CD storing problem

[swami]

Hi,

I have many original CDs and many more burnt CDs. I am thinking of the best storage option so that all my CDs stay safe, organised and handy.

[I use CDs both for my home audio and my car]

As of now -

1. All my original CDs are resting on a shelf within their cases (alphabetically sorted).

2. Many of my burnt CDs are in small albums/wallets - each holding 24 CDs (all these are the CDs which I frequently use).

3. Most of my burnt CDs are in cake boxes - the way I bought them (this also means they are not handy and I tend not to listen to them very often).

If I purchase jewel cases I will be running out of space to keep them (currently using a shelf). If I purchase bigger albums/wallets I have effective storage but how do I sort them when I burn new titles randomly? If I keep them in cake boxes, I will never be able to listen to the few CDs which are lying deep in the bottom of the collection.

I understand there may not be a simple answer to this problem and its more of personal choice which varies with individuals. Therefore, I would request you to share your scheme of storage that you use for your CDs (both originals and burnt put together).

Note: Request to people who do not use CDs (HTPC, USB, Ipod guys) to not reply to this post with something like "I do not sort and store CDs as it is foolish to maintain collection on such a medium"; or "Convert all your CDs to flac/mp3 and use external hard disk and keep original CDs safely".

 

[soundofmusic]

I designed a CD Rack with help of a carpenter, Which can hold atleast 300 to 400 CDs. I have kept it in a corner and its serving me as bass traps too. Each shelf is labelled according to the genre. I keep my favorite CDs on this shelf and some CDs which i dont listen often are kept in a old Suitcase which is kept in another room.

Edit: Many of my burnt CDs are kept in a Pouch and then kept in the shelf.

 

[gobble]

Hi,

I have many original CDs and many more burnt CDs. I am thinking of the best storage option so that all my CDs stay safe, organised and handy.

[I use CDs both for my home audio and my car]

As of now -

1. All my original CDs are resting on a shelf within their cases (alphabetically sorted).

2. Many of my burnt CDs are in small albums/wallets - each holding 24 CDs (all these are the CDs which I frequently use).

3. Most of my burnt CDs are in cake boxes - the way I bought them (this also means they are not handy and I tend not to listen to them very often).

If I purchase jewel cases I will be running out of space to keep them (currently using a shelf). If I purchase bigger albums/wallets I have effective storage but how do I sort them when I burn new titles randomly? If I keep them in cake boxes, I will never be able to listen to the few CDs which are lying deep in the bottom of the collection.

I understand there may not be a simple answer to this problem and its more of personal choice which varies with individuals. Therefore, I would request you to share your scheme of storage that you use for your CDs (both originals and burnt put together).

Note: Request to people who do not use CDs (HTPC, USB, Ipod guys) to not reply to this post with something like "I do not sort and store CDs as it is foolish to maintain collection on such a medium"; or "Convert all your CDs to flac/mp3 and use external hard disk and keep original CDs safely".

Good preamble You have read the HifiVisioners pulse very well hyeah:

I face the same challenge. I purchased CD wallets with ring binders so that I can punch holes into the CD sleeves that contain album photos and song titles using the office stationery punching machine and slip them in before and after each leaf. You still have to browse the wallet and search for that one leaf out of 80 when replacing the CD after a listen.


The ring binder wallets are available in Sapna book house.

Cheers

 

[nshankar]

Some suggestion for consideration... (assumed all are audio CDs, mp3 complicate this even more)

Use separate shelves/racks for language.

Use separate wallets for genre.

How do you sort them, by group/singer or album?

Anyways, a lookup database can always be handy as the list is always 'live'. I had used one long back which I vaguely remember being an MS Access sample provided with access s/w.

 

[anm]

This is not a bad option, only wondering what would be a great player for car in case everything is on hdd? Appletv controlled by iphone over a wifi network set inside the car?

Hi,


Note: Request to people who do not use CDs (HTPC, USB, Ipod guys) to not reply to this post with something like "I do not sort and store CDs as it is foolish to maintain collection on such a medium"; or "Convert all your CDs to flac/mp3 and use external hard disk and keep original CDs safely".

 

[wishihadtubes]

@swami
You may have some CDs (burnt or otherwise) on which you only listen to one or few selected tracks. Take some time out and burn a compilation of these tracks. Keep the compilations where they're handy. The original CDs can go into deep storage.
Start focussing on music you actually like & keep going back to. No point buying/burning CDs if you're only going to listen to them a few times. Focus on genres or artists you like, will give you more satisfaction.
Use genres/artists to classify CDs as you stack them on shelves get rid of those bundles - i faced the same problem when i recently began burning CDs for myself

 

[swami]

This is not a bad option, only wondering what would be a great player for car in case everything is on hdd? Appletv controlled by iphone over a wifi network set inside the car?

This doesn't quite relate to the question. Please refrain from hijacking the thread off topic! (no offense )

 

[jorge]

Normally I keep the Audio CDs and the MP3s separate.
Then the mp3s go in a wallet and only the favourite ones!
The others are kept in older wallets and stacked.
Eventually, there's time only to play a couple of mp3s.
The Audio CDs I have kept them like you have in genre order.In a hurry or during some entertaining functions, sometimes they get mixed up.Then one sunday it has to be stored in order again.
These are in a drawer below the amplifiers.
I guess each one finds their own solutions best suited for themselves.
regards.

 

[anm]

no offense taken - attempt was not to hijack the thread, though a little OT than you wanted. I think if there is an elegant hdd based solution for playing in car, you would too migrate to the hdd camp. Sorry for the assumption about you, but I definitely would

This doesn't quite relate to the question. Please refrain from hijacking the thread off topic! (no offense )

 

[swami]

no offense taken - attempt was not to hijack the thread, though a little OT than you wanted. I think if there is an elegant hdd based solution for playing in car, you would too migrate to the hdd camp. Sorry for the assumption about you, but I definitely would

OK then, no harm for a little OT -

I feel (not know) that original pressed CDs sound better than flac of the same from an HDD. So, although your solution might still be suitable for car, for me it will be a big NO NO for home listening!

 

[anm]

dunno about the flac, I THINK wav should sound same. A lot of differences crop up when a comp is playing the file vs a dedicated cdp - due to process scheduling etc on a comp. But if there is a good device that can play music well (like wdtv or appletv) it can be a good option.

 

[swami]

I tried playing some of my FLAC files from my SE Satio phone (Folderplay software) and gave analog audio input to my denon! Sounded fine to me

 

[deba]

Maybe all our CD keeping problem will be solved if all of them are ripped and kept in an External Hard Disk.

Often I dont find the CD I am looking for and planning to play so got all of them in my HD for playback in Flac and MP3 Format.....

 

[asliarun]

An idea (although this is quite subjective, and may not work for you though):

1. Instead of using an alphabetical order, consider organizing your collection on the following basis:

a. Create separate "buckets" for the kind of mood you are in, and the kind of music you like to listen to in that mood. Mood based classification may end up becoming a genre based classification, but it need not be so.

b. Inside each bucket, create sub-buckets based on how much you like the albums, instead of arranging them in alphabetical order. Alternately, arrange your CDs in the descending order of how much you like them inside each bucket.

c. If you have to deal with shortage of storage space or want to reduce clutter, this structure will allow you to easily prune your collection.

 

[swami]

An idea (although this is quite subjective, and may not work for you though):

1. Instead of using an alphabetical order, consider organizing your collection on the following basis:

a. Create separate "buckets" for the kind of mood you are in, and the kind of music you like to listen to in that mood. Mood based classification may end up becoming a genre based classification, but it need not be so.

b. Inside each bucket, create sub-buckets based on how much you like the albums, instead of arranging them in alphabetical order. Alternately, arrange your CDs in the descending order of how much you like them inside each bucket.

c. If you have to deal with shortage of storage space or want to reduce clutter, this structure will allow you to easily prune your collection.

This is a nice suggestion. For a long time I have been planning to create mood based playlists on my mobile to use in my car (never did it though!). Per curiosity, have you sorted your CDs (or even soft copies) in such an order?

 

[prashanth14485]

Have had the exact same problem for years and what I do is just keep them all in different CD pouches (each of which could hold up to 100 of them) and these pouches are sorted based on different genres. Quite similar to sorting them based on your mood because each one of us would prefer listening to a certain kind/genre of music when in a certain mood..

Also, i came across this new cd storage case (a tad expensive though) but found it very interesting. I don't recommend (bcoz i haven't used it) this but if you can't think of alternatives, giving this a try ain't a bad idea because it also helps you design an index of your choice..

here is the link:

Just so as you know, I also saw one that could hold about a 100 discs which was for 1.5k..

Good luck!

 

[asliarun]

This is a nice suggestion. For a long time I have been planning to create mood based playlists on my mobile to use in my car (never did it though!). Per curiosity, have you sorted your CDs (or even soft copies) in such an order?

Thanks. Yes, I have sorted my soft copies in this format.. and it works well for me. This system probably works for me because I tend to listen to music spanning several genres, love listening to handpicked songs or "hidden gems" (unpopular or lesser known songs in often popular albums that appeal to me), and have little patience for crappy songs or crappy albums even if (or especially if) they happen to be from popular artists.

By far, the biggest benefits I find from this arrangement is that I don't need to spend time hand-picking music every time, and I can do housekeeping and "spring cleaning" much more easily.

I would like to claim that I have done this for my CDs as well, but ashamedly, I have been too lazy to do so (yet!).

On the surface, playlists seem to be a solution, but actually don't really work, especially in managing a large collection of music. Physically ordering music works much better. By the way, this is also one of the things that I really dislike about iTunes - it doesn't let us manage our music the way we want to - its the Apple way or the highway.

 

[swami]

OT - these days i am in the process of tagging, renaming and organizing my music library (soft copies). the folder organization is: artist > album > 1. lossy + 2. lossless + 3.other files.

PS: it gets annoying when i get 5 freedb matches for my album and more disturbing when i keep wondering what the correct genre should be - alt rock, house, blue (even wikipedia is not reliable for genres many a times)

 

[Shivam]

I have got a chest of drawers recently made.
Capacity - A little over 700 CD's

I have sorted them into languages, followed by genre and then artists and then arranged them alphabetically.

I use individual covers for discs that I write instead of storing them in a cake-box. I use CD wallets only for discs that I use in car.