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Topic: Would you save the Empty Jewels?? (Read 5045 times) previous topic - next topic
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Would you save the Empty Jewels??

We are going through the KonMari process of purging  and have come to the category of CD's.  I have a pretty large selection of music and back around year 2000 I started ripping my CD's to MP3 files.  These days I primarly only listen to MP3s.  In our purging process I opened up several large boxes of CD's  that I hadn't opened in over 5 years.  Lots of really great rare stuff in there, that I listen to often, but only by the MP3 file. 

Here's the interesting part:  Nearly half of my CD jewel cases are empty.  In fact, it's all my favorite stuff that's missing.  It's at that point that I remembered a long suppressed memory of my old behavior of keeping my CD's in a set of CD binders in the car.  Horrible mistake in hindsight as they were stolen from my car (several hundred).  Being that I had MP3 backups, I quickly purged his horrible memory from my mind and hadn't thought of it until I opened up these boxes of CD's to find the best ones empty.

So, here's the question:  Would you save the empty Jewel cases/liner notes/artwork?  On one hand, it's my literal proof that I really do own the music.  In fact some of them, I really like the cardboard liner and artwork and hate that I no longer have the disc.  As well, in hindsight I also realize that several of them would have been better encoded at a higher bitrate.  These, I suspect will be repurchased/replaced at sometime in the future to get a better quality listening experience.

On the other hand, they don't seem to be serving any real purpose other than living in a box in the basement closet.  I don't want to take on the hoarding behavior of some of my close relatives.  But boy am I having an interesting experience parting with some of my favorites.

Any guidance or perspective is greatly appreciated.

Michael

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #1
Theoretically you can burn the MP3 to CD-Rs (although the quality will not be the same as it was with originals) and have some jewels filled.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #2
So, here's the question:  Would you save the empty Jewel cases/liner notes/artwork?  On one hand, it's my literal proof that I really do own the music.

Thanks to the complicated ways of copyright law and differences from country to country, you may theoretically have to keep them around in a box in the attic. Alternatively, you could keep only the back insert, in a binder. Even a large collection shouldn't take up more than a couple of normal-sized binders.

On the other hand, do you really think it's necessary to keep around proof of ownership for music you purchased 10+ years ago? How about music legally bought and downloaded from sites that no longer exist? Have you kept every e-mailed receipt for those albums?

Proof of ownership of purely digital content is a nebulous concept, and you'll have to decide for yourself how you weigh it against the almost purely theoretical possibility of anyone ever bothering to check that all your MP3 files are from legal sources.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #3
I would think that in at least some countries, when the CDs were stolen you might have lost ownership rights to the MP3s. Of course, I'm not going to say anything.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #4
Not exactly your situation, but a few years back I went through my CD collection and got rid of all of my jewel cases and replaced them with sleeves. I saved all of the other packaging, but recycled the plastic. Now all my music fits in a couple of bins (rather than four or five).

I believe I sent them here: http://cdrecyclingcenter.org/programs/individuals-households

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #5
One of the reasons I was so against CD binders is theft.  I certainly do welcome the invention of the portable digital audio player as I can put all the CDs I own on there.

This has never happened to me personally.  I felt carrying my CDs around would increase the damage to them and probably devalue anything I wanted to get rid of.

Maybe because I have more a collector's mindset here, but I feel there isn't much you can do here.

Advice: Get rid of any empty ones for which you never made or haven't had MP3s for a very long time.

To pdq:  Do you have ownership rights if your house burns to the ground and the insurance company refuses to cover the cost of replacing the CDs lost in the fire, despite having MP3s (FLACs in my case) for which was stored on a device somewhere else that wasn't in the house at the time?  I think that part of the law is stupid and only a greedy few will give a crap if you keep the files or not (the ones that lobby for such laws).  I look at as long you don't try to sell those files or pirate them online, you should be fine.  Here in the U.S.A. there is the 4th amendment.  If you don't want them anymore then you have to destroy those files.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #6
If for some reason you do want to ditch jewel cases but keep the art, I recommend these, from Bags Unlimited:
https://www.bagsunlimited.com/p-3314-double-pocket-cd-sleeve-with-white-poly-separator-1-resealable-flap.aspx

They even fit the tray card (albeit flaps folded down). I've tried varieties from JewelSleeves and DiscSox, but they're awfully expensive and have funny dimensions.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #7
To pdq:  Do you have ownership rights if your house burns to the ground and the insurance company refuses to cover the cost of replacing the CDs lost in the fire, despite having MP3s (FLACs in my case) for which was stored on a device somewhere else that wasn't in the house at the time?  I think that part of the law is stupid and only a greedy few will give a crap if you keep the files or not (the ones that lobby for such laws).  I look at as long you don't try to sell those files or pirate them online, you should be fine.  Here in the U.S.A. there is the 4th amendment.  If you don't want them anymore then you have to destroy those files.
We weren't talking about the CDs having been destroyed, for which I have no problem keeping the MP3s. Instead we have a thief, who because he posses the physical CD, could be considered by the copyright holder as the legal possessor of the music, regardless of how he came to possess it. Since you no longer possess the physical copy, the copyright holder might object to your retaining the digital copy.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #8
It's an interesting dilemma in the case of ownership. One could think of the thief as technically the 'owner' now since they have/had the CDs in their possession, though the OP holds proof of the original cases, so...

If anything I'd at least make good scans of the rare releases' front/back covers and liner notes, since it would be useful for reference (and for uploading to places like Discogs for others). Otherwise are you thinking of selling them?

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #9
CD cases can be recycled. You just have to separate the clear plastic from the colored stuff.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #10
If you're asking us, then you're not doing it the KonMari method  ::) I think the whole crazy business of laying your stuff out on the floor and giving thanks to it is to relieve your separation anxieties (which ain't so crazy)

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #11
I've been working on digitizing my liner notes, at least for the jazz/classical albums for which I'm likely to read them. Most pop/rock albums I don't bother with, as they're usually just lyrics I can get online. The jpgs get dropped into the folder with the flacs and Media Monkey associates them with the album. Right-clicking the art in the corner lets you switch between art files and double-clicking expands them to screen size. The only thing MM is lacking here IMO is that you can't easily page between files - you have to close the window, select a new one, and then double-click again. But overall I'm very happy with this solution. I considered the much less labor-intensive approach of just filing them all in a big CD binder and keeping them by my desk, but I know that (for me) the difference between having the notes just a click away and having to page through a binder would be significant. As a bonus, I can work up really nice, high-res front cover scans that are significantly better (especially in color accuracy) than what I can usually find online. I scale the full image down to a 600x600 jpg to tag the files with, put a 1200x1200 jpg in the folder in case I want to zoom in, and keep the original 600dpi tif of each front cover in a separate archive folder just in case I ever need them.

As for the cases themselves, I haven't recycled mine yet. But I only have a few hundred discs and I'm not that short on storage space in my house. If space were more of an issue, I'd recycle all the standard black/clear and clear/clear cases and keep the original CD and inserts in something like a Jewel Sleeve.


Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #12
It's an interesting dilemma in the case of ownership. One could think of the thief as technically the 'owner' now since they have/had the CDs in their possession, though the OP holds proof of the original cases, so...

I see what you're getting at, but legal ownership doesn't end upon theft -- otherwise there'd be no such thing as a stolen good.  In a technical sense, OP still owns those CDs even though he doesn't have physical possession of them.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #13
It's an interesting dilemma in the case of ownership. One could think of the thief as technically the 'owner' now since they have/had the CDs in their possession, though the OP holds proof of the original cases, so...

I see what you're getting at, but legal ownership doesn't end upon theft -- otherwise there'd be no such thing as a stolen good.  In a technical sense, OP still owns those CDs even though he doesn't have physical possession of them.
The issue is not whether the OP owns the CDs. If they are recovered then they will be returned to him as the rightful owner.

The issue is whether he has the right to listen to the MP3s, given that he may never see the CDs again.

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #14
In the UK it is illegal (again, after recent legislation was overturned) to make digital copies of CDs even for purely personal use, so that point is moot for me.  And the music industry wonders why it has such a piracy problem, not to mention an awful reputation?

Re: Would you save the Empty Jewels??

Reply #15
In the UK it is illegal (again, after recent legislation was overturned) to make digital copies of CDs even for purely personal use, so that point is moot for me.  And the music industry wonders why it has such a piracy problem, not to mention an awful reputation?

All the way while keeping an abusive record producer employed to shit on the artist and trying to get away with putting malware on people's computer.  Nothing surprises me anymore.

So in the UK, it doesn't matter if you had them or not it's illegal.  Isn't that stupidest thing ever!  When profits are put all over everything else including common sense this is what happens.  Some extremely corrupt politician got paid off big time for catering to the industry's every whim.  Guess iTunes is completely illegal because of what can you do with that?  Wow.

I'm been aware of the UK problem for a long time despite never being there and living in the states my whole life.  Tells you how loud some of the British people have complained about how stupid the law is, doesn't it?  Can't jail and fine your entire country can you?  That be EXTREME.