What can you do with old DVDs?

“My father used to be a big movie fan who has a very big DVD collection. Now, these old DVD discs are becoming a problem: there are always digital editions of these movies and these DVD discs are actually out of fashion. You have to get a DVD player or a DVD drive for computer to make the DVD discs normally and fluently be enjoyed. How do you handle your old DVD disc collections? Can you just make full use of these old DVD discs?”

If you grew up in the 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s, you probably have a huge collection of CDs and DVDs. Now, with the arising of digital media files, your DVD discs might become unnecessary since they are quite fragile and occupies a lot of space. Meanwhile, these DVD movies are generally very low in quality. So, what can you do with these old DVDs?

Part 1. Resell

If you have a big collection of old DVD discs and have no desire to get them in hand, a wonderful choice for you is to resell your old DVD disc collections for cash. You might think second-hand stores would never take CDs or DVDs but many of them actually do. There's still a market for them.

You can sell used DVDs as a side hustle and make money from home. And you can actually make sweet cash out of it – if you know the right places to sell. One man's trash is another man's treasure, after all.

There are many ways to sell used DVDs - online and offline. You can just select the way that meets your needs most to get your old DVD disc collections handled. The below are the recommended ways for you to resell your old DVD discs:

Resell DVD discs offline

Pop into your local bookstore and ask them if they buy used DVDs in addition to old books. Many bookstores will. Depending on how valuable and in-demand your DVDs are, the bookstore will give you a price they're willing to pay. Actually, in this way, you could also get store credit, as many bookstores will then give you a better rate. Alternatively, you could go to visit local resellers. Bookstores aren't the only places that sell used DVDs – there are also local vendors who set up flea markets, too. Find out who sells and buys DVDs in your area – and you may be able to sell your unwanted DVDs to them. You may not get top-dollar – but you will get rid of the clutter and make some cash.

Resell old DVD discs online

There are always 2 ways for you to resell used DVD discs online. One is to make use of some local yard sale apps that can get you the exposure you need so that the new owners of your old DVDs can pop by and purchase whatever they like. The drawbacks are that you will need to be on-site for that – and potential buyers may want to haggle. That said, you might have a good time discussing your DVD collection – and even make some new connections. Optionally, you could also directly resell used DVD discs through online stores just like eBay, Decluttr, FYE, Eagle Saver, Bonavendi, Sell DVDs Online, Amazon, etc. Most of these online stores would help you resell your DVD discs.

Without doubt, reselling used DVD discs would be the best choice for you since it will bring you cash. You will get paid for those old DVD discs.

Part 2. Recycle

CDs and DVDs are complex objects, composed of materials like polycarbonate plastic, aluminum and lacquer. So when it comes to recycling, it's not as easy as just tossing them into the bin along with your cardboard boxes and soda cans. They are recyclable, but you'll have to do some research first.

Your first move should be to look up your town or city on Earth 911's Recycling Search to see if they take CDs in their curbside recycling program. But here's where it gets a little tricky: even if your city takes disc recyclables, they might not take the jewel cases they come in.

If your local program is able to recycle the entire package, you'll have to separate the CD, the plastic case and the paper inside the case (i.e. the liner notes) when you put them all in the recycling bin. (Note: if your local recycling requires you to separate your items by category like plastic, metal, paper, etc., call them to ask which bin CDs should go in). If this all sounds needlessly complicated, just remember that improperly recycled materials can do serious damage to a recycling plant's operations!

If your curbside recycling program doesn't take CDs or cases, your local recycling center might. Can't find any local solutions? Try getting in touch with GreenDisk or the CD Recycling Center of America. You can mail your materials to either of these recycling centers. GreenDisk also takes other forms of e-waste, such as hard drives and VHS tapes. They know exactly how to recycle and transform those complex plastics and metals into new manufactured items.

Part 3: For DIY Uses

Or, thirdly, you could reuse your old DVD discs to make some DIY things. You can get creative with those old discs. The shiny, reflective surfaces of CDs mean they can become beautiful art objects to hang up on the wall or ways to add a cool touch to objects you already own.

People have used old CDs to make tabletops, guitar picks, coasters, mirrors, homemade jewelry, photo frame, DVD clock, - even a bird bath. You could get quite a lot of DIY suggestions with DVD discs online.

Part 4: Digitize Your DVD Before You Get Rid of Your Old DVDs

It should be noted that it’s necessary for you to digitize your old DVD discs before you get rid of them, since you may need to store your old fashion DVD movies online or on your computer for future use. This is quite important. By digitizing DVD, you could even play and watch old DVD discs on your modern smartphones and tablets on the go. All you need is actually a wonderful DVD digitizer.

Leawo DVD Ripper is the right DVD digitizer program for you to digitize your old DVD discs for backup, store and convenient playback. As a professional DVD ripping software tool, Leawo DVD Ripper could help you decrypt, rip and convert DVD movies from disc, folder and even ISO image file to digital videos in various formats. With it, you could convert DVD to video and audio in 180+ formats, like MPEG, MP4, AVI, FLV, RMVB, etc. for various media players and devices, like Windows Media Player, iOS devices, Android devices, iMovie, QuickTime, etc. It allows you to adjust output video and audio file parameters so as to let the output media files meet your need exactly. You could use it to digitize your old DVD discs to digital video files before you resell, recycle or DIY your DVD discs.

In addition, Leawo DVD ripper comes with an internal DVD video editor to help you trim DVD movie, crop DVD video size, add image or text watermark, create 3D movie, etc. And it can help you to select subtitles and audio tracks from source DVD movies for output videos.

The below steps would show you how to digitize your old DVD discs before you get rid of them with Leawo DVD Ripper in detail.

Step 1: Get prepared

Download and install Leawo DVD Ripper, and then launch it. (Mac users please download the Mac DVD Ripper). Meanwhile, insert DVD disc into the DVD drive that is connected to your computer.

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• Leawo DVD Ripper

  ☉ Convert DVD to video/audio files like MKV, MP4, AVI, FLV, RMVB, etc

  ☉ Convert DVD to iPad, iPhone, Android devices

  ☉ Edit DVD video files with built-in video editor

  ☉ Add 3D effect with built-in 3D movie creator

  ☉ Selectable subtitles and audio tracks from source DVD movies for output videos

  DownloadDownload

Note: Leawo DVD Ripper is a module built in Leawo Prof. Media.

Step 2: Load source DVD movie

Kick off Leawo Prof. Media, and then open the “Convert” module. Click “Add Blu-ray/DVD” button to import DVD disc by clicking the “Add from CD-ROM” option to load source DVD disc from the DVD recorder drive.

Note: Leawo DVD Ripper offers 3 different content loading modes. The Full Movie mode loads all source DVD content, Main Movie mode by default loads the longest title (generally the main movie) but allows you to switch another title for loading, while Custom Mode enables you to select desired DVD title(s) for loading. Choose one according to your needs.

Step 3. Set output format

Click the drop-down box before the big green “Convert” button. On the drop-down menu, click the “Change” option to enter the Profile panel, where you need to select output format from “Format” or “Device” group for digitizing your old DVD discs.

Also, if you want to set the parameters of output profile, you can select “Edit” to enter the editing panel including “Video Codec”, “Bite Rate”, “Resolution”, “Frame Rate”, “Aspect Ratio”, “Audio Codec”, “Audio Sample Rate”, etc. Just modify these parameters according to your needs.

Step 4. Set directory and start digitizing DVD discs

After adjusting the video settings, click “OK” button to return to the “Convert” main interface. And then click the big green “Convert” button. Select a target path to save the output file in the “Save to” box and then click the “Covert” icon below to start digitizing your old DVD discs.

When the digitizing process completes, you will then get digital media files from your old DVD discs. Now, you could either store your old DVD discs online, on computer or play them back on portable media players or devices as you like.

As you can see, there’s a lot you can do with your old DVD collection: resell them, recycle them, or repurpose them into something awesome. Whatever you do with them, just make sure you don’t throw them in the trash and contribute to pollution by letting them end up in a landfill.