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Posted by tolhurst (U6377463) on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009
What principle do you use to sort your compact discs and LPs?
Gid threw this question into the air last night and TBH all music lovers have an answer to this, as Gid knows.
One of Natasha's best shows was on this subject.
I know lots of mates' girlfriends used to swear by alphabetical order, but TBH you might as well sort them by sleeve colour (all the Polydors on the left and Belly's "Star" (purple) on the right, with Apache Indian (Island) and the Sex Pistols' green CD spines in the middle). After all, there's no point sorting out all the vegetables in the pantry into alphabetical order. What happens if you change the language to German and the aubergines become "Zucchinis"? You have to re-order the WHOLE THING!
(actually, I think Zucchinis may be called "courgettes" in English but I wouldn't know, I've never bought any of this stuff. And although C to Z is pretty cataclysmic, it pales into insignificance against A to Z.)
I have a simple, inexpensive software package which has catalogued all my 430 compact discs after I inserted them one by one into the computer. That way I can find records and tracks by computer search, and physically file them in a sensible way with Kraftwerk, Siouxsie, the Cure and the Cocteaux on the left, St Etienne in the middle, and Ride and the Red Plastic Bag on the right...
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
I just shove them on a shelf in a random order - or as the MP3 player has become the default way of playing music in our living room, now in a box preparing to go into the loft. Bit tragic I know but we need the space, and I could never find the CD I wanted (do you think these two could be linked????)
That said everything is catalogued in a spreadsheet - useful if nothing else for insurance purposes.
Andrew
(´óÏó´«Ã½ employed dude)
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
The CD's in the Ikea CD racks are filed in alphabetical order (with some gaps in case more CD's are added along the way)- but by first name (to make it easy for the 'other half' as his memory is going). So the David Bowie CD's are filed under 'D' and not 'B'.
I did throw a curve ball in with bands whose names start with 'The', because I thought we'd have quite a few of them; so I made the executive decision (rightly or wrongly) to ignore the 'The' and file them under their 2nd word. Hence 'The Beloved' are filed under B, not T.
Haven't filed group/artist collection by release date or title though......
Is that going too far
Otherwise all CDs which have been transfered to the computer can be filed however I choose just by the click of my mouse
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I have a shelf for all new CDs as they are the ones I play most; three shelves and growing of free CDs in a random order - they are piled in with my various artists Cds and the rest are in alphabetical order.
My new CD shelf needs pruning to fit the latest in, they are in a pile on a table but I keep on forgetting to get round to it. I should do it today as I have a day off work but the cycling is on.
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You're allowed to remove the "The" - that's okay
I seem to remember a chain of record shops who didn't remove it and always confused me! Might have been Andy's Records, who had the habit of filing solo artists under their first name rather than surname like every other music store I've been in. Used to confuse me no end!
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I like the way Itunes doesn't recognise the word "the" but my physical "The" specimens are all under "t".
This allows me to assert additional anality over the ordering when it comes to bands such as Buzzcocks which, as we all know, favour the plural noun.
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i'm with the shoved on a shelf in random order approach. i never know what i might find.
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
, in reply to message 7.
Posted by junkiecosmonaut (U9049347) on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009
andrew youre right it was andys records that put artists names first as i used to be employed by them
i have about 3000-4000 cds but the only way really is alphabetical(numbers at the begining?)
i tried genre but genres became sub genres in themselves
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CDs are partly on the floor because I've run out of shelf space, LPs leaning against a wall, singles in a cupboard, tapes in a big cardboard box.
Apart from "bought abroad" music cds which have a rack to themselves (mostly stuff from France and Finland).
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Wasn't it in the new episodes of "Red Dwarf" where Kryten said they didn't use DVDs in the future because no-one ever put them back in their case?
That may explain where my compact disc of "Waiting for the Flood" by the Armoury Show is...through a black hole, in the future. The case is pretty, though.
My discs are not physically filed in alphabetical order, but the database software will ignore the word "The" for its alphabetical index.
But what about "The The"...? Is it "The, The"?
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The "The The" issue always reminds me of...
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Love that clip - never heard of Calum Gilhooley before!
*He* chucked his The The tapes out. Maybe they should be filed under "Johnson, Matt"...
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, in reply to message 12.
Posted by junkiecosmonaut (U9049347) on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009
red dwarf wasnt funny move on
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, in reply to message 13.
Posted by Tinsnail_Racer (U1486682) on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009
Pete Baikie wasn't in Red Dwarf, was he...?
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
Pete Baikie wasn't in Red Dwarf, was he...?Â
Not as a main character, the name reminds me of that 1970s comedy series where a Russian was trying to figure out American living. Similar in idea to "Mork & Mindy" or "A.L.F."...
I looked him up and see he was in "Absolutely" whose name I had been coincidentally reminded of by the above "The The" clip - with Alistair McGowan, Morwenna Banks and Gregor Samsa, sorry, Fisher. That was a great show!
Can't remember anyone Scottish in Red Dwarf. Not sure they even had an engine room or teleporters... (thinking in clichés...)
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, in reply to message 15.
Posted by Tinsnail_Racer (U1486682) on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009
I know, he was the guy with the clipboard - he used to live round the corner from my granny.
There was something about Red Dwarf in the post before mine and I wasn't sure where that had come from.
Stooooneybridge......
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Stoneybridge.
If I had the record of that, it'd not only be something for the S's (?) but also a record about a British place...
(walks round the room bent backwards at 45 degrees in a Welsh accent...)
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The lovely Glasgow born Clare Gorgan was in Red Dwarf, playing Lister's girlfriend.
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Can I edit that to the lovely Clare Grogan?
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I do know
1) I read on wikipedia that she was christened "Claire" but prefers "Clare".
2) She is very fussy about the spelling when she presents on 6Music.
3) As an actress, her Equity card says C.P.Grogan - like David Bowie, she changed her stage name to avoid confusion with a now less-well-known person.
4) I have filed her band, not under "A", but under "M" with Feargal Sharkey and "All About Eve". However, I discovered just now that "M" is at the very end of my filing after "Z".
For some reason.
So the system's not tolhurst-proof...
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
Hello Junkiecosmonaut, my screenname elsewhere is surprisetruck so we may have some musical taste in common (see below).
My system is loose connections by genre or band family trees, thus I try and keep all CDs by the same band together. (The vinyl is mostly at my Dad's for lack of space.)
The Orb/KLF section is near the PWEI and randomly above the Belle & Sebastian, Arab Strap. Meanwhile there's a C&W section that ranges from Emmylou and Johnny to Neko and Howe (via m.ward and the Handsome Family).
Oh, all the "world music is in a few easy to get to boxes in case I ever get asked to DJ again.
I have a "new section" in the hall next to these shelves and above the draw where the rap and house stuff lives and the one where you'll find Ian McNabb, Mike Scott and Clint Boon. No room for Julian Cope there - he has his own box.
Last time I did the sorting, I found there were three piles bigger than all the rest. These were REM, Cheap Trick and Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker/solo. I know that since that time, one of the piles has not grown much at all, and the Fence Collective has grown from 0 to probably second place (King Creosote's going to need his own box next time).
I am planning another big sort out soon.
I wish I could find my Real Tuesday Weld CDs.
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
"Stoneybridge.
If I had the record of that, it'd not only be something for the S's (?) but also a record about a British place...
(walks round the room bent backwards at 45 degrees in a Welsh accent...)"
Can you make me some shelfs, Denzil, that are the right size for my welsh CDs (large L section) and my Max Headroom vidayos?
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I was intrigued by the High Fidelity idea if filing autobiographically -remembering where and why you bought it, but struggle to remember yesterday so have a loose 'a'ish the 'b'ish system that works Okish
Rob
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Until a couple of months ago my CDs were in a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of home-made, bought and found (I'm happy to say) boxes and racks. However I bought 2 tall racks from *cough*Argos*cough* to sort them out for the very reasonable price of about £15 each.
Now, I'm ashamed to say, they are alphabetised. Recently my dad was round and stood reading the labels; "ooh, The Ramones, I've heard of them", "hmmm, who are 'Cats on Fire'?" and so on, before pausing and deliberating and saying "Matthew, these are in alphabetical order!" He paused again, metaphorically stroked his beard and concluded: "Good".
My wife's CDs are not fully integrated which I feel a bit bad about.
And now I just need vinyl solutions. Any recommendations for about 3 foot of 12"/LPs and a similar amount of 7"s?
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Hmmm "Cats On Fire is Maryland's premier acoustic guitar rock duo."
Recently my dad was round and stood reading the labels; "ooh, The Ramones, I've heard of them", "hmmm, who are 'Cats on Fire'?" and so on, before pausing and deliberating and saying "Matthew, these are in alphabetical order!"Â
you must have the order the wrong way round, unless a) your dad is walking along it in the wrong direction or b) you've got your "Rs" before your "Elbow".
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Ours CDs are sorted by colour, I find jumbled up colours really irritating. Also thought it would stop me going automatically to the same CDs each time, as I'd have to search and then might stumble across something I'd forgotten. All on the ipod now so the CDs rarely come off the shelves.
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
I did organise some of my DVDs by colour - they're in the living room whilst the CDs are elsewhere - and it just seemed the right thing to do!
Mind you when I was a librarian at primary school, two fellow librarians decided all the books should be ordered by height. Stuff the Dewy decimal classification system!
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colours are OK , but some spines are totally different colour than the face etc. (one that comes to mind is one of the KOL CD's) White cover but black spine, I spend ages looking for a white spine only to find that it's not.
I once had a g/f who kindly "sorted" my CD's into alphabetical order.....only to find there were so many "T's".......hee hee...she wasn't the brightest.
Anyway...in answer.... I keep them in a rough alphabetical order, always surname first. At least I then know roughly where they are. ATM I have a pile on the coffee table waiting to be added. Unfortunatly no more room until I make another visit to IKEA. Won't be much wall space left soon.
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, in reply to message 28.
Posted by dave_the_bass2 (U4993047) on Wednesday, 9th September 2009
I've always favoured alphabetical filing, but it occasionally throws up a dilemma: should Siouxsie and the Banshees be under S or B, for instance? (I eventually went for S).
I remember (many years ago!) a friend - unsubtly mocking my anal compulsion - buying me a birthday gift of the single (7") of the Postman Pat theme tune (I'm guessing he found it in a bargain bin in Woolies or similar!) - as I unwrapped it I found he'd stuck a label on it saying "file under 'G' for GPO". Cheeky beggar
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, in reply to message 29.
Posted by Llanjenny (U14617578) on Wednesday, 13th October 2010
I've revived this thread to say I wish I could organise Gid's purportedly chaotic record collection. I just like filing other peoples stuff! *shrugs*
I remember reading this thread and I don't think any of you convinced me that there is a better alternative to alphabetical.
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
alphabetical, strictly - "the" at the start of a band name is ignored...then chronologically for each band/singer. any other method is clearly WRONG. i am available for hire for rearranging any collections that are not in this fashion - just ask witchy, my rates are v reasonable
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, in reply to message 31.
Posted by LoudGeoffW (U11943874) on Thursday, 14th October 2010
Hmm, chronologically. What about compilations - at the end of the artis's run or on the date of issue? And collaborations - in sequence with the main artist or seperate (eg R & L Thompson, J & B Martyn, B Eno & J Cale).
These are important decisions - we need to know.
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I would always stick to strict alphabetical myself. Your first two examples would not be far from the individual artists if you always file by surname. With Eno and Cale I would try to work out who had the most songwriting input and file by that. Usually best to just think who's oeuvre it sounds most like. Yes all output in order of date of issue, singles usually separate from LPs and with EPs but I do have a special shelf for 10" records.
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I'm talking rubbish, I'd file them under E for Eno who comes first! Overthinking that.
In a fifteen month old conversation - back when some babies around today weren't even conceived - there was some talk about needing a large L section for Welsh music. I can bring my astonishing expertise of yr hen iaith to bear and take an opportunity to be really irritating. Brace yourselves: LL is a different letter of the alphabet than L. Other unusual letters of the Welsh alphabet are DD, RH, TH, well here's the whole thing in order for your filing purposes:
A B C CH D DD E F FF G NG H I L LL M N O P PH R RH S T TH U W Y
I know, mind blowing. First Welsh lesson, we were sat down with scrabble tiles, everybody's eyes popped out of their heads.
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, in reply to message 34.
Posted by Cyril Benson in Penrith (U2611279) on Friday, 15th October 2010
Amongst my growing collection of 7"s (note: not my collection of growing 7"s - that's in another room) is "Doot Doot" by @wwo - or is it @vvvvo. Difficult to reproduce in Courier.
For now, I've filed it between works by Stephen Fretwell and Funboy Three, using the generally accepted phonetic pronounciation for this artist, "freur". This is a temporary arrangement though. Any suggestions?
Fortunately I don't (knowingly) own any recorded works by that purple midget.
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Cyril: should you ever become the proud owner of a recording by the purple midget, nay I humbly suggest that you file it somewhere near the beginning of the Ws.
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
I use a friendly tool called 'Littlemissmosher' to organise my CD collection, and fret not babes, it's all still in boxes in the order you put them all in
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
I've run out of shelf space so now I file all my CDs (and, soon, my DVDs) in ring-binder books suitable for travel. I miss finding them quickly by eyeballing the spine of the jewel case but that's how it goes.
I keep track of them with an XL spreadsheet.
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Same problem here Whitecamry. The majority of my Film, TV and freebie magazine CD collections long ago migrated into those aluminium DJ boxes, with the jewel cases consigned to the loft. I fear that the rest of my music will be moving very shortly that way, exacerbated by another sale of ex-library stock in my area next week.
Anyone want to donate a small house for my use?
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LoudGeoffW,
Anyone want to donate a small house for my use?Â
Or a small satellite? Alternate universe? TARDIS?
Link to this forum: Your CD Collection - how do you file it?
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