Thinking about selling my CD collection = MP3

I really don't think I will miss them when / if I sell them, as long as I have a secure way of digitally storing them. External hard drives are an option.

Click here for a long boring discussion on the legality of it. After this discussion I came to a few conclusions based on the idea that what you are buying is not a physical item as much as the right to listen to the music when you want to. The disc has no real value, it is the music that the disc can produce that has value.

Most everyone agrees that

1. if you buy an original you can make a copy for yourself if you keep the original
2. you can sell the original if you don't keep a copy
3. buying an original and selling a copy is illegal.

If 3 is true as most agree, then how can buying the original, keeping a copy, and then selling the original be any different?

From the previous discussion it is clear that many view the record industry with disdain and can rationalize anything they do in light of this. I've been through this debate in the previous post and don't want to do so again, but it is interesting to see how widely varying the opinions are on this.

As to the original question, keep the CDs. They aren't very valuable, don't take up much room, it's probably illegal, and no matter how you copy them you are putting yourself at risk of losing the music when your storage media ultimately fails.

My buddy's hard drive AND backup went down - and there went all his music. He is super bummed to say the least.