Disc-go: Should you get rid of your CDs?

[snoop1130]

Stacked … Photograph: Getty Images

When compact discs started arriving on the shelves of Woolworths in the 1980s, liberated boomers set about chucking out all the vinyl clogging up their entertainment centres.

After an investment in a three-disc changer and some CD towers, they could rest easy in the assurance that they were future-proofed.

A couple of decades, and a few music industry meltdowns later, no one wants CDs any more.

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/15/disc-go-should-you-get-rid-of-your-cds

[RichardColeman]

I shouldn't I have given all my vinyl to charity when CD's came out ! 

 

 

 

 

[tomazbodner]

I'm keeping them. Like all Bluray discs. Streaming services don't have everything unless you subscribe to every service out there and they remove stuff without notice. They are archive though. Enjoying contents from NAS drive. But yes, have Apple Music and Netflix subscriptions. Convenient, but as said - not having everything and one day you just notice half your favourite stuff disappeared.

[Don Chance]

You can get all your music on .flac from pirate bay. Sell your CDs while they are still worth something.

[adammike]

4 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

You can get all your music on .flac from pirate bay. Sell your CDs while they are still worth something.

Some years ago also in the Guardian there was an article from a guy who sold his CD collection.Whats stuck in my mind is the what the guy who he sold them to said "it's just as well you are selling them now because in a few years you will be paying me to take them away".I love Spotify and Tunein radio,there is a massive world of music and sound out there.When my arcam amp gave up the ghost I got a Marantz  pm7000n network receiver,it's a bit over the top for my smallish apartment but it's on all day,I still have my cd collection stuck away in a cupboard but I don't or rarely listen to them from Spotify.

[Oldie]

CDs might be still useful. Some people hang them on the balcony in the hope to keep pigeons away. 

[scubascuba3]

I sold all mine maybe 10 years ago, boxed them and sent in one go to some company. I never bought many DVDs so they weren't a problem

[JayClay]

5 hours ago, Don Chance said:

Sell your CDs while they are still worth something.

....or wait and hope they become "trendy" collectors items again like vinyl  records, or retro video games and then really cash in.

Edited March 16, 2021 by JayClay

[Boomer6969]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I never bought many DVDs so they weren't a problem

Four years ago I was downloading movies and burn them on DVD to watch them on TV. Now I have my Plex media server and Roku boxes... 

What's next?

[wombat]

40 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

 

What's next?

80 Terabyte hard drives the size of a cigarette box reading a tech article yesterday 

[RocketDog]

I saved all my vinyl from the 60's and suspect the album covers are worth more than the records. I'll put them on eBay but keep a few like Stones' 'Her Satanic Majesty's, Request'  and Sargent Peppers as wall ornaments. 

When I go home again (?) I'm trashcanning all my VHS tapes/players/cameras and moving anything I want from CD to USB sticks. In the end even I will become disposable. 

The CDs look cool when you nuke them in a microwave oven. 

[Old Nomad]

I had all my CDs copied to an SSD by a music studio in Stuttgart, Germany .
Copying the CDs was cheap. Ripping vinyl records I considered being too expensive.

The vinyls sold for a much better price then the CDs.

[Surelynot]

Just thrown 100's away......had to down size from a three bed detached to two large suitcases.....gutted.

[MAF666]

I ripped my CD collection of ~1000 to mp3 in 1999. After a few years I again ripped the Cd's to FLAC because of the superior audio quality of Audirvana played through a nice HiFi setup from a NAS. 

Currently have ~2.5tb of FLAC tunes on the NAS. Much better quality than any online service. 

[bangkok19]

Compact Discs are a convenient, great sounding 'physical' media for music listening enjoyment.

The age old vinyl versus CD sound quality argument will go on forever. Just keep both. 

Sound qualitywise, CD's are only as good as the 'masters' their recorded from.  In most cases that CD you bought in the 80's will sound better than a recent remaster of the same CD.  Many modern remastered CD's are just louder versions of the original with increased bass and treble to sound better through modern day computer, smartphone and small Bluetooth speakers.

Keep your old vinyl as they are the way the music was meant to sound.  Most of the new vinyl sold in the shops today is actually recorded from the same remastered 'master' as the latest 'remastered' CD.

Many of those CD's you bought when they first were introduced (in the 80's) were 'flat transfers'...  they relied on the bass and treble controls on your hi-fi unit.   These days, the newer CD's add the bass and treble whether you like it or not.

All the streaming services have many of these remastered albums...  of course you can hear them in FLAC, MQA and hi-fi, hi-res Lossless formats but they will still come from those new crappy remasters!

If you're going to throw out your CD's..  or some of them...  keep the silver faced ones with the black print on them that were pressed/manufactured in the 80's.  Another detail to look for is if they were manufactured in West Germany (pre-'91), they were generally good sounding.  Old silver Polydor CD's with the red and black rings around the outside were excellent too.

If CD storage space is a problem...  ditch the plastic jewel cases and put the CD into those clear inexpensive soft vinyl sleeves you can buy.  

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/17/2021 at 1:58 PM, wombat said:

80 Terabyte hard drives the size of a cigarette box reading a tech article yesterday 

80 Terabyte hard drives the size of a cigarette box reading a tech article yesterday 

Imagine spending thousands of hours filling one of them up and then losing it due to damage, fire, theft etc!

All technology will be superseded, just as the old crank record players were superseded by electric ones. Change is getting faster so whatever one invests in now will be obsolete in the future.

I invested in DVDs  in the early century, and have no intention of getting rid of them to rely on the internet which can go away any time due to any number of causes. For a long time I had to go to the library to use the internet, and still don't have my own internet account due to my accommodation situation, but I have access  to Wifi AT THE MOMENT, but it could end any time. My situation would not be unusual for many at the lower end of income.

Always remember that it's only good till it's not. Things change- war, pestilence, depressions etc etc etc.

 

BTW, it's good to see proper record players for sale again. I still have my records, waiting till my accommodation situation allows me to set up the components again. Still have the amplifier and speakers etc, but the player died and I never got around to replacing it before they went out of fashion.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, bangkok19 said:

If CD storage space is a problem...  ditch the plastic jewel cases and put the CD into those clear inexpensive soft vinyl sleeves you can buy.  

Can also buy slim CD/ DVD covers that take up half the space of the big jewel cases and provide better protection than the soft sleeves. Not easy to find but they are out there.

[Salerno]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Not easy to find

Used nothing but slimline jewel cases for a couple of decades prior to going purely online. Where are they hard to find?

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, Salerno said:

Used nothing but slimline jewel cases for a couple of decades prior to going purely online. Where are they hard to find?

In NZ. Couldn't find them for years and then the local appliance shop had them. Having problems now due to imports being disrupted by corona.

[NCC1701A]

I ripped all my CD's about 15 years ago and tried to sell them but just tossed them out except for some Japanese quality soundtracks. 

Same with my laser disk collection and DVD's. they were all standard def so not worth ripping. 

 

[Salerno]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

In NZ. Couldn't find them for years and then the local appliance shop had them. Having problems now due to imports being disrupted by corona.

I'll send a care package across the ditch 555

[piewarmer]

we have all looked for a song with no success, the new world isn't perfect

[Daffy D]

On 3/18/2021 at 8:37 AM, Sticky Rice Balls said:

Some of the music I started collecting as a teen I cant find online anymore and music is music--depends on if the format bothers you mp3-cassete-cd-8 track

Have you tried YouTube?

 

[JAMJAMT]

On 3/18/2021 at 9:37 AM, Sticky Rice Balls said:

Some of the music I started collecting as a teen I cant find online anymore and music is music--depends on if the format bothers you mp3-cassete-cd-8 track

What about Spotify ?I can find music on Spotify and convert spotify music to mp3 then burn to CD for listening.