How do you Organize Your World Music CD Collection?
Tuesday July 15, 2008
World music fans are among the most prolific CD and record collectors I know. I think it has something to do with the difficulty and rarity of finding a music store that actually stocks a reasonable variety of world music. I know that I tend to get slightly feverish when I find a nicely-stocked reggae section in a used record store, or a fat stack of calypso CDs at a flea market, and my wallet tends to get considerably lighter.
Because of that, combined with the fact that I also review CDs as part of my job, the collection is (ahem) a bit out of control. I keep vowing to install some nice shelves and organize these things, because right now, I'm using a combination of the "floor" method and the "ugly shelves made out of cinderblocks and boards" method, with no real organization or categorization or anything. My living room looks like a dorm, and it's officially not awesome.
However, I've done a bit of research - asked around, peeked at various organizational websites (which give me a severe inadequacy complex, by the way), and had a look at some of my hoarder friends' collections - and I've come up with a fun list of organizational methods for world music CDs. But out of insatiable curiosity, I have to know - what methods do you use for organizing yours?
Because of that, combined with the fact that I also review CDs as part of my job, the collection is (ahem) a bit out of control. I keep vowing to install some nice shelves and organize these things, because right now, I'm using a combination of the "floor" method and the "ugly shelves made out of cinderblocks and boards" method, with no real organization or categorization or anything. My living room looks like a dorm, and it's officially not awesome.
However, I've done a bit of research - asked around, peeked at various organizational websites (which give me a severe inadequacy complex, by the way), and had a look at some of my hoarder friends' collections - and I've come up with a fun list of organizational methods for world music CDs. But out of insatiable curiosity, I have to know - what methods do you use for organizing yours?
Comments
I like to take people into our studio/office. They see the hundreds and hundreds of CDs on shelves, all neatly catalogued, and say “Wow! You have a lot of CDs!” Then we open the closet and show them the thousands that are kept in there, all neatly catalogued.
After you’ve reviewed CDs for 15 years or so, you have a lot of CDs. (The ones that are really old are kept in giant Tupperware bins. All neatly catalogued.)
We (Cal) keep track of them with an very old DOS program that he got when he was music director at a radio station.
(It’s the cataloguing that keeps us from being classified as hoarders. But what can you do? You can’t sell them. You can’t give them away.)