G.O.D. (Green-Obsessed Days)

Between 1987 and 2007 I amassed a sizable collection of compact discs (well over a thousand). In 2001 I started ripping all those discs to mp3 (a process that took over a year of doing several a night). In the years since then, more and more I was listening to songs on the computer and listening less to the discs. I now have an iPod, and I rarely actually listen to any of the circular pieces of plastic taking up two large racks in my place. So recently I took some time to divide up my collection into those discs I would wish to keep, and the more than 50 percent with which I could easily part.

I have not yet made the effort to trek all those down to a used CD store to try to sell them, but I suspect when I do there'll be some (such as ones I plucked out of the 50 cent bins that seemed like they might be interesting and were not—yes, what did one expect for half a buck; I know) that the store simply will not want.

I have not sold any CDs to such stores in years, and the main reason I stopped bothering to try that was because the amount the stores paid was hardly worth bothering to take them down, but the secondary reason was that there would be some that they'd decline to take, even if I gave the discs to them for free, asking not a single cent in return. And now I can only imagine the market for CDs is even worse, and they'll be even more picky about what they'll buy.

The discs that I wouldn't be able to even give away to a store are certainly ones where I'd rather not have them take up space. So what will I do then? Simply throw them away?

And when I think that, I am hampered by a thought which I would not have expected, but nonetheless it comes to mind: CDs don't biodegrade, do they? Therefore, it is ecologically irresponsible for me to discard them in the garbage.

Crap.

~

I told you that to tell you this:

For the last year or so I have been getting music by downloading (yes, legally) rather than going to a store to buy CDs. To a great extent it made sense, since I was generally buying the disc but then immediately ripping it to mp3, so downloading in an already digital format cut out that step. It also eliminated instances where I'd go to a store with something in mind and find it out of stock.

It has now occurred to me that an argument could be made that (legal) downloading of music is not only convenient but is eco-friendly. One doesn't have to get in the car and drive to a store (or even if one did mail order, a delivery person would not have to drive to one's home to deliver), thereby alleviating some level of pollution going into the atmosphere. The music label doesn't have to use the resources to produce the CD one would have purchased at the store, and again, a delivery truck need not be driven to get that CD to the store. And perhaps best of all, when the time comes that one decides one doesn't want that music any more, one simply deletes it off the computer without having to dump the CD in the garbage (because the store doesn't want it) and have it contribute to a landfill somewhere.

How iTunes has not used that in their marketing, with everybody jumping on the "look how green we are" bandwagon, I have no idea.

Crap. I just did their work for them, didn't I? I really must stop giving these ideas away for free.