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How to Organize CD Collection?

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Topic: How to Organize CD Collection?
Posted By: Abstrakt
Subject: How to Organize CD Collection?
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 10:42
I have serious troubles trying to come up with the ultimate solution when it comes to organizing my CD's.
No solution so far has been 100%. My collection is now over 600 and it never stops growing Tongue
HELP!!!
 
How do you organize yours?



Replies:
Posted By: CCVP
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 10:47
I don't have a particular oganization method. Wherever there's space to store CDs, I'll put the newest one there.

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Posted By: Abstrakt
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 10:52
Thanks for the quick reply!
Yeah, that IS a solution, but i'm not sure if i really like it... I put my recent purchases in a pile next to the CD player and then store them when i've played them 3-5 times Wacko


Posted By: Stooge
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 12:13
Originally posted by CCVP CCVP wrote:

I don't have a particular oganization method. Wherever there's space to store CDs, I'll put the newest one there.

That's my "method" too. LOL

I usually try to group stuff by artist, but I don't have the space to spread it out all orderly at the moment.  Also, I usually have a bundle of newest releases together, and often wait a while before I squeeze them into an appropriate spot.


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A fun place to review and discuss metal: http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/" rel="nofollow - MetalMusicArchives


Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 12:18
I aim at placing the artists I somehow associate with each other next to one another.


Posted By: GentleGiant
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 12:33
Artists in alphabetical order, is still working for over 4000 CDs

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BeGiantForADay

"This British band is just the cup of tea for aficionados who demand virtuosity,progress and originality in their mix."

http://rateyourmusic.com/~GentleG


Posted By: akamaisondufromage
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 12:56

Now I haven't got enough shelf space for my CDs I have developed the 'Random Scattering Around the House and in the Car' technique.  However, for some reason I can never find what I want to listen to. 

What also causes a problem is this idea of not actually putting the name of artist album etc on the CD itself.  And the numerous types and sizes of boxes which means you can never put them where you want them to go. 

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Help me I'm falling!


Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 13:29

I rip all mine to a portable hard drive.  That way I have a backup if the CD is damaged/lost, and I don't spend time digging around trying to find the physical copy when I want to listen to it. After that it comes down to the SWAOS method (Shelf With An Open Slot).




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"Peace is the only battle worth waging."

Albert Camus


Posted By: EchidnasArf
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 13:54
Autobiographical.




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http://didyouseethosebats.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - Did You See Those Bats? (a few songs from my band's live radio show)



Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 14:07
I invested in a couple of cabinets with roll-out drawers.  They were kinda pricey but well worth it.  And I store alphabetically by artist, chronologically for each artist.



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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken


Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 14:14
The about 1700 CDs are in an alphabetical order by artist, and each artist's discography is in a chronological order. That's worked fine for me for a long time, but just today I've given serious thought to introducing divisions by style.

I've got about 50 LPs, they are in a very random order.


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http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=42652" rel="nofollow - It's on PA!


Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 14:22
In alphabetical order regardless of genre. New ones have their own little space and about once a year I'll sort them out and add in the newer ones into the main collection.


Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 14:23
I have them in various places, most of them are stacked on a dresser with shelves. Thing is, I rarely play the actual CDs, as generally all my music playing is done through the computer or my iPod. However, Ive had either a hard drive crash or my old iPod stolen, so it's the reason I still buy physical copies; you never know....

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http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm



Posted By: CPicard
Date Posted: August 27 2011 at 15:42
I have four racks to store myc CD's: three little vertical ones, and another one inside a TV fourniture. Some of my records are still in my parents' house, but it's just a "sample" of my collection.

I use the cotation of media libraries to organize my collection. Classical music is registered under the cote 1; Jazz music is 2; Rock music is 3, etc...
Then, there are subdivivisions: traditional jazz, swing, New Orleans style is 1.1.; Free Jazz is 1.5; Heavy-metal is 3.5, for example.
Only after this categorization by genres and styles, I organize my records strictly by the alphabetical order: Black Sabbath is at "B", Dio is at "D", King Crimson is at "K", Robert Fripp is at "F", etc.
Then, the year of release is the last parameter of organisation: a compilation released in 1985 is ranged after any other record released in 1984, even if it includes material recorded between 1980 and 1982. Same thing for a live album: if the live album had been recorded in 1973 but released in 1977, it's ranged after a studio album released in 1976.

That's my way.


Posted By: jammun
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 00:13
I used to organize mine by artist.  Seemed sensical.  Now I order them by color.

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Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon.


Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 00:19
Mine are in order of best to worst

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Posted By: npjnpj
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 00:53
I use a number of those man-high, narrow Ikea Billy bookcases with adjustable height individual shelves standing flush next to each other, so they look like one single shelving unit. The height of each shelfspace is just about 1/2 inch more than the height of the CD cases themselves.

The albums are kept aligned to the left of each space, with each individual shelf unit having leaving enough space to the right to accommodate any additions (about 1/3 and shrinking).

Now and again I have to add a new case but even then the work involved is kept to a minimum, if I work out beforehand how many CDs on each shelf I have to move so that the whole thing doesn't start to look too out of whack.

I keep the CDs sorted alphabetically by artist in the following way:

A  E   I
B  F  J
C  G  K
D  H  L    etc.


Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 01:40
Originally posted by EchidnasArf EchidnasArf wrote:

Autobiographical.


Clap

Some time perhaps next year we're going to have to get a new custom made shelf for the expanding collection, similar to the two we have now. We got the shelves housing about 1800 cds some four years ago and thought they'd be all we'd ever need, but oh how wrong we were. The dvd section has been packed for years, though, so every time we buy something new we have to decide what old to put away to the closet.

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http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=42652" rel="nofollow - It's on PA!


Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 02:34
I order mine by Genre, then Alphabetical Artist/Band order, then Chronological by Album release order.  I also usually put Live releases after Studio releases.

This way, I can leave gaps at the end of my genres for slotting in new ones.  It means less CDs to swap in and out too.

Alphabetical by artist is a bitch, unless you leave gaps at the end of each letter.

Of course, due to lack of CD racks, I've had to resort to the table/floor/top of the television/car/bookshelf/the box they came in method as well.


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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 12:37
Artist/Unalphabetical/Unchronological.

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Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 12:45
Originally posted by zappaholic zappaholic wrote:

alphabetically by artist, chronologically for each artist.


This is my method too, with the exception of my Henry Cow and Magma boxsets which are too chunky for my cheap CD storage thingies and have to sit on top of them instead. I even include VA compilations in the alphabetical mix, using the compilation title in lieu of an artist name. TBH, I can't understand why anyone with a lot of CDs to organise would use any other method. Surely it'd just be a bugger to find what you're looking for if you go with grouping by genre or label or just shoving the things wherever you find a space for them?


Posted By: Morningrise
Date Posted: August 28 2011 at 14:53
I separate my shelves into categories. The most important categories I use are:
 
1-Prog Rock/Jazz
2-Alt Rock/Grunge/Punk
3-Heavy Metal
4-Classic Rock/Hard Rock
 
And then I try to establish either a certain chronological order between the categories, or subcategories (for example: under Heavy Metal first I have the "Classic Heavy Metal" bands such as Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, then Thrash bands, the Death Metal and so on)


Posted By: Abstrakt
Date Posted: August 29 2011 at 11:11
That's pretty similar to my way of sorting CD's ^


Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 20:03
Like this:
The bulk of the collection is kept in those fake wood  big shelving of varying heights and widths alphabetical by artist, then chronological when I'm not too lazy.  I have a set of fifty of the newest discs in my collection in a CD changer and keep those cases towards the middle in this photo collage in two plastic at the top under one set of music DVDs.  Up at the top right is a loose "floppy" organizer which has a fluctuating selection of the newest CDs I bought by in terms of release years.   Big smile
















Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 20:14
Originally posted by EchidnasArf EchidnasArf wrote:

Autobiographical.



Was going to say that. :(


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http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!


Posted By: JJLehto
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 20:22
I have it in release order for each artist.
Like Opeth for example I have orchid first, then morningrise etc to Watershed. Though I have the artists in absolutely no order.

One day when I'm bored enough I'll put em in artist order as well.
Seems like the easiest way to me honestly


Posted By: CCVP
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 20:53
Originally posted by JJLehto JJLehto wrote:

I have it in release order for each artist.
Like Opeth for example I have orchid first, then morningrise etc to Watershed. Though I have the artists in absolutely no order.

One day when I'm bored enough I'll put em in artist order as well.
Seems like the easiest way to me honestly


The easiest way is this:




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Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 21:39
1.  Rip to FLAC
2.  Sleeves in a big binder


Posted By: JJLehto
Date Posted: August 30 2011 at 22:33
Also a bit destructive for my taste Caio, I don't care for many material possessions but my CD's are one of em LOL




Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 07:59
For you younger folks the most important thing to do before your collection gets too big is catalog it.
Artist Title Year Be. Yr. Month Co. No. Added
Anderson, Laurie Homeland 2010


3/19/11
Stereolab Not Music 2011


4/20/11
Dead Can Dance Into the Labyrinth 1993


5/29/11
Dead Can Dance Toward the Within 1994


5/29/11
Black Mountain Wilderness Heart 2010


6/2/11
Mono Holy Ground: NYC Live 2003


6/2/11
Knifeworld Dear Lord, No Deal 2011


6/7/11
Phideaux Snowtorch 2010


6/8/11
Pineapple Thief, The Someone Here Is Missing 2009


6/8/11
Bass Communion Molotov And Haze 2008


6/9/11
Frith, Fred Eye To Ear III 2010


6/20/11
Radiohead King Of Limbs 2011


6/28/11
Reasoning, The Acoustically Speaking 2010


6/29/11
Reasoning, The Adverse Camber 2010


6/29/11
Davis, Miles Get Up With It 1974


7/1/11
Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins Scarcity Of Miracles, A 2011


7/1/11
Bjornstad/Darling/Rypdal/Christensen Sea, The 1994


7/12/11
Zorn, John Dreamers, The 2007


8/6/11
Djam Karet Heavy Soul Sessions, The 2009


8/10/11
Herd Of Instinct Herd Of Instinct 2011


8/10/11
Rhodes, Happy Equipoise 1993


8/10/11
Ukab Maerd Waiting Room, The 2010


8/10/11
Happy Rhodes Rhodes I 1986


8/15/11
Happy Rhodes Rhodes II 1986


8/15/11


Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 08:20
I use RYM for cataloguing my collection.

As I said previously, I catalogue them to genres first.  I'd much prefer to have all my jazz artists together and separate from other genres and that's exactly what I've done.

It makes life much easier.

Some artists/bands have large discographies, so everytime you purchase a new CD by them, you'd have to move a whole load of albums to slot that album in.  Leaving gaps at the end of Genres really makes things easier.  It's a whole lot less work to move 20 or 30 CDs across, compared to 100+.


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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 08:58
Adding in a genre level to the sort is too much work for me.  My collection is all one big happy family.  Big smile


Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 09:15
Alphabetical order by artist and then by album title.  Newer purchases are kept haphazardly or by alphabetical order until such time that the desire to work them in to the main collection hits in which case there is a massive overhaul and everything gets shifted to make room for the new additions.  Everything is also burned to the computer for instant access and use on the iPod.  Generally, I seem to have a physical CD playing in the car and on occasion I will throw a physical CD in the CD player at home (usually a newer purchase) but I seem to have become more and more dependent on listening to music on either the computer or the iPod.

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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 09:37
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

Adding in a genre level to the sort is too much work for me.  My collection is all one big happy family.  Big smile


It actually isn't that time consuming and in the long term makes life easier.

I don't have many metal albums (no pun intended), so they take up a little corner of my CD rack and if I ever happen to purchase more metal albums, they can slot in easily.  The same for my Symphonic Prog section.


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Posted By: TheGazzardian
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 10:30

I have a variety of music that all means different things to me because my tastes fluctuate, so I sort by context. I have one shelf of roughly pre-prog rock music, and on it, i first put in my collections by favorite artists. The order of artists from top to bottom is roughly how proud I am to own that artists discogaphy, so top shelf has Tears for Fears, Boomtown Rats, etc. Artists where I only have one release are mixed in where there was space.

Next two shelves are mostly prog, art rock, or avant garde, and are sorted similarly. I also had to find space for my growing collections of classical, jazz, metal, and musicals.

Meanwhile, I have a couple shelves of CDs I still need to listen to and an in-rotation section. When I listen to a new cd, it goes in rotation, when I no longer feel like listening it goes into the collection.


Some artists, like Joanna Newsom, Munly, and Venetian Snares don't really have a home, but they are currently in my "in-rotation" pile so I'll figure that out later.

I do re-organize my system constantly, always by esoteric rules and relations between albums/artists, so this system is new. It will be changing again soon because my collection no longer fits in the available shelf space so tonight I am acquiring a new shelf that spins and can hold over 800 CDs.


Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 10:50
Originally posted by Abstrakt Abstrakt wrote:

I have serious troubles trying to come up with the ultimate solution when it comes to organizing my CD's.
No solution so far has been 100%. My collection is now over 600 and it never stops growing Tongue
HELP!!!
 
How do you organize yours?
 
First advice, get some flat shelves without slots.... it makes it easier to slide an album between two others without having to displace them all one by one...

 

Originally posted by Morningrise Morningrise wrote:

I separate my shelves into categories. The most important categories I use are:
 
1-Prog Rock/Jazz
2-Alt Rock/Grunge/Punk
3-Heavy Metal
4-Classic Rock/Hard Rock
 
And then I try to establish either a certain chronological order between the categories, or subcategories (for example: under Heavy Metal first I have the "Classic Heavy Metal" bands such as Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, then Thrash bands, the Death Metal and so on)
 
I kind of work that way (by genres), but I also group them by country and then also by who played in what band (The Nice is next to ELP, Trower is next to Procol, Schulze is next to TD, etc...) and inside the artiste's space... it's chronological.
 
It's kind of a map in my shelves too!!
 
for example all the Impulse! label New Thing jazz artiste (the Coltrane galaxy if you wish) are all on the same shelf.. which is just above my other jazz (Brubeck, Mingus, etc...) shelf and just below my Bitches Brew shelf (Davis, Weather report, Mahavishnu, RTF, etc...)
 
Logically Belgium bands are next to French acts (the UZ-AZ link), and not far away from the Dutch acts , all three of whom being relatively close from Cantyerbury bands on an upper shelf... above the Canterbury shelf, you'll find theCrimson, Yes (Bruford link), Genesis, Floyd, etc....
 
 


-------------
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword


Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 11:07

I do:

1. Go to IKEA and get some of those Billy book cases (I am a two decades long Billy fan).

2. Grab some packages of black coffee from IKEA too while I am there.

3. Drive the flatpacks home (well, a workmate does).

4. A two hours long swearing and prayer overdrive follows while working these flatpacks into book cases

5. Register the CDs in an alphabetical order on a spreadsheet. 

6. Put the CDs in an alphabetical order in the bookshelfs, no matter the genres

7. Have a mug of coffee while admiring the results



Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 14:34
So if you buy an album by an artist beginning with A, what do you do, Torodd?

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Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 14:50

Originally posted by James James wrote:

So if you buy an album by an artist beginning with A, what do you do, Torodd?

I use the rules as adopted by public archives and libraries + ProgArchives when it comes to archives. A followeb by B. Abs followed by Abt.   I do not go by genre. It is alphabeth, strictly.  I am a bit of a slave when it comes to this rule. Wink

Edit: This is the same rule as Lenin once recommended when he ordered the removal of his enemies from this planet post October revolution. When that is good enough for him, it is good enough for me. Wink






Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 15:19
Haphazardly.
 
Though I tend to group everything together by purchase, so I have a section of my room that represents my first CDs and then another that groups the next *enter time period here*, and etc etc. This way I have a rough idea of where something is based on how long I've had it. But I have no groupings by artists/time/color/weight/etc. Though as of late, I have been putting things in those stupid paper sleeve "cases" together to avoid my massive towers of cds from becoming unstable/crushing the CDs in those very unprotective cases.
 
One day, when I can change the layout of my room, I plan to get big shelves and put everything on there, but I doubt I'll group my artist or anything specific even then. 


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Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.


Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: August 31 2011 at 20:02
Originally posted by James James wrote:

Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

Adding in a genre level to the sort is too much work for me.  My collection is all one big happy family.  Big smile


It actually isn't that time consuming and in the long term makes life easier.

I don't have many metal albums (no pun intended), so they take up a little corner of my CD rack and if I ever happen to purchase more metal albums, they can slot in easily.  The same for my Symphonic Prog section.


So what do you do with albums that cross genres or don't fit neatly into a category?  Do they have to wait out in the hall?




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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken


Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 07:15
Originally posted by toroddfuglesteg toroddfuglesteg wrote:

Originally posted by James James wrote:

So if you buy an album by an artist beginning with A, what do you do, Torodd?

I use the rules as adopted by public archives and libraries + ProgArchives when it comes to archives. A followeb by B. Abs followed by Abt.   I do not go by genre. It is alphabeth, strictly.  I am a bit of a slave when it comes to this rule. Wink

Edit: This is the same rule as Lenin once recommended when he ordered the removal of his enemies from this planet post October revolution. When that is good enough for him, it is good enough for me. Wink






That's not what I was getting at.

I meant, if you buy an album by an artist/band beginning with A, how do you slot it into your system?  Do you have to move 100+ CDs to make it fit?

That's an awful lot of effort!


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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 07:17
Originally posted by zappaholic zappaholic wrote:

Originally posted by James James wrote:

Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

Adding in a genre level to the sort is too much work for me.  My collection is all one big happy family.  Big smile


It actually isn't that time consuming and in the long term makes life easier.

I don't have many metal albums (no pun intended), so they take up a little corner of my CD rack and if I ever happen to purchase more metal albums, they can slot in easily.  The same for my Symphonic Prog section.


So what do you do with albums that cross genres or don't fit neatly into a category?  Do they have to wait out in the hall?




I do catalogue by band genre, not album genre.  So if a band released an album that was not to their usual style, then it still goes with the rest of their discography.

I don't have many albums that cross genres and I have my own strict rules for genres too.  I don't follow the P.A. genre system. Wink


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Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 07:40
Originally posted by James James wrote:

Originally posted by toroddfuglesteg toroddfuglesteg wrote:

Originally posted by James James wrote:

So if you buy an album by an artist beginning with A, what do you do, Torodd?

I use the rules as adopted by public archives and libraries + ProgArchives when it comes to archives. A followeb by B. Abs followed by Abt.   I do not go by genre. It is alphabeth, strictly.  I am a bit of a slave when it comes to this rule. Wink

Edit: This is the same rule as Lenin once recommended when he ordered the removal of his enemies from this planet post October revolution. When that is good enough for him, it is good enough for me. Wink






That's not what I was getting at.

I meant, if you buy an album by an artist/band beginning with A, how do you slot it into your system?  Do you have to move 100+ CDs to make it fit?

That's an awful lot of effort!

I have learnt the hard way to make a bit of a xtra space a the end of the bookshelf for new purchases. But before, a new purchase meant a lot of physical work during the archive phase, yes. 



Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 08:56

Originally posted by toroddfuglesteg toroddfuglesteg wrote:

2. Grab some packages of black coffee from IKEA too while I am there.

 
The Swedish have absolutely no idea how to roast the coffee beans correctly (it's almost blond-greenish-roasted)TongueWink
 
 
And this is from a tea drinker (I like the odd expresso, though)

 

Originally posted by James James wrote:

Originally posted by toroddfuglesteg toroddfuglesteg wrote:

Originally posted by James James wrote:

So if you buy an album by an artist beginning with A, what do you do, Torodd?

I use the rules as adopted by public archives and libraries + ProgArchives when it comes to archives. A followeb by B. Abs followed by Abt.   I do not go by genre. It is alphabeth, strictly.  I am a bit of a slave when it comes to this rule. Wink

Edit: This is the same rule as Lenin once recommended when he ordered the removal of his enemies from this planet post October revolution. When that is good enough for him, it is good enough for me. Wink



That's not what I was getting at.

I meant, if you buy an album by an artist/band beginning with A, how do you slot it into your system?  Do you have to move 100+ CDs to make it fit?

That's an awful lot of effort!

 
the easy way is to have slot-less shelves, wxhich means that you remove the one at the end (often a filler in your order) and slide all of the other concerned CD sideways in one shot, to fit the one you're trying to insert...
 
The trickiest is to place the one you removed elsewhere, but the process can be repeated almost effortlessly


-------------
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword


Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 09:01
I kind of have that system but my shelves aren't very wide, so I have to move the one on the end down to the next shelf and then do the same with the one on the end of that shelf until I somehow find some space.

I do try and leave some gaps at the end of my genres though for putting in CDs.


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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: September 01 2011 at 10:13
Originally posted by James James wrote:

I kind of have that system but my shelves aren't very wide, so I have to move the one on the end down to the next shelf and then do the same with the one on the end of that shelf until I somehow find some space.

I do try and leave some gaps at the end of my genres though for putting in CDs.
I've tried that, but the gaps keep filling up on me, why? why???Cry

I guess there are worse problems to have in life.

I just put in a new shelving unit, the black one on the left.  It's got about 1/3 hanging off the top of the short filing cabinet on the left side.  I redistributed the space into the whole group and as long as I behave myself collecting, this may last me 2-3 years.





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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...



Posted By: dtd350
Date Posted: October 13 2011 at 18:53
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

For you younger folks the most important thing to do before your collection gets too big is catalog it.
Artist Title Year Be. Yr. Month Co. No. Added
Anderson, Laurie Homeland 2010


3/19/11
Stereolab Not Music 2011


4/20/11
Dead Can Dance Into the Labyrinth 1993


5/29/11
Dead Can Dance Toward the Within 1994


5/29/11
Black Mountain Wilderness Heart 2010


6/2/11
Mono Holy Ground: NYC Live 2003


6/2/11
Knifeworld Dear Lord, No Deal 2011


6/7/11
Phideaux Snowtorch 2010


6/8/11
Pineapple Thief, The Someone Here Is Missing 2009


6/8/11
Bass Communion Molotov And Haze 2008


6/9/11
Frith, Fred Eye To Ear III 2010


6/20/11
Radiohead King Of Limbs 2011


6/28/11
Reasoning, The Acoustically Speaking 2010


6/29/11
Reasoning, The Adverse Camber 2010


6/29/11
Davis, Miles Get Up With It 1974


7/1/11
Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins Scarcity Of Miracles, A 2011


7/1/11
Bjornstad/Darling/Rypdal/Christensen Sea, The 1994


7/12/11
Zorn, John Dreamers, The 2007


8/6/11
Djam Karet Heavy Soul Sessions, The 2009


8/10/11
Herd Of Instinct Herd Of Instinct 2011


8/10/11
Rhodes, Happy Equipoise 1993


8/10/11
Ukab Maerd Waiting Room, The 2010


8/10/11
Happy Rhodes Rhodes I 1986


8/15/11
Happy Rhodes Rhodes II 1986


8/15/11
 
This is quite important.  I know because I am going through it now.  I have started collecting about 5 years ago now and I am closing on 300 cd's.  The cataloging is just beginning now.  Very difficult to do after the fact!


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http://www.last.fm/user/dtd350


Posted By: thellama73
Date Posted: October 13 2011 at 18:55
I organize by genre, then alphatbeitical by artist, then chronological by album. The genre boundaries are naturally fuzzy, but it works for me.

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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 13 2011 at 19:37
I've found that if you put the biggest, largest and heaviest at the bottom and the thinnest, lightest and slipperiest at the top they stand less chance of toppling, not that it can ever be completely topple-proof without the use of glue; digipaks tend to present the greatest risk as they are the least rigid and most likely to deform under pressure, I have decided that these are best organised collectively and kept separate from jewel cases and box sets; colour is of course the most important factor when choosing a cataloguing system and spine colours often look the most esthetically pleasing when they are organised according to the colour wheel with complimentary colours used to harmonise the rows (or piles) of CDs with your home decor, though I should note here that the visible light spectrum, or rainbow as it is known, should be avoided as this tends to be garish and a little overused; you can organise your CDs by spine colour using the resistor colour code to encode important telephone numbers and credit card pins, which is handy should you suffer from an intermittent memory lapses, but not so good if you regularly get burgled by an electronics engineers, despicable miscreants that they are; another successful way of organising CDs is the front-to-back stacking system, here most loved and frequently played albums migrate to the front of the stacks while 'for completists only' and 'what was I thinking' discs percolate in a rear-wards direction, never to be seen again; organising by smell is not advised since ones sense of smell will deteriorate with age and localised pet odours can cause some CDs to be miss-catalogued, yet is should be noted that this can be an effective method with discs that are real stinkers and some that are really sweet sounding. However with all these cataloguing methods the most important factor is honing your own mental agility to remember where each individual recording is, especially when esoteric ordering is used to deliberately confuse and confound spouses, light-fingered visitors, small children and dexterous puppies.

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What?


Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: October 14 2011 at 08:01
^ hmm, I think I may have to rethink my whole organizing strategy. Big smile

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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...



Posted By: criticdrummer94
Date Posted: October 14 2011 at 09:23
Alphabetically by band then if I have more than one by the same band it goes chronology 

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MY IDOLS


Posted By: Mr ProgFreak
Date Posted: October 14 2011 at 13:53
Alphabetically by Artist, then by year of release. But I literally haven't touched my CDs in over a year, since it's all ripped to MP3 anyway. So now I usually go by whatever criterium I happen to be searching for - artist alphabetically, album alphabetically, year of release ... you name it. Smile

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https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike" rel="nofollow - https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike



Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: October 14 2011 at 13:55
Same.  Most of my CDs are in big binders and basically serve as physical backups to my hard drive(s).


Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: October 14 2011 at 19:01
Originally posted by Padraic Padraic wrote:

Same.  Most of my CDs are in big binders and basically serve as physical backups to my hard drive(s).
Wait, did you toss all your "jewel" cases in the trash?  Because I would have paid you for the good ones to replace all the ones that I have inadvertently wrecked over the years.


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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...



Posted By: Mr ProgFreak
Date Posted: October 15 2011 at 05:24
I'm about to dismantle my collection ... here's what I will do:

I'll purchase five of those CD wallets (each capable of storing about 300 CDs):
http://www.amazon.de/Hama-CD-Wallet-Tasche-schwarz-CD-Pflegetuch/dp/B000JIA7ZG/ref=pd_cp_computers_2" rel="nofollow - http://www.amazon.de/Hama-CD-Wallet-Tasche-schwarz-CD-Pflegetuch/dp/B000JIA7ZG/ref=pd_cp_computers_2

I'll put all the jewel cases in storage boxes (out of sight).
I'll keep a selected list of digipacks on a self for presentation.
I'll put all the booklets in a separate box, and possibly in a shelf sorted by artist.

This way I'll be able to store my collection in a very compact way, and I'll still be able to access the booklets when I need them - and I'll have the prettiest albums on display.


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https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike" rel="nofollow - https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike



Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: October 15 2011 at 09:59
I can't imagine doing that.  But in the end any organizing strategy is about accessibility.  If you can't access your music and what comes with the albums readily you can't fully enjoy it.

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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...



Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: October 15 2011 at 10:28
Alphabetically seems to be the best way to store my albums, i've tried in many ways before but  never have been satisfied with

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FAIS QUE TON REVE SOIT PLUS LONG QUE LA NUIT HAVE YOUR DREAM LASTING LONGER THAN THE NIGHT


Posted By: lucas
Date Posted: October 15 2011 at 11:35
by genre :
- all punks together
- all 80's goths together
- all new wavers together
- all synth poppers together
- all Ancient music composers together
- all Renaissance era composers together
- all Baroque era artists together
- all Classical era composers together
- regarding romantic era, it was more difficult as I have a huge pile of CDs, so had to split per country/culture (France, slavonics (Russia, Czekoslovakia, Bohemia, Poland), anglo-saxons (UK, USA), scandinavians and baltics (Norway, Finland, Estonia, Denmark)) 
- all XXth century composers together
- all contemporary music composers together
- all ska players and reggaemen together (that includes the white ska-rock : The Beat, Specials, Madness, The Selecter)
- all classic hard rockers/heavy metallers together
- all NWOBHMetallers together
- all glam metallers together
- all extreme metallers together (that includes thrash, doom, death, black and grindcore)
- all alternative rockers together
- all prog rockers of the seventies together
- all prog metallers together
- all glam rockers together
- all folk players together
- all western, country and bluegrass players together
- all soul-men/-women and funkers together
- all celtic music players together
- all jazz-rockers coming from prog rock world together (Brand X, Dixie Dregs, Bruford, Holdsworth)
- all jazz-rockers coming from jazz world together (Hancock, Cobham, White...)
- all jazz-funkers together
- all AORockers together
- all hip hoppers together
- all electronicians and ambient makers together
- all be boppers together
- all swingers together
- all singing jazzwomen and doo-woppers together
- all guitar-oriented jazz-worlders together (Pierre Bensusan, Pat Metheny, Tomas Gubitsch, Bill Connors...)
- all world-jazz bands together (Rabih Abou Khalil, Skakti w/ McLaughlin, Garbarek,
- all rock'n'rollers together
- all psychedelic rockers together
- all space rockers together
- all trip hoppers together
- all smooth jazz bands together 
- all flamenco players together
- all tango artists together
- all african musicians together
- all blues-men/-women together
- all gypsy jazzmen together
- all chanteurs/chanteuses français(e) together
- all guitar shredders together
- all OSTs together


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"Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood)


Posted By: jean-marie
Date Posted: October 15 2011 at 13:11
LOLLOLLOL So much boring......

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FAIS QUE TON REVE SOIT PLUS LONG QUE LA NUIT HAVE YOUR DREAM LASTING LONGER THAN THE NIGHT



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