Are there people you can pay to upload CDs onto computer?

[alittleteapot]

We're trying to downsize our possession and make more space. i've put all our CDs in boxes ready to be uploaded to the computer but a few weeks on it's clear noone in this house is going to have time to do it. Have you come across anyone who offers this kind of service?

Thanks!

Loads of them - google cd ripping service.

ask a geeky teenager or a student
DH did this and it took him weeks of all his spare time - I had no idea how big a job it would ahve been

Haven't come across it but I do have a cautionary tale.

My external harddisk with my MP3 collection on crashed this weekend. I can't get a thing off it. So I've lost the lot - as I didn't have a backup.

Fortunately I have the CD's still... so now starting the conversion to MP3 all over again.

Think about what you will do with the CD's once they have been uploaded - will you keep them. You can get special files for discs, so you could keep the CD's themselves but get rid of the cases - that will help reduce the storage space needed. Alternatively make sure you backup your digital collection on a regular basis.

Thanks everyone.

nannynick, we were going to get rid of them. we do keep a back up but it's worth thinking about keeping the CDs I guess, even if not the covers.

stealthpolarbear, that's good to hear. we were planning to do a few a night but with a new baby due in 8 weeks we've probably got better ways to spend our time!

I have started putting our CDs onto the computer (and backing them up). We are keeping just the CDs in the sort of cases that hold 96 or something like that, and that you can carry around.

I store discs in a case like this Maplin CD Storage Case. Got mine from a local discount retailer (bit like a pound store but with some things costing more than a pound).
Have used them for all my DVD's as well. Saves a lot of space, yet keeps the discs in a reasonable state.

DH bought DJ cases to keep them in - they stack and so have gone in the loft I think

nannynick, do you throw the cases out?
DH wants to do the same with his DVDs but wouldn't throw the cases out and is struggling to find something to keep them in once he's done

Yes, I threw all the DVD cases out. Alas I suspect they went to landfill as it was a few years back. These days your local council may be able to recycle them.

There must be some sort of kid's craft project that used cases could be used for... maybe?
I'm still tempted to get rid of the whole things - give them to a charity shop and just make sure we've got really solid back-ups. Is that just silly? I may be being overly ruthless as we are seriously cluttered and I'm in major pregnant nesting mode...

For the most precious discs in the collection, keep the disc in it's box. For everything else, you could chuck it (charity shop it, if the charity shop feels they are can be sold). But keep a backup and a backup of the backup.

Though keep in mind that whatever you are backing up to will need to be kept... so you may just want to keep the discs in a CD/DVD Wallet type thing.

I don't think he'd go for throwing the cases out, enjoys having them just need something to stack them I suppose. Most storage boxes aren't really the right shape

SPB - Ryman do a box... bit like a shoe box, which takes 15 DVD's in their cases.

ooh thank you, will look into that, although we'll need about 20 - still they'll go in the loft nicely!