What to do with 1,200 CDs I don't need

It is a pretty odd situation for me to be advocating for the RIAA, since I think their views on the whole copyright thing are pretty deplorable. The RIAA (not me) takes the position that ripping a CD is illegal period--they seem to have written fair use out of the law. I believe they also take the position that resale is not legal, but can't say for sure.

The concept here is that buying a CD transfers to you a recording of certain music and a license to listen to it under specific circumstances. It doesn't, for example, convey the right to use the recording for public performances. Just for personal use. I believe fair use extends to making copies for personal use--backups, a copy on a hard drive, etc.

I also happen to believe that you should be permitted to resell the recording and the license if you don't like it. But, once having sold the license, your right to listen to that particular recording is sold as well, hence you have no right to listen to copies that previously were justified under fair use.

I guess--for me--the moral point comes down to the the fact that if I make a digital copy and resell the original, the implication is that I like the music. Under those circumstances, I want to support the artist, for whatever pennies-on-the-dollar they get off a CD. Face it, if you can justify making a copy and reselling the original, why stop there? Make a thousand copies and sell those. What is the moral difference if you abandon the concept of a license?

It is hard for me to make too much of this point, however, since in my earlier days I bought a lot a second hand LPs, some clearly labeled "not for resale." But, having thought about exactly what you are talking about in the context of 1500 ripped CDs, I started having some qualms about what exactly it was that I was supporting. YMMV.

I can think of two things that will destroy ALL hard drives in your house in an instant.
1. Lightening
2. Theft
And what if you what to go to a friends house and listen to music or go to an audio store and audition a new piece of stereo equipment ? You will want to take along a few cd’s won’t you ?

Throw away the jewel cases and keep the cd’s in a Case logic 320 Capacity CD Wallet . You will only need four of them and they don’t take up much space.
Although I don’t back up my music this is what I do to all my cd’s. Saves a lot of space!

I agree with the others here ,, Sometime down the road you will wish you had them …..

Tom .

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. For those of you who sent emails I was serious that this is not an ad to sell or give them away. That is why you were ignored.

I admit the bottom line is money. If the $2 to $5 estimate is valid that would be almost $4,000 at the low end of around $3 each. I’m not starving here but that is a good chunk of change.

The issue is not space. As you can see from my system pictures I have shelves to hold them and I was wondering what to put there if the CDs are gone.

I am not concerned about theft or lightning, the archive hard drives will be sitting on a shelf and they could steal the CDs too which have more value than a hard drive.

The concerns about artwork and portability are valid but that may be a compromise that has to be made. I download and attach a copy of the cover with each rip, and I can always look up the info at http://www.allmusic.com/ (great site) but I will miss the liner notes.

Zaikesman’s points about the artist being denied compensation no matter what I do are logical, but still might not justify it legally. Oh well, I've got some time to think about it.

Actually, Zaikesman's argumement makes sense in a vaccuum. If you extended it out practically, it doesn't. Think about it in terms of used cars, office eqquipment, homes, whatever. The used market and new market for same type products are inexricably linked. If, hypothetically, all used CDs that no one wanted had to be destroyed, the demand for new CDs would increase. We sould move down the demand curve and the supply curve would shift. The new equilibrium market price would shift down. So in essence, the total new market wold grow but, theoretically, the total revenue would remain the same.

Not to mention all the substitute products that might "deprive" the artist of $.

http://home.san.rr.com/clapham/courses/et572/images/supply_demand.jpg

Pawlowski: Not sure I understand why, if demand for new CD's was to increase, the price would go down? Nevermind.

Edesilva: Can't see what liking the music or not has to do with anything. That it's somehow less moral if you like the music, but not if you don't? Doesn't work for me. Anyway, there is a difference between reselling one original CD and making copies to sell: In the former case, there will not be more CDs on the market than were originally produced.