Bookshelf - CD's and Books Gathering Dust

FrancesAnn

FrancesAnn

New Member
Location
Southern New England
I wonder if it's natural to move on from the music and books that once seemed so important. I have a modest CD collection of works that range from Bob Dylan, Beatles to Mozart. I don't seem to care if I never hear them again. Same with books. I traveled to Italy for vacation twice and the guides and literature that helped me get there, are not appreciated now. Is it normal to say one day, I am done with these, time to clear them all out and have nothing on the shelf? The bookshelf has become a stand for plants and could have a second purpose as shelving in my garden shed.
 

If your home doesn't reflect who you have become, fix it. I've been clearing out the things I don't use anymore, in the event that I might move to an apartment some day. I keep a bin to put things in that goes to Salvation Army, when it's full. It's a donation. A good thing for someone who wants it at an affordable price. Just a little at a time.....because I have the time to do it that way. If I haven't used it in a year, it goes (unless it is something I would use for repairs, etc.).
Your idea about a second purpose for your shelving is a good example. ;):)
 
you can get all that online...free...yes maybe an ad now and then...Bluetooth speaker while you plant away...to the music...great idea!
 

You can also play the CDs in your car, if it has a CD player. On the other hand, if you're no longer interested in them, it may be time to let them go.

I haven't changed musical taste in a l-o-n-g time, and I have a huge collection of mp4's.
 
Being in the same situation I asked myself, "Why do I keep all of these Records, CD's and Books"
I donated them all to my local library.
4 years later I decided I wanted to listen to music whilst driving out to the country for camping trips.
So I bought The Hollies Greatest Hits - 1973, The Best of the Bee Gees - 1969, The Best of Johnny Mathis - 1972, The Carpenters, Singles 1969 - 72, Savage Garden - Affirmation
 
Oh, my. I have the same problem. How to decide which to keep and which to donate? Here I go with the same problem as the darned coffee mugs! I just can't seem to part with the CDs or the books.

The CD's? Dear me. When I got them, they were music that I really wanted. I still love the music but rarely play the CD's. Very, very rarely. The Christmas music? Yeah. I love it and break those out to play a time or two between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What about Gregorian Chant? Reckon anybody would want a CD of Gregorian Chant?:rolleyes:

Among the books, I seem to have an overabundance of dictionaries. One was DH's and one is mine, both from our college days. A third one belonged to my mother. When I want to look up a word for the etymology or for a synonym or antonym, there's Google. Google saves me getting up, fetching the book, and thumbing through it to find what I'm looking for.

Then there are the books written by DH, by a brother, by two cousins...
 
We donated over 500 CD's to our local library, We also got rid of the "boat anchor" Amp, speakers and CD player. We use Alexa or Pandora to listen to music.
I was looking in my bookcase yesterday and found I have a bunch of foreign language dictionaries. I think I will donate them too. With Google translate, I do not need them.
 
Funny you should ask since I'm in the process of boxing up many of the books in our house to make more room. My wife literally has enough books to start a used book store. I'm going to get rid of at least three bookshelves to make room for other things.

I never read hardcopy books any more. I can focus a lot more easily when I read on my tablet where I can enlarge the font. Well, I guess I do occasionally read hardcopy, but mostly I read ebooks.
 
For downloading from YouTube, I use a Firefox browser extension (like an app for Firefox) called:
Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express by Dishita
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easy-youtube-video-download/

Every once in a while, YouTube changes its code, and it will take a few days for Dishita to update the extension and pass it through (get the okay from) Mozilla to list it on Mozilla.org.

At any rate, very handy extension.

[Added] I did donate to Dishita, to help him keep things running. It also keeps the ads off (what I presume to be) the YouTube pages.
 
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Irwin said:
Funny you should ask since I'm in the process of boxing up many of the books in our house to make more room. My wife literally has enough books to start a used book store. I'm going to get rid of at least three bookshelves to make room for other things.

I never read hardcopy books any more. I can focus a lot more easily when I read on my tablet where I can enlarge the font. Well, I guess I do occasionally read hardcopy, but mostly I read ebooks.
Click to expand...
At my last job, my employer gave me an iPad to use. I discovered the idea of downloading books on to the device. Readers can find a lot of free books on The Guttenberg Project web page. I left the job and had to return the device. I didn't get to read some of the books I have long had an interest in, and could not get them through public library exchange. Although, that service has been stopped during the pandemic. The idea of reading on a tablet is still a challenge. I can be a laggard at times.
 
I have rid myself of many books but there are some that I will not part with. I have favourite authors and still collect those books. I buy used books at Thrift store (Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc.) and yard sales. Most are passed on to family or donated back and some are kept. One of these days I will learn to download books from the library; in the meantime I have 2 libraries that I obtain books from. I cannot imagine a day that would go by that I haven't done any reading. The cd's belong to hubby and they are his problem. I listen to some of mine still.
 
I haven't listened to a CD in ten or fifteen years... other than an audiobook, that is. The only time I listen to music any more is when I watch a concert on YouTube or occasionally listen to a song or two, also on YouTube.

Last night, I listened to The Beatles Old Brown Shoe a couple of times to listen to the guitar solo. It's a great solo, but the song itself is really poorly produced and arranged. It sounds like they just threw it together on a whim. Back then, people were mainly listening to music on low-fidelity AM radios, and it probably worked for that, but it sounds awful now. It was one of George's songs, so maybe The Beatles didn't spend as much time on it as they should have because it wasn't a Lennon/McCartney composition, but they did release it as a B-side to The Ballad of John and Yoko, which has kind of the same feel to it, but is a much better recording... also, a much better song, but John was one of the great songwriters of all time. George's day would come, though, with two of the best songs on Abbey Road.
 
Some years ago, I divested myself of most of my hardcover books. I kept only those I treasure for one reason or another. I retained most of the classic paperback mysteries which I've had for years. (I get a kick out of the cover art and $.39 prices on the really old ones.) I get books from the library now and seldom actually buy a new paper book.

I have a lot of cassettes and have a couple of in house players which I still use to listen to them. I have a vehicle which is old enough to have a combination cassette/CD player so I can listen to both while traveling.

I even have a couple of eight track tapes laying about in the shop in case they start making the players once again.šŸ˜†
 
There is wisdom in aging. When you are young you fall for the buy and buy and buy advertising. When you become a senior, you smarten up and say, I don't want nor do I need all this junk. You start to get rid of the whole mess. Sometimes I think that life is not fair but then it never was.
 
I appreciate the comments. I have a box for putting all those CD's and books into for storage. It's getting down to necessity reference books like my King Arthur Flour Cook Book, Home Repair and Maintenance and gardening. If the box isn't touched in six months, it is time to move on. I have a small collection of Italian language study books and a few dictionaries. I keep thinking one day I'll have time for more self study of the language. I made two trips over to Italy and don't think travel abroad is in my future. Yet, when I look at them, I feel a tug of some emotions.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
I just can't seem to part with the CDs
Click to expand...
CDs don't take a whole lotta room, and I play them in my shop.
Lowd.

We keep the DVDs, as they don't take much room either.
And......if the web goes down, we have entertainment.

Now, if we lose power.......I'll sing
My wife is praying fervently we never lose power
 

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