Surplus CDs

[Gareth Vaughan]

Ah yes, well... morally you have a point, and I would enjoy exploring this further, but here is not the place.

[Ilja]

Still, people, any non-legal suggestions would be most welcome.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Well, I have suggested the Free Library of Philadelphia and the music colleges.

[Alan Howe]

How does one get them there, though? And in what - a removal van?

[Gareth Vaughan]

Depends how many there are, doesn't it?

[matesic]

A bit hypothetical, isn't it? I strongly suspect librarians are thinking along the same lines as we are - that CDs are on the way out. Think also of the work and the space. To have a few thousand of them suddenly arrive on the doorstep would evoke more of a sinking feeling than a cork-popping celebration.

[Alan Howe]

I agree. I can't see any institution wanting them. I mean, where would they put them? In any case, I suspect they're all using streaming services by now.

I used to give CDs to a relative of my wife who is Head of Music at a well-known UK grammar school. He told me years ago that they stream all the recorded music they need.

[Mark Thomas]

My assumption is that, when I've finished ripping all my CDs sometime next year, anyone who would like any of the original CDs can have them (only on loan of course ), but the remainder (and it'll be the overwhelming majority I'm sure) will go to the local dump. At one level it's a huge waste, but I'll be exchanging five cabinets full of CDs, taking up two walls of a room, for instant access to the music all over the house, housed in an unobtrusive box not much larger than a hefty paperback. Booklets? I seldom read them more than once and much of the information is online now anyway. If I was thinking like my son's generation I'd be able to discard the whole "ownership" thing altogether and rely totally on streaming services, but I'm not happy with going that far, especially as quite a few of the older or more obscure recordings aren't available to stream online.

[matesic]

Mark and Ilja - do check out your local recycling services. There's a place in SE London that seems to accept CDs but most local centres probably don't. In the past I've dumped a lot of vinyl but now I'm a reformed character.

The media player in my TV is pretty well organized so I'm looking forward to being able to play all my CDs (through external amplifier and speakers) without leaving the armchair.

[Jonathan]

Slightly off topic, for which I apologise.  Talking about ripping CDs etc, I've been trying to set up a server using an old desktop computer at home but my computer knowledge is insufficient and I am on the verge of abandoning the idea.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to a useful resource that might be able to help me?

On topic - my CD collection continues to grow, albeit very much more slowly than it used to.  None of my family are interested to the degree that I am so I have decided to leave it to a music society when I die.  Ok, hopefully that won't be for a very long time but maybe it's a possible solution?

Also on topic, I moved almost all of my CDs into folders last year and went from having 4 assorted CD holders around the house to 1 plus a smart bookcase we had made specifically for the purpose.  They look very smart and I know where everything is so can easily access it.  If anyone want's to know where I got them from, please PM me.  Also, if anyone want's rid of CDs I'm happy to have them!

[Mark Thomas]

do check out your local recycling services

Our local recycling centre used to accept CDs in the book bins intended for charity shops, but no more. I guess that the charity shops can't shift them either. The jewel cases, booklets and paper inserts are all recyclable of course, ironically it's only the CDs themselves which aren't.

[Christopher]

We use hanging CDs as bird-scarers in the fruit cage!   Also, our local dump now has a shop attached where people drop and buy all sorts of things - CDs, vinyl, books... four-poster beds...!  They call them Revive and Re-Use shops, proceeds support local charities. http://www.sitasurrey.co.uk/what-we-do/community-recycling-centres/re-use

[Gareth Vaughan]

Take care. In the old vinyl era people turned unwanted LPs into flower pots by heating and bending them. Some of those old LPs are now worth a fair bit of cash. Who is to say the same may not happen to CDs. I don't know. Just a thought.

[kolaboy]

Exactly. I have folks all the time asking me where I acquired my "record playing machine", and others wistfully speaking of all the albums that they "threw away" at the height of the cd craze.  And ah, those old Candide lp covers do display so very nicely...

[matesic]

A couple of years ago I had a local dealer take away about 1500 vinyl LPs. He was intensely interested in the rock section of 100 or so but had no use for the classical that hardly anyone collects. It was part of the deal that if he wanted the former he'd have to accept the latter too. He gave me £250 and that was a major chunk of my young adulthood, gone!