Many users will have come to the point that streaming HiRes overshadows the act of inserting and playing a CD since the HiRes sounds too good (and even CD quality streaming seems to slow down the use of the actual CD’s).
Having a pile of CD’s I wondered what any valid reasons would be to keep the original CD’s if all of these would be ripped via ROON/Nucleus to a SSD.
Is it the format that ROON is using for ripping being less than WAV/CD (by the way what is the ROON format for this, FLAC?).
Anyone heard a significant difference between the CD and the Rip of it (via a Nucleus)?
So far I have ripped a modest 423 CD’s including boxed sets of Steve Hillage, Gong, Alex Harvey and others but would never consider selling them on or giving to charity. Have recently got extra CD storage units from Ikea to display them and despite promising myself not to buy anymore have purchased 3 boxed sets in the past four days due to the fact they are so cheap to buy ( about £2.50 per disc in each boxed set ). We are creatures of habit after all and I still use my CD player at times instead of using Roon because the fact that probably the player cost over £500 and I do not want it sitting there collecting dust!. In the end you would probably regret getting rid of your CD’s. As for hearing any difference between CD’s and Roon I would say no but I am 67 years old and your ears may be younger?.
Hi Terry, approaching 54 here 
Won’t expect there is that much difference in hearing…but even with reduced “bandwidth” the listening can still be way over average.
For me, it came to me as a big surprise that in my system CD is pushed aside by streaming this instantly. So, for analog it’s LP (1300) and digital, for a moment, streaming is leading. I am very critical on audio quality, to set a reference (300B amps, big backloaded horns, VRDS TEAC, Tube DAC/Phone etc). Time will tell
Technically I think ripping CDs is still illegal in the UK so people hang on to their disks to prove ownership.
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I don’t know what the format is of the ripped files, but I would guess it is FLAC.
One reason to retain the physical CDs after ripping is that depending on your jurisdiction it may be required in order to comply with copyright law…
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One valid reason to keep the CDs depends on the legal situation of copyright in the country where you live. If legally, you are not permitted to copy a CD unless the original CD remains in your possession, then you should keep the CDs.
A second reason would be that the physical CDs are a form of backup.
Personally, I hear absolutely no difference between the sound of a CD and its rip.
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No. Send them to me.
In all seriousness do you want a legal answer?
A reason to hoard?
Nostalgia?
Like liner notes?
They might work as a diffuser?
My rips sound better than my CDs because my transport isn’t as good as my Roon set-up. I still keep my CDs but I don’t buy more than a handful a year. I’m digital files now and even then I buy very little music and just stream. There are plenty of people dumping their collections at thrift stores. Not a bad way to pick-up cheap discs if you still wanted to collect.
In the U.K. you are not permitted to copy CD’s full stop. It doesn’t matter if you retain them or sell them. It is part of the confusion created when international contributors talk and concepts like ‘fair use’ are shared which may have validity in some territories. What is interesting is while this concept has been tested with video, prosecutions have only come about as a result of sharing. They have been careful not to allow the no copy rule to be tested in law. So you are pretty safe as long as you are not giving copies to mates or selling copies at your local market! I made the choice to keep my CD’s and the inserts. They are in CD cases and use up a lot less space. It has been a pretty sensible choice because I recently ripped the 750 or so titles in my collection again to try any tidy things up. That is a nice option to have.
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Spot on. We have all our CDs stoved away. Many of them are out of print and unavailable as digital downloads. The same was the case with vinyl; a lot of rarities that were never released on CD and today also not available for streaming. Unfortunately, we sold our vinyl collection in a misconceived act of Marie Kondo-ism. I’m happy to say that it went to a young lad who went completely caffui with joy over them. But never again. Keep 'em, I say.
I had my library of ~2100 CDs ripped to the hard drive in a sonicTransporter (running Roon Core) a few years ago. I have kept the CDs because: 1) they are an irreplaceable backup to everything digital; 2) I wanted to keep the booklets (I listen mostly to classical); 3) I’m a collector who hates to part with anything.
I tossed out all the plastic cases and bought soft sleeves that hold the CD and booklets. They now are stored in plastic bins on the floor of a closet. I sleep better knowing they’re there.
Makes me smile to read people having the same dilemmas here
People bring up this issue of retaining them to prove ownership.
Can we take a poll in the Roon community?
How many of us have had the copyright police show up demanding to see your original CDs?
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Copyright police is excuse for when my wife asks why I haven’t thrown my CDs away.
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Honesty is the best policy.
At least you are honest with us…
Can’t answer to that since I don’t have a nucleus, but I have 2 cd players that sound way much better than any computer based implementation (in the same price range) I’ve heard (including mine 
). And that’s my main reason for keeping the cd’s around (beside staying away from tendonitis, you know, from navigating my albums on the tablet 
)!
Before or after the pool? 
Yes, this. After Apple has mercilessly destroyed my music library, I am thankful that I can rebuild, one disc at a time.
Just kind of envisaging the listening-police walking in asking you to show proof-of-ownership 
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We all choose which laws to ignore. I may speed and jaywalk but I don’t text and drive nor have any music in my possession that I legally have no right to maintain.
Not sure why this matters. It is either against the law in your country, or not.
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