All my CDs got transferred to my dedicated Mac Mini multimedia system, uncompressed. The originals are in several crates in the garage.
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.
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)
Oh yeah, definitely. 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.
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.
I have around a thousand or so CDs, all out. Two reasons.
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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).
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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.
My collection is still on racks in my living room.