[SamAdams76]

This is my experience almost exactly. Only I am not selling my CDs but boxing them up for storage in the attic. I gather that one day, when hard drive storage is even greater than today, I might want to re-rip my songs at a higher bitrate.

I find that the iPod/iTunes combination puts me in much better touch with my massive music collection (some 24,000 tracks). Though iTunes is a memory hog with that many songs. I had to upgrade to a full gig of RAM.

Newer iPods feature album art and lyrics so the issue of liner notes will be going away shortly.

iTunes 5.0 already allows for lyrics and there will shortly be a program written that will search the web for lyrics for all those songs on iTunes (as well as cover art) and insert them for you.

Apple has sold 27 million iPods to date. For the next two quarters, Apple is forcasting the sale of 26 million iPods. So within six months, the iPods will double to nearly 54 million!

I saw the new nano iPod over the weekend and I tell you that this is one of the most amazing consumer devices I have ever seen. I'm definitely getting one to complement my 40gig iPod. It will be perfect for taking on the road and for workouts.

[LadyDoc]

well, I'd love an ipod...
But I put all my music on a laptop when I moved to the Philippines, and backed up mp3's on cd's for my favorites...
and sent my grandson the music on an external hard drive.

When ipods get under $150, I'll ask him to buy one and stick the music on it for me...

[Shazbot29]

I did that a long time ago, even before I got an iPod.

I moved everything over to my hard drive and used an mp3 player with a 1 mb sd memory chip.

When we got the iPod we were already in position to load up our collection. It is nice not having to choose what music to stick on the 1 mb tho (although my wife gets the iPod -- I keep using the mp3 player)

[jimfree]

This is my experience almost exactly. Only I am not selling my CDs but boxing them up for storage in the attic. I gather that one day, when hard drive storage is even greater than today, I might want to re-rip my songs at a higher bitrate.

There is another reason to retain them that the author of this article appears ignorant of. The CDs are proof that you paid for the music. Copying that music and giving away its source is piracy.

[Muzzle_em]

Will the heat from attic storage damage CDs the way it warps old albums? Just a thought.

[Pete'sWife]

Ugh.

I'm still listening to 78's.

[Revolting cat!]

"Silence? Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaargh!"

[parsifal]

Don't own an Ipod yet, but would never trust a device to hold info without losing it. Plus, I'm a little on the Luddite side. I think tapes are safer than dvds, although I own both. Think vinyl is safer than cds, though have bunches of both.

DVD's and Cd are always getting scratched or wore out on the painted side. Sometimes it looks like the durn thing just rots or something. Never lost a vinyl. Only had one tape wear out and it was a cheapo kid cartoon one.

My fear of Ipod is that the thing would crash and blammo, there goes the collection. Kinda like my durn cell phones that last about a year and go kaputski.

parsy, the skeptical.

[Junior_G]

I have a friend who stubbornly insists that he won't switch from CDs to an iPod. He has to say this because he literally has spent thousands of dollars over the years indiscriminately collecting CDs. That collection used to be something he could brag about, but now it's just an embarrassing testament to his financial dipshittedness.

[Revolting cat!]

A relative of the cat's dumped all his LPs and switched to CDs at the time the latter ones first came out, 20 years ago or so, crowing all the way about their superior sound quality. Well, I hope you all recall the the "superior sound quality" of the early CDs (as revealed by the manufacturers only at a later time, and then over and over again, when they try to re-sell you the same albums, they call 'remixed and remastered'.) Marketing slogans is what sells, not quality. Let's face it, the type of music most of us listen to (pop crap) sounded perfectly OK on one of those groovy portable record players you saw on the streets during the fabulous 60s.

[Fledermaus]

Heck, I still have a couple boxes of albums in a closet.

[jackieaxe]

I thought of going in this direction, but it's still cheaper to buy music by CD if you want every song on the CD/Album. Also, you have maximum flexibility with CDs. Now I buy the CD and put it on my computer. I plan on getting an ipod for Christmas and will transfer those tunes to my iPod. The sampling rate is higher from a CD than from iTunes or Napster. Speaking of Napster, I bought a bunch of music from them, then I got a virus and had to reset my computer, suddenly I could no longer play my Napster music which I had paid for. I wrote Napster and they sent my 4 pages of instructions (not kidding) on how to restore my music. Right! Also, iTunes doesn't play on Napster devices, and I fear evaporation of playing rights if you get a virus. With a CD, you can always reload if you get a virus, your hard drive or iPod craps the bed. For now it's CDs for me.

[Bush2000]

Moving the music to iPod and then selling the CD that you ripped from is a copyright violation, illegal under U.S. law. Be careful, folks.

[Lady Jag]

Word to the wise about your attic. I live in MA and even with a sensitive attic fan and air conditioned house, plastics don't last long up there.

Admirable project you have there.