Want to get rid of our CDs- need lots of help

[earthgirl]

DH & I have been talking about getting rid of our CDs. The problem is that this project will probably fall mostly on me and I am 100% clueless about how one goes about this. I know people do this, but I am far from tech savvy so short of downloading music I'm kind of at a loss. I know we can import our CDs to our computer, but what comes next? What do we need besides an ipod or mp3 player? I'm so clueless about this, I don't really even know what questions to ask. Anyway, if you went this route can you please school me on it? It would be nice to not have hundreds of CDs taking up space, and to not have our large stereo. Thanks!

[mamadelbosque]

Honestly, I wouldn't actually get rid of your CDs. I'd put them all on the computer and get a nice big mp3 player, and then tuck them away someplace out of the way - the attic, basement, a high shelf or closet or something - but I would *NOT* just get rid of them. Why? Their your 'hard copies' - computers crash, hard drives die, mp3 players get sat on/stepped on/dropped/dumped water on/ and then poof! all your music is GONE! Thus why you need to keep those old cds as a backup.

That said, you can download any number of music players/rippers off line (goto download.com and try a couple of the top rated ones out and see what you like), or you can always just get iTunes if you have windows/mac and use that to rip your cds.

In order to play mp3s you can either use your computer, or you can get an ipod and a docking station with little speakers, or keep your nice big speakers/stereo/receiver and just hook your iPod up to your receiver. If you goto best buy or circuit city or radio shack or any other radio/electronics place they should be able to help you

[brennatsi]

Ha ha ha! Took me way too long to figure out that you didn't mean "cloth diapers" when you said CD's. What a big hippie, I am!

[sunnysandiegan]

What Emily said.

We have a Mac and loaded all our CDs into iTunes on our main music library. Then, DH & I put the ones we each like into our respective laptops (also Macs). You are allowed a certain number of "copies" (whatever they call it). I am currently playing music on my laptop right now from really old cassette tapes I used to have! We also have a nice stereo (from the 80s or 90s) and a couple iPods (older ones) and our iPhones (also older ones). We can and do play music on all these!

I would NOT get rid of our stereo. We have it hooked up to our TV and play movies through it to get better sound. We have my old iPod mini hooked up to the stereo, too, and play music through it. Sometimes we actually listen to the radio on the stereo. I know, old-fashioned!

We have a bookcase with doors on the lower half. I adjusted the shelves in order to get all our CDs compactly arranged. We did give some away, but these were the ones we would never bother replacing if we lost the music on the computer for whatever reason. We don't really buy real CDs anymore. We purchase the rights from iTunes or Amazon (and other places online), so we are not adding to our physical collection. If a hard drive crashes and we cannot retrieve the back-up for whatever reason (technology is great, but not infallible), we still have our favorite music in the original format and can reload it.

If space is a concern, you can weed out the least favorite. Then, you can toss/recycle the cases and put the CDs (and possibly the inserts -- personal preference) into a CD binder and toss that up in a closet. I recommend keeping it in the main part of the house (same humidity and temperature) in order to not cause mold or mildew issues with the binder and paper. Extreme weather can ruin CDs, too.

[CeciMami]

Download iTunes...they make it pretty easy to load all of your music in and keep it organized on your computer. I wouldn't get rid of the actual CD's unless you have a backup drive for your computer where you religiously back up your music. Otherwise, I'd take all the CD's (and liner notes) and store them in a CD wallet like this. Just getting rid of the jewel cases will give you a TON more space! Hope this helps!

[earthgirl]

Thanks, y'all. It's been helpful.

[jimblejamble]

Originally Posted by brennatsi

Ha ha ha! Took me way too long to figure out that you didn't mean "cloth diapers" when you said CD's. What a big hippie, I am!

Me too! I was thinking "What does downloading music have to do with cloth...OH!!!" :LOL

[Shellie]

I'm in the process of "ripping" the last of our CDs so they're on the computer and I *am* giving away the actual CDs. My reasoning is that in most cases we only care about 1, 2 or 3 songs on each CD. We also haven't bought CDs in about 10 years, so what's on them is mostly older. I also have my music backed up to an external hard drive (which you ALL should be doing with your family photos if you are digital! LOL) so I would still have them if my hard drive crashed or something went wrong with my PC.
Sure, all the CDs were already stored in a couple big CD wallets...it still took up a lot of space for something I can store with no space!

[townelin]

Check out spun.com if and when you decide to get rid of th actual CDs.

[zoebird]

we moved to the other side of the planet. we did not "tuck away" our CDs. we have back ups--on thumb drives, on the Ipods, and on the computer. and, our friend also has back ups because he did the copying for us.

we are also not that tech savvy, but we couldn't haul the cds to the other side of the planet. and, we'd already considerably downsized our cds. we did keep certain ones for sentimental value--i think it's 1/2 of a book box. the other half of the box has blankets in it. LOL

ok, bottom line--we paid a kid to do it. our friend has a son, and this was his summer job. we paid him about $350 for the whole job, which didn't take him long. he also got to keep copies of whatever he wanted from our collection.

problem solved (for us) anyway. we just didn't ahve the time--organizing moving to the other side of the planet--to do the job ourselves.