Blueskies: At the risk of appearing to have some sort of personal vendetta against you (believe me, I really don't) let me just say this: you really don't get it!
If you create an amazing work of art with your CDs (whether you glue them together, turn them into a mobile, or coat them with bacon grease), once you transfer ownership of them (regardless of whether or not you receive monetary compensation), you have given up the license you had to make personal use of the copies that you have made. Period.
Now if you wanted to glue those CDs together to create a great work of art, I think you'd be on solid legal ground--provided that you did not transfer ownership of your amazing creation! I suppose you could then exhibit it in your home (or at your local U-Stor-It unit), and even charge admission for the privilege of viewing your masterpiece. Perhaps you'd eventually realize your $50,000 goal. You could then use the cash to purchase LEGAL downloads from, say, iTunes, and THEN you could sell (or give away) your CDs in good conscience (after erasing the rips you made from those CDs).
One thing to keep in mind, though (and this brings up an entirely different discussion which I'm not really interested in getting into right now): when you purchase a digital download, you are merely purchasing a license for personal use (kinda like buying a CD), but apparently this license is NOT TRANSFERABLE. So even if you purchase a download that you absolutely detest, and never want to hear again, you can't legally sell it or even give it away!
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