Hardbopjazz Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 When you start losing CDs in your collection time to put the breaks on and find a better way of organizing your music. I keep all my CDs alphabetically and then by release date for the artist. Somehow I still manage to misplace CDs and I don’t find them for months. I am pretty sure this has been discussed before, but how do the rest of you organize your collection? I am considering a numbering system for each disc instead of Alphabetizing the collection. This then requires keeping a data base in order to know what CD goes with what number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I do the same as you: Alpha by artist, and then chronological by either release or recording date (if known). Can't say that I've ever "lost" anything in my collection. I've forgotten I had things (never to the point of rebuying a disc, thankfully) and I've sometimes forgotten the name of an artist or a band that I was looking for and had to go look it up, but I've never misplaced something in the collection itself. Speaking personally, I think my technique is the way to go. It only gets more complicated from here. Interestingly, there seems to be evidence that this behavior is genetic: My daughter recently shelved her collection of Webkinz in alphabetical order by name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I don't organize them well. And I do lose discs. . . for a while at least. But I really enjoy this way of keeping them. Going through them I find things to listen to. I've gpne through the entire collection disc by disc this month. That was an experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 (edited) I'm not sure the psychology that is at work here, but: I am meticulous about filing my LPs. However, I am pretty careless with CDs. I try to keep them roughly arranged by genre, but that's about it. I ditched many of the jewel cases long ago, so I have to pick up a stack and go through them by cover to find what I'm looking for. I've probably lost some CDs over the years but I've probably forgotten which. Only lost a few LPs. Oh, well, it's not like I don't have anything to listen to. My only advice for filing is to find a system that is meaningful to you. Edited June 23, 2009 by Teasing the Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I do the same as you: Alpha by artist, and then chronological by either release or recording date (if known)... Speaking personally, I think my technique is the way to go. It only gets more complicated from here. I do it this way too (recording date preference, though Ellington gets messy.) However I have a friend who moved to an alpha by artist, followed by alpha by album title. He said his wife was unable to refile discs properly and didn't have the knowledge of release dates. It was also early in the marriage and she's the breadwinner so he didn't want to get into some sort of "put a bookmark where the disc was" system. He got over it. His old ways of filing discs that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I lost but one disc in my recent move ... which is amazing considering the collection approches 6000 CDs. The replacement is on the way. I sort them pretty much the way Hardbopjazz does; the classical discs are sorted chronologically by composer and by genre within their works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I do the same as you: Alpha by artist, and then chronological by either release or recording date (if known). Same here. Although I get lazy about actually filing them away sometimes, and I also have stashes all around the house, which is not good but I simply don't have enough shelf space for the little buggers. But I've never lost any...so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 used to enjoy ordering my cds in different ways but now i keep them in disorder... i often don't find what i was looking for initially but i always find something to listen to ... borrowed a cd from a friend recently and it seems to have vanished, rebought it for him, guess it won't reappear before i buy it for myself as well... got an empty case back from a friend, three weeks later he gave me back the cd and i put it into a case with some other cd that was lying around because i couldn't find the right case... now i have the case but i have no idea where the cd is - guess i'll have to open all cases some time in the near future (sonny stitt - legend of acid jazz: low flame, my favorite patterson/stitt cd...) so the approach does have its downsides (and it only works because i have a (by the standarsds here) small collection of only about 1000 cds...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 If you have a fairly wide range of musical genres to accommodate and if you own a sizable number of Various Artist compilations, the alphabetic method rapidly reaches its limits of total impracticality. I've therefore arranged my LP collection (which still is about 90% vinyl, rest CDs) by musical styles, even within jazz. I.e. inside the jazz segment (broadly two thirds of my collection), pre-swing "Oldtime" jazz, Swing and post-WWII Modern Jazz all have separate fields organized A to Z by the leader's name. V.A. albums are a bit more complicated and are arranged roughly by album feature (i.e. instruments or styles), big bands vs. small groups, particular reissue series, specific sub-areas (e.g. all Territory band albums are grouped together, all Westcoast Jazz albums too, etc.). European jazz has a shelf section of its own and is broken down by country and then again A to Z and then in an analog manner for the V.A. albums. Of course this produces overlaps and sometimes I do have to search a while for a particular V.A. album as it might fit in several categories. And sometimes it does occur that I just cannot immediately recall the name of a semi-obscure band leader the album of which Id like to give a spin. And occasionally a disc misplaced inside a jacket or jewel case does require some searching. But a total loss of a platter? Not so far, happily. So it seems like this comparatively detailed organization of my 6000+ discs (not counting 45s and 78s) does pay ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetrylover3 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I too only have a small collection of 1,000 CDs, but unlike others I have repurchased discs I thought lost only to have the originals resurface later. So it goes...I can always trade them in at my local brick and mortar, Euclid Records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Well, it did happen to me a bit more often that I'd care for that I've bought albums only to find out later that I already had the music (in rare cases exactly the same album but mostly in cases where exactly the same music had been issued or reissued on various labels with totally different cover artwork). Usually happened to me when I was perusing the stock in a record shop in some place far away from home. As it usually concerned fairly affordable secondhand items in doubt I've come to take the plunge and grab it (because if you find out later you passed up an item of interest that you thought you had but later found out you did not have after all you'll be sorry forever ). Over the years I've been able to shift most of those doubles through the usual channels, though (and make good price-wise). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indestructible! Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I too only have a small collection of 1,000 CDs, but unlike others I have repurchased discs I thought lost only to have the originals resurface later. So it goes...I can always trade them in at my local brick and mortar, Euclid Records. You know all of us Organissimites are sick puppies when we start saying things like "ONLY a SMALL collection of 1,000 CDs"! And that's why I love this place! Cheers, Shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 When I can't keep track of my stuff, I know I have too much stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewHill Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 When I can't keep track of my stuff, I know I have too much stuff. Yeah, I've kind of found myself in a similar situation. Ever since I've upgraded my cd shelves, I have more breathing room, but on the same token, when I see a gap between cd's, I'm always wondering if I misplaced one, or even worse someone took one without letting me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I don't organize them well. And I do lose discs. . . He's NOT lying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I group discs alphabetically and by era. So I have discs listed alphabetically for pre-40s music, then again, alphabetically starting at "A" for 40s - 60s, then again for 60s - present. I also separate out artists where I have a large number of discs by them (Ellington, Parker, Miles, etc.) These are grouped separately from the bulk of the discs. Works for me, so far. But it's not a sprawling collection. Under 1,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I only have jewel cases for about 1/4 of my collection, the rest have been in boxes for the past 5 years. I've been slowly loading them onto external hard drives, I let software arrange them for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I let software arrange them for me. I have this sick urge to just once file jazz by label (and then probably by recording date, though maybe release instead) just to see what it looks like. However it's a hell of a lot easier to do with a couple of mouse clicks in the database, so that will have to suffice. :rsmile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 My problem is losing CDRs when I've transferred (or for that matter, received from someone) two LPs to one CD with different artists. This has happened a couple of times recently when I sold LPs on eBay. Before shipping them I wanted to make sure I had a transfer, and in one case I didn't think I did but after transferring and manually editing out the clicks, I stumbled across the CDR that I had filed under the other guy's name. Other time is more annoying - I sold Monty Alexander's World Pacific debut LP, I'm absolutely certain that I made a transfer some time ago but hell if I know where it is, so I had to do it all over again. And it wasn't the quietest of records. Maybe that will teach me not to make two-fers of unrelated LPs in the future, but when you've got limited slots in a three-ring binder system, its much easier to add one CD than two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 They sometimes go on temporary vacation if I misfile. The one downside of of getting rid of the jewel cases and putting them in little plastic sleeves is it gets harder to find discs, especially if its a one ff artist who could be filed in several places...no quick scan along the shelves. More than made up for in the space saving - and the obvious solution now so much comes from downloads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Boy, do I feel like a fossil around here for clinging to all my vinyl with their (mostly) clearly readable spines! :D Anyway, the space-saving factor is tempting for CDs, but I'd definitely not go for plastic sleeves nor for slimline cases. Having to "guess" where a particular disc is in an alphabetical order is bad enough already for my 700+ 78s! And where would I put the booklets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 And where would I put the booklets? They fit in the plastic sleeves - though you have to chop the back cover up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I don't organize them well. And I do lose discs. . . He's NOT lying! Aha! So that's where those discs I bought from Shawn came from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I do the same as you: Alpha by artist, and then chronological by either release or recording date (if known). Same here. Although I get lazy about actually filing them away sometimes, and I also have stashes all around the house, which is not good but I simply don't have enough shelf space for the little buggers. But I've never lost any...so far. I'm anal about shelving. My CDs get shelved as soon as I get them. With 3,000+ CDs that means a lot of shifting. If the CD comes early in the alphabet, I've timed the shift as taking upwards of a half an hour! used to enjoy ordering my cds in different ways but now i keep them in disorder... i often don't find what i was looking for initially but i always find something to listen to ... borrowed a cd from a friend recently and it seems to have vanished, rebought it for him, guess it won't reappear before i buy it for myself as well... got an empty case back from a friend, three weeks later he gave me back the cd and i put it into a case with some other cd that was lying around because i couldn't find the right case... now i have the case but i have no idea where the cd is - guess i'll have to open all cases some time in the near future (sonny stitt - legend of acid jazz: low flame, my favorite patterson/stitt cd...) so the approach does have its downsides (and it only works because i have a (by the standarsds here) small collection of only about 1000 cds...) Oh. My. God. That literally sounds like a nightmare to me. How do you live like that?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 (edited) If you have a fairly wide range of musical genres to accommodate and if you own a sizable number of Various Artist compilations, the alphabetic method rapidly reaches its limits of total impracticality. I have a very wide range of musical genres AND a lot of Various Artist compilations. I sort by strict alpha by artist regardless of genre. I can't imagine sorting genres WITHIN genres! My VA comps are shelved after the main body of the collection, and then alpha by title... Edited June 23, 2009 by Alexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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