OF COURSE!

We have one in the kitchen; one in my office (though it is older and seems to be dying- the eject feature is not working well, so I only play CDs I have duplicates of in it); one in the bedroom, and one in my art studio which is a small Amish-built building, so not attached to the house); also my husband has a small portable that moves between the basement and our glassed in porch where we do potting up etc for the garden. Most of these actually are not fancy items, and will will probably eventually fail. I back up all of my CDs on my computer using ITUNES, and then I make "Working" copies to listen to- many of these are compilations of my favorite tunes either from favorite musicians or in a specific genre (Silly Wizard, Bothy Band, Ossian, Karan Casey, ETC or Scottish Gents or Child Ballads-various artists or Robbie Burns, that sort of thing). I would not be without a CD burner. And I will always maintain an archive on my computer.

We are giving our great nieces a decent but inexpensive CD player and CDs this Christmas. It is really annoying to go home for visits and they are glued to their IPhones because they don't have recordings to listen to and so they have not learned the words by heart, even to their favorite songs. We're a singing family , and we all look forward to these times together. I will be making a copy of my personal songbook for them as well, so they have hard copy to look at.

We are fortunate that the Friends of the Library here in Ithaca NY has a gigantic book sale twice a year, and they always have loads of CDs. I scored extra copies of 2 of Archie Fisher's CDs, 2 of Magpie's CDs and 3 Varttina CDs at the last sale-the extras will be Christmas presents. Also David Francey. Also I regularly buy gently used CDs on line at Alibris (where they are often quite cheap), and Discogs. I don't have a huge budget for music, but at this time in my life books and music are my main indulgences. I won't pay outrageous sums. Not doable.

I almost always buy CDs when musical acts I like come to town. I am still replacing old LPs from the past that are too warn to play any more. My collection of most of my old favorites is mostly complete. I was able to buy a couple of George Duff's "The Collier Laddie" on line from him recently. I fell in love with his singing through the Robert Burns collection that was done back in the day but didn't realize he had recorded this. I HIGHLY recommend. My sister will be getting the other copy for the holidays.