iPodMeister gives you an iPad for your old CDs

This is not a story. What is a story is that they are flagrantly breaking the law and getting away with it.
http://selluseddvds.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/ipodmeister-exempt-from-the-law/

Your local record store may "pay more" but they dont take everything. I tried to sell my used record collection a couple months ago and they refused about 1/2 of the cds outright, either because they already had a bunch of copies of that title or the artist was too obsure. It was a lot of hassle trying to drag them around as well. If you have the time to sell them off one by one, ship them, pay Amazon fees, etc, more power to you, but Im just looking for a place to unload this stuff and possibly get a shiny new gadget.

I only have 250 eligible CDs, but it did make me think about my DVD's. As I upgrade to Blu-ray, I'll have to start checking eBay to see if my DVD's are worth anything. Might be able to afford that 3G iPad sooner than I thought.

I did some checking and if I buy 600 CDs from Ebay in lots of 100 or so at $50 a pop, I can spend $300 and then flip them into a $500 ipad. That seems like a cool idea to get an ipad for $200 off. Just saying, it might seem stupid to you and sort of a hassle, but anything to save $$ in the long run...

As others have said, this is a tremendously bad deal. I have a very large collection of CDs (VERY large) and have been selling off stuff I've grown tired of on Amazon and locally. I sold way, way less than 600 CDs to buy a Macbook Pro last summer, mostly on Amazon, but admittedly, I also don't listen to popular crap and therefore have stuff that is actually worth something - I frequently sold discs for $5-8 each. What I'm saying is, before even considering this, check out used prices for your discs on Amazon. You may be surprised. All you need to do is be honest about the condition and then ship things in a timely manner.

I have about 800 CDs just sitting here collecting dust. I'm not going to use this service but the article has motivated me to look into selling them. Maybe I'll be getting an iPad afterall.

Wow... Really TUAW ?? Really ?? How much did they paid you to write this article ??? Wow I just realized how crooked this site is.

This article seriously damages TUAW's credibility, and this after the article below where you discuss iTunes Payola!

Interesting that most posters seem more concerned with the economics of the proposal than the moral and legal issues.

Re-selling a CD is a legal grey area as the artists does not get any payment for the next person to enjoy his creation.

Copying a CD, even ripping it to iTunes, is illegal in some countries (e.g. UK, through there have been no prosecutions...) but keeping a copy then selling the original is both unethical and illegal.

When you buy a CD you have a duty to the artist to protect his work. I have suggested many times that this could be implemented by placing your own, personal DRM on the music at point of sale. Then when the music is transferred to someone else, the DRM is removed and the new owner's implemented.

My local "record" store pays between $2 and $3 for used CDs, more in store credit. This place is a TOTAL rip-off.