Thinking about selling my CD collection = MP3

what about ripping the cd's and then donating the originals to a library. you take a tax write off but you have not sold them.

is this legal

Bianchi, if you have a lot of time to waste, go here and see how widely opinions vary on this topic. I don't think there will be an answer unless it is tested in the courts.

I went through the same debate with my 4K cd collection. I decided not to sell them for several reasons:

1. Even though I have a RAID, it is still not 100$ failsafe so in case of a catastrophy, I still have my originals

2. Encoding technology may change in the future so I want to have the originals

3. I just like the idea of having the CDs I can see and touch vs the virtual music that only exists in the realm of 0's and 1's (i.e. the matrix!)

4. I am a bit sentimental about my CDs. I have been collecting music for over 20 years and there are a lot of memories tied to each CD.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Again, it's a little disheartening seeing so many supposed music lovers who don't even think twice about contributing to the widespread screwing of recording musicians (this applies particularly to those who aren't selling out arenas and selling millions of albums). As far as I'm concerned we all need to do everything we can to get the artists that we like paid, or else the labels are going to stop supporting good, original music all together in favor of groups that have a proven track record of making tons of money. I hear people complain daily about the lack of quality music and anything but cookie cutter bands coming from the big labels, and the reason why we got here is because the types of artists we like aren't making money for the labels (which means the artists REALLY aren't making money). This is really much more of an ethical question than a legal one. The cops aren't going to bust down your door for ripping your CDs and then selling the originals, but you're not exactly helping the artists or our cause either.

If you bought the cd, it is yours. Copying it for resale is unlawful. Copying it for personal use is not. Copying it for personal use and then deciding to sell the cd, seems to me a gray area.

I think that RIAA has created a red herring about the artists. Mainly it is the record companies wanting to get more money through selling more cds.

I would not sell my cds as I think MP3 is crap and someday you might come to agree. Your kids grow up too fast and come to appreciate your music.