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Wire box cleanup: 2011 edition (photos)

It's been two years since our last wire box cleanup. Find out how we got the clutter back under control.

Read Less
Our starting point. This isn't going to be pretty. We'll go through the junk in these boxes and divide them up into three categories: keep, trash, and give away.
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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
It's time to dig in. It feels like we were just here two years ago...
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Photo by: Libe Goad / Caption by:
Will I ever use this wind-up emergency radio? Probably not, but when the zombie apocalypse comes, do I really want to kick myself for tossing it?

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
An original DJ Hero turntable controller. Will there ever be a DJ Hero 3? Who knows, but we'll give this a pass for now. We're not off to a very good start on this cleanup.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A Disney-branded set of portable speakers.

Status: Give away

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A Polaroid camera, circa 1997. I thought there was one shot left in it all these years, but alas, no--it was empty.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
Various audio cables. I'll keep at least one of each type (XLR, 1/4-inch to RCA, etc.)

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A classic GameCube wireless Wavebird controller. I have no idea what happened to the receiver.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I got this ART guitar effects box back in college. It probably hasn't worked since then, either.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A pile of old hard drives. Some day, I'll go through them for old photos and docs.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A couple of Xbox 360 face plates (that naturally don't fit on the new "slim" version of the console).

Status: Give away

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A classic Alesis SR-16 drum machine, circa 1996. I never use it, but it's a legendary piece of recording gear.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A collection of old PlayStation memory cards. I bet I'm never going to go back and finish Resident Evil: Nemesis.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
Long before the Nintendo 3DS, there were handhelds such as the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance.

Status: Give away

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A few recordable DVDs. I almost never use optical media anymore, but you never know when you'll have to burn something.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I think this was a giveaway Skype phone.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I clearly have not been playing enough downloadable classic games on my Wii, as this classic controller is still in its packaging.

Status: Give away

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I'm not sure when or how I got this Monster RCA cable, but they're so pricey, there's no way I'm getting rid of it.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A four-way headphone distribution amp. Like much of my old music gear, it's also nonfunctional. I'm sure I could fix it, but I prefer to save my tech support skills for things like plasma TVs.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I originally used this old RF modulator to hook a DVD player up to one of my vintage JVC Videosphere TVs for a house party.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I knew there'd be a floppy disc in here somewhere.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
Part of an international power adapter set. I'll hang on to this for my next Euro vacation.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
Pity the poor component cable: its lifespan is limited as HDMI and protected content paths take over.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
I'm sure I needed this for something at one point, although I never took it out of the original packaging.

Status: Trash

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A handy hard-drive dock for both IDE and eSATA drives.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A souvenir of my early dot-com 1.0 days at UGO.com, circa 2000.

Status: Keep

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
A good concept that never really worked out: the portable Rock Band drum kit.

Status: Give away

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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
Here's our cleaned out wire and gadget boxes, pared down from four crates to two.
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Photo by: Dan Ackerman/CNET / Caption by:
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