Organize me!!!!!

[Bright Moments]

my classical collection has gotten out of control.

i have cd's by composer, artist, conductor and even orchestra all mixed together. now, i can't seem to find things that i know i have!!!

is there any simple program to imput my cd info on a spread sheet so that i can at a glance search by catagory and find what i have (or don't have )?

as always, much thanks!

Edited February 2, 2008 by Bright Moments

[Bright Moments]

up

[porcy62]

I presume that you're only one of the fish in the sea, everybody here are facing similar problems.

I filed by author, but lately I forgot the names.

My classical collection is rather small, so my problem is jazz and rock vinyls.

On the other hand I love to get lost in my collection, read "The Library of Babel" of Jorge Luis Borges and relax

[Van Basten II]

I have put my jazz CD collection on Excel.

Now my main problem is that i don't have a printer so i don't have an updated list when i go to the store and i end up buying stuff i already own.

[Larry Kart]

My method, which makes sense to me (and I have a large classical collection): Up until about Schumann or Mendelssohn, most everything is strictly chronological (i.e. by composer birth dates), with occasional pockets within that chronological approach for distinctive national schools (e.g. Spanish Renaissance, Elizabethan-Jacobean-Purcell, French Baroque, Italian Baroque -- with chronology being followed within those pockets). Then from maybe Brahms on, everything is by national origin and chronological within those groupings. At one point I drew a line in the sand and grouped all "Modern" music together, with national pockets within, and then a final separate grouping of "Avant-gardists," but that got confusing, in part because it was easy to forget where those lines should fall. The way I have things now, I find it hard to lose track of anything, even if there's a certain weirdness in placing, say, everyone from Faure to Boulez in the same mid-19th Century to the present "French" bin. Of course, I'm talking about actual CDs on shelves. Are you talking about stuff you have on your computer?

[jostber]

I use PersonalBrain, which is great on associations. I think Bookcase also can do well:

http://www.periapsis.org/tellico/

[Bright Moments]

My method, which makes sense to me (and I have a large classical collection): Up until about Schumann or Mendelssohn, most everything is strictly chronological (i.e. by composer birth dates), with occasional pockets within that chronological approach for distinctive national schools (e.g. Spanish Renaissance, Elizabethan-Jacobean-Purcell, French Baroque, Italian Baroque -- with chronology being followed within those pockets). Then from maybe Brahms on, everything is by national origin and chronological within those groupings. At one point I drew a line in the sand and grouped all "Modern" music together, with national pockets within, and then a final separate grouping of "Avant-gardists," but that got confusing, in part because it was easy to forget where those lines should fall. The way I have things now, I find it hard to lose track of anything, even if there's a certain weirdness in placing, say, everyone from Faure to Boulez in the same mid-19th Century to the present "French" bin. Of course, I'm talking about actual CDs on shelves. Are you talking about stuff you have on your computer?

no larry, i store my cd's in caselogic sleeves in drawers. the problem is for example lets say martha argerich plays bartok and liszt. well, i have cd's under argerich and liszt and bartok - so i have to start searching.

it gets more complicated when i am looking for an artist like midori without remembering that she plays things other than bach and knowing i have at least a few of her cd's - somewhere!

a searchable spreadsheet that i can imput the artist, composer, work, orchestra etc. would solve the problem, but i would hate to create one from scratch. i am hoping a simple program exists with fields that i can easily enter to create a data base from which i can type in midori and see all of the cd's i have with her on it.

or for another example i type in firebird and all of the cd's that have that on it come up.

can anybody help?!!!!

[Bright Moments]

I use PersonalBrain, which is great on associations. I think Bookcase also can do well:

http://www.periapsis.org/tellico/

AHA!!!! i must check this out!!!! THANKS!!!!!

[Christiern]

I have found that there is only one way to effectively cut down on search time, that is to maintain a database. Before computers, I kept a card file, but computer files are the true answer. When I started mine, I had a few thousand CDs, so it looked like a hopeless task and making slow progress is (to me, at least) psychologically discouraging. To solve that problem, I began by entering only the most vital info--this made my cataloging move briskly. Then I casually added information until I was completely à jour. Unfortunately, after all that work, thousands of CDs were stolen, so much of it was for nought. Still that's the way to go.

Being a Mac person, I used Filemaker Plus for my cataloging. As you may be able to see from the following, my database became quite detailed. The beauty of it is that I can search on any full or partial data, or combinations.

[Van Basten II]

The only way i would have time to do this kind of thing would be to retire or either 80 % of my collection dissapears.

[Rooster_Ties]

FWIW, I sort my classical (about 1,500 CD's) by composer on the shelf -- and then group like kinds of works together.

So within each composer's section, symphonies go first, then other orchestral works, then choral (with orchestra), then choral without orchestra, then chamber music -- larger groups first, then smaller, on down to solo piano last (or solo whatever). And the works are usually chronological (to the extent I can) within each subgrouping.

Doesn't matter much for composers I only have one or two discs by (i.e. Mozart ), but my Henze collection get's a little out there (30+ discs), what with different kinds of works on the same disc sometimes. For really big collections of works by one composer, sometimes I'll just group things by label within each composer -- since they're logically released in sets of discs that often relate to each other.

Then at the very end, I have a section for "various composers" -- but only for those discs that don't have a single work on them that was the primary draw for me buying the disc. (In those cases, I sort 'em in by that composer.)

I have to confess to not having much use for sorting based on performers, conductors, orchestras, or soloists. The "composer" is about 90% of the draw for me in most cases, so that's how I organize things.

Edited February 2, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[porcy62]

My method, which makes sense to me (and I have a large classical collection): Up until about Schumann or Mendelssohn, most everything is strictly chronological (i.e. by composer birth dates), with occasional pockets within that chronological approach for distinctive national schools (e.g. Spanish Renaissance, Elizabethan-Jacobean-Purcell, French Baroque, Italian Baroque -- with chronology being followed within those pockets). Then from maybe Brahms on, everything is by national origin and chronological within those groupings. At one point I drew a line in the sand and grouped all "Modern" music together, with national pockets within, and then a final separate grouping of "Avant-gardists," but that got confusing, in part because it was easy to forget where those lines should fall. The way I have things now, I find it hard to lose track of anything, even if there's a certain weirdness in placing, say, everyone from Faure to Boulez in the same mid-19th Century to the present "French" bin. Of course, I'm talking about actual CDs on shelves. Are you talking about stuff you have on your computer?

...and I thought I was a nut.

[Christiern]

I used to keep my LPs in alphabetical order, but I found myself constantly having to shift them, so I finally decided that the only sensible way was to simply but them on the shelves in their order of arrival and then catalog the collection. When I sold my LPs (to Karl Knudsen) i had over 18,000.

One problem with shelving them alphabetically by artist or composer is that not every issue is devoted to just one.

[Bright Moments]

One problem with shelving them alphabetically by artist or composer is that not every issue is devoted to just one.

SPOT ON!

and a lovely database - now if only i can find a program for windows that is user friendly!!

[wordsandsounds]

One problem with shelving them alphabetically by artist or composer is that not every issue is devoted to just one.

SPOT ON!

and a lovely database - now if only i can find a program for windows that is user friendly!!

It would seem Catraxx is the thing for you. I love this program, but it takes time to input everything.

[Bluerein]

Filemaker is also in a Windows version. Luckily I've been using it (on a Mac) since 1988 and have upgraded ever since. My collection is completely in these (like Christiern). To start something like that now would be impossible (12000+ cd's). Indeed especially handy for classical music.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Wow, you guys are scarily organized. More power to you. My recordings are loosely "organized" by artists and - ahem - textures with classical, blues, reggae, world music, etc. in *usually* separate sections from jazz and improv. No spreadsheets, no database, no card catalog, no problem. In fact, I have no idea exactly how many CDs, LPs, audiocassettes and DAT tapes I have (the grand total of one reel-to-reel tape too but nothing to play it on). Something of a musical goulash. Oh, wait, what the hell is that pile in the corner? Could that be where the Clifford Thornton I've been looking for is hidden?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

One problem with shelving them alphabetically by artist or composer is that not every issue is devoted to just one.

SPOT ON!

and a lovely database - now if only i can find a program for windows that is user friendly!!

It would seem Catraxx is the thing for you. I love this program, but it takes time to input everything.

There was some discussion, two/three years ago, on AAJ about this. Catraxx was discussed, as well as something else, I forget what, but which allowed you to pick up data from the Internet and slide it into your database. There are errors - the data is only what various people have put in - but if 80% is correct, then the correction job isn't too bad. Do you remember this discussion Words?

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

Mine are sorted broadly by era - Early Music, Renaissance, Baroque etc, then into countries where there are substantial numbers and finally into composers or 'various' within the country/era. One area specifically for British classical music, just because I have a lot of it.

I've about 1000 classical recordings and as a result of a global purge over Xmas I now have them on just 4 narrow shelves - I basically threw out all the jewel boxes, placing inner sleeve and CD in a PVC folder. A bit harder to get instant access - no spines - but acres of shelf space liberated.

I have an Excel file with everything arranged alphabetically by composer.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

No database is going to solve all of the conceptual problems involved in recording a big record collection. I use MS Access, part of the MS Office suite, because it's a relational database that I used occasionally at work and I understand relational databases better than things someone else has made up for me. (Access has a bitch report writer, but that's OK, because I don't use it.)

But, for example, the database can't tell me how many African records I've got. Because there's no such thing, conceptually, as an African record; people are African; and some of them make records. So each artist is classified to nationality. But a record like "Music of many colours" by Fela Kuti and Roy Ayers shows up in a query of records by Africans, and also in a query of records by Americans. And a record like "Euleuk sibir", by Youssou Ndour and Omar Pene, shows up twice under records by Africans.

You also have to take a decision about whether you're recording the physical record you've got or the album. If, for example, you have a BN orig DG mono copy, and a Liberty stereo, a McMaster CD and an RVG, as well as the same material in a Mosaic box, are you going to record all those different issues? I don't. I just record the album; the format is simply an annotation against the purchase record, the latest of which is incorporated into the main record for the album. But I'm not terribly interested in the quality of sound, so the edition isn't a big issue for me. But whichever way you go, conceptual problems are going to arise.

The important thing, before you do anything with a software package of any kind, is to play with a sample of your data MANUALLY for a while, so you know you understand its quirks and what it is you hope you can get out of it.

MG

[Bright Moments]

One problem with shelving them alphabetically by artist or composer is that not every issue is devoted to just one.

SPOT ON!

and a lovely database - now if only i can find a program for windows that is user friendly!!

It would seem Catraxx is the thing for you. I love this program, but it takes time to input everything.

YES YES YES!!!!!

big thanks!!!!!

[Shawn]

CaTraxx is the way to go, they just released a new version as well.

[Christiern]

Apropos Filemaker, I did not know that there is a PC version,but that's good. As some of you may know, I have for the past 3 years worked on interpreting (Gothic handwriting), translating (from old Danish), and entering into a Filemaker database 2-300 year old records of slaves and owners on St. Croix (which used to be Danish). The institution for which I am doing this uses PCs, but Filemaker allows me to save the files in the Excel format.

[Ron S]

FWIW, there's a 4-year-old thread on this here.

[wordsandsounds]

Wow, you guys are scarily organized. More power to you. My recordings are loosely "organized" by artists and - ahem - textures with classical, blues, reggae, world music, etc. in *usually* separate sections from jazz and improv. No spreadsheets, no database, no card catalog, no problem. In fact, I have no idea exactly how many CDs, LPs, audiocassettes and DAT tapes I have (the grand total of one reel-to-reel tape too but nothing to play it on). Something of a musical goulash. Oh, wait, what the hell is that pile in the corner? Could that be where the Clifford Thornton I've been looking for is hidden?

There was some discussion, two/three years ago, on AAJ about this. Catraxx was discussed, as well as something else, I forget what, but which allowed you to pick up data from the Internet and slide it into your database. There are errors - the data is only what various people have put in - but if 80% is correct, then the correction job isn't too bad. Do you remember this discussion Words?

MG

Indeed I do, but don't age me too much. Thread is here minus my screenshots from a photobucket account I don't even think I have access to anymore...

The reason, for me, it takes a while is because I like to input everything and also you have to approach how you are going to list things. Let's just say composers for instance, common name, born name, include age, etc.... That is also the beauty of this program, I can do a simple search and return all the tracks written by x or all my versions of a certain song. Say I want to know something as absurd as how many albums I have that a recorder is played on... But really I love it for browsing and rediscovery...

Also, I really love looking at my albums so throughly going through the liners and composers...

And a note, even if you don't want to do all this, that's fine. Just use cddb and it is still pretty useful.

Edited February 4, 2008 by wordsandsounds