Ready to Say Goodbye to Your Old CDs? Here's How to Safely Dispose of Them (2024)

FAQs

How do you dispose of old CDs? ›

Unwanted CDs, DVDs and records can be donated to charity shops or sold on sites like Zapper and Ziffit. Some Recycling Centres accept these items but this service does vary across the country. It's best to check with your local authority.

Donate, trash, or recycle.

Recycling means your treasured CDs won't meet an undignified end in a landfill, while donating also avoids the environment costs of the landfill and might give you a tax write-off at the end of the year.

CDs and DVDs, as well as their cases, cannot be recycled. But if they are in a good condition they could be reused by taking them to a charity shop or to some recycling banks.

If you're wondering “are CDs worth anything”, you should know there's a lot of value in those old CDs, especially if you're an audiophile. These days, some streaming services are losing their luster – with some famous artists like Neil Young taking down entire catalogs.

CDs and DVDs can be recycled at some bring bank sites. Visit our Bring Banks page listing all sites that take CDs and DVDs. Some charity shops accept CDs and DVDs as donations.

Target locations may also accept optical discs in their recycling bins. To find one near you, you can use the locator at the CD Recycling Center of America.

CDs: CDs do not sell as well as they used to.

For titles that do still sell strongly and are in very good condition, we typically offer between $2 and $4 STORE CREDIT (or 50% of the credit value in cash). Collectible titles, rarities, special versions can go significantly higher.

CDs and DVDs can be reliable for many decades with proper handling. As with all other types of media, degradation is inevitable over time, but steps can be taken to help prevent it from occurring prematurely.

Compared to savings accounts and short-term time deposits, 10-year certificates of deposit may offer more competitive interest rates. They're also virtually risk-free and guarantee a specific rate of return. But given the long return horizon, a 10-year CD isn't a good fit for every saver.

Banks typically pay CD investors a higher yield in exchange for locking up their money for a set term. Now that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, investing in CDs is more appealing. The best 1-year CDs pay more than the best savings accounts, so locking in a competitive rate with a CD could be beneficial.

Can CDs and floppy disks be recycled? ›

In all, your floppy disks are recyclable due to the materials they are made with. So, next time your floppy disks get old and unusable, you should remember to package them for recycling.

Wrap the discs with plastic wrap and then fold it until it breaks. Shred the discs with a disc shredder. Cut the discs. You can use a pair of scissors, but be careful as the foil will flake.

The bins are there to recycle the phones, not so people can grab free things. That would be called stealing, even though the phones are dropped off there. It isn't yours, you did not pay for it, you have no right TO it. Was this worth your time?

They sure are! The vast majority of the CDs we buy are sold to a new home, which saves them from landfill and gives someone else the joy of listening to them. Anything we can't sell is recycled responsibly, with the materials used for all kinds of purposes!

musicMagpie is one of the most well-known and easy-to-use trade-in sites. It's a great place to sell DVDs, CDs, books, games and tech. They'll also give you a price for your phones and gadgets (although bear in mind, you might fair better selling these on eBay).

As 2022 comes to a close, CDs remain an important physical format option, particularly for independent artists. Physical sales only represent about 10% of major label revenue, but for independent and DIY artists, that number is much higher.

As long as you listen to the the CD you bought, or play your CD for your friends to hear, you're just grooving with the copyright law. But if you copy a disc to give to some else or to sell it to someone else, you're in violation of the law. You're a thief. You're stealing.

Last year CD sales grew for the first time in 20 years. According to RIAA data, CD sales jumped to 46.6 million in 2021 – a 47.7% increase from 2020. But the number of CDs sold is likely much larger.

The Compact Disc Had a Good Year

CD sales have been falling since 2004, a trend which suggested they would eventually die off like the cassette. However, according to a Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) report, Americans bought 46.6 million CDs in 2021.

How much longer will music CDs be around? ›

As demonstrated in the histograms in Figures 18 and 19, that lifetime could be less than 25 years for some discs, up to 500 years for others, and even longer.

The primary way musicians make money online is from mechanical and streaming royalties. That's a fancy way of saying revenue from online sales through platforms like iTunes as well as streaming income from Spotify and other services.

Most self-released CDs are not tracked by Nielsen Soundscan

So, independent artists sell the majority of their CDs at shows to make a few extra bucks when they perform. Plus, of course, some artists sell their CDs on Bandcamp and their own websites.

Sound Quality

From a technical standpoint, digital CD audio quality is clearly superior to vinyl. CDs have a better signal-to-noise ratio (i.e. there is less interference from hissing, turntable rumble, etc.), better stereo channel separation, and have no variation in playback speed.

Fans view each release as a collector's item, increasing demand and sales. For the industry, CDs offer a cost-effect alternative to vinyl, which is experiencing a production backlog due to increasing demand and ongoing supply chain issues.

CD rates will likely increase in 2023 if the Federal Reserve continues to increase the federal funds rate. The Federal Reserve has indicated a willingness to continue increasing its benchmark interest rate to combat inflation, and this is likely to drive CD rates higher in 2023.

Among the manufacturers that have done testing, there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more; CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM discs should have a life expectancy of 25 years or more.

Since CD is a digital medium, it must be produced from a digital master—therefore the last letter of the code will always be D. Newer LPs stored the music in analog format, yet they were often labeled as DDD, as the recording and mixing/editing were both digital.

With the introduction of iTunes and the iPod in the early-mid 2000s, people everywhere began simply downloading their favorite artists' albums in lieu of buying the physical CD copy. By 2005, iTunes had outpaced CD sales in a couple of major physical retail stores for the first time.