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Winnipeger

Lifer
Sep 9, 2022
1,288
9,670
Winnipeg
I got rid of a dozen or so vinyl records many years ago and I'd love to have them back now, some are now worth an incredible amount of money. Fortunately I did keep another dozen or so records. I never imagined vinyl making a comeback or the value being so high.
I'd never get rid of any of my vinyl. We listen to records all the time, but my CDs sit in a closet, because if I want to listen to Kind Of Blue, or Master of Puppets, it's on my phone, which I can stream to any speaker in my house or car. Is the quality the same? Close enough for casual listening IMO. (Sorry Neil Young.)
 

STP

Lifer
Sep 8, 2020
4,119
9,583
Northeast USA
We have well over a 1,000 CDs that are stored on shelves that I built in a loft. Many of them are uploaded to iTunes and then to iPhones, thumb drives, etc. I still occasionally buy CDs for bands that I like. I prefer to have actual hard copies that I own, and have no issue w/storage.

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Briar Tuck

Lifer
Nov 29, 2022
1,109
5,738
Oregon coast
I'd never get rid of any of my vinyl. We listen to records all the time, but my CDs sit in a closet, because if I want to listen to Kind Of Blue, or Master of Puppets, it's on my phone, which I can stream to any speaker in my house or car. Is the quality the same? Close enough for casual listening IMO. (Sorry Neil Young.)
Like I said, streaming has it's purpose and benefits. I use Apple Music on my phone for the set lists for all of my bands because it's easier to organize and I can bluetooth it anywhere to listen and practice to. I can also instantly pull up and download any new songs we want to cover. If I want to listen to a particular album or artist though, I always grab the CDs if I have them.
 

geoffs

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 21, 2022
179
658
Ontario
Hah! Was just looking at my own CDs yesterday and wondering if I could better use the shelves/boxes for my growing pipe tobacco collection.
I have ripped everything to my hard drive and continue to download music. I want to own it and not be subject to the streaming services and what they have on offer. To my old ears a 320kbps rip is just as good as a lossless CD.
Still not ready to get rid of the physical discs but not sure why!
 
Jan 30, 2020
1,908
6,312
New Jersey
CDs are also a digital format and have degradation lifespans. I discarded most of mine a number of years ago while maintaining a small vinyl collection on some albums.

Streaming quality is provider dependent. Some are better than other and some offer premium (better than CD) formats. For example, Amazon has been working with various partners and Dolby to remix albums in much higher quality and in Atmos. They aren’t the only ones either. Many albums are getting remixed and mastered for the new digital world.

All of my music is listened to over car, headphones or devices like Alexa of various levels unless it’s a vinyl so the convenience overrules any quality loss.

It’s so rare these days that I have to do any critical listening and in the specific case I do, it’s going to be in a specific work environment so it still doesn’t impact me personally.
 
People dissing scratches on albums. Ha ha, I have albums going back to 1965 that I have collected, and, sure, a crackle or two, but if one ever skips, it never makes it into my collection. If you don’t want scratches, don’t put them on there. When my kids were young, they were taught my album protocols.

Hell, one tiny scratch on a CD or a pull on a tape ruins it totally. Much more fragile than vinyl.

But, I may be wrong, but I don’t think CDs or tapes will ever be as collectible as vinyl. An album is much more than the music. Its about the art, designs, the whole aesthetic.., the experience.

A good turntable with a good cartridge, balanced tracking weight, and anti skate… even with small speakers is much more enjoyable to me than a CD.

Tapes were always more about copying my albums for the car. Or, copying my friends albums. I may have bought 12 actual pre-recorded tapes. The rest were Maxell metal tapes bought by the crate in bulk.
 
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Feb 12, 2022
3,450
47,869
31
North Georgia mountains.
I’m pretty sure I did but there’s a slight chance I may have put them out for recycling as well. I have no idea how recyclable a CD is since it’s a mix of plastic and metal.
Best bet is donating to thrift or goodwill, if it's not scratched to hell.
If scratched, burn the jacket and trash the cds. Really no "green" option in this case unfortunately
 

UB 40

Lifer
Jul 7, 2022
1,292
9,570
61
Cologne/ Germany
nahbesprechung.net
Does anybody else have a collection of 1000 pounds of plastic that's been made mostly obsolete by modern streaming services?

A recent post in the WAYS thread by @AppalachianPiper92 had a picture of a pipe sitting on top of a CD copy of Miles Smiles. It reminded me of the problem my collection represents. I spent about a decade tracking down the entire Miles Davis catalogue. I needed to own everything he ever released and all the live performances available. I think I have 70+ Miles Davis CDs. They're sitting on a shelf I built in the back of a spare bedroom closet to get them out of the way along with the rest of my massive collection. Maybe 10 percent of my total collection is rare or obscure, but the rest of it is available, either for free on youtube, or for a nominal monthly fee. I carried all this plastic from one apartment to another, across the continent and back again, then from house, to house...to house. In 2004 I bought a 40 gig iPod and uploaded about 2/3 of my collection at that time, so I could take it with me when I went to work on ships.

I've looked into getting rid of the collection, because it takes up so much space. What is not available from streaming services is the great packaging, historical essays and liner notes, especially in all the jazz and classical packages. Does anyone else have the same problem of a bunch of useless plastic taking up valuable space? I'm afraid it's all going to end up in a landfill eventually, one way or another. CDs are not recyclable, and their resale value may not be worth the effort to sell them.
When i find time I listen to my cd and lp collection the sound quality is almost unbeatable compared to the mp3 or whatever compressed stuff you get from you tube or other streaming sources.

I love my collection.
 

UB 40

Lifer
Jul 7, 2022
1,292
9,570
61
Cologne/ Germany
nahbesprechung.net
I have almost 800 vinyl albums, maybe four hundred CDs, and boxes and boxes of tapes in storage. I also pay to use Apple music unlimited. But, really, I still enjoy my vinyl the most. It better allows me to enjoy whole albums instead of just songs. And, even if I can download whatever I want to my phone, I don’t feel like I own it, till I have the vinyl… so, I am still buying albums.
Yes also for me it is important to know the context of songs as treasured on albums. And I love liner notes maybe of a music connoisseur of those times for example when a new John Coltrane album was published.
 

UB 40

Lifer
Jul 7, 2022
1,292
9,570
61
Cologne/ Germany
nahbesprechung.net
Tha

That only means CDs are even less desirable. The popularity of Vinyl is a backlash against digital IMO.
CDs are easy to handle on most reproduction systems it sounds better because of the poor setup. With the right record player and preamplifier a record will reproduce all the beloved details of voices and instruments at dramatic dynamics. Recording and mastering for LPs has been a highly developed subject.

Even mono recordings of Elvis voice can be heard in astonishing crispness and almost as the king performing live in the room.

And there is no data loss.
 
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Dec 3, 2021
4,907
41,451
Pennsylvania & New York
I have a couple thousand LPs and couple thousand CDs. Even if I were to set up a computer and stream the the digital format, the physical CDs are an instant back up. I have CDs where the cases and packaging are limited and specific to the release, so, I preserve everything if possible. For some of my in-depth collections, I’ve rebought releases because the 1st issue sticker got messed up (but, I’m a nutty collector). I’ve got multiple versions of some albums in LP and CD format and they all sound different because of the mastering or the media.
 
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Briar Tuck

Lifer
Nov 29, 2022
1,109
5,738
Oregon coast
Hell, one tiny scratch on a CD or a pull on a tape ruins it totally. Much more fragile than vinyl.
Tapes can be easily ruined, but CDs are very durable. Even most major scratches on CDs can be easily repaired by polishing them out with very fine rubbing compound. I've collected a lot of used CDs, many scratched to hell, looking like they were dragged through gravel, and I've been able to get them all playing perfectly. Unless the disc is broken or cracked it is usually fixable.