# How readily do you throw away physical media? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104 "2014-05-10T02:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/1 "2014-05-10T02:52:16Z")
Lately I noticed I have no problems throwing away video or magazines I don’t use. At the same time, I have a hard time throwing away books and it’s outright impossible for me to get rid of CDs or LPs. Hell, I still have a number of cassettes even though I haven’t had a working tape player in a year. What physical media do you have issues getting rid of, and which do you have no problem? And do you know why? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/2 "2014-05-10T03:19:37Z")
I still have my LP collection carefully stored in a cabinet. CD’s I’ve removed from their plastic boxes and stored in a [CD Case like this.](http://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-DVDW-320-Capacity-Classic/dp/B0002Y6CVA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399691787&sr=8-3&keywords=cd+binder) I have the booklet stored with the CD. Threw out the plastic cases. We keep magazines for 3 months before taking them to our Doctor or Dentists Office. We leave them in the reception area for others to read. I have terrible issues discarding paperbacks or hardback books. Used bookstores will only accept titles they need. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/3 "2014-05-10T03:26:01Z")
I can get rid of magazines - except sf magazines, that is. I’m typing this in a room with 6,000 books and a few hundred CDs, so not readily. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/4 "2014-05-10T03:29:16Z")
I still have a box of blank floppy disks on my desk, despite not having anything that uses floppies anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/5 "2014-05-10T03:37:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > . . . I have terrible issues discarding paperbacks or hardback books. Used bookstores will only accept titles they need. Libraries will sometimes take books, for their “Friends of the Library Book Sales.” You’re helping them raise funds. I took so many boxes of books to my library, they politely asked me to stop. (Decent quality books, just more than they could sort through!) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/6 "2014-05-10T03:47:36Z")
When all else fails, I’ll give books and magazines away via craigslist or freecycle. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/7 "2014-05-10T08:12:30Z")
I still have about 1,000 LPs, 2,000 CDs, several hundred cassettes, even several boxes of blank “metal” cassettes. Back in the 80s, when I first started buying CDs, i threw away a lot of LPs. I have no idea how many books I have, but they’re in practically every room. And . . . I have some player piano rolls of Sergei Rachmaninoff playing his own music, but not a piano to play them on. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/8 "2014-05-10T09:44:04Z")
About a year ago, I literally threw out every CD and DVD I own.–probably close to 100 items in total. I got tired of hanging onto things I’ll never watch with how easy it is to access them online. I’m done with physical media, and it’s just a matter of time before it dies completely. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/9 "2014-05-10T11:16:03Z")
Not readily at all. I still have old Guitar Player magazines from the 80’s, and I’ll scavenge any pile of discarded records or CDs. I’ve got plenty of records pressed before I was born. As long as I don’t leave them in the sun, they’ll outlive me. Computer data from the time of my birth is already becoming difficult to get to and decode. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/10 "2014-05-10T11:30:49Z")
I can’t get rid of books. It’s not a matter of want - I just _can’t_. Luckily, I don’t have a steady incoming flow of new books, as I use my local library, so it’s not a problem. However, I _do_ have an incoming flow of magazines (about . . . three per month? OK, maybe a trickle) which is why I think I can easily recycle them - if I didn’t, they’d accumulate. Also, with books (especially novels) I get this sense of “a human being spent possibly years of their life dedicated to the creation of this thing.” For CDs, it’s not as hard as with books, but not as easy as with magazines. I have a question for those who have trouble getting rid of magazines - do you have the same situation with newspapers? > [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I’m done with physical media, and it’s just a matter of time before it dies completely. Um . . . wow. That’s kind of a huge statement to make. I mean, I can see magazines and newspapers dying out (though it’ll take a while) and CDs might (though it’ll take even longer) but books? I don’t think anything will ever come close to replacing the physical feeling of picking up and reading a book. At this point, everyone who likes reading eBooks has been exposed to (and, depending on their financial means, bought) eReaders. The initial boom has happened. I feel as though there’s a sizable percent of the population left for whom, no matter how cheap, portable, and convenient eBooks are in comparison, won’t make the switch. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/11 "2014-05-10T11:52:50Z")
I put a book in the fireplace once. It was a Terry Goodkind novel. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have done that - it would have made a nice secret box book. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/12 "2014-05-10T12:08:11Z")
I feel your pain Install. 😃 I like books enough to desire them as living art in bookcases around various rooms. If I ever make time I would like to mount various LPs in a wall frame. I have a set of 1981 Britannicas sitting in my bedroom waiting for a decision. They are beautiful. A home with displayed books is interesting and warm IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Donegal\_Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Donegal\_Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donegal_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/13 "2014-05-10T13:37:29Z")
**Trinopus** , I have the same problem with the library. They cringe when they see me coming. I tried a yard sale but with 150 cds, 70 dvds, and 300 books priced at .25, 1.00, and .10 respectively, I ended up selling only 10 dvds and that to one customer. Nobody wanted them and I cannot physically force myself to throw them away! Help I’m drowning ! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/14 "2014-05-10T13:39:58Z")
I just [posted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17364959&postcount=35) a bit about my stance on throwing some types of books out. Cassettes: Got rid of almost all of them. Donated to a thrift store the pre-recorded ones. It was hard to do for things like the box sets. Video tapes: I sorted thru most of my tapes a while back. Mostly Betas. Digitized some stuff. Most were home taping and went into the garbage. Had just a tiny number of pre-recorded VHS tapes which went to the thrift store. Hardly anything sentimental about this given the digital copies are all I want. Don’t have enough DVDs to worry about space issues or anything. LPs: Have box of these. Haven’t listened to any in many years. **FtGKid2** “borrowed” some a couple years ago. Too heavy to keep them all for the next big move. Also inherited some 45s, including some early Beatles discs. Going to be a sad day tossing those. It more about the covers than the discs in many cases. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/15 "2014-05-10T13:49:32Z")
Physical media? You mean, the hard drives in the servers that hold the stuff in my cloud? ---
**Author:** ![Donegal\_Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Donegal\_Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donegal_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/16 "2014-05-10T13:56:31Z")
Have 30 reel-to-reel tapes of my grandfather narrating my grandparents trip throughout the West. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon taken in 1947. What in the world do you do with priceless, yet worthless stuff like this!?? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/17 "2014-05-10T14:05:24Z")
Books: depends on the book. My fave books do not get traded or sold. Especially the ones that are easy, fun rereads: Nero Wolfe and Robert Parker are especially good here. I used to have over 300 VHS tapes, most of which I never watched, but which I kept around in case I wanted to make a vidcap for my blog. I finally converted them all to DVDs last fall, a project that took months, and while I was at it I created an index of exactly what was on my DVDs. Now I have almost 300 DVDs (some tapes I discovered were broken, I just threw them out) and the info on them are much more accessible. The DVDS take up a LOT less shelf space than the tapes and are now much more useful. I’ve got some fairly hard to find, even on the Net, stuff. Magazines: don 't read 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/18 "2014-05-10T14:07:42Z")
> [@Donegal\_Dragon](#): > > Have 30 reel-to-reel tapes of my grandfather narrating my grandparents trip throughout the West. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon taken in 1947. What in the world do you do with priceless, yet worthless stuff like this!?? You can pay people to convert them to DVDs, for one thing. Did that with a reel to reel tape my mother-in-law owned, as a gift for her. Might be able to get it done for free, I think there are people who are very interested in such archives as historical documents, even of personal stuff. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/19 "2014-05-10T15:16:41Z")
> [@Donegal\_Dragon](#): > > Have 30 reel-to-reel tapes of my grandfather narrating my grandparents trip throughout the West. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon taken in 1947. What in the world do you do with priceless, yet worthless stuff like this!?? There are companies that will transfer media like this. I’m a library volunteer, and we are having a book sale next weekend, mainly to clear out storage space before the main branch remodels. We’ll take anything that’s potentially salable, and trust me, people buy the WEIRDEST stuff. I refuse to throw anything into the garbage that’s still usable by someone, but then again, that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104/20 "2014-05-10T15:20:31Z")
Transitory media like magazines get tossed as soon as they are read. The rest are kinda permanent. I have dozens of feet of LPs, CDs and DVDs galore, and let us not talk about books. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-readily-do-you-throw-away-physical-media/688104.md?page=2)