Media Storage

This collection, of course, is the result of the following:

1) Spending money exclusively on music from the ages of 11 till about 23, and about half exclusively from that point on

2) working a radio station for four years getting free shit

3) working at a label for five years getting free shit

4) writing music reviews for a living and getting free shit

5) obsessively burning to disc and inserting into a jewel case everything I download off Soulseek, for fear of a hard drive crash

And the thing is...I sell shit CONSTANTLY!!

How the fuck does this happen?

Oi! I'm only 20 and want to have one of these Really Great Collections that everyone talks about so much. Don't view this as a bad thing. You know that organizing it is going to be, like, the most fun you will have in a long, long time. Organizing my CDs is my favorite part of cleaning my room/moving/etc; I always rediscover.

if you DYI, know what you're getting into! it will ultimately be less expensive, but think about all of the time, frustration, etc... use to do minor carpentry projects with a friend during college. aside from the getting/cutting/transporting/painting wood nightmare, if you're doing shelving and you want it to be over 6', you should anchor it to the wall. that involves finding the studs, etc. and building the shelves to the wall's specification. IKEA (especially) designs their products to be transportable and lightweight and disassembled without too much trouble. unless you're a real bad-ass, your finished product will probably be a lot heavier, more unwieldy, and a major pain if you ever move out of your house.

But don't let me stop you. Also, i lived in NYC and didn't have a car, so I might associate carpentry with wooden planks on the subway nightmares, etc.

use to do minor carpentry projects

ahem, I used to do minor carpentry projects

Seems like you need numbers 7 and 1 in this list; http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-music-geek-accessories.htm

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/IMG_7011.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/IMG_7004.jpg

But surely a properly alphabetised 'B' wouldn't contain um Beverley Knight (K) or um Bruce Cockburn(C). Brendan Benson's safe, mind.

Aye, that's annoying, especially given that I've worked in a library for five years.

Hey there, that's definitely an iffy subject. I know, at least for me, I have my CDs released by a single person alphabetized by first name, and LP's by last (I forget why I did this but it made/makes sense). I personally prefer by first name; just makes it easier for me.

I alphabetise by surname, always. Almost. Madonna is by first name. Obviously.

Another touchy subject--what to do with numbers? Many like to do digits (12Rods, 808 State) under how they'd be spelt (treated as 'Twelve' and 'Eight') respectively, where as I prefer to put them all in 0-9 order before 'A'. However, what to do with artists that spell out the digits? Or even worse, switch between digit/word on different releases?

biffy clyro?

a biffy subject

xpost - And then what about where it's a name but it's not really the name, like PJ Harvey (P surely?) or erm, Dave Clark Five - terrible example I'd think probably D, C could work but not really, F would be preposterous. Biffy Clyro is a better example.

Numbers I just put where it would be if they were spelt.

Biffy Clyro's a band, so B. PJ Harvey is a.. solo artist('s band), so H.

Hmph.

that suck uk thing's a bit off then. bobbie gentry? bobby darin? bill cosby? and etc.

And the thing is...I sell shit CONSTANTLY!!
How the fuck does this happen?

You're not selling enough. I have a similar-sized collection and do an annual purge but the amount I sell doesn't except the amount I buy, hence an ever-expanding collection. And I have one room for CDs and I'm determined not to exceed that capacity. Each year I get more dispassionate about what I sell - if it's not likely to be pulled out more than every few years, b'bye. But I've also been ripping and selling which makes the decision easier. And as Ned has said about his own experience doing this, you know how often I queue up stuff I ripped and sold? Exactly never.

Let's face it - once you've got thousands of CDs, there's going to be a bottom 5% that you'll never pull out except to decide whether or not you want to sell it. So sell it!

...doesn't EXCEED the amount I buy...

I especially eschew the idea of keeping something just to remind yourself or someone else how bad it is. ("This Killing Joke album, Outside The Gate, is awful - listen!")

I use shelving I got long ago from a great source in North Carolina. They went under and I had to get a new type of shelving which is good in that it stores a lot but doesn't match my other shelving. Bother.

Re; numbers; I put them in with the letter that spells the digit, hence 65daysofstatic are under S.

!!! go at the start, before A. Which is convenient cos it stops the alphabetical divider falling down, too.

PJ Harvey is a.. solo artist('s band), so H.

This is tough, because I've read that PJ Harvey is the band, while Polly Jean Harvey is the singer.

I just built some shelves to mimic the Ikea dealie:

http://www.eichlernetwork.com/images/Spotlite/storage_i.jpg

'cept mine only has 9 squares (3 x 3). I made it out of Birch plywood, ripped oak pieces for the facing, and stained it a "honey oak" color. It's heavy, but I suspect it will be with me for a good deal longer than the Ikea unit would last.

This is tough, because I've read that PJ Harvey is the band, while Polly Jean Harvey is the singer.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't actually own any, so it's a moot point. I'm now chuckling at the idea of someone (like me, for instance) spending a long time constructing, and subsequently defending their own alphabetising (or otherwise) system, reading this thread and thinking "oh, maybe I should've done it like that after all".

Possibly worse, mine are just in the same order as they are in the Excel spreadsheet, which means there's "The"s missing and solo artists get their names reversed and so on.

You use an excel spreadsheet? I personally prefer Recordnerd.com

I'm seriously considering switching to something like this:

http://www.mmdesign.com/multimedia-storage-cabinets.htm#chest

...getting rid of all my jewels cases, and putting all the CDRs and legit CDs in the same spot.

the drawbacks are that it's expensive, it'd be a bitch to unpack every CD i've got, and i'd have to get a ton of those sleeve thingies along with it. and i'm worried i'd miss the jewel cases at some point!

but i'm really tempted, for space reasons. has anyone done something like this? recommendations?

http://www.lacie.com/imgstore/product_medium/hd_d2.jpg

yeah, my cd's are basically backed up digitally and then stored in boxes. the shelves above are for vinyl.

hmm i'm not really feeling the digital option, if only cos i don't want to rip every single one and i'm a little afeared of head crashes and the like. but, maybe.

i now have 2 of those CD wallets i posted up thread. they are pretty good. could do with a leetle more space for booklets - there is some space at the front for the large mini-books (like with the pet shop boys repackages) but it's tight.

so that's ~550 CDs in the wallets, about 250 albums and 100 singles dumped on oxfam, leaving only ~150 jewel cases in the house. sorted.

I lost a 200GB hard drive last summer - I know I should've made back-ups - but I'm reluctant to go down that road again.

I started an Excel sheet about 10 years ago when I didn't have the internet and I just kept adding to it - my librarian-instincts kept telling me to create some sort of database but I never got round to it. I lost the original sheet in the afore-mentioned hard-drive crash, but I was bored last week so I just sat down and added them all to a new one, I might do something more interesting with the data later. I'd never actually heard of recordnerd.com, mind. USP - I can finally stalk people who've bought my 7".

Numbers I just put where it would be if they were spelt.

What about foreign names? Years ago when I could last be bothered to alphabetise I had my 22 Pistepirkko carefully under K for the Finnish for 22, Die Goldenen Zitronen under G, and agonised a little over Les Savy Fav.

Of course as long as you remember it doesn't actually matter. I think I just wanted visitors to look through my collection and say, "hey, you have such astounding CDs and organisational skills that I must sleep with you right now, but why is this under K?" and I would get to look clever irredeemably wanky. That should have happened all the time, right?

I use shelving I got long ago from a great source in North Carolina. They went under and I had to get a new type of shelving which is good in that it stores a lot but doesn't match my other shelving.

This is the story of all my music shelving purchases.

Current sitch: abt 5-600 CDs, maybe 1-150 DVDs, and a couple hundred records. I WILL NOT get to of jewel cases and I don't want to spend more than $100; should I just pick up an Ikea Billy and some addt'l shelves? Also there will be quite a bit of dead space behinds the CDs/DVDs; anyone have suggestions re: spacers? Also also the records will stick out maybe an inch out of the bookshelf: is this bad for long-term storage?

Why so adamant about getting rid of jewel cases? I'm on the verge of doing just that, probably next year.

ikea expedit

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/expedit-shelving-unit__0092707_PE229406_S4.JPG

it holds approximately 70-80 lps per square if i remember right. inadvertently the best LP shelves on the market. for what you have you may want a 4x4 as opposed to the 2x4, esp if you figure on expanding your vinyl collection and considering your cds and dvds.

Are there any inserts to break up the squares so I don't have to stack CDs? I've thought about the Expedit but the lack of adjustable shelves turns me off.

Xp also I meant I will not get RID of jewel cases, for a variety of reasons, but mostly bcz I take my CDs places a lot (cars, work, parties, etc) and don't want to transfer them to a wallet. Also, I have

OMG! Come on man, don't do that to your readers, what do you have? :-)

Oh no I forgot!

I was prob going to say something abt Digipaks

possibly helpful

http://littlecornerhouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/ikea-hack-expedit-for-closet.html

Funny how my media storage needs have changed in the last 10 years since starting this thread. Now I just use spotify.

That is p Great! But I'm afraid that at $150 for the 4x4 and $20 per insert the cost will add up fast; the Billy's only $50

> Are there any inserts to break up the (ikea expedit) squares so I don't have to stack CDs? I've thought about the Expedit but the lack of adjustable shelves turns me off.

yep, all sort of them - one that breaks them into quarters when inserted, one for two stacked drawers, colored or mirror doors, all sorts of wicker baskets, and others. I've bought four Expedit shelves (some 1x5 rather than 2x4) - they're v. sturdy, and fully finished front and back, top and bottom. So if the top surface gets scratched over time, you turn the whole thing upside down and now it looks the same as before but with a pristine surface on the shelves and top.
http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/0116848_PE272371_S2.JPGhttp://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/72866_PE189117_S2.jpghttp://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/0111961_PE263151_S2.JPGhttp://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/65407_PE176604_S2.jpg

Billy better for CDs and DVDs though - shallower, somewhat adjustable shelves, has a back surface, less expensive. For a vinyl collection, Expedit's size and strength are perfect.

You buy 5-6 of those wacky doodads though and you've quickly doubled the cost of your shelves. I love my Expedit shelves, though!
I've cut up little pieces of cardboard to stick between rows of CDs on tall shelves, allowing me to stack multiple rows of normally-oriented CDs on one row of shelving. Looks grody but it works.

Ya it's a mostly cd and DVD collection and the records are almost an afterthought.

place a row of cds at the front of yr shelves, then screw a piece of wood horizontally between the shelves behind and flush w/the top of that row of cds, then put yr 2nd row of cds on top of the wood and boom yr cds are arrayed in a pleasing stair style layout and the structural wood is concealed, thats what i did once long ago when i had cds

You buy 5-6 of those wacky doodads though and you've quickly doubled the cost of your shelves. I love my Expedit shelves, though!

Yeah i'm convinced that's how Ikea makes money - sell cheap furniture and then charge alot for accessories. Kind of like how McDonalds loses money on hamburgers but makes it back selling a cup of Coca-Cola at 4x their cost.