Do you still have your CD collection "on display"?

[Colophon]

I'm guessing quite a lot of people use their computer or other hard-drive-based player as their primary music source these days. I don't have a vast number of CDs compared to some people - maybe around 500 or 600, I haven't counted in a while! - but they still take up a lot of space. On the other hand, I like having the physical albums, as I tend to remember when and where I bought them, what stage of my life I was at, and even perhaps which party led to that strange stain on the cover. So I'm loath to pack the CDs away into storage.

Which leads me to a poll - do you still have your CD collection on display? Or have you packed it away into an attic or storage unit? Or have you even - as some people I know have done - sold or donated the whole lot and gone entirely binary*?

*Yes I know CDs are binary anyway.

[Zjestika]

Mine are in a box in my closet. I came to the realization when I was moving last year that I hate CDs. I can understand someone wanting to have the physical copy, but I really don't anymore. I sold a few, but most are kind of dirty and dusty, and I don't want to take the time to clean them just to get 2 or 3 bucks apiece.

[SaharaTea]

They're on display. The thought of getting rid of my CDs gives me chills, actually. Too risky. I still love popping a CD into the stereo and listening to an entire album, looking at liner notes, etc.

Maybe it's too college, but I also love checking out other people's CD collections when I go over to their house. You can tell a lot about a person from their CD collection.

[sandra_nz]

Mine are just over there *points to shelf* all happily on display. I have many more physical CDs than I have digital albums. And I probably only have about 150 CDs, truth be told.

[Yorikke]

Oy!

Ages ago, when I moved across country, I needed to save space. So I took the discs and booklets out of the cases and left the cases, only bringing the CDs and printed matter. To this day, about 11 years later, they are still in the same big old box, gathering dust. I sorta lost my zest for music...

Joe

[dalej42]

Nope. Probably been about 5 years since I used to have CDs displayed. They're now in those big CD binders. I don't use them too often. Occassionaly, I'll play them in the car CD player.

[msmith537]

No, I never had CDs on "display" in the first place. I started collecting them in college (used mostly tapes in HS in the late 80s). To save space (and reduce inventory "shrinkage) I mostly kept the disks in those big binders and the cases in my parents attic. By the time I graduated, MP3 were the thing so I gradually stopped buying them. And since I went from living in a cramped dorm room to a cramped 20-something appartment to a cramped NYC studio to a cramped one bedroom with my GF, I've never really been inclined to dedicate a lot of space to displaying my music.

[Tamerlane]

Yep. But then I still use them - I have never put my music onto my computer or into any similar device. I pretty much agree with SaharaTea below:

They're on display. The thought of getting rid of my CDs gives me chills, actually. Too risky. I still love popping a CD into the stereo and listening to an entire album, looking at liner notes, etc.

Maybe it's too college, but I also love checking out other people's CD collections when I go over to their house. You can tell a lot about a person from their CD collection.

Also there are sound quality issues ( perhaps less profound these days ) and in my cases a minor affectation. I have never cared for portable players even back in the Walkman days. Hate wearing the damn things and don't like being tuned out from the rest of the world.

Then again I only gave in and got a cell phone a little while back, so maybe I'm just a hopeless luddite ;).

[fishbicycle]

I have a room in our house dedicated to my record/CD collection. All the available space on three walls is taken up with floor-to-ceiling shelves full of them. I really have to put up shelves on the fourth wall, because now I'm stacking the overflow on the floor. I have collected records since 1963, and have no inclination to stop.

Now, my hundreds of cassettes are stored in boxes. They had to go to make room for more CDs.

[Hypno-Toad]

I just moved at the beginning of the month and have not found a reason to unbox my CDs. They all got put on my ipod, minus songs I dislike and so now they're all just backups.

[psycat90]

None on display. About 3 or 4 years ago my husband and I put all of our music on a PC. We sold 100 or so of them after that, gave a bunch more away, and boxed up the rest and put them in the closet under the stairs, where they remain today.

When I get a new CD, I rip it, and put it away.

[Otto]

It's not "on display." It's in a shelving unit in my bedroom. I don't plan on getting rid of it in toto anytime soon in the event something goes pear-shaped with my computer and/or iPod. There's no way I'd ever be able to re-assemble the CDs I have and I have a tough enough time trying to track down songs I want that aren't readily available for download without adding that aggravation to it. I do periodically winnow it and sell off the stuff I never listen to.

[GargoyleWB]

Since they've all been transfered to hard disk, and I no longer use them in my car (iPod adapter), it seems purposeless to just have them sitting there taking up prime bookshelf and knick-knack real estate. They are now all stuffed in boxes in the basement.

As far as "display" is concerened, though, I do find myself leaving iTunes open in album-graphic mode so curious visitors can browse my stash and play something if they wish.

"Hey man, is that Freedom Rock?"

[TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW]

Since my inventory is in the thousands, I've long since ripped them to a series of external, swappable hard drives and stored the actual cases away in boxes. I'm considering just going ahead and unloading them at a used store because there's absolutely nothing charming or endearing about physical CD's in the way that there is with records - and I have thousands of actual records to deal with.

[JKellyMap]

They're on display. The thought of getting rid of my CDs gives me chills, actually. Too risky. I still love popping a CD into the stereo and listening to an entire album, looking at liner notes, etc.

That's funny -- in the late 1980's, many kept their vinyl LP's on hand so they could look at the liner notes and cover art, since this is tiny and/or lacking on many CD's (especially early ones). Now, you value your CD because at least it's better than nothing! (Yes, I'm aware you can display song and even album info on your computer).

As for myself, about half my CD's are "on display". It's helpful to have them around if you want to play one on a player in a different room than your computer or iPod.

[Boggette]

I have the jewel cases on display in my office. My collection numbers over 600. Not including the box sets. Most of the CDs themselves are in what I refer to as my Juke Box which is actually a very large CD changer. But they only get put in after I make a single copy to put into the cases I have that can be taken anywhere, like work or on vacation or to parties (when asked, of course!)

Oh... And they're in Alpha order by Artist, in the changer, the shelf display, and in the carrying cases. Anal? Me? Why do you ask?

[JKellyMap]

Another reason to keep your CD's on display -- to demonstrate your Incredibly Hip Taste when guests stop by your home.

[Jodi]

I'm not that big into music, apparently, and I'm a bit of a Luddite. I don't have an i-Pod (don't like earphones), and my CD players have better sound quality than my computer. So I still use my CDs and keep them handy because I use them. I have maybe 100 or so.

About 50 of them are in a plastic CD carrying case that I can tote around (for car trips or to take to work). Those tend to be my favorites. About 20 (mostly classical) are stacked in a pile in my office at work. The rest live in a smallish CD cabinet in my home office (along with the jewel boxes for whichever ones are in the carrying case). It (the cabinet) is wood, with a door. So I wouldn't say any of them are really "on display"; I've never considered CDs a decorative item.

[Little Nemo]

I keep my CD collection on public display.

Admittedly, others might define it as "a big pile of CDs on the passenger seat of my car".

[Steve Wright]

Like others, I don't have CDs "on display", I just have them readily accessible in case I want to listen to them. (I haven't bothered with copying them onto the computer; what's the point? I've already got a CD player, why not just, y'know, play the CDs?)

[beowulff]

All my CDs got transferred to my dedicated Mac Mini multimedia system, uncompressed. The originals are in several crates in the garage.

[cochrane]

I have my CDs totally stored on my PC hard drive and on my 40 GB Zen player. The actual physical CDs are tucked away in a back room. I'm like psycat90. I buy a CD (I'm still a Luddite that way, I'll buy the discs rather than download them) then rip it to PC, then upload to portable player.

[Ignatz]

Before I moved a year ago, most of my my cds were in two 400-cd-capacity carousel players, with the boxes in a 4-foot tall 4-sided lazy susan rack, all arranged alphabetically by artist. I boxed the cds and boxed the boxes when I moved and haven't unboxed them. I now have DirecTV and rely on that for entertainment.

What's an ipod?


(just kidding on the last but don't plan to get one)

[Equipoise]

Oh yeah, definitely (http://www.wretchawry.com/gallery/HomePhotos/photos/middleshelf2.jpg). There are a few hundred more that aren't shown in that old picture, taken just after we moved into the house. I'm sure I have over 1500 CDs (and over 1000 LPs). I don't consider them to be "on display" though because they're not there to show off, they're there to access.

Much of my music is ripped to my computer, and that's how I listen to music most often, but I can't imagine not having the physical CDs. I learned the hard way that if your hard drive crashes, it's nice to have a backup via the actual CD.

[scotandrsn]

What few CDs I owned were stolen with my car nearly ten years ago.

All my vinyl just returned to its rightful, prominent position yesterday, following completion of a remodel.

[Rhythmdvl]

I have around a thousand or so CDs, all out. Two reasons.

1) Conversation. There are many here who posted this already, but looking over someone's music collection is great fun. It's not a macho thing about who has the bigger/better/more tasteful collection (though I assume that there are those who feel that way). Rather, I bet GargoyleWB would be amused to see that I really do own a copy of Freedom Rock (albeit burned from the vinyl).

2) How the mind works. I can't explain this one too well. But there is just something about being able to gaze lazily around sections/categories that can't be duplicated on a computer screen. This is especially true when you know you want to listen to something but you just don't know what. The best analogy I can come up with is to ask yourself how many times you have ever found yourself standing in front of the open 'fridge door just looking for something. You know what's in there, but that doesn't stop you from looking.

[Cunctator]

My collection is still on racks in my living room.