess a real recording/art project.

But I'm not sure what to do with my cds either

Agreed. I only listen to CD's in my house and would in my car except that my CD player is broken. I hate dealing with the MP3 player - sometimes the battery is dead, sometimes a certain song is not available- I will hang onto my CD's for as long as I can.

wtf

ok, I'm gonna provide a "sensible" answer

CDs are useful because:

a) you get the real thing right away, you buy it, you listen to it, you earn it, forever, no limited hard-drive space, no fear of virus screwing the pc, no wasting hours downloading stuff, etc

b) the vast majority of PCs don't offer the sound quality of a GOOD (and affordable) micro HI-FI with a CD player; and mp3 players/headphones can screw your ears...EASILY; damn I wanna feel the bass pumping in my chest, not destroying my ears!! you can get a GOOD Hi-Fi for less than 500, you WON'T get a state-of-the-art PC with a GOOD sound system for less than 1.800

c) you can copy the cd songs to a hard-drive or an mp3 player with the MAXIMUM quality

d) it (usually) offers lyrics, photos, the artwork of the cover, etc. ok some genres have crappy front covers but I'm not a fan of those genres anyway (country, pop, adult/contemporary, etc)

e) some albums are masterpieces, when you buy that album (cd/vynil, whatever) you're buying something "relevant" , like a classic book or a classic movie

that said, I think it's completely NORMAL/HEALTHY to get rid (sell!) of CDs of bands/artists we don't care anymore, but I CAN'T see why anyone would want to get rid of the Cds of his/her fav artists/bands...over my dead body

and yes, as TD3 has said, the thought of HDDs DYING (yep, they usually last from 7 to 10 years, perhaps 12-15), is reason enough to have a PHYSICAL copy (original or burned, lol) of my cds, movies, pic/video collection of fav artists/bands and videogames...

vainandy said:

Cinny said:

Something tells me that I won't be satisfied with the mp3 format I've been using for years and I will want to re-rip them when storage and memory becomes even smaller and much faster.

Also, I am still so much of a credits reader, even for rap which has little detail, I like to know the writers (including sample info), the producer, where it was recorded, who is the publisher, if there is a guest what label do they appear courtesy of, all that shit.

Speaking of re-ripping songs from CDs into the computer, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid when the day finally comes that my computer dies and I have to get another one. I have all my songs in my computer and I love the shuffle feature in the Windows Media Player. I also love everything about the Windows Media Player format because it's so quick and easy and I can do so many things with it. So when I ripped my songs into the computer, I also formatted them with things that would benefit me when I play the shuffle feature. Sometimes I like to shuffle songs for a particular year, genre, artist, etc. So when I ripped the songs, I also formatted them with the year and genre and by genre, I broke it off into many genres to suit my needs. For instance funk. Anything I have formatted as simply "Funk" is from the 1970s on up until May of 1985 when I graduated high school. Anything after May of 1985 which is when music started to change and sound different, I formatted as "Funk Late 80s". Then I have "Disco", "Slow Jams", "Slow Jams Late 80s", "Dance" (which is house music from the late 1980s through the 1990s as well as fast rap from the 1990s). Stuff like Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" which is kinda midtempo and not fast enough for the dance floor but too fast for the bedroom, I simply formatted as "Soul". In the past few months, I've also been putting pictures of the album covers with each album. I also noticed a space to type in a BPM recently and I've been thinking of going online and looking up BPMs of songs and formatting songs with BPMs too. I would LOVE to play shuffle with songs of similar BPMs. That would be like the ultimate orgasm to my ears.

I took a lot of time determining the different genres I wanted so that if I played something on shuffle, I wouldn't have a song that didn't really fit in come on and spoil the mood. People have been telling me I can get one of these little small black gadgets that is so small it can fit on a keychain and save every single song in my computer onto that little gadget and then put the songs into another computer. My question is, when I save the songs on the gadget and put them into another computer, will they already be formatted exactly the way I formatted them and show up in the Windows Media Player the way they do in my present computer? I hope so because it took me years to custom format everything the way I wanted it.

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[Edited 10/19/12 3:28am]

I don't know much about Windows Media Player, I've never used it per se to organize my music on a PC. I have my stuff organized in my Music Folder based on genre and year/timeline. As an example I have Pre War Blues, Gospel/Spirtuals, Jazz in several folders and then I'll have my Post War Blues, Godspel/Spirtuals, Jazz in several folders.

If you've created playlist via Windows I'm assuming Windows is pullling those songs from that particular album when you select it. You didn't creat a folder then put the music in it, right?

Apple has an option were you create a playlist by pulling songs out of your iTunes music folder, but when you want to back it up to an external hard drive or flashdrive is saves your playlist.

I gonna check to see if Window Media Player has that same option and/or feature.

Hell yeah you should! I have moved so many times over the last few years and my 4 CD cases have made all the trips. I actually asked myself the same question as you are years ago and then my old computer crashed that I had downloaded all my CDs onto. I had to buy a new PC and re-download everything again. Then, I bought a MP3 player and downloaded 90% of my collection but the player fell into a glass of water (long story ) and was destroyed so I had to re-download everything again onto a new MP3 player. PCs and MP3 players only last so long; CDs last longer...cassette tapes last even longer than CDs so I keep them too. If you have great faith in all the technologies of today and still consider tossing out you CD collection, keep this one simple fact in mind that trumps everything...all those CDs costed money when you bought them so to get rid of them is throwing away dollars upon dollars of cash. That ideology is one of the main reasons why I will never get rid of any of my CDs until they don't work anymore but that's just my on the matter.

Crashing HDDs is no real argument for keeping CDs. You're a fool if you don't back up your important HHD stored data and when you don't back up your stuff, it serves you right to loose everything when your HDD goes bye bye (which it will, sooner or later). Also you can have high quality MP3 or Flac or whatever format, when you buy them online. So digitized music isn't of inferior quality per se. It depends on what you're getting.

Other than that, despite accessing your music much easier when it's all digitized, I never would give away my CDs. Also I would never pay for downloads. If I buy music, then I will buy a CD or vinyl, which will be with me forever.

@vainandy

All data is usually directly saved on your music file. Earlier versions of WMP had a seperate data base, which stored all the information like genre, album, year and so on. But current versions save all the information on the file. To check just right click on a MP3 or WMA and see the properties and then file info and then you see the information which is stored on the file.

keep them for equity sake.

if times get bad and the "going get's tough, oh baby don't you weep," you can always give a garage sale and get some $ out of them.

otherwise save them as a catylyst for conversation at an "back in the day" dinner party.

"keep em."

I keep all of mine as a backup. I threw out the cases and just stuffed each disc and booklet into a ziplock baggy and then stored all of them in shoeboxes.

The downside to this is having thrown out the cases for some pricey collectible CDs like Rave In2 that I would sell otherwise. So be picky.

They take up a lot of space, but music has to be pretty important to you for you to have acquired that much music in the first place. So I say, keep storing and making the room for this. The stuff you don't want, of course give away or sell. I only kept my CDs in a binder (okay like nine binders) when I was in college residence and simply did not have the room.

jpnyc said:

I keep all of mine as a backup.

Indeed, even in today's modern world, backups are still a mandatory thing.

jpnyc said:

I threw out the cases and just stuffed each disc and booklet into a ziplock baggy and then stored all of them in shoeboxes.

I could never. I know this is how CD libraries are kept too, but jewel cases stack on shelves and even sit in Rubbermaid containers better.

vainandy I don't know the answer to your question either, because I don't use Windows.

I'm keeping mine

estelle81 said:

I actually asked myself the same question as you are years ago and then my old computer crashed that I had downloaded all my CDs onto. I had to buy a new PC and re-download everything again. Then, I bought a MP3 player and downloaded 90% of my collection but the player fell into a glass of water (long story ) and was destroyed so I had to re-download everything again onto a new MP3 player.

Well Good Lord! That sounds exhausting!!!

I've been doing some culling in the last few years just out of necessity when I need $50 to get through the week with food on the table. I've decided to embrace the idea of having more space and less attachment to objects when I can really liten to that music any time I want. It's a mindset shift, but I think it's healthy. The old habit of acquiring and acquiring stuff doesn't benefit me anymore so why continue that way?

Like I would never have dreamed of getting rid of my cassette collection 20 years ago, all the boots I traded through the mail for since I was 13. But last week I looked at them and realized I haven't opened those boxes in the 10 years since we moved into the house. I gave them to somebody, now he can have the fun of looking through them and making a list and checking them for sound quality and going "ooh what a great version!" If I really want to hear some crappy audience tape of an Adam And The Ants show from 1981, they have those on the internet.

Definitely rip it all in high quality - FLAC if you can - and save backups. Buy a giant portable with some of the money you get selling the collection.

As for You don't get much for CDs anymore but check around at the places that might buy them & see who's likely t give you the best bang for the buck. Maybe take 3 or 4 similar discs each to a few different shops and see what they offer before you decide which shop to take the whole thing to. The difference can be staggering.