Your CD collection
Posted by: mista h on 27 November 2011
3 questions
1/ How many cds do you own,be interested to find out who owns the largest collection.
2/ How do file them away ? Mine are in a total mess,i did once ask the grandaughter if she would like to sort them out for me. Unable to print her reply as Richard would delete it PDQ.
3/ Does anyone know of a computer software prog that helps sort out cd collections making things easy to find.
Mista H
2. Habitat wooden storeage grid wall mounted in alphabetical order by artist or composer
3. No idea
Approx 1300 CDs and 1300 LPs.
Music Collector (collectorz.com) is what I use to collate said collection. Later LPs and most CDs can be scanned using either by purchasing one of their range of barcode scanner or a smartphone app. I usually rip any new CD to iTunes so MuC will enter the CD data at the same time.
I store LPs in alphabetical order, as are CDs but have a location of the CD within the storage racks, Ikea Benno towers, only 2 now CDs are in JLoft sleeves.
A very versatile system, which hopefully will be even better when the soon to be released updates to the Mac version come through.
1. 250... mostly Vinyl for me
2. Ikea benno towers
3. Music collector... as well as catalogue for collection allows you to enter a location for CD/vinyl etc
Most of my music is split by ECM, Jazz, Classical, Opera, Prog Rock, Female vocal, World, Rock, etc.....
All apart from the rock is filed alphabetically....
Gary
I have 3284 CDs ripped to my Vortexbox.
I have about 800 vinyl LPs and around 100 vinyl singles.
I keep the original CDs in Rubber Wood shelves out of the way with my top 100 on display in a unit adjacent to my system. Digipaks don't fit on my shelves though so they are in CD box.
I keep vinyl I seldom play in a cupboard upstairs and vinyl I play frequently (about 200) near the LP12. They are in alphabetical order or at least that is my intention.
About 300 CDs, stored mainly upstairs in my old music room on shelving units. Not too bothered how as I use them mostly in the car. 99% of the time I listen to vinyl. I have over 3000 LP's and about 800 singles. About 1000 of my best LP's are kept in my main listening room. I don't particularly like to see racks of LPs or CD's on view so the LP's are stored in a very large 5' square wooden box trunk. They are easily accessible and stored in alphabetical order divided into Blues, Jazz and Rock/Prog. The remaining LP's are stored upstairs on racks using the same principle.
In the kitchen/breakfast room I have a B&W Zeppelin and I-Pod making it a CD free zone.
My own cd's are stored in mounted racks from IKEA and categorized on alphabetical order (level 1: artist, level 2: album titel). The categorization on the Nas is done via iTunes and I use iPeng to control the streamer. iTunes is very good at organizing stuff. If your question is on how to organize your physical cd's, I'd advize you to search on the Microsoft page for Excel templates. There are plenty of them to organize books, music etc .. And all are for free.
A question... Do those of you with 2 or 3 thousand CDs listen to them all, or are there a few hundred regular listens and many that never get played? Just curious.
> Do those of you with 2 or 3 thousand CDs listen to them all,
Not at the same time because that would annoy the neighbours. Assuming 8 hours a day it would only take a year to play through my collection, so I have music while I work and music for the evening. There are some CDs I bought years ago though and probably don't listen to, but I keep them because I'm a natural born hoarder (said in Steve Marriott type voice).
I agree there are "core" albums and others making up the numbers.
Personally many are doubles because even having filing system it does not reside in my organic brian, so doubles are not uncommon. Also several copies of LPs are often need to get a) good vinyls and b0 good covers and paperwork.
I'm unable to let things go, so some "thinning"is needed.
As regards having a high number "that you can't possibly listen to them all", well at least one has a chance of doing that or maybe one day a track on the radio or from an audition will remind one of a long lost fave.
1. About 1500 CD and 1000 LP
2.A Ikea Expdit bookcase and Linge Roset Contour's sideboard holds the majority of the vinyl. A couple of Ikea Benno's in the lounge (where the main system is located) hold around 350 CD with the remaining on purpose made shelf's in a bedroom.
3. Orange CD Catalog software
Over the years, since 1971 at least - owned [but not all at once as I am a merciless deleter] about 1100 LPs, over 2000 78s, and about 1500 CDs. Now have 2 LPs, and a few more than 500 CDs. They live in boxes out of sight as the music is replayed via iTunes ...
In reality - apart from the impossible to ignore presence of ESL 57s, and hundreds of musical scores - you might not guess there was much music in my house at all!
ATB from george
About 1000 CDs, mostly piano and opera. All in an Ikea cabinet (I limit publicly accessible area to four meters or so for WAF reasons). Most filed in (dozens) cardboard CD boxes. Part of my collection is in jazz loft sleeves although I'm slowly moving away from sleeves.
Cheers,
EJ
I've found the easiest way to sort out classical cd's is to put them in record label order, this way i find it quicker when looking for that particular album, and on the shelf they look far neater [asthetically pleasing] in record label order.
But for my rock/pop cd's with so many different labels it doesn't work as well as alphabetical order by artist.
Debs
Around 700 CDs - the records were stolen in a breakin a long time ago - which is why I went to CD.
They are all ripped to NAS for the NDX - but I still prefer a lot on the CDS2.
At some point I'll find out if a XPS2 makes it preferable to the CDS2/XPS1.
Like everyone else - I have a core lot - and some are for other people when they visit or because I have not been very good at getting rid of ones I dont listen to - and NAS makes that less important.
Physical disks - I have a quadraspire rack for about 550 or so and the rest are in a chest of drawers in my spare room.
Andrew
1) about 800-900 cds
2) stored alphabetically
3) no idea
Regards,
Elkman
I wrote an Excel spreadsheet many years ago; added macros and graphics and it works very well. Enables me to email a copy elsewhere for insurance purposes.1. About 1200 LPs and 1300 CDs. I must try to go through the CDs to trim out the ones that I am never likely to listen to again (although that process will ironically involve listening to them again, albeit briefly)
2. They're all sorted alphabetically and CDs are stored in some very nice Arizona shelves from Watsons on the Web.
3. I've recently converted from my own database to Music Collector. CDs can be quickly read in the CD drive and all details looked up on line - a pretty quick process to add. It also has the advatnage of a smartphone app to which you can export your collection details - no longer any excuse for mistakenly buying stuff I already have!
1. 2700 CD's and 800 LP's.
2) They are stored in Shelfstore bespoke racks. I store the CD's alphabetically in categories,
Classical (by composer), Organ and Choral, Jazz, Films & Shows, Easy Listening, Male Vocal, Female Vocal, Bands, Compilations and Miscellaneous. The LP's are grouped by 50's/60's music, 70's onwards, Classical and Jazz.
3) I use Excel to catalogue them which allows me to sort and save different lists, for example by Artist, Catalogue Number, Label or Format. It works well for me.
When you reach a sizeable collection it is essential that you devise some sort of organisation.. otherwise I would never be able to find things... using my system I can usually go straight to any given CD/LP providing I put it back in the correct place last time it was played! One tip when I select an LP I always leave the one next to it protruding the shelf slightly so I know where to put it back after playing it.
Happy listening.
Most of my music is split by ECM, Jazz, Classical, Opera, Prog Rock, Female vocal, World, Rock, etc.....
All apart from the rock is filed alphabetically....
Wow ....7,000 CDs have you bought the house next door to store everything ??? How do you store them all ??
Can anyone out their top 7K ?
Mist H
1. About 4000 CDs.
2. Rock (>3000) stored by year of initial release, and then alphabetically within year. Other genres just alphabetically as numbers are modest - a few hundred in each category.
3. Access database.
I store Rock as I do because simple alphabetical storage becomes unwieldy as the collection grows. Acquisition of Aaron & The Aardvarks' Greatest Hits would require 3000 CDs to be moved one to the right, for instance.
Two options are to leave gaps at the end of each letter-group to allow a letter to 'grow' which is, to my eye, unsightly, or to store alphabetically within year. As I now have no material back catalogue left to obtain, the latter works fantastically. If I do buy older material, it is added to the end of the collection and then subsumed into the main body of the collection in a single operation once a year.
Fraser
A friend of mine in the hi fi biz has 17,000 LP's (on last estimate) - probably more now.
Alphabetically, mostly rock and pop, very few classical, some jazz.
That's floor to ceiling, 4 walls, in a good size room.
He once gave me a very rare Mike Osbourne jazz LP - he had 2 copies!
Nice chap. Looking forward to seeing him near Christmas.
He doesn't take CD too seriously - only has somewhere between 2,000 - 3,000!
A database will tell you what you have but not where you have put it.
If you have it all on a hard drive or whatever where "it" is has no real meaning...