Help! How do you organize your Record Collection?

[Dennie]

Thanks everyone! I am getting ideas I never even thought about! I am a little overwhelmed right now, but I will slowly get all the genre's separated. Then figure out where to go from there.

Keep the ideas coming, they are very helpful, especially while I am in this overwhelmed state![:S]

The thought of getting them cataloged on my PC is nice, but when I look at shelf after shelf after shelf of albums, it really seems like an impossible task! It would be nice if they all had bar codes, as with my 2000+ DVD collection, I use a bar code scanner and wa-la, it is cataloged very easily!

I do agree that a smaller collection would be more manageable, but again, I have to go through them all and see what is playable and what is not. The few I have been playing are all in very good condition. I was able to give a couple handfuls of Disney albums away. None were playable (as expected) and I have a good friend who collects everything Disney. She was thrilled to get them.

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Dennie

[MechMan]

I have the Expedit as well and have about 1400 albums stuffed into it.

I keep all classic rock/rock/80's/metal ect in alph order by artist. Only motown jazz and comedy get their own sections. I don't think I would feel to comfortable stuffing to many more records in this unit.

And please make sure you have it assembled correctly, with the small dividers as uprights only. I remember seeing a pic of someone that had it the wrong way, and what happened was not pretty.

[philipbarrett]

And please make sure you have it assembled correctly, with the small dividers as uprights only. I remember seeing a pic of someone that had it the wrong way, and what happened was not pretty.

I have mine (the half-sized unit) on it's side, loaded up with no problems.

[Dennie]

I have the Expedit as well and have about 1400 albums stuffed into it.

I keep all classic rock/rock/80's/metal ect in alph order by artist. Only motown jazz and comedy get their own sections. I don't think I would feel to comfortable stuffing to many more records in this unit.

And please make sure you have it assembled correctly, with the small dividers as uprights only. I remember seeing a pic of someone that had it the wrong way, and what happened was not pretty.

Thanks Mechman, but I need you to clarify what you said. The LONG dividers are the vertical uprights, RIGHT? The Small shelves are well, the horizontal shelves!

I really hope this is correct, as I used the long ones as uprights! It really would not make sence to use the short ones as uprights, would it? [:|]

Dennie

[MechMan]

The small panels are the uprights that should be holding up the long shelves, otherwise the only thing holding all the weight of the records are the dowels.

Make sence.

[MechMan]

This is wrong!!

[MechMan]

As is this...

[MechMan]

Anyone that has it set up wrong can thank me later []

[Audio Flynn]

I group per genre in small :milk crates:.

Several classical, couple of broadway shows, several jazz, BLUES, fusion, Christmas and countless Rock.

Not even sure how many crates I have, its like Christmas when I rotate the inventory.

[Dennie]

Anyone that has it set up wrong can thank me later

I will Thank You right now! I had two friends stop by yesterday after I put it together and asked them (as the instructions are not very clear) and they both agreed the long shelves were uprights and the short ones were shelves. Gosh darn it. I need to go remove 1400 or so albums before I am one of those pictures.

Although mine is sandwiched between two walls, I would still hate to become one of those pictures!!!

Thanks Mechman, you are the Man!!!!

Dennie

[Dennie]

Now I am wondering, since it is sandwiched between two walls, there is no way it could tip over. Maybe it will be okay?

There may be an inch or so on each side.

Thoughts.......anyone?

Dennie[:S]

[Dennie]

Here are pics.... Right Side

Left Side.....

[LarryC]

Think about it, and compare this with other methods, if you have a lot of LPs from a few brands and are tired of dealing with alphabetization issues. After all, each brand by itself is going to have many fewer LPs to alphabetize.

Larry

Classical IS a toughie. You have composers and conductors, LP's with multiple composers, box sets etc. There's about no 'typical' method that works with classical. Larry's collection may be organized like no other but it LOOKS COOL AS HECK because you have bunches of similar looking spine labels. Plus since he's purchased most new himself, he knows a lot about the issue by the label it's on. Works splendidly for him.

This is how my main LP cabinet looks -- obvious DG yellow spines in the upper left & Londons in the rest of that shelf; Angels/EMI singles and boxes upper right; Phillips and miscellaneous brands second shelf left; and RCAs, MHS second shelf right; etc.

DG and Phillips big box sets are in a different cabinet. The main point here: it's easier to alphabetize by composer within each of these smaller groups of LPs. Those that don't alphabetize easily I stick in the end of their row.

[MechMan]

I think you should do it right. I assume it's not so much the tipping that is the issue...as all that weight.

Lets do the math...

Say the dowel is 5/16", and the shelf is 1/2" thick. How much actual particle board is carrying the weight of your prized lp's? I won't scare you by telling.

[colterphoto1]

I built this for my collection probably 15 years ago. 3/4 plywood throughout with 1x2 poplar shelf edges for more support. Joints rabbetted, glued and nailed.

[Dennie]

I think you should do it right. I assume it's not so much the tipping that is the issue...as all that weight.

Lets do the math...

Say the dowel is 5/16", and the shelf is 1/2" thick. How much actual particle board is carrying the weight of your prized lp's? I won't scare you by telling.

Yeah, as much as I do not want to move those records again and no matter how "stable" it looks and how hard it is going to be to pull it all the way out to turn it......I would always know it was wrong and I can't live with that!

Hey Mechman, THANK YOU SO MUCH! It is one of those things that if I didn't know, I would be okay, but since I do, I am going to have to fix it and better to fix it before I get all the records sorted out than after! [:'(] I think!

Dennie

[Dennie]

Think about it, and compare this with other methods, if you have a lot of LPs from a few brands and are tired of dealing with alphabetization issues. After all, each brand by itself is going to have many fewer LPs to alphabetize.

Larry

Classical IS a toughie. You have composers and conductors, LP's with multiple composers, box sets etc. There's about no 'typical' method that works with classical. Larry's collection may be organized like no other but it LOOKS COOL AS HECK because you have bunches of similar looking spine labels. Plus since he's purchased most new himself, he knows a lot about the issue by the label it's on. Works splendidly for him.

This is how my main LP cabinet looks -- obvious DG yellow spines in the upper left & Londons in the rest of that shelf; Angels/EMI singles and boxes upper right; Phillips and miscellaneous brands second shelf left; and RCAs, MHS second shelf right; etc.

DG and Phillips big box sets are in a different cabinet. The main point here: it's easier to alphabetize by composer within each of these smaller groups of LPs. Those that don't alphabetize easily I stick in the end of their row.

I get it! Thanks for the visual Larry, it helped! That does seem like the easiest way to find what you are looking for!

Michael, I thought about building my own shelving, but I just can seem to find the time and I got tired of walking around the albums. So Ikea was simple (well, almost) and not too bad on the wallet. Nice job, I like your shelves very much!

Dennie

[maxg]

Larry's system is certainly cool but it wouldn't work for me as I rarely recall which label a given pressing is on. I do however, have a commonality with Larry in that my record collection is primarily classical.

My organisation is as follows:

Generic classical:

Arranged by Composer Surname - side A (where there are 2 composers on a single pressing), and then by work type (piano concertos, violin concertos, symphonies etc. - again by side A where 2 different types are present on a single record).

Separated out are the box recordings which are similarly arranged to the above.

Where an album contains the work of many composers and an individual highlight performer (be it the conductor, singer or W.H.Y.) the record is filled under that performer's name.

Where an album is of works of a particular period or type not specifically from an individual performer these are stored together under "V" for various. As there are only about 20 of these in my collection this is not a problem.

All of the above is held on an excel spreadsheet which resides both on my PC and on my mobile phone (saves repeat purchasing of records I already have and have forgotten about). The excel spreadsheet holds full details for the records in the classical collection and I update either way (phone to computer or vice versa).

The order within the spreadsheet matches the physical order of the records on the shelves.

The non-classical part of the collection is separate again and divided into 2 parts. Part one - the stuff I actualy listen to from time to time is arranged by recording artist or by album title for collections. Jazz, rock, pop, reggae etc. are all grouped together. These are not computerized. Part 2 - the stuff I wonder why I bought - is a generic dump.

[jtkinney]

Here's my system.

1. I use a database program on the PC

2. Every LP is numbered sequentially on the outside with a label (by whatever order I first picked them up) from 1 to XXX

3.They are shelved by that number, 1 thru XXX

4. I print the database out in two sorts, one alphabetical by artist, one alphabetical by album title, and I put the sheets into a simple binder that I keep by the stereo.

It makes filing stuff totally easy, and it makes finding stuff totally easy. "No decisions" to make.

I like this system with a couple of mods. I have over 6000 technical references from work that I keep track of in an Excel spreadsheet. It uses the list function, so each column can be sorted depending on what criteria I'm looking for, i.e. Title, Performer, Conductor, genre, etc. In my case, each document is scanned as a pdf, so there is also a hyperlink directly from the spreadsheet.

I would modify mdeneen's system by keeping an old laptop nearby with the database on it. That way you can modify the sort/search and not have to keep making paper copies of it. The DB would also tell you where the albums were so order is not an issue. Make sure you keep a back-up somewhere else.

Looks like a cool collection, it would be nice to drop in and listen sometime.

[jacksonbart]

I do it by the color of the vinyl.