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

Ck out Jaybo's 4-21 comment, "What you collect is who you are".
Man talk about the best one liner in music. Revelation for sure. I'm in the process of trying to get exactly this point , over to understanding among my gramophone friends in classical music. I've said exactly this in so many ways, many topics. I get some welcome responses, but then others are either confused as to my limitations, or I draw a few disgruntlements. No sinde remarks , these guys are real gentlemem as to accept varying points of view. But over at Good Music Guide, these guys will have no such thing as "what you collect defines who you are". they'll thorw all insults, vexation, and snide remarks. Which is why I was recently banned from the site for such views.
I just made a comment over at gramophone today on my topic, "which 2 composers you hope never to hear another note from ever again in your life?"...A new thought occured today and I posted, "not only did I find it necessary to dump more than 50% of my classical cds, due to poor performances, but lately I've looked over my collection to see which composers need to go"
Though its only a few, still some had to go.
Our music should reflect who we are.
Mine does, and i feel good about my collection.
I have like 25 composers represented. Some guys are saying they have like 300+ and looking to add more. We are all different.

Paul
Baton Rouge

As I go through ripping my collection I realize the last 2 posts are correct. I can't recall the last time I listened to many CDs, if ever, so I skipped over them. This is especially true with some box sets.

Q. How many times can you sit down and listen to the 20 CD set Miles Davis "Live at Montreux?"

A. zero

Some will have to go.

I donate my unwanted CDs to the local Library system. THEY allow them to be checked out and played.
Now I am certain that dozens of copies are being made by the borrowers...
Hooray!!! Screw the RIAA!!!!
So for evry CD I donated (Thousands... bro.. thousands!) dozens of copies... 24,000 minimum of illegal CD copying just from my gift.
Tha make me sleep better at night. Knowing my tax-deductible charitable contribution helped fight the terror war waged by the RIAA on the consumer!!!!!
Die!!! RIAA DIE!!!

Elizabeth, this is Gillian Welch's response to your way of thinking:

Everything is free now,
That's what they say.
Everything I ever loved,
I'm going to give it away.
Someone hit the big score.
They figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.

I can get a tip jar,
Gas up the car,
And try to make a little change
Down at the bar.

Or I can get a straight job,
I've done it before.
I never minded working hard,
It's who I'm working for.

(Chorus)

Every day I wake up,
Come in a song.
But I don't need to run around,
I just stay home.

And sing a little love song,
My love, to myself.
If there's something that you want to hear,
You can sing it yourself.

'Cause everything is free now,
That what I say.
No one's got to listen to
The words in my head.
Someone hit the big score,
And I figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.

The RIAA may not be the consumer's friend, but ultimately the artist has to be paid. Otherwise, to paraphrase Gillian, we can sing to ourselves.

Gee.. For THOUSANDS of years, artists managed to survive the same way the rest of us did.
Then, magically, they got to work for awhile, then get paid forever.
Now they are not the only ones... Walt Disney has been collecting on those same old 1930's ideas for many decades..
As far as I am concerned. the shift to "intellectual property" is bogus.
This DOES concern these musical claims of eternal ownership.
They are overinflated, and if the recording companies have not managed to "kill by starvation" (cheating them, point blank) all the artists they represent, then a few (million) downloads will not either.
Like you hear all the time in the news how the Rolling Stones are living in a homeless shelter 'cuz they ain't making any money... You didn't hear that??? golly.
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There is a great divide between these opinions expressed here.
You think the person who managed to make something interesting has an eternal right to it's exclusive use.
I think they do not. Whatever cultural input from the world helped shape them ALSO deserves some payback.
No-one created any idea fully formed from a total vacuum.
I do not download, or copy things I do not own. However, I agree that the people who DO, have the right to do so if it is for personal use.
i know folks who have 20,000 ripped off songs in their harddrive.
They listen to a dozen of them.
I certainly don't care if they have the rest sitting there.
And if you and the RIAA are dying because they have stolen your tunes... I think you need to find a new way to make a living.
(Also, personally, I believe that the only ones crying about this all either worry about thier own so called "intellectual property", or are stooges for the R.I.A.A.)