What to do with my legacy CD collection?

If you're in the SF Bay Area, you could contact the San Francisco Audiophile Foundation.  I don't know if they're actively soliciting donations, but they are a 501c3 organization, so it would be deductible.  I haven't been to a meeting in a while, but they always had boxes of donated CDs & LPs for sale.  I don't recall any w/o the original packaging, though.  They may also accept equipment.

At least you'd know that the first people to get a crack at them would be card-carrying audiophiles!

Also, with respect to the public library, I think they need special licensing from the publishers, and can't use items that were privately purchased.  However, there may be an affiliated "friends of the library"  group that can accept donations and holds periodic sales locally.

Since you are just starting to rip your collection, you should listen to the same files in FLAC and WAV downloads. Completely to my surprise, I could hear a difference. It might be the DAC I'm using (Bel Canto 2.8) or my imagination, but I preferred the WAV copy. I only have about 300 CD's but storage is so cheap these days WAV was the way to go for me.

Jim S.

I started buying those Sony Mega storage units. Mostly the 200 and 300 disc ones.

I use the optical output into a quality DAC via splitters. It is fun to have people over to my house when they discover these "juke box" players. They are amazed.

The primary reason I enjoy these machines is each disc is readily available. No digging thru piles of jewel cases and the resultant mess.

I almost made the mistake years ago of ditching the discs like so many other people did when this "amazing" mp3 format came out. So glad I didn't.  Now, like 35 years and 3,000 discs later, I realize they are a real piece of my personal history. Oddly, I can actually remember the time I bought each disc! A lot of the music is truly awful but it was a "thing" at that moment in time.

I stream via Qobuz and love it but from time to time, I still buy a CD. Often times to support a new or unrecognized artist. I toss the jewel cases once the disc has been entered into one of my machines, never to be touched again. 

Personally, I do not see the reason to rip my CDs. Qobuz and all the other services have done it for me. What a lot of unnecessary work. 

All formats can coexist in one house. 

Decluttr.com

I sold mine there when I switched to streaming. Bits are bits. There's no reason to keep them.

drlou77

Let me know if/when you start to Sell off your CD collections.

Happy Listening!