A question of DVDs

[neadods]

When I was going through DVDs to show to my guests and then have a marathon on my own, I realized that I have an awful lot of them that are just *there* - I watch the movie maybe once every other year or so. And between the ability to rent on iTunes or Netflix, I'm wondering if it's worth having such a large collection of movies that are just taking up space.

If I keep them, then I'm not spending extra money if I ever bother to watch them again.

If I get rid of them, I have a couple of options. Donate them to Team Wench for the yard sale, for one, but they won't bring in a lot of money. Another is to donate to one of the charities around here that send DVDs to soldiers where they will presumably be more loved than they are gathering dust here.

And a third is... what, y'all?


[Poll #1639972]

Comments

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I like the idea of donating, but if you're going to watch the movie even once more, then it's worth it to keep it, since you've already got them. One option might be to get one of those padded CD/DVD binders and put them in there, to take up less space? I don't know what you'd do with the packages (we still have a box or two of old CD jewel cases in our basement at home), but you could at least stick them in some rarely visited corner...

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Jewel cases can be gotten rid of via Craigslist; there are always listings around here (NYC) for large batches of them under "Free".

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Thanks! What on earth do people do with them, I wonder? I know that the used CD store in the town I used to live in would take them, but they'd...put CDs in them for sale, which made sense. Maybe they go to struggling musicians?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Not sure. I do use them occasionally (I get 50 packs of the flat plain style) for discs that I need to give away or transport, but for the most part I store silvers either on spindles or in 300-disc folders. (I need more of the latter, but they're expensive.) I have lots because I collect live music, and have only limited hard drive space for the lossless files.

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

It's a mystery! Maybe there are a lot of people making art from CD cases out there. :)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know if I'll be watching them again... it's like looking at my clothes. I might wear shirt X again someday, but if I haven't done so for a could of years, do I really need to soak up space with the option?

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. It takes me an insane amount of time to decide on buying DVDs instead of renting, so I tend to watch the few I have over and over again.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Before I had Netflix, I bought a lot of movies. After, I only bought what I thought I really wanted, and even then, sometimes time proves otherwise.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

There is that. I don't like getting rid of books, but I also don't see any reason to keep things that I'm sure I'll never want to read again (unless I think I might want them for reference, like with some of the series).

I don't have the patience to dick with them until such time as I can donate them to a charity, so I just throw 'em in a box and take it to Half Price Books whenever it gets full.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Books are easy - I take them to Book Thing. And then I bring as many back home. :D

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

You might want to rip the DVDs you're divesting before donating them. I recommend Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/details.php) for that, along with a 2GB drive devoted just to video. (The benefit there is, of course, that if you have a system that allows it, you can plug in via USB and play from the hard drive.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The point of divesting is to some degree admitting that I don't like 'em enough to watch. (The Sixth Sense really is overrated, IMO!)

On the other hand, I'm *thrilled* to hear about Handbrake because it rips to ipod format, and it pisses the hell out of me that while I can legally download my CDs to Tubso, I can't do the same with my DVDs, and iTunes is not providing when it comes to some of my major favorites. (Why can I get every Paltrow movie but Emma? Or Iron Man but not the new Sherlock Holmes? And am I the only one who remembers that Without a Clue was even made?)

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could help with the software rec. I'm a data packrat, and with storage so cheap these days, I generally don't delete anything that isn't obsolete and utterly worthless.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

And am I the only one who remembers that Without a Clue was even made?

No, you're not! That's still my favorite Sherlock Holmes movie, because of scenes like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08JYt1hZN8E

As for your DVDs, I would keep anything that's not available from Netflix, then donate the rest.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That whole movie is a favorite scene, IMO! (And it makes a wonderful double feature with the Guy Ritchie movie.)

I would keep anything that's not available from Netflix, then donate the rest

That's an idea. I mean, I'm still keeping my favorites, but that's a good idea.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

Some DVDs can be traded in at Amazon, or resold there. I've made about $1,000 reselling on Amazon in the last six months.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Dang, really? That's some serious $$$.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

A lot of it was on electronics picked up from yard sales, but it's good money. Let me know if you want a quick lesson via IM.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Let me get back to you. I want to, but right now I'm still in the "figure out what goes" stage.

[peggin.livejournal.com]

IMO, any DVD you think you'll watch at least once a year is worth keeping. Any DVD you don't think you'll be watching again, or at least not for a long time, it's probably not worth it to hang on to it. Donating them is a great idea, and if you go that route, it should be to whatever charity you prefer, not something decided by a vote in your lj!

Another option for you, if rather than reducing your total DVDs you'd rather replace them with others you haven't seen yet, is Swap A DVD, where you get points for mailing DVDs you are finished with to other people, then you can use those points to get DVDs that other people are finished with.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

it should be to whatever charity you prefer, not something decided by a vote in your lj!

S'all right, I never feel bound to follow the results of a poll. What I sort of wanted was blessing from fellow Team Wenchers to donate them elsewhere - which, according to the votes, I've gotten from a couple other members.

I wasn't familiar with Swap a DVD; I'll check them out. Thanks!

[peggin.livejournal.com]

Swap a DVD is pretty great. And, if you also set up an account at PaperBackSwap, you can transfer your points from one to the other, so if you want to use your points from your DVDs to get books, or vice versa, you can do that.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

I've been going through CDs I rarely listen to, and copying the few songs I like onto the Mac for the iPod. Now I've got a bagful of CDs that are worth almost nothing, but at least I'll have more room when I get rid of them. The market for used CDs is pretty dismal when almost everything is on iTunes or elsewhere by the song.

[gonzai55.livejournal.com]

In addition to considering whether you'll watch the DVD in the next year or so, also consider if it's something you would loan out to friends. I'm turning into Netflix for a lot of family friends (pimp, pimp, pimp that show!) so even if I don't watch them, I may be able to make a new fan with it.

[fyrdrakken]

My DVD collection is a little weird in that I hardly ever watch anything out of it, left to myself: I buy things that I want to have available to show to other people (or to lend to them, in my father's case), with throwing money at the people who make good entertainment being a secondary but considered factor. It's not really there for myself, because I've got such a backlog (on the DVR, on my netflix queue, as torrented AVI files) that it's no wonder I don't go to my DVD collection for viewing material unless it's my mother going, "I want to see such-and-such again, let's watch that tonight!"