Hi Richard.
A compromise way of selling them, after pulling any "audiophile gems," might be in lots of 10 or so, organized by lots of artist, genre, etc. I've bought this way, and I'm guessing the yield might go as high as 5-6$ a disc, for the interesting stuff.
The donation/tax deduction route might be attractive; I'm guessing you could claim, on average, more than you could sell for, and "fair value" times your effective rate might make an attractive proposition. You'd want to know the cutoff after which a donation of goods must be be professionally assessed; I'm guessing 5k, but don't quote me.
On the topic of ripping and reselling, I'm uncomfortable. Not because of loss (I have a duplicate hard drive "off site" at work), but because I feel a little ethically uncomfortable. Not sure what the right thing to say is.
I do have the following rule of thumb: I'm reluctant to let people rip my discs if I suspect that the artist makes less than I do. This counsels against sharing for many of the sort of artists I (and you) like; a fact that, unfortunately, says more about the music biz than my earning power. Doesn't much help with the rip and resell question, though.
I like Channel Orange, btw, though it won't make it into heavy rotation.
Cheers,
John
