Decluttering: CD and DVD discs, cases, artwork

[Music Lover]

My wife will occasionally grab a CD from the drawer to listen to in her car, but otherwise we never get into those drawers.

My 2nd to last car had a regular CD player.

My last car had a 5 or 6 CD changer that would play burned mp3's...so I could rip 100 songs on a blank disc. I thought it was great having 600 songs on hand.

Then I bought a car that accepts flash drives and I now have thousands of songs on hand.

 

[mpeirce]

I've been going through old physical media with an eye to getting rid of "stuff".

I had about 100 vinyl albums and took them to a local record shop. He gave me $1 for most of them, and $3 for the ones of interest too him. Cleared about $130. Kept one special signed album for my brother that I bought in club in Atlanta Underground in the 70's. So I got 30 minutes of pleasant reminiscing by keeping that one.

I've got even more CDs. I've ripped them over the years and still have those files around, but frankly I don't use the files since I'm use a streaming service. It's just much more convenient to have almost everything at my fingertips. "Hey Siri, play [whatever pops into my head]".

I ripped a lot of DVDs over the years too (using Handbreak). Again, still have those files, but don't use them - DVD is lower resolution than current HD movies, not to mention 4K movies. In this case, the streaming services don't seem to have everything and it's hard to figure out which service has which movies, so maybe those old movies file will prove useful at times.

When we move in the next year or so, all the physical media will be gone!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Kept one special signed album for my brother that I bought in club in Atlanta Underground in the 70's. So I got 30 minutes of pleasant reminiscing by keeping that one.

I celebrated my 21st birthday at Underground Atlanta. There was a jazz festival going on at the time and I bought a CD from one of the local bands that was made up of some school teachers. They were really, REALLY good and I still listen to that CD on occasion. Periodically I will look to see if they are still performing, but nope, at least as far as I can tell.

Another unrelated story to that birthday. I don't recall the band/singer at the time, but a few years ago my Dad and I went to NC to visit with some extended family. We were have beverages with a cousin and it came to light that she used to be a jazz singer. We were looking though a photo album and low and behold she was actually performing at the show that I was at. I thought that was very cool and shows that it's a pretty small world!

 

[yupislyr]

This is SO true. I don’t attempt to deal with video backup but I’d hate to have to re-rip hundreds of CDs again. Same thing with photos that are scanned in.

This is precisely why I have two copies of all my music on desktop computer, and then a further two backups (along with the rest of my data I've accumulated over the decades - movies/photos/documents, etc) via external drives that are stored in separate locations.


I'm really serious about my music collection especially. Heh. It's taken decades to accumulate many of the rarely releases and hard drive storage is relatively cheap.

 

[Kwirk]

We ditched the jewel cases and kept the discs. That eliminated three towers of clutter into a couple of big binders hidden away in a closet.

+1 100 discs can fit in a nylon case smaller than a lunch pail. I don't think I'll ever need the discs but it's no problem to hang onto them.

I have lossless ripped copies of the discs I actually (but rarely) play on 2 desktop computers, a notebook, in the cloud (Onedrive), on a .5 TB detached SSD used for secure backups, and on a USB stick (for the car).

Why in the world do I have so many copies of something that I don't much use? I do ask myself that. Partly, it's because I'm paranoid of losing the ~40,000 digitized photos (most taken with a digital camera/phone, but many that were laboriously scanned from photos and slides) that DW values even more than I do. When I copy or backup the photos it's easy to just include the music.

 

[JAGOTI]

i had hundreds of CD'S. i was reluctant to get rid of them- even though i have them completely backed up and digitized. Here is what I did. I put them in boxes- filled 3 large boxes!! I sealed the boxes with shipping tape and wrote the date on them. Then I put the boxes in the garage. About a year later- I brought the unopened boxes to the Goodwill and donated them.

I've never missed them and my home is less cluttered.

I am in the process of doing the same thing with some books now....I have thousands of books (I am a voracious reader - average 60-75 books per year). With these I am sorting by fiction vs non-fiction. I am reluctant to let go of the non-fiction.....

I've given away 200-300 hundred books so far. All of them are fiction. I donate them to the local public library. It feels good to let them go.

 

[Music Lover]

For books I'm in an informal group of 7 or 8 people that rotate them. We initial inside the cover and once we've all read it the last person donates them somewhere.

Of course that means I get books from several people and the stash never seems to go down

 

[HI Bill]

I have thousands of books (I am a voracious reader - average 60-75 books per year). With these I am sorting by fiction vs non-fiction. I am reluctant to let go of the non-fiction.....

I've given away 200-300 hundred books so far. All of them are fiction. I donate them to the local public library. It feels good to let them go.

My life is too short to read books more than once. I give them away one at a time, after reading (usually, to folks at w$rk). Now, I only buy books on Kindle, as they don't take up any physical space.

 

[jim584672]

I had four drawers of bank statements and old paperwork that I scanned in and threw out the originals. Now I refuse paper, do all statements via PDF. If I get paper it gets scanned and discarded.

Photos have all been scanned in and digitally adjusted. Originals set to the side.

Feels good to be able to move without taking tons of physical media along.

 

[rk911]

I'm guessing that, over the past three decades, I've amassed a collection of several hundred CDs (along with the cases, album artwork, and liner notes) and probably 50+ DVDs and cases, along with a couple dozen Blu-ray movies. I've digitized the vast majority of music from the CDs, and I've also digitized or made backup copies (using physical discs) of all the DVDs and Blu-rays that I care to retain.

Several of the original CDs and DVDs have some sentimental value, e.g., the first CD I ever bought, a few that I received as special gifts, etc. But the vast majority have—at best—marginal value now that they've been digitized or backed up. Any reason not to just discard them? Is there any sort of market for these items on eBay? Maybe donate them to Goodwill or some other charitable organization? Try to unload them for cheap at a neighborhood yard sale? I'm interested in hearing what others have done or would recommend.

we had a big collection of LPs, cassette tapes and 45-rpm singles. we kept them out of sentiment even though we long ago sold the turntable and cassette player. kept a few with really strong sentimental value, posted an ad on Craig's list and sold a bunch off and gave what remained to Goodwill. suggest you consider the same. now, what to do with all of those coffee and beer mugs we collected for years and now consume space in our crawl space.

 

[Kwirk]

I've largely stopped buying books, even for Kindle. I just borrow digital editions from the local library without leaving my chair.

 

[rando348]

I sold a lot of my CDs and DVDs to decluttr. It's an app and website. You scan the CDs at home and they tell you how much they'll pay for each one. They also will pay for shipping. They don't pay much maybe 50 cents to $3 per CD. I had a whole two or three boxes of CDs and I got maybe two hundred bucks.

I found almost every song I ever want to listen to news on YouTube anyway. Good luck all

 

[JAGOTI]

My life is too short to read books more than once. I give them away one at a time, after reading (usually, to folks at w$rk). Now, I only buy books on Kindle, as they don't take up any physical space.

And they are easier to read on the Kindle- I make the font nice and large

 

[rk911]

And they are easier to read on the Kindle- I make the font nice and large

there's no comparison. ya can't curl up in bed with a kindle. tried it once, hated it, continue to read hard covers. been buying hard covers for nearly 50-yrs. yes, it will be a pain to finally have to give them away or sell them but i love my books. other than one shelf that contains unread material i've read each of them at least twice. i din't think digital will ever replace paper.

 

[Philliefan33]

there's no comparison. ya can't curl up in bed with a kindle. tried it once, hated it, continue to read hard covers. been buying hard covers for nearly 50-yrs. yes, it will be a pain to finally have to give them away or sell them but i love my books. other than one shelf that contains unread material i've read each of them at least twice. i din't think digital will ever replace paper.

Just a matter of preference. I read in bed every night with my Kindle. It’s easy to hold with one hand, and the Paperwhite has built-in lighting so I can read without disturbing DH.

 

[HI Bill]

Just a matter of preference. I read in bed every night with my Kindle. It’s easy to hold with one hand, and the Paperwhite has built-in lighting so I can read without disturbing DH.

+1. I only used to buy hard back when paperback wasn't available. Hardback is too large, and too heavy for travel, backpacks, etc. Even to hold, I prefer paperback, or now, Kindle.

 

[RunningBum]

Plex. It's very much like playing a show or movie on Nexflix. I used MakeMKV to rip all the discs, then play them on a Roku.

This was a winner. I bought a 2 TB HD on Prime Day for under $50, and I've been converting almost all of my DVDs to digital. It's a bit tedious but I think it'll be worth it. My only issue is that my laptop doesn't read BluRay discs so I can't convert those. Some of my BluRays came with a download code, and others came with both types of discs. All I'm really missing are the Godfather series, and I couldn't convert my son's Star Wars and Harry Potter collections.

 

[RunningBum]

As far as books go, I think I might like reading on a Kindle better since I can adjust the font size, and I know I like carrying a thin Kindle on an airplane trip a lot more than multiple books.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

This was a winner. I bought a 2 TB HD on Prime Day for under $50, and I've been converting almost all of my DVDs to digital. It's a bit tedious but I think it'll be worth it. My only issue is that my laptop doesn't read BluRay discs so I can't convert those. Some of my BluRays came with a download code, and others came with both types of discs. All I'm really missing are the Godfather series, and I couldn't convert my son's Star Wars and Harry Potter collections.

I think I paid $30 years ago for my external Blu-ray player so I could rip those. You should be able to find one for no more than twice that nowadays, if you're so inclined.

 

[jollystomper]

there's no comparison. ya can't curl up in bed with a kindle. tried it once, hated it, continue to read hard covers. been buying hard covers for nearly 50-yrs. yes, it will be a pain to finally have to give them away or sell them but i love my books. other than one shelf that contains unread material i've read each of them at least twice. i din't think digital will ever replace paper.

Your bookcase wall looks like 1.5 walls in our basement family room, just much neater.

DW loves book and it pains her to throw a book out or give one away. De-cluttering books has probably been the biggest bone of contention in our marriage .

 

[YoungSaver]

Any reason not to just discard them? Is there any sort of market for these items on eBay? Maybe donate them to Goodwill or some other charitable organization? Try to unload them for cheap at a neighborhood yard sale? I'm interested in hearing what others have done or would recommend.

When I purged my media years ago, the best/easiest thing was to sell them all together on either Craigslist or Facebook marketplace.
If you had 50 DVDs, I'd list the whole set for around $10-$15.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

As far as books go, I think I might like reading on a Kindle better since I can adjust the font size, and I know I like carrying a thin Kindle on an airplane trip a lot more than multiple books.

#Nailed it. Plus with my local library card, military library card, borrowing my mom's card etc I get free digital books from several library systems. She doesnt read digital and theres no risk of me acruing fines under her account. And having 20 books with me on a trip and the ability to swap them out is amazing.