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]

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.)

[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.

[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.

[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!"