What do I do with my old CDs?

[calthaer]

Since I am stuck at home like many folks, I have been trying to clean up and organize things. My most recent project is organizing my games, music, and movies. Given that various creative works are being "memory-holed" left and right, I'm inclined to stock up on some physical media...but I don't want to do that before figuring out what I have first.

I'm left wondering what I should do with some of these CDs. What about my installation discs for Starcraft + Brood War? The game is free now on Battle.Net; I don't need these, I suppose? Don't want to get rid of them, though. And Age of Empires II + The Conquerers...I have the Definitive Edition on Steam. What do I do with these?

Some of these don't work on modern OSes, either. Tried installing Tiberian Sun + Firestorm only to have it not work - eventually found that they'd given away an installer for it a few years back. As I go through these I'm sure I'll find more. And System Shock 2...it works great on Steam. What do I do with the old CD?

I'm also not sure I'm ever going to play some of these. I have a game called "Stolen" that I barely remember purchasing...not even sure if it's any good.

What's everyone else doing with their old PC games? Especially ones where they're free or where you have a digital copy on Steam. Even DOS games - do you make an .ISO file of the CD and throw out the original? I am guessing on this board filled with collectors the answer is going to be "no way", but...

[gbpxl]

answer: give them to me :-)

[Gameguy]

I keep the old CDs around, even if the games are free, people still value the original media. Plenty of games were released as freeware years ago but physical copies were still collected. Especially if you want to run the old games on old hardware, you can't install Steam on a DOS or Win 95 machine.

It's almost like comparing first edition copies of books to a random modern edition, the first editions still hold value above modern editions.

[gbpxl]

It's a damn shame they don't produce PC games on physical disc anymore. Probably better for the environment but still, they can use recycled materials at the very least

[calthaer]

So let me ask this question...if you're collecting your CDs...are you displaying them? For PC stuff or even for PS1 / PS2 / Wii / whatever. Something like this?
http://hobbyframes.com/CDs.htm

[gbpxl]

Nope. I just have a shelf that I put them on