Your CD collection

Music Collector has many fields, including "where", of course there is nothing stopping you adding a "where " cell/column to your own database. 

With all music on H/D then all you can really do is say whether you have it or not and it's other data.

And you can add a link to a Google Map so you can display directions of how to get from where you are to where the Vinyl Record or CD is stored - you do have to note the latitude and longitude at which you've stored the media though, but I think most of us would have that info to hand. 

I do the protruding LP thing with CDs. Cleaner and guests keep pushing the things back in line though.

Know what you mean Mike!

If one just buys lots of ZAPPA albums to start with?

It will then leave lots of room on the racks to move stuff along.

Stu.

I always store the Mothers under F for Frank. 

I file it under R.

Hmmm R for Really Good .... I'd find that confusing, but then what do I know I Am What I Is. 

The Unthanks catch me out - one minute they are Rachel Unthank & the Winterset then they are the Unthanks so I filed 'em under U. 

Mind you I file Giles, Giles and Fripp under K for Crimson, whereas I used to file them under S for Solicitors.  

I must/should get around to sorting all the albums i have in the T section.

The Pink Floyd/The Beatles/The Rolling Stones/The The/The Mothers.And the like

Stu.

10 cc are a right git.

Very useful topic. I have a fairly modest collection - about 800 CDs, and 400 LPs 

 (and growing faster than the CDs, just like the music business....) They are stored on bookshelves in a separate room, with a shelf near my system for titles in heavy rotation. I had some nice, inexpensive bookshelves made at a local shop.

I'm testing out Music Collector, but about to go to Excel or a simple database. It never gets the classical metadata right, and its the classical stuff where it really matters. Anyone willing to share their Excel templates?

For those of you who store LPs on bookshelves - how do you keep them from flopping around? My shelves are only about 3 feet wide, but I still find it a problem. Either too tight or too loose.

Any opinions on outer plastic sleeves for valuable LPs? I want to keep them on, but I think they are causing more problems than they are worth.

 1)  7389 CD's, 968 Albums on i-Tunes, 150LP's, boxes of cassette tapes, no reel to reel (although I would have liked this) and probably no 8 tracks (of which I'm glad).  I haven't listened to an vinyl LP seriously in more than 20 years but in January 2012, I am planning on resurrecting a turntable again and see if there is any magic there like I remember it and how many people claim it to be so.  If so, I think my attention could be swayed into hunting for more vinyl from here on in.

2)  My collection is about 99% classical.  The way I arrange is constantly changing but about twice per year I have to do some major reorganization and sometimes a minor overhaul for upkeep.  

I do not like albums that have more than one composer as it always poses difficulty in how to file.  These are the ones most likely to get lost somewhere for awhile.  Otherwise, in the beginning it started out as just by composer.  Later it turned into composer and further subdivided by genre.  Now each of my favourite composers literally have there own shelves/sections each.  For example, Beethoven would be one shelf with a section for symphonies, concertos, sonatas, miscellaneous piano works, violin sonatas, cello sonatas, piano trios, miscellaneous chamber works, string quartets, etc.

For the ones that don't fit in anywhere because of more than one composer I have sections for solo piano, for instance, that are further grouped by artist.  The same for chamber music, male/female vocal, early music, opera etc.

So in general it is by composer/genre or else by artist when the disc doesn't fit under one composer.  For much of this year I have been thinking long and hard about changing everything into being organized entirely by artist or label but this isn't perfect either.  If I want a Bach Cantata or  a Piano Sonata of Haydn I like to select what I want to listen to by looking at the complete pool of choices.  Otherwise, I'd have to go here, there, and everywhere or at least only have a specific artist in mind.  As a group, it is nice to make a decision maybe on something you haven't tried in a while.  If it is out of sight, it is out of mind.

3)  About 12 years ago I started compiling my collection in Excel.  Maybe 6 years ago, when I was much smarter, I turned this into a nice MS Access database.  I'd love to be able to just scan a barcode as it is a lot of work to faithfully have this updated and done accurately as well.  I'm sure I have missed many a CD and don't think I own it now.  With failing faculties, I have also bought more duplicates than I care to admit (actually only around a dozen or two.)  Some of these are due to the album cover changing.  I am a visual person and I really only rely on the visual aspect of the album.  It angers me when something gets released with a totally different cover.

I would really like to add the album cover photos still as a field but I don't know if this is possible and too busy to have the time to figure it out right now, at least.

Any opinions on outer plastic sleeves for valuable LPs? I want to keep them on, but I think they are causing more problems than they are worth.

i store my LPs in resealable poly covers bought from Covers 33. Much easier and neater than open ended covers and they protect the records well.

As are 10,000 Maniacs, MuC puts them at the top of the list, alphabetically

I do find "it" a lot easier to find my music in my n-Serve app.

If one accepts the proposition that sq is equal, ripping cd's to harddrive is worth "it" to me

500+ CDs, all classical. Stored in paper sleeves with booklet. (Empty jewel cases are under the stairs in Naim boxes.) That way I can easily find the CD and read the booklet if I want to, without shredding it on plastic lugs.

CDs and booklets are arranged by composer, with separate categories for the awkward cases. Some composers (e.g. Beethoven) are further subdivided into concertos, symphonies, quartets, etc., others are combined - (Kodaly/Martinu). It depends on numbers. I have some markers labelled 'Now playing' that I use as placeholders while I listen.

I use an Excel spread sheet to list them, in the same format as the storage. I tried using Endnote, but it got too frustrating and I exported the database to Excel.

It works for me.

Nice thread this one although it is making me feel inferior with my collection of about 150 cds.

Evoked memories of John Peel who had the ceilings and roof of his house in Suffolk begin to buckle with the weight. He solved the problem by having an outbuiling constructed, which he refered to as the shed, soley for record storage.

I seem to remember at the time of the great man's death that there were over a million CDs/ 

records in his collection.

There was talk in the following years of the nation buying his collection and being put in the British Library but I don't know if any of this transpired.

Album of the year - the Vaccines.

ATB

Ray

About 4,500 LPs and 12"-ers, 1,000 7-inch 45s, 3,000 CDs and about 750 cassettes.

The LPs and 12s are alphabetised and stored in a number of different racks spread across two rooms. The 7s are in a huge DJ chest. The CDs are complete chaos - I never seem to get round to sorting the out or getting them together in one place. Same with the tapes.

I'm losing track of what I've got - that Music Collector software looks good though.

Somewhere between 11-12k right now, most of them sorted by genre first and then either alphabetically or by label.

Oliver,

WOW

Your collection looks like its doubled in size since you moved from Aus.

Stu

I think I had around 8-9k when I left Oz, so much music - so little time. 

About 800 or so. When I used a CD player they were stored alphabetically by genre. Since moving house and going over to streaming/itunes they are just randomly strewn over several ikea billy shelves.

I have about 100lp's most of which have never been played but I still one day fancy getting a linn lp12.