CDs. worth keeping?

wrt40

Doing an attic clear out and have a box of old CDs. Do you think these are worth holding onto? Will they become collectable like Vinyl? Vinyl has a fuller sound that cannot be replicated on digital formats, but audio-wise there is no advantage to CD, so I was thinking of ripping them and binning them. What you reckon, are they worth keeping?

NIMAN

To be honest, and I say this as the owner of hundreds of CDs myself, they are worth next to nothing. I'd say if you took them to a car boot you'd be lucky to get €1/€2 for each. Very lucky.

These formats, such as CD and DVD are now a thing of the past, and they will have little or no value in years to come as there was so many of them made.

For that reason, I will probably just hold on to mine. Still listen to a few of them.

RoryMurphyJnr

ripped all mine, (750) but can't part with them

Custardpi

If you like having the booklets that come with them then you might as well keep the CDs. Not quite as good as the larger artwork you get with vinyl lps but still better than embedded images in digital files. If you need the space however just rip them to a lossless format (FLAC,ALAC, etc) & make a couple of backup copies in case of hard drive failure. Can't see them becoming collectable. While CDs are certainly capable of great quality sound the medium has never really had the same kind of charm that vinyl has so I can't see people ever waxing nostalgic over the silver discs.

wrt40

Yeah that was my feeling. I hate attic clear outs. The reason stuff is in the attic in the first place is because you can't part with it

Fuzzy Clam

Don't bin them. That would be criminal.
They will certainly become collectibles of the future. Never likely to be worth a fortune though but then most vinyl isn't either.
If you really want to get rid, you could sell them off cheap or even give them away to a charity shop.

Custardpi

No, the very fact that CDs are so easily reproduceable will prevent them becoming collectable. They're a pretty efficient means of sound reproduction but also a somewhat soulless one. While some rare CDs will probably become valuable because of the booklets attached etc the actual discs themselves will fade into history.

NIMAN

I make quite a few bob from a handful of SACDs that I had a few years ago, but the general release stuff? Worth nowt.

novarock

We've binned all the cases, and have put the CD's and Sleeves into a large CD wallet - seemed like a waste to throw the actual product - but the plastic cases took up a lot of space!

seamus

Like vinyl, you'd be surprised the amount of stuff that comes out on CD that won't appear for download from iTunes or whatever, or won't appear on streaming sites. So there is still a certain amount of worth in holding onto those CDs.

Obviously this doesn't apply to classics like Appetite for Destruction or Sgt. Peppers, but for more niche stuff - think singles with obscure B-sides, or small regional-specific bands like Picturehouse - it's conceivable that these will disappear from online libraries in 20 years time and won't be available without going to considerable effort.

I'll still hold onto mine I think. They don't take up much space, and the inserts are there.

Custardpi

Bit easier to convert the CDs to digital files than the vinyl though.

wrt40

seamus wrote: »

Like vinyl, you'd be surprised the amount of stuff that comes out on CD that won't appear for download from iTunes or whatever, or won't appear on streaming sites. So there is still a certain amount of worth in holding onto those CDs.

I'll still have the music in lossless format, so it's not like I'm actually getting rid of the CDs, just the medium they're stored on. It's different to vinyl where you are changing the sound of the music by digitizing it (for those with good hearing!). I might sell them though, that way they'll still be out there if somebody else does see any value in them.

Fuzzy Clam

Custardpi wrote: »

No, the very fact that CDs are so easily reproduceable will prevent them becoming collectable. They're a pretty efficient means of sound reproduction but also a somewhat soulless one. While some rare CDs will probably become valuable because of the booklets attached etc the actual discs themselves will fade into history.

Totally wrong.
You're confusing the digital content with the physical item.
Even now there are people who want original CDs, not copies. Not because they want to listen to them but because they collect anything to do with a particular group or genre. This will only imcrease in the future.
Everthing is collectible.

karaokeman

novarock wrote: »

We've binned all the cases, and have put the CD's and Sleeves into a large CD wallet - seemed like a waste to throw the actual product - but the plastic cases took up a lot of space!

Where can you buy these wallets? I'm thinking of dumping all my jewel cases and buying a couple of wallets for my CDs, but most wallets I've seen only have room for the CD, not the booklet.

Cheers.

Birneybau

Ripped all mine, sold them at a car boot sale, hard drive fecked up...

So, keep them!

Custardpi

Birneybau wrote: »

Ripped all mine, sold them at a car boot sale, hard drive fecked up...

So, keep them!

What about the second hard drive you sensibly backed up to? That was ok, right?