How To Organize Your Record Collection

[idreamofpunk]

I actually do have a separate cabinet for my Manic Street Preachers, Gaslight Anthem, Fake Problems, Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, and Thursday 12" stuff. And a few other gems that I deemed worthy.

And Gaslight, Fake Problems and the MAnics get their own 7" box.

that it wasn't worth yr time to include that RoC ATDI in the list of what you keep in that cabinet is proof that you don't treasure it and need to sell it to me!

Only for ebay prices. :-*

But I didn't include anything that I had one thing by any particular artist/band in the list. That doesn't mean my test pressing of 28th and Stonewall is up for grabs.

[kriss]

Could we do a payment system? Pretty sure Emily would have my face mounted on the wall if this transaction went down.

[idreamofpunk]

you mad?

For me personally, it has less (not at all really) to do with any sense of superiority and more to do with my own personal OCD and sense of aesthetic (c'mon bro, you've seen my house - that shit's more meticulous than most indie comic shops and record stores). Plus it's just fun having genre folders - if you've got a sizable enough collection to do it, I think it's needed to a certain extent.

See that i didn't quote you. We've gone over your collection, and while i can't find a damn thing if I'm looking at it, I think it's fantastic you enjoy doing it.

I just can't get behind the judgement and assumptions that if you don't do that you're lesser on some imaginary genre-based totem pole.

ANd if you think your face would be the only one on the wall, you're sorely mistaken. After my own, she'd take a few neighbors down with her before the police stepped in.

[GradedOnACurve]

[/thread]

so barrington levy, beatles, blink 182 would be an acceptable arrangement? raekwon, rolling stones, russian circles?

If this really works for anyone at all, you either:

a) have less than 200 records

buy a really narrow variety of music on vinyl (or only like a narrow variety of music in general?)

c) grew up listening to top 40 stations and never differentiated between genres in your life

I do agree with chronological by album. I'd always done that with cd's and still do it with full-length lp's.

Wow what are you upset about? Sorry if were not so cool and arrange our music by genre like cool people do. Didn't get the memo

A) definitely own more than 200 records (didn't know that was a magic number cool guy)

Madonna is next to Make Do and Mend and Tears for Fears in near Trial By Fire. Didn't know it was illegal to put them together (Do I need a cool Bob Marley and Miles Davis record thrown in too?)

C) oh yeah I bought a car radio specifically so I can consistently listen to my iPod because the radio was playing too much Young Livers, These Arms are Snakes, and I think my local classic rock and rap stations LOVES to play From Ashes Rise and Restorations. Like seriously my top 40 station loves Dangers and Minor Threat. Oh god i need my record player for Beatles and Rolling Stones because I never hear them on the radio at all.

Starting to become convinced you're a troll.

[gabpower]

I think only one or two person here took the time to mention by genre (or kind of music).

Whenever I feel like jazz, I go to the jazz section, whenever I feel like rock'n'roll, I go to the rock'n'roll section.

From there I take the first one, listen to it and put it at the end of its cube. That way I get to listen to everyone of my records about once a year.

Large artist collections get their own spots.

[ptrsev]

[madtired]

I think the notion that you shouldn't have some records near others is just stupid to me. Why is it wrong of me to have my Bad Religion records next to my Beatles records next to my BEastie Boys records?

This doesn't make any sense at all. Music is music. I don't care if you do it yourself and understand why you may want to, but if you're going to look down on others for not adhering to your own deluded sense of superiority based on your RECORD FILING SYSTEM, get over yourselves.

Not superior at all and don't mean to come across that way. Just more surprised than anything that such a large percentage of people do it differently. When I used to shop for vinyl in my dj'ing days.. you wouldn't see drum n bass records mixed with techno records. Just like if you walk into pretty much any music store, you aren't going to see punk records mixed with jazz records. Like the other folks who organize by genre mentioned, it just makes listening to a set of records in the same style that much easier. I don't have as large of a collection as kriss stress, but I don't want my house or techno records mixed in with my jazz records, nor do I want my drum & bass mixed in with my rock records. Once you start to have a sizable collection (200 was just a random number, but definitely a point where you need to have some sort of organization), I would just have a hard time finding things.. especially since a lot of my records don't have any information printed on the spine at all! Just my .02

[tape]

Whenever I feel like jazz, I go to the jazz section, whenever I feel like rock'n'roll, I go to the rock'n'roll section.

Whenever I feel like music, I go to my music section.

I just recently crossed 200 12" records, but I have... 3000? 3200? CDs, and I never once in my life considered doing anything with them but alphabetical by artist, chronological by album.

I don't know, maybe I'm nuts, but I don't really think about genres much.

[tape]

mine are organized first by the mastering engineer, then by the plant they were pressed in, then if necessary by drummer's middle name.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!

OH MY GOD I finally found my twin brother separated at birth!

[idreamofpunk]

I think the notion that you shouldn't have some records near others is just stupid to me. Why is it wrong of me to have my Bad Religion records next to my Beatles records next to my BEastie Boys records?

This doesn't make any sense at all. Music is music. I don't care if you do it yourself and understand why you may want to, but if you're going to look down on others for not adhering to your own deluded sense of superiority based on your RECORD FILING SYSTEM, get over yourselves.

Not superior at all and don't mean to come across that way. Just more surprised than anything that such a large percentage of people do it differently. When I used to shop for vinyl in my dj'ing days.. you wouldn't see drum n bass records mixed with techno records. Just like if you walk into pretty much any music store, you aren't going to see punk records mixed with jazz records. Like the other folks who organize by genre mentioned, it just makes listening to a set of records in the same style that much easier. I don't have as large of a collection as kriss stress, but I don't want my house or techno records mixed in with my jazz records, nor do I want my drum & bass mixed in with my rock records. Once you start to have a sizable collection (200 was just a random number, but definitely a point where you need to have some sort of organization), I would just have a hard time finding things.. especially since a lot of my records don't have any information printed on the spine at all! Just my .02

At the same time, if I go into a shop, and the people running the place do not have the same definition of a certain genre, or what a particular band plays, I'm left searching high and low for what it may be tha tI'm looking for. There are some places where this wouldn't work. I agree that in shops, the separation of genres make it easier. JAzz, blues, rock, soul/R&B, punk, pop have their own section for ease and the comfort of the customers. However, that's not the same setting as someone's personal collection.

If you want to do things one way, go for it, that's great! If it's easier for you, go get that. I just don't find it necessary myself, as even if there is no info on the spine, since it's in alphabetical order, it's easy to find it because it's between ______ and ______.

Sorry, the post came off as kind of condescending. No hard feelings on this end. WE cool?

Cool.

[idreamofpunk]

I don't know, maybe I'm nuts, but I don't really think about genres much.

I always loved what Tom Smith from To Live and Shave in LA said before commencing their WFMU session:

"LEt's rock... Oh wait, genre doesn't exist. LEt's do nothing."

[travis]

My house isnt a record store and the alphabet never changes.

[recordhound1002]

My house isnt a record store and the alphabet never changes.

[cardiac]

I switched to 'genres' about 2 years ago because I'm a pretentious aesthete and didn't like the way certain records looked next to eachother. (I also got rid of a lot of records because they had art I deemed ugly > hate on)

Eventually I switched to made up genres for my own amusement / maximum aesthetic flow.

[madtired]

At the same time, if I go into a shop, and the people running the place do not have the same definition of a certain genre, or what a particular band plays, I'm left searching high and low for what it may be tha tI'm looking for. There are some places where this wouldn't work. I agree that in shops, the separation of genres make it easier. JAzz, blues, rock, soul/R&B, punk, pop have their own section for ease and the comfort of the customers. However, that's not the same setting as someone's personal collection.

If you want to do things one way, go for it, that's great! If it's easier for you, go get that. I just don't find it necessary myself, as even if there is no info on the spine, since it's in alphabetical order, it's easy to find it because it's between ______ and ______.

Sorry, the post came off as kind of condescending. No hard feelings on this end. WE cool?

Cool.

It's the internet. I'm cool with everyone. Apparently at least 7 people are not cool with me but whatever.

My reasons must clearly stem from the fact that 60-70% of my collection is 12"s. Only the past couple years I have really started buying full lengths. The pic below is of one slot in my expedit. Should explain why the alphabet system would never work for me.

I have plenty of weird shit with obscure artists that I forget I own, even if the label is well-known and one I can easily remember, so genre is really the only workable method. Not forgetting compilations and split releases too. To each his own.

[kriss]

If that one cube is indicative of the whole collection, then yeah, I'd probably avoid the alphabet system like the plague too. hahah

[SecretAgentP]

Fuck organization! TOTAL CHAOS!

at least, that's what mine looks like.

[moonbeams]

I tried ordering by label to spice things up.

It was a waste of time.

[avery]

Whenever I feel like jazz, I go to the jazz section, whenever I feel like rock'n'roll, I go to the rock'n'roll section.

Whenever I feel like music, I go to my music section.

I just recently crossed 200 12" records, but I have... 3000? 3200? CDs, and I never once in my life considered doing anything with them but alphabetical by artist, chronological by album.

I don't know, maybe I'm nuts, but I don't really think about genres much.

where do you store all those CDs? i have about 500 and ran out of space on a CD rack at about the 450th and they're all packed in tighter than i would like.

for now, all my records fit onto 2 different shelves (1 for 7"s and another for the 10 and 12"s) of a book case and i'm debating whether i'll get an expedit, but i really need to find a place for my CDs which my husband and i have had since the early 90s and aren't about to let go of any time soon.

[ryanmccauley38]

I just go alphabetically with artists/bands and then chronologically within each release. I thought about changing it up not too long ago to go by genre, but my collection isn't large enough. I think it would be nice to do so at some point though, even though genre classification can be subjective when you start getting specific. It would be easy for me to understand my own organization, and anyone looking through mine would get a good idea of my take on subgenre. Until then, it's still just alphabets and chronology for me.

[madtired]

If that one cube is indicative of the whole collection, then yeah, I'd probably avoid the alphabet system like the plague too. hahah

right?

Most of it does look like this. Like you were saying about subgenres..it only gets worse from here.

Whenever I feel like music, I go to my music section.

I just recently crossed 200 12" records, but I have... 3000? 3200? CDs, and I never once in my life considered doing anything with them but alphabetical by artist, chronological by album.

where do you store all those CDs? i have about 500 and ran out of space on a CD rack at about the 450th and they're all packed in tighter than i would like.

I've got a few of these:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/07305310/

easy to move things around, imo. holds about 180 cd's each.

would probably not be the best solution for 3000+, but I'd be interested to see what that looks like too.

[cardiac]

...genre classification can be subjective when you start getting specific..

Hence my decision to invent genres.

Half the fun, I think, is pulling a record out from -oh, let's say- the "punk" section, playing it, and then debating whether it goes back from whence it came, or if it makes more sense in the "hipsters" section.

Have a ton of "techno" singles? Group that shit by proximity to Detroit & Miami!

Do whatever you want all the time.

[tape]

where do you store all those CDs?

I have a whole mess of these: http://www.bostonwood.com/cd.html

I started freshman year of college with one 160-capacity shelf and kept adding another one of those whenever I needed one. Newbury Comics always used to have these things back in the day.

A few years ago, someone was throwing one out the 900-capacity one one day right around the corner of me, so I grabbed that, cleaned it up, and added a new panel for the back because they had taken it off. I also have one more that's maybe twice the size of the 160 as well.

My records I'm doing in a 1x5 cube Expidit shelf for the moment.

[tylerrr]

I do alphabetical by band, chronological by album.

[avery]

where do you store all those CDs?

I have a whole mess of these: http://www.bostonwood.com/cd.html

wow. i need to find one of those! i can call to see if they'll ship to CA, but if they did, it'd probably be awfully pricey...

i like how it looks like it's real wood, too. i prefer that to particle/fiber board.

and madtired, i did consider the benno from ikea, but i don't really like the idea of stacking 3 of those next to each other as i would to keep the CDs all together.

like a lot of people in this thread, i do alphabetical and then chronological. same with the CDs. books are probably the only ones i do by genre (ie. french lit, cooking, home, etc are all grouped together).