Why do I have a couple of boxes filled with hundreds of music CDs sitting in my basement?
Even after going through the trouble and week’s-worth of time ripping every CD with Apple’s Lossless codec, I’m keeping the actual bought-’em-in-a-store or via Columbia House Records discs because of this unfortunate fact of digital life: if you don’t own the dead tree version of the book or the vinyl LP / cassette / BetaMAX / VHS / CD / DVD / BluRay of the entertainment, you don’t really own it.
There are plenty of said discs that I’d just as soon send to the cornfield (e.g., ABBA Gold) but the sunk costs (and associated pleasures) of such things keep stopping me.
An example: I haven’t listened to Fleetwood Mac in decades, but stumbled upon The Chain via shuffle in iTunes (the legally ripped-from-CD track, not an iTunes-purchased version which could be digi-denied at any time) and was instantly transported back to cruising around MKE in an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagon on the way to pick up Sally S. for prom. And if some digital switch somewhere could effectively spot-remove the memory from my mind, well, that’s it. I’ll take a chance on me.
That’s why I’ll persist in getting the physical artifact rather than its digital doppelgänger. I already regret purchasing all five Game of Thrones books via iBooks. …must…have…hardcovers…
If you can hold it, you own it. Otherwise, you don’t.
– dp
Good post D.P., I struggled with the same thing for awhile – not wanting to lose that hard copy but never really getting around to listening to our vast collection. I found a good solution, actually a local company called Murfie (worth a Google). They will burn and let you download or sell the discs and you can get the discs back, all at a really reasonable cost.
We’re now having fun listening to a new album every night during dinner and making sure the kids know what good music is before they ever know of Justin Bieber. 🙂
Matt