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Vinyl Shelf Finder :: Raspberry Pi and Lazers!


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Hi everybody,

I would like to introduce this crazy project of mine I did recently - find records in your shelf with a laser pointer!

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The main idea is that I organize my shelves based on my Discogs collection and then I find them with a Raspberry Pi pan-tilt laser pointer. I build an manager app and everything!

The official Raspberry Pi blog was kind enough to do a write up - find all the info here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/vinyl-shelf-finder/ (also a reddit with the full setup picture https://redd.it/70muep)

The full hardware setup is harder to replicate and it's not always 100% accurate (this wasn't the idea anyway) but the app is quite cool - I use it everyday, especially for the Last.fm integration. Will be happy to answer any question and requests!

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Why would anyone possibly need this? I keep my records organized by: genre, artist (alphabetical), year of release. I always know where anything I'm looking for is.

 

Seems like you're solving a non-existent problem. (at least for anyone who organizes their collection)

Edited by The Ghost of Randy Savage
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9 hours ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

Why would anyone possibly need this? I keep my records organized by: genre, artist (alphabetical), year of release. I always know where anything I'm looking for is.

 

Seems like you're solving a non-existent problem. (at least for anyone who organizes their collection)

Mind if I ask how you divide by genre? Which genres and what do you do with artists that fall into multiple genres (or do you put their releases into those separate genres?)

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2 hours ago, mameeshkamowskwoz said:

Mind if I ask how you divide by genre? Which genres and what do you do with artists that fall into multiple genres (or do you put their releases into those separate genres?)

Genre divisions are as follows:

Emo/pop-punk

Metal/punk (I also put drone and post-rock stuff here)

"Modern" rock/pop

"Classic" rock/pop

Country

Blues/Jazz

Hip-hop/rap

Misc. (World music, weird 60s Asian lounge music, etc.)

 

If something could fall across multiple genres, I put it in the one I'm most likely to think of for that band, all together. So when The Appleseed Cast started adding some more post-y stuff, they still stay in the emo section.

 

Stuff like Peter Gabriel or Bowie who were still releasing contemporary pop music I still put in classic rock/pop because that is where I most think of them. I don't divide discographies.

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20 hours ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

Genre divisions are as follows:

Emo/pop-punk

Metal/punk (I also put drone and post-rock stuff here)

"Modern" rock/pop

"Classic" rock/pop

Country

Blues/Jazz

Hip-hop/rap

Misc. (World music, weird 60s Asian lounge music, etc.)

 

If something could fall across multiple genres, I put it in the one I'm most likely to think of for that band, all together. So when The Appleseed Cast started adding some more post-y stuff, they still stay in the emo section.

 

Stuff like Peter Gabriel or Bowie who were still releasing contemporary pop music I still put in classic rock/pop because that is where I most think of them. I don't divide discographies.

Gotcha. As my collection has grown and surpassed the 2000 mark I've considered doing this. Mostly because when I'm in the mood for a particular kind of music I often stick with that for the night. Plus if someone wants to put on something jazzy or alternatively aggressive, it's easier to find what you're looking for. It will just be major undertaking. I appreciate the insight.

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39 minutes ago, mameeshkamowskwoz said:

Gotcha. As my collection has grown and surpassed the 2000 mark I've considered doing this. Mostly because when I'm in the mood for a particular kind of music I often stick with that for the night. Plus if someone wants to put on something jazzy or alternatively aggressive, it's easier to find what you're looking for. It will just be major undertaking. I appreciate the insight.

No problem. That's the entire reason I did it, honestly. Makes it easier to pick out what I want to listen to.

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Alphabetical (last name first; no 'the' in band names) and chronological of original release (not actual pressing date). It seems like pure madness to do it any other way. 
 

Also, this app seems useless for anybody who doesn't have a collection less than 2K records.

Edited by somethingvinyl
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On 10/12/2017 at 4:07 PM, somethingvinyl said:

Your stupid app doesn't tell me the order to put them in

Why embarrass yourself like this? Let's keep it constructive!

 

The app is not supposed to do the ordering, it's the other way around, you order them like you want and then you let the app know (via Discogs Notes fields). So even if it's alphabetical, you can still use it for long stretches of the same letter?

 

I mainly use the app now as statistics - it's fun to look back at listening patterns, or identify records you didn't play in ages...

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  • 4 months later...

I added support to display heatmaps of my listening history/patterns:

 

q0c6HKtxjd4HB83WY5UDvMRzV3VvLtTPxx5qd71R

 

* intermittent play time mostly weekends; collection is older than 6 months but that's when I started keeping track

* the first shelf is full of double gatefolds that's why so sparse

* it took me the initial effort of mapping the records to their positions - I done goofed in the process that's why the gaps

* the hot zones are: Prince, Bowie, Underworld

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On 10/4/2017 at 2:49 PM, somethingvinyl said:

Alphabetical (last name first; no 'the' in band names) and chronological of original release (not actual pressing date). It seems like pure madness to do it any other way. 

I'm with you, alphabetical/chronological is easiest for me - I recently purchased some shelf dividers (every 3rd letter) and it has soothed my closet OCD. If I had a collection in the thousands I may feel differently, it can already be a pain to sort through my S's alone.

Edited by bluethumb
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