# Compact Discs - What To Do?



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have 567 compact discs in the loft, they have been there for about eight years, don't know what to do with them. I used to have about 600 but sold some on EBay but it was more trouble than it was worth.

Thought about ripping them to a lossless format but you are looking at 15Mb to 20Mb per track!!!!

Thought about a Sony HAP-Z1ES which has a 1Tb of storage until I saw the £2,000 price tag!

I don't want to throw them away or donate to a charity shop but still unsure


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

I've got two of these.










120 cd's per drawer, 720 per chest X 2, then there's the vinyl. Got everything stored on some Sony thing my wife bought as well. Works fine, but was advised not to dump the Cd's as the drives can fail.


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## RTM Boy (Jun 1, 2011)

If it were me I'd copy them all to a loss-less format before they deteriorate to the point of being unplayable (they do deteriorate contrary to what we were told 35 years ago  ) and CD drives become obsolete. You can get a 4TB external hard drive for under £100. They're cheap enough to back up one to another or other more sophisticated memory in the future. Takes some time though.


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## BlueKnight (Oct 29, 2009)

@JoT

I switched to a memory player able to play all formats including single layer SACDs. PS Audio offers free upgrades for the life of the unit. Hardware upgrades must be shipped but many software 'tweaks' are done directly by plugging the unit to the internet.

As far as degradation of CDs, the memory player has the ability to play damaged and manufacturing defects like transparencies and pin holes.

Storage is another story. Because I have over two thousand CDs, a custom solution was needed. Just scroll down the page.

PS Audio Memoru Player.


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Copying all that to some form of digital storage seems wasted time from your life you will never get back.

And let's be honest if they've been in the loft for about 8 years..........

:biggrin:

Practice a bit of 5S and bin them, it will most likely all be on YouTube anyway. Big M is a hoarder, filled two bigish houses and starting to fill up my flat with her junk, doesn't even know what she has or what house it is in.

Nothing a couple or three skips wouldn't sort.

:laughing2dw: :laughing2dw:


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## Steve D UK (Sep 28, 2016)

We're in the middle of a loft clearout. We got rid of absolutely hundreds of CD's/DVD's and computer games. Mostly belonging to the kids. We've gave them the chance to come and get them but they've both said to bin them. We're sharing the love and they've all gone to different charity shops. My wife is actually out dropping two carrier bags full up the dogs trust as I type. Yet more in the hall to be dropped off when I go up the high street later and still more again up there. Many are unopened box sets but only because I've seen them on Netflix/Amazon prime/kodi player. Our DVD/recorder hasn't been used in about three years. There's too much on catchup/telly/on demand nowadays.


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

If you lot are binning your CD's please tell me where so I can come and retrieve them. I don't mind the drive to Essex or even Scotland :biggrin:

Although I was very much into "real" hi-fi in the 80's I've softened my outlook more recently. I ripped most of my CD's (1000+) to 320KHz MP3 and a few favourites to FLAC or WAV. I stored all the files on a Synology NAS box which I now play around the house on a multi-room Yamaha MusicCast system. Everything's catalogued using collectorz.com Music Collector software. I plan a similar process for all my vinyl albums and 78's but that'll obviously take a lot longer to accomplish.


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## midnitemo (Aug 30, 2017)

I'm still buying CD's , put them straight on my laptop as MP3 @ 320kbp , then copy to Portable Hard Drive , and further Copies to Micro memory sticks for the Car's/Motorhome and the Media player in the Living room(nearly forgot the the Sony A50 mp3 portable player ,then i box em up and put em in the loft , 320 kbp is imho a reasonable listen even with headphones , my collection runs to about 1820 albums and a little over 200 gb


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## SolaVeritate (Mar 21, 2021)

I had a cd wall as a teen. Take the front off the case and pin the cd and back case to the wall like bathroom tiles. You can see when any are missing or pull one from the wall when you want to play it on the hifi. Couple of LED spotlights on them and it is amazing to see. Shiney!

Mind you, that was before I used a high speed laptop to convert to MP3. Now everything is on hard drive back up and data stick for modern players.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have bitten the bullet and ordered a "Brennan B2"

Rips, stores and plays CDs

I got the 480Gb model which will hold around 1000 CDs stored as FLAC

I have around 550 CDs so I will have room to add more ripped CDs or MP3s


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

JoT said:


> I have bitten the bullet and ordered a "Brennan B2"
> 
> Rips, stores and plays CDs
> 
> ...


 I've just started the process of copying my vinyl to digital files. A far more lengthy and arduous procedure and yet one that I'm finding strangely therapeutic! As you go through your CD's I think you should post in the "What are you listening to" thread as you find tracks that you haven't heard in years that really (pardon the pun) strike a chord.

Beginning with the letter "A" I've just posted a couple of album tracks from Joan Armatrading.


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## Q.Lotte (Feb 10, 2014)

JoT said:


> I have bitten the bullet and ordered a "Brennan B2"
> 
> Rips, stores and plays CDs
> 
> ...


 Hi JoT - I've been looking at these for a number of years - I have got around 1,000 CDs ripped to my PC and rip any new ones as soon as they arrive but fancy another toy to add to the HiFi. How have you got on with the Brennan?


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Q.Lotte said:


> Hi JoT - I've been looking at these for a number of years - I have got around 1,000 CDs ripped to my PC and rip any new ones as soon as they arrive but fancy another toy to add to the HiFi. How have you got on with the Brennan?


 It is still in its box :laugh:

I really haven't made my mind up if I want to do it

Meanwhile 5

500 or so CDs are sitting in the loft and have been for 10 years!


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

When I had CDs, I copied them to flash drives. These days, if there's a specific track I want, (never a whole album these days as the rest of it is usually rubbish) I just download it to the PC, then add to a flash drive.


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## Q.Lotte (Feb 10, 2014)

JoT said:


> It is still in its box :laugh:
> 
> I really haven't made my mind up if I want to do it
> 
> ...


 Okay, thanks!

I ripped around 500 in a week onto my PC hard drive - it doesn't take long. Copied them onto several back up hard drives now. One of those hard drives is plugged into a Logitech Squeezebox Touch, which is wired into the HiFi, so it's all available.

Now it's just a couple of minutes to rip each time a new one arrives, although it seems that CDs are being edged out in favour of this new-fangled 'vinyl' format :laughing2dw:

Of course a lot of the CDs that you buy on Amazon now come with a free MP3 download / stream on the Amazon music application, which saves you the bother.


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## JonnyOldBoy (Mar 28, 2017)

JoT said:


> It is still in its box :laugh:
> 
> I really haven't made my mind up if I want to do it
> 
> ...


 Spend £6K on a Roksan Caspian CD player , AMP and add KEF stand mounted speakers ... :drinks:


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