What to do with 1,200 CDs I don't need

Oh, also, don't confuse a non-profit with a charitable orgnizations - most libraries are the former but not the latter.

Maybe separate them into collections and sell with pick-up terms only? Are you near Chicago? Do you have a lot of Jazz or Classical?

Actually, Zaikesman's argumement makes sense in a vaccuum. If you extended it out practically, it doesn't. Think about it in terms of used cars, office eqquipment, homes, whatever. The used market and new market for same type products are inexricably linked. If, hypothetically, all used CDs that no one wanted had to be destroyed, the demand for new CDs would increase. We sould move down the demand curve and the supply curve would shift. The new equilibrium market price would shift down. So in essence, the total new market wold grow but, theoretically, the total revenue would remain the same.

Not to mention all the substitute products that might "deprive" the artist of $.

http://home.san.rr.com/clapham/courses/et572/images/supply_demand.jpg

**After doing some research, it appears that no matter how one wishes to rationalize their actions, it is clearly a violation of applicable law to possess a copy without also possessing the original...**

That seems impossible. What about buying ONLY a digital version (I-Tunes, etc.)??

In the digital realm - ones and zeroes - the concept of original and copy does not exist. They're exactly the same.

When you buy a CD, you're not buying the piece of plastic (or whatever it's made out of), you're buying the right to listen to it. If you copy your songs to your hard drive, you still have a right to listen to that music; you paid for it. The digital recording on the hard drive is (theoretically) identical to that on the plastic; original, copy, same thing. What happens to that plastic should be irrelevant.

What happens if you keep your CDs and they're lost to theft. Are you supposed to go and delete your digital copies because you no longer have "the original?"

You CAN photocopy library books. That's why all libraries have copy machines.