I still buy CDs. Mostly dirt cheap second hand ones.
I simply use them as a one-time transmission medium - buy, rip, and then, errr …
Well I used to store just the CD in packing cases for 500, but I’ve run out of space in the 4th case, and I’m not in a hurry to carry on storing a dead medium and buy another case, so I just chuck them.
I don’t feel very guilty about binning Marc Almond’s greatest hits (part of 3 for a tenner from Carnival).
On the other hand I do occasionally feel a twang of guilt about hoofing something like Cabaret Voltaire Red Mecca (part of the same 3 for a tenner) into the bin. It’s survived from 1990, Amazon don’t even have a second-hand copy to offer for stupid money, and somehow it feels more credible than a lot of the crap I buy.
Maybe someone else would want it, but if I gave it to them it would be wrong to keep the rip. Having said that, I genuinely looked to buy FLAC of this album and couldn’t find it. Am I performing some kind of archiving service for the future when someone goes “bugger, we never kept digital copies of that”?
Not offering any answers, just pondering if anyone has seen a clear path out of this particularly 21st century dilemma.
I’d take any you want to bin. I still play them. I don’t bin mine.
I use the flac but always like the item at hand. Old fashioned.
You have paid for them so I can’t see It’s wrOng to keep the rip if you sell it on. Selling used music is the issue itself as artists have no profit out of it.
You are maybe over thinking. Just do what works for you. Charity shops are great for old CDs.
I rarely buy CDs and haven’t owned a CD player since 2008. However, every CD that I buy is ripped to a server and then carefully stored in the loft*. Other than my eldest daughter’s Miley Cyrus and Wiggles CDs I’m not sure we’ve ever chucked out a CD that would play. It is difficult to get charity shops to take them sometimes.
*In a pile of plastic storage boxes with sealing lids in a tidy corner surrounded by 10 tonnes of Christmas decorations, bags of scart leads and all sorts of old shite we’re unable to dispose of because reasons.
As far as the music business, including the artist, is concerned there is no difference between
i) you buying a CD, ripping it and selling the CD
ii) you buying a CD, ripping it and selling the rip
The second case is obviously wrong - you’re flogging a copy of someone else’s CD and if you do it multiple times we end up with one CD having been sold but lots of copies (rips) existing out there. If you do the first thing multiple times, with each owner of the CD ripping it and then selling it on, you end up with exactly the same situation.
I do keep and still play CD’s, but I understand the problem.
As for the music “sharing”, I don’t see how it will ever be an issue that can be ethically sorted.
So much music is already shared in so many ways, keeping track of the economics, doesn’t seem possible.
Think of all those tapes that were thrown away, that people are now desperate for.
If you don’t want to store them, sell them on.
I find the charity shop pricing around here, to be a joke. Most of the market stall sellers as well, the prices are too high.
I would love to buy local, and save on shipping, but the pricing of most is already more than buying from an Amazon seller, and paying shipping.
I don’t play music from ripped media at all. I sometimes use Spotify just to check out something new but 99.9% of my listening is done on Vinyl or CD.
Call me old fashioned but that’s the way it is.
So if you are throwing out your CD’s I’m sure there would be loads I’d love to listen too.
Please don’t throw them away, I’ll happily pay postage to me so they don’t end up in a land fill somewhere.
Slightly off topic I donated around 200-250 DVD’s at Easter to a charity shop. Because I did gift aid they now have to send you a statement on how much they have sold and although I don’t know how many have sold they have so far made £670. This was a pleasant surprise and shows its certainly worth donating DVD’s and CD’s if you really want to let them go. The DVD’s had been spun for years but I have kept CD’s as I do use those although not that often.
But does that mean you shouldn’t sell on your CDs? THe artist gets nothing and it could be sold numerous times.
I’m reality you have to be a little pragmatic. If you keep the rip and sell on as above the artist gets the same and each owner still has the music. The flip is they get one payment and the owner keeps changing.
I spend enough on music not to be uneasy about owning flac I have been given. It may be technically illegal but it’s pedantic to loose sleep over it. If I like it I buy it.
If I rip a cd and keep the flac and lose it / donate it / throw it / sell it etc. It’s pretty much the same.
We all know enforcing the law would be hopeless, and the real issue is respecting it but not being scared of a few infringements.
But you’re not infringing copyright by doing this.
It pretty much isn’t. The reason being is that when you buy a CD you’re gaining the rights to play the music. Ownership of the physical object doesn’t mean anything in this regard.
I’m not sure that is strictly correct. Owning a CD conveys you with the right to play that CD. If it breaks, don’t expect the rights owner to replace it.
While there might be a moral argument around not selling used CDs, whether ripped or not, it’s worth mentioning that the record companies have made a fortune from people rebuying in new formats. So much for the “right to play the music”
One day, rights law will catch up with replay technology, but we’re a long way from that yet!
Yeah.
And I meant to say I consider this argument a little redundant and have no issues buying used CDs or taking flac off people.
If that’s all I did I’d feel bad. I don’t so I have no concern.
The debate just seems spurious. There is no enforcement at this level so it’s a moral issue in reality.
Personally I wish I could pay a media licence, which would allow me to consume any media I wanted, and it would distribute the monies appropriately. So the cost could be tiered, up to £50-100 per month for the ability to watch or listen to anything anytime, reducing if it’s limited to one recent movie per month and so on.
Crucially, the money would be sent directly to the rights owner, after distribution costs are dealt with. So if I pay £50 and it costs £5 for bandwidth etc, £45 is distributed to rights owners. This would be calculated according to a formula that weights the products - new stuff gets more than old stuff, films > TV > music and so on.
Unfortunately this system would never get started under a free market.
