How do you categorize your music?

[dragonboy]

Mine are in genres & favourites (Elvis, MMJ, Beatles, Stones, Who, Neil Young, Willie, Johnny etc all have their own shelves)

My CDs shelves have become a jumbled mess though & I'm thinking of alphabetizing them this week.

So how do you categorize your music & what are the benefits of your system?  ;)

[ycartrob]

A-Z.

[red]

My favourites are at the top of my shelves (Tom Waits, Neil Young, MMJ, Pavement, etc.), then the rest is alphabetized.  Side-projects and solo works are filed alongside the artist/group.

Invite me over db, I love to alphabetize.  

[mjkoehler]

I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
No...
Not alphabetical...
Nope...
What?
Autobiographical.
No fucking way.

[dragonboy]

My favourites are at the top of my shelves (Elvis Presley, Tom Waits, Neil Young, MMJ, Pavement, etc.), then the rest is alphabetized.  Side-projects and solo works are filed alongside the artist/group.

Invite me over db, I love to alphabetize.  

You missed an artist, I fixed it for you  ;)

It's going to be an all-day-job, that's for sure. 2 votes for A-Z.

I've always thought A-Z would be fine if you know what you're looking for but I often find myself going to my shelves in the mood for something (Jazz, Hip-Hop, something quiet etc) but not knowing who or what I want to listen to until I browse through & that's why genres have worked well for me up until now...

[dragonboy]

I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
No...
Not alphabetical...
Nope...
What?
Autobiographical.
No fucking way.

Haha, I'm going to rent that again this week if I can find it...

[mjkoehler]

Seriously, how can you go wrong with that movie while reorganizing your discs. You can't.

Go with Genre then Alpha

[dragonboy]

Go with Genre then Alpha

Genius!!!

[red]

Go with Genre then Alpha

Genius!!!

Keep your favourites in their own section, too.  Then you'll really be set.  

[capt. scotty]

As far as my CD books go, its kind of a mix of everything except alphabetical.

I typically have my favorite stuff towards the front of the book. I have 1 book for hip hop and jazz, 1 for classic rock and blues and some other random stuff, 1 for basically music from the 90's-present, and 1 full of live phish shows.

Its too hard to alphabetize a book because you have to totally shift a bunch of CD's too often, but I would think it would be much easier to do it on a shelf since you can just keep sliding them one way or the other

[Jbones72]

I guess I have mine by favorites, degree of importance in my life (past & present) and I also have some placed by genre. My top 4 shelves never get switched around but the rest I change from time to time....kind of hard to explain but it makes sense too me.

It's a running joke to switch spots on a few of my cd's and see how long it takes me to notice!

[ycartrob]

I have around 800 CD's and I have always been tempted to organize them according to color. Start with red and go to violet.
It would be cool.

[red]

I have around 800 CD's and I have always been tempted to organize them according to color. Start with red and go to violet.
It would be cool.

I've seen a few pictures of bookshelves organized by colour.  Looks great:

[BH]

Shelf #1
All Pink Floyd, My Morning Jacket and anything related to those two bands.

Shelf #2
Live My Morning Jacket

Shelf #3 & 4
Everything I've been listening too since I joined this forum.  The day I realized that people were still making good music.

Shelf #5
Classic Rock

Shelf #6
College Music

Drawer #1
Jane's Addiction, Blues Explosion, Boss Hog

Drawer #2
Primus, Soundgarden and Audioslave

Drawer #3
Tool, NIN, and A Perfect Circle

Drawer #4
Bob Marley and The BlacK Crowes (and probably a few seeds)

Drawer #5
Ministry, The White Stripes and Nirvana

Drawer #6
Butthole Surfers and Revolting Cocks

Finally, behind Shelf #5 and #6
Stuff I'm too embarrassed to tell you about but I can't part with.

[capt. scotty]

Drawer #4
Bob Marley and The BlacK Crowes (and probably a few seeds)

Man, what kind of weed are you smokin'?!  ;D

[Ruckus]

Wow...I feel lame or is anyone not admitting it.  I've ripped all my CD's to  a hard drive organized by band than hit the wonderful sort button ::)  My cds and cases sit in boxes in storage in my attic.

But all my CD's and records are alphabetized.  So unoriginal but I think I wouldn't be able to find crap if it was sorted by genre or color.  Color would be kinda tough with vinyl [smiley=bath.gif]

Plus I'm moving to a smaller apartment and I'm not sure I'd know where to put 10gbs of MMJ burned onto CDs ;D

What would be sweet would be to have a wheel to spin with CDs in sleeves and you play the one that hits the arrow.

[tomEisenbraun]

Man, I haven't organized CDs since I lost my when collection in a smash-and-grab car window-breaking about three years. I had everything that meant anything to me in this big 200 CD wallet at that point, and the thing was sort of ridiculous. One of those systems of organization that was best left unquestioned, though things definitely belonged in place. I remember I had more than a few pages that were organized by color, a few by feel, a LOT were organized by My Morning Jacket... any band I had more than one of were always next to each other. Good Lord, this is way before I found eMusic.

That said, my vote goes for genre then alphabetical. More importantly, nobody's judging what you do, so if you want to go more by feel than technical genre, I would do that. This is a no-rules game, a man's album organization, and you've gotta get it in there the way it feels best (exactly what she said) even if you have to break your own rules a few times in the process.

[Ruckus]

Man, I haven't organized CDs since I lost my when collection in a smash-and-grab car window-breaking about three years. I had everything that meant anything to me in this big 200 CD wallet at that point, and the thing was sort of ridiculous. One of those systems of organization that was best left unquestioned, though things definitely belonged in place. I remember I had more than a few pages that were organized by color, a few by feel, a LOT were organized by My Morning Jacket... any band I had more than one of were always next to each other. Good Lord, this is way before I found eMusic.

That said, my vote goes for genre then alphabetical. More importantly, nobody's judging what you do, so if you want to go more by feel than technical genre, I would do that. This is a no-rules game, a man's album organization, and you've gotta get it in there the way it feels best (exactly what she said) even if you have to break your own rules a few times in the process.

Sorry to hear that about the discs man.  Not to go too off topic but I basically lost my entire hip hop collection which was about 125 discs about 7 years ago in a smash and grab also.  I never leave stuff in my car but I had just gotten home from a trip to Chicago by car back to Maryland and I was too lazy and tired to empty my entire car before going to bed.  What are the chances that the only time you leave a CD book sitting in the car that it is taken.  I guess pretty good. :'(

[Jaimoe]

Pop, rock, folk are A-Z, and then a separate A-Z section for jazz, blues and country. However, I have a guitar-shaped CD stand that's near my stereo for quick, high rotation access.

[dragonboy]

Cheers for your comments everyone, enjoyed reading those!

Finally, behind Shelf #5 and #6
Stuff I'm too embarrassed to tell you about but I can't part with.

BH, we need to know what's behind shelves 5&6!!!  :o ;D

Tom, I remember you losing your CDs back then, tough break man!