I've got a section on my rack where I throw all samplers/various artists compilations. Below that are my mom's old show tunes CDs. Below that all my wife's over-played Christmas CDs. You think you hate Josh Groban now? Just wait until you hear him bellow Christmas standards!
Downstairs there's probably close to a thousand CD-Rs from various coworkers, etc. I have no idea how the hell I'm ever going to sort through that stuff.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
As others have said, the best system is whatever lets you find what you're looking for.
I've got the bulk of my collection arranged alphabetically by artist, and then chronologically by release date. But it's broken across three different CD racks. And then at some point I stated putting jazz and blues discs in their own section, which eventually became its own rack.
Unfortunately I haven't been entirely consistent - I've got a shelf for classical and soundtrack albums, but then some soundtracks are mixed in with the main group by movie title. And I've got a shelf for comedy albums, but Weird Al CDs are in the "Y" section.
Various Artists discs are all grouped together towards the end, unless I only bought it for one particular artist or one band dominates on it, then it'll be in with that band.
Solo works by band members are probably my biggest inconsistency - some of them I file in with the band, others as a separate artist.
Big boxed sets and oddly sized CDs are scattered all over the room, wherever I could find space to fit them. I'm actually almost at full capacity, and I think my wife would kill me if I added another rack, so I'll probably soon have to start putting stuff that rarely gets listened to in boxes. I usually only actively listen to new CDs for the first few months after buying them, then they go on the MP3 player and the physical disc sits on a shelf gathering dust. I've probably got hundreds of CDs that I haven't touched in over a decade.
My other problem is that my wife likes to listen to music while cleaning the house, so she'll pull CDs out of the racks and, best case scenario, stack them up next to the CD player so a few times a year I have to haul that big stack back over to the racks and re-file everything. Worst case scenario, she takes the case somewhere else in the house and I have to play hide and seek to get it back.
I probably should just give up and switch to downloads, but...they'll pry my CDs from my cold, dead hands. It's especially hard to stop now that you can find lots of used classic rock and prog CDs on Amazon for crazy low prices.
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The internet was better before Berners-Lee let the riff-raff in.
Three sections: classical, jazz, and everything else. Each section done in alpha - chrono.
Everything is easiest for me to find when done this way.
On my shelves, they're jazz. Every artist's albums go in one of the three, according to the way I organize. I never have any ambiguity about where I think they belong, so it's impossible for the system to not work for me. So, McLaughlin is jazz, while Mahavishnu is in "everything else," and it all makes perfect sense to me.
For years I was in the battle of my life trying to hang onto media (books, CDs, vinyl, etc) because we always lived in apartments/small houses. Wife Approval Factor was low. Now we're in a bigger house and baring catastrophe will die here so there's still mega room to expand. WAF has been high. Last couple years money has been tight so I've reined back new purchases but in another year or so we'll be flush. As long as I keep it neat, additional CD and LP racks are not a problem. But boy, there's gonna be a fight when we finish the basement over whether the big room will be devoted to audio or video.
I just realized that I've got Ian Anderson solo lumped in with Tull releases. I should probably change that.
Oh no. There's some gems in there, not to mention some things that are OOP. What I need to do is finish this massive work project that I've been slaving on since November and then take some time to work in the basement.all of that stuff goes out the door for me
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Fusion acts are a quandary. I put Dixie Dregs in with my rock but Mahavishnu in jazz. Goddamn those genre defying acts!
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Alice Cooper..."A" or "C"?
Thanks for reminding me that I have three shelves full of CD's I need to arrange.....which means taking my alphabetized shelf apart, and expanding it....
I just go alpha by artist. Classical music is alpha by composer's last name. Then by year of release....for everything.
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
A question for those who do alphabetically:
When you buy new stuff, do you have to shift everything around to get it in the right spot or do you leave spaces on the shelves to expand it (or are there additional options)??
I've always been tempted to do this alphabetically, but it seems like too much work (especiallyl now that my collection has grown to a bit on the large side...)
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
I left room for growth on each shelf ( 2-5 single jewel cases ) and I can shift another couple of spaces with minimal effort.
I have room for 75 or so on the last shelves so I am set for a while.
As an update I just alphabetized by band/artist and did not do further sorting within each.
My wife has a separate cd rack with several hundred discs which enabled me to 'rehome' some discs out of my stacks.
This gave me the slack space.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
I arrange everything by style. Krautrock, Symphonic, Jazz Fusion, ..Etc. Chamber Rock, Avant-Garde, modern Chamber Symphonies, are stored in a huge bookcase and fill the shelves. I keep Stomu Yamashta CD's stored between Avant-Garde and where Asia music begins. Japanese , Egyptian, ancient Greece I store not far in distance from Popol Vuh or Jade Warrior. Popol Vuh....I have every title and do not file their music in the Krautrock section. Instead I store them closer to Mike Oldfield while my David Bedford collection is placed alongside Terry Riley and Kronos Quartet. My American and British Blues collection is extensive and fills two shelves on yet another bookcase ending with Electric Flag and Mike Bloomfield solo, which next in line comes Psychedelic such as Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane etc. Another shelf stores Beatles, Stones, and Kinks. It's extensive. Canterbury runs half way across a shelf into my Space Rock collection. It's a nice collection with diverse choices. It does not arrive to being some outstanding collection but it could keep you busy for a few years.
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