Does Anyone Get Rid of CDs Once They Have Been Ripped In iTunes...?

[Cory Ander]

but I'm wondering if most of you get rid of your CDs after you load them into your iPods and other devices? I tend to get rid of the ones I know can be easily replaced, but I won't sell my disco or any other CD that would be difficult to replace like those released on tiny independent labels that are now out of business. Just curious.

[BrunoRepublic]

No, never.

First, often what seems to be "acceptable" lossy bit rates turn out to be noticeably inferior once played back on more revealing equipment. File formats go in and out of favour. CDs will still be CDs in ten years time.
Second, even if a lossless rip of the disc is made, there is still the loss of the cover art. Some people don't care about that but I do.
Third, hard drives die all the time. Sure there are back-ups and back-ups of back-ups, but that's an ordeal in itself. With a CD I know exactly where it is and can play it at any time. In over 25 years of buying CDs, I have broken exactly two.

Everything I say here goes ten-fold for vinyl. In addition to the attachment to the artwork, I would never keep only needle-drops, given that the sonic quality of vinyl is hugely dependent on playback equipment, far more than with any digital format. I thought I had a good vinyl-capturing system going ten years ago, but now I listen to what I did then and it all sounds terrible compared to what I've got now. Since I still have the records, I can redo them all over again.

[discokicks]

Everything Bruno said plus, personally speaking, my music collection represents a huge part of my life and what I'm all about. I never kept a diary or journal (wished I had long ago) but I look at my record and cd library as my musical diary. I can pretty well remember where and when I bought most of them.

For example, I'll never forget buying Donna Summer's I Remember Yesterday album....16 years old looking through the albums in Eatons' record department (huge Canadian retail chain that's sadly gone) when suddenly the song "Black Lady" played over their fairly good-sounding stereo. I didn't recognize Donna at first (it was certainly different than "Try Me") but then I saw the album cover on display. I stayed to hear the entire album and when "I Feel Love" came on...well...I couldn't wait to get home and play it again and again and again. They'll pry that album from my cold dead hands!

[BrunoRepublic]

Oh, and one other thing...

...but I won't sell my disco or any other CD that would be difficult to replace like those released on tiny independent labels that are now out of business.

At the rate things are going, soon just about any CD will be hard to replace. We've already reached the point where the mainstream shops barely stock anything beyond the top 40. I hear people say things like "CD is still the main format and it will be around for years to come", but I remember people saying that about vinyl back in the mid-80s. By 1991 it was gone in my country.

[Cory Ander]

Bruno: I'm a bit confused. Are you saying you keep CDs indefinitely because of their superior sound quality, or because you suspect they'll be the popular format again someday? And does that apply even to CDs you own that only have one or two songs on them that you like? But I agree with you about two things: vinyl is precious to me and I plan on keeping most of my vinyl until I drop, and I also enjoy a CD's booklet (though not as much as the cover of a vinyl album). Where I live in Northern California, CDs are rapidly becoming obsolete and stores like Virgin Megastore, the Wherehouse and Tower Records that tried to make their living selling mostly new CDs didn't survive. I can't imagine CDs here ever being hard to replace because when I visit used music stores I see people unloading them in large numbers, sometimes by the car full. As a result, stores are paying less and less for them which is what prompted my question. I've invested quite a bit of money in my CDs but I'm definitely going to get rid of some of them before they're considered completely worthless to stores in my area.

[BrunoRepublic]

Bruno: I'm a bit confused. Are you saying you keep CDs indefinitely because of their superior sound quality, or because you suspect they'll be the popular format again someday?

They will never be popular again unless the entire internet gets shut down. However, they still will be playable. The era of intangible music is still in its infancy. I love my iPod, but who knows if players 20 years down the road will even support the formats we currently use?

I keep them (and vinyl) because a copy is usually inferior. At best, it's the same quality as the original, and never better.

And does that apply even to CDs you own that only have one or two songs on them that you like?

Yes. How will I know if, down the road, I decide that maybe I overlooked something? Many of my all-time favourite albums didn't really click with me on the first few listens.

I can't imagine CDs here ever being hard to replace because when I visit used music stores I see people unloading them in large numbers, sometimes by the car full.

I predict that you won't see that much longer. Here, the main used CD store (Sonic Boom, similar to SF's Amoeba but with less vinyl) used to get TONS of used CDs in every week. It took me an hour to sift through them with each visit. Now their "recent arrivals" section has been cut in half. Reason? The flood of used CDs is drying up. Most people who aren't going to hang onto them have already unloaded them, and they aren't looking back. The younger generation never bought them in the first place, so they now aren't even getting the broke college kids selling their discs for money, or people who have tired of the stuff they bought three or four years ago.

In the mid-90s, cheap used vinyl was everywhere. Now it's more precious than CDs. I now see a lot of what were once run-of-the-mill LPs selling used for as much or even more than what they sold for new back in the day.

In the not-too-distant future, the only way you'll be able to buy physical media is either online sites or pricey specialty shops. It pains me to say it, but the end is in sight.

[DannyBoy]

I've had several conversations with mates of varying ages at work. The young music buying public of today seem to see it as a disposable medium. They try to access one day, but the hard drive has died. They then proceed to start downloading from scratch. Not all of the tracks will be replaced. Can you imagine getting up one morning to find your vinyl collection has melted into thin air? Suicide? It would be an option for our age group I reckon.

Only last week, my workmate was lamenting his daughter's clumsiness. He had close to 50gb of music on an external drive. She dropped it, and the music died! He's gutted about losing it. My mate is 47 and his daughter is 23. She can't see the problem.

Last year, I moved some cd singles around. About four Janet Jacksons had gone kind of "mildewy" after a cold winter. They wouldn't clean up or play. I had to throw them out. I've not played Janet for several years. To be honest, that whole mid eighties electronic period is a bit cold to me now. It still felt wrong having to throw them though! It's an age thing? They're the only cds I've ever thrown.

Thanks for the original question Cory. Fascinating to see other views on it. I'm now going off to spin "It's been so long" from George's 1975 album on my 20 year old Thorens turntable (which went in for minor surgery this week and is now grooving perfectly). I-tunes???????

[Cdnbob]

Every CD or 33 LP or 45 I've ever bought I've kept. I've still got the very first "adult" album I was ever given, (which was the Dave Clark Five's Greatest Hits released in 1966), and if I even go back further, I still have some of the albums my parents and sisters bought for me as a little kid. For me, I just couldn't even imagine throwing them out or giving them away. I have always felt that I bought them in the first place, and even if its a record I didn't like, I just can't fathom getting rid of them. It doesn't make sense to me. Sure I don't and can't listen to all of them, but its always nice knowing that they're there if I ever want to play them. For example, sometimes if I'm feeling very nostalgic, I'll dig out my old Bobby Sherman, Partridge Family, Osmond albums and listen to them. It brings back happy memories of the time and as mentioned above, I can remember how and when I bought the album - I tend to do for any record or cd I have.

Like Bruno above, there use to be 2 or 3 used cd stores I frequented regularly here in Vancouver. One of them closed down about 7 or 8 years, one has been in the process of closing down for the past year or so - I think the guy is trying to get rid of his stock before finally throwing in the boot - and the other I dropped into the other day for the first time in about six months to a year and their used cd supply is about 50-60% less than what they use to carry. I had a look through some of the racks and I was amazed that it seemed that the stuff on the shelves was the same stuff sitting there last time I was in the shop. I found one used cd I wanted and continued to look around, but I got so discouraged by the lack of product that I put the cd I did have back on the shelf and left the store. I really feel as has been mentioned above that people are just not turning in their old cd's, or they've already got rid of what they want to get rid of and the under 30s crowd just don't buy cds. And for me, what cd's I have bought recently have been through online sources like Amazon or CD Wow or Deep Discount.

[discodevil]

With the ones I love, never!
Just as with vinyl I love to have the artwork. Some of my CD's are autographed.
I frame a few of my vinyl album covers, they make great art to frame & hang.
The day will come when I will be framing the CD covers and disc's.
For the last year or so I haunt the thrift shops looking mainly for CD singles with remixes, also any interesting Cd albums.
And not to forget Vinyl which is getting harder to find,
Like many men I get off on visual things

[kdavid13]

The whole vinyl market is still thriving in Montreal. I've bought so many records in the last few months. I'm very grateful when I read stuff like this.

Same goes for CDs. Things have slowed down a bit lately but I can still find a lot of stuff (either new or used) in the stores I go to. Yesterday I bought a Hues Corporation compilation,a Joe Bataan best-of and a best of Mtume/Lucas featuring tracks from Stephanie Mills,Phyllis Hyman and Marc Sadane.To be honest with you - I didn't even know that CD even existed !!

[BrunoRepublic]

Clearly, I need to visit Montréal soon.

[Cory Ander]

when you gentlemen mention hard drives crashing, I'm not completely sure if by that you mean what I call "freezing", where a computer simply won't accept any functions at all. But when a hard drive "crashes", does it also destroy all the music in the iTunes library? And while we're on this subject, is there any way to adjust the sound quality of the music in iTunes, meaning to vary the bass and or treble levels? But this is a fascinating subject because it's a reminder of how differently music is appreciated and valued differently depending on where one resides. A good example is cassettes. The cassette is enjoying renewed popularity where I live (Northern California) among rock fans who seem to view it as a viable alternative to mp3s, CDs and other audio formats (I guess because they're inexpensive), but they're valuable to me because I can experiment with new music on cassette for a quarter each while I'm much less likely to experiment with unheard CDs at 5 or 6 dollars each. 7/24/2010

[BrunoRepublic]

When a hard drive crashes, it usually means that it can no longer read any of the stored data, so everything you've saved on your computer is wiped out.

As hard drives have moving parts, it is only a matter of when, not if, this will happen. Thus, the importance of back-ups.

Yes, iTunes has an equalizer (as does the iPod, although it's much less functional).

As for cassettes, I cannot fathom why anyone would bother with the cassette now, especially since decent quality decks and blanks are no longer manufactured. Cassettes have no benefit that I can see of: not sound quality (usually crap, except for high-end ones which were merely passable), not artwork (too small), and certainly not cost... but then it's hard to compete with free on the internet. So, unless someone gains pleasure from distortion, poor HF response, crosstalk, wow, flutter, uncalibrated Dolby artifacts, dropouts, azimuth misalignment, and really likes rewinding tape, I can't see any appeal for the format at all aside from nostalgia.

The cassette only ever achieved popularity due to convenience, and it's far from convenient by today's standards. I don't miss it in the least.

[SandraDee]

The cassette only ever achieved popularity due to convenience, and it's far from convenient by today's standards. I don't miss it in the least.

Me neither! I have kept quite a lot of tapes & if i play them now the hiss is unbearable. & you're right about vinyl now being very expensive: I'll definitely hang on to all my collection as it could be worth a fortune in years to come which is good as I haven't got a pension plan!

[Videoskooter]

Although I use hard disks on a daily base, I would never EVER dump my vinyls or CD's. I do not trust PC's enough to rely on 'em. If the software blows up, I still have my hardware and that's how I like it.

[Cory Ander]

what exactly causes a hard drive to crash? I'm on my third computer but have never had that happen. I usually replace them when I find another one at a good price that has features I like that my current one doesn't have. But as for cassettes, I agree, the sound quality is past horrible. Were you ever listening to a cassette and have it stop cold, look inside the player and find the tape had wrapped itself around the rubber moving parts inside? I cried once when that happened to an irreplaceable, beloved tape I'd made of my favorite live recordings from the "Midnight Special". I still have several precious cassette tapes that are about 20 years old, including one I've probably mentioned before of a live Donna Summer television broadcast. I use a USB Tape-to-PC cassette deck to make cds of them and eventually import them into an iPod. I'm sure the quality wouldn't be acceptable to most but since the recording is not available anywhere else it'll have to do. And I used to use an old Sony cassette deck to mix together the vocal and instrumental versions of several of my favorite disco 12-inches. I mixed the vocal and instrumental versions of Melba Moore's "Pick Me Up, I'll Dance" into a 16 minute custom mix I enjoyed a lot (until I lost the tape) and I did the same with Musique's "Summer Love"/"Summer Love theme".

[Videoskooter]

Oh wonderful times from the cassette era! And don't forget the videotapes. Always a joy to watch and then...squeek....prrrllll....yummie. There goes the tape!

[Cory Ander]

since I opened this can of worms I have a similar question. Does anyone else make "safety" copies of their rare recordings to try to extend their life?

[canadiantire]

The time I am spending compiling, tagging, ripping is countless. It still occupies most of my spare time.

Backup is NOT an option to me.

I made ISOs images of all my rare CDs.

I can fit about 7-8 per DVD.

The DVDs are stored at my parent's place.

Storage is also so cheap that I have most of my collection on dual RAID-mounted 1TB hard drives.

I hope this is safe enough.

[DannyBoy]

Hello Cory,

I used to do the extended cassette mix trick as well. My old long since dead Sanyo tape deck had a once down button pause, down again play again set up. It was like a mini lever, and I got quite good at it. I used to make tapes for my mates. They'd ask for a couple of tracks, more or less giving me 75 minutes of space to do my thing. One of my best efforts was an extension of the guitar intro on Sister Sledge's "Thinking of you". I also knocked out a 20 minute version of Janet Jackson's "What have you done for me lately". Probably my best/fave was "It's your turn" by Delegation. I multi paused it on the word "turn" so it went "it's your turn turn turn" before dropping into Glenn Jones' "Meet me halfway there".

Loved that old tape deck. It used to blow the integrated Dolby circuit every now and again, and I'd get it fixed. Eventually, I was told there were no more chips available. I "upgraded" to a Technics, but it was electronic pause/start! My cassette mixing days were over!

Most of this thread champions vinyl. I agree, apart from one annoying trait, when it is pressed off centre. Anyone know why it occurs? I worked in the plastic moulding industry for nearly 20 years. You had a mould in two halves, one fixed solid, the other moving. They closed together and the plastic was injected. Once set, the moving half opened and the component was removed. It was foolproof, as you had two halves to make the moulding. If I made a phone handset, the two halves clicked together. Yet, I've had vinyl that plays fine one side one, but almost makes me seasick if I flip it!

[Disco Funk]

If I rip something into mp3, it's usually choice tracks. I'm not dumping any of my music because I find that even later when listening to stuff I've ripped, there's problems with the sound. And each device plays an mp3 differently, so what sounds good on one device, might not sound good on another device later on.

Disco Funk

[Disco Funk]

As for cassettes, I cannot fathom why anyone would bother with the cassette now, especially since decent quality decks and blanks are no longer manufactured. Cassettes have no benefit that I can see of: not sound quality (usually crap, except for high-end ones which were merely passable), not artwork (too small), and certainly not cost... but then it's hard to compete with free on the internet. So, unless someone gains pleasure from distortion, poor HF response, crosstalk, wow, flutter, uncalibrated Dolby artifacts, dropouts, azimuth misalignment, and really likes rewinding tape, I can't see any appeal for the format at all aside from nostalgia.

The cassette only ever achieved popularity due to convenience, and it's far from convenient by today's standards. I don't miss it in the least.

I occasionally will buy a cassette if it's of an LP I have only seen on vinyl, and I want to see if the cassette version might be an improvement. Also, there is no chance there will be a CD reissue. But I don't spend more than $10 on it nowadays. I don't have a lot that I've bought in the last 10 years, but the ones I had during the 80s and 90s I still have kept. Some are remixes of rap and club music that I haven't found CD versions for.

Disco Funk

[Timothy Kiah]

Everything Bruno said plus, personally speaking, my music collection represents a huge part of my life and what I'm all about. I never kept a diary or journal (wished I had long ago) but I look at my record and cd library as my musical diary. I can pretty well remember where and when I bought most of them.

For example, I'll never forget buying Donna Summer's I Remember Yesterday album....16 years old looking through the albums in Eatons' record department (huge Canadian retail chain that's sadly gone) when suddenly the song "Black Lady" played over their fairly good-sounding stereo. I didn't recognize Donna at first (it was certainly different than "Try Me") but then I saw the album cover on display. I stayed to hear the entire album and when "I Feel Love" came on...well...I couldn't wait to get home and play it again and again and again. They'll pry that album from my cold dead hands!

I'm totally feeling you here. I'm a huge Diana Ross fan as well as other female vocalist of the day. These Albums and CD's are apart of my life. It's my biography. When I pull something out to listen too. It takes me back to a happy time that I can vividly remember. Not to mention the talent today is so bad, it's not even worth while talking about. I know I sound old writing this. Yet It's funny how today's young people think that some of these artist today are so talented. Yet they are just copying what was done before, which was Original then. Music is a life saver and it has saved mine time and time again.