Categorizing records/CDs.

[hammerntongues]

totally random , I can`t do it with CD`s as well as I can with LP covers but usually I can remember the colours of the sleeves , when I return them to the rack they get put in the just played end , from memory I can usually recall when I last played them and get back there fairly quick .

 

[xes]

My records are in label order, then in genre.

 

[killer b]

i don't. it's a fucking nightmare to find anything, and would probably take a week to sort 'em out...

 

[sojourner]

genre ish

does anyone else have a misc. category?

 

[xes]

genre ish

does anyone else have a misc. category?

yep, it's at the end of the otterman I keep some of my records in.

 

[sojourner]

yep, it's at the end of the otterman I keep some of my records in.

thought I might have been a bit of a freak in my complete inability to categorise some stuff. I'll stand there for ages, racking my brains, and in the end it just gets shoved in misc

oh and at the ottoman - I keep my bedding in mine

 

[kage]

[ label ]/[catalogue #] Artist - Release (Year)

yeah I know....

I've got two mirrored terrabyte drives in case I screw one of them up.

 

[atitlan]

I don't do genres.

My music is alphabetical by artist, then by release date.

 

[gentlegreen]

I don't do genres.

My music is alphabetical by artist, then by release date.

I mostly prefer not to think about music being made by sweaty people.

 

[abe11825]

All my LPs are in genre order in crates- Rock N Roll, R & B/Jazz, Folk/Country, Showtunes, Beatles. I think though, I put other artists with the Beatles, so I may have mixed quite a few "other/misc" LPs in that crate as well. I don't have other genres, so it works well.

As far as CDs go, I used to do it alphabetically by artist, but then I got too many cds to keep track on. Now they're all over the place (the covers) and the disc themselves are in flippy folders.

Tapes are in a drawer, nothing special. No ABC by artist, no genre. Just thrown about.

No 8 tracks - got rid of those 15 years ago.

 

[xes]

oh and at the ottoman - I keep my bedding in mine

I have one for that too (in the spare room, which I nearly used as a toilet when I was pissed up one night, ended up crawling back into bed with an armful of sheets and net curtains )

But my pink wicker otterman come record box, is great

 

[atitlan]

I mostly prefer not to think about music being made by sweaty people.

Certainly in the case of some artists that may well be a good option

 

[smmudge]

I arrange mine according to the colours on the sleeves.

I did this when i had more shelf space. It looked like a rainbow

Now they're all shoved on one shelf in the order: 'that I put them there'.

 

[Greebozz]

Me too

Planet Dog, now there is a blast from the past, you must have been around in that wonderful yet crazy period of time. I recently found a second-hand copy of " Feed Your Head" the Second CD from That Label. Great Album.

 

[cybertect]

ordered alphabetically by artist and by order of release date within each artist

^^^ this.

plus this

But it all goes on iTunes

I'll usually think 'I want to listen to some " [ Art Blakey | Psychic TV | Kronos Quartet | Posies | etc ] rather than any particular genre. I can't think of the last time I used the genre search in iTunes.

 

[danny la rouge]

Genre-ish. If someone jumps genre, they'll get put either where they started or where they mostly worked.

It's not a perfect system but I know how it works. It's semi-chronological as well.

So it moves through periods and genres where possible simultaneously

This is what I'm asking. Everyone is answering "I do genre" or "I do A-Z", or whatever. Which is fine; nice to hear from you. But what I was interested in is: if you do genre, how do you select where to put whom?

I gave Elvis as an example. Do you put his early stuff under rockabilly, his country stuff under country, and his 70s stuff under rock and pop? Or do you do as Jefe does, and put it all under rockabilly/rock 'n' roll?

Do you have "metal" as a genre, or do you distinguish between stoner, black, death etc?

Do you have minor genres like post-rock, or do you put them in general rock and pop?

I have separate soul, funk, hip hop. HMV just calls it all "urban".

And so on.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Why do you need to do this though?

 

[gentlegreen]

Why do you need to do this though?

So you can easily find the music to fit your mood... and that of your guest(s) / evening ...

 

[gentlegreen]

I gave Elvis as an example. Do you put his early stuff under rockabilly, his country stuff under country, and his 70s stuff under rock and pop? Or do you do as Jefe does, and put it all under rockabilly/rock 'n' roll?

In my collection, Elvis goes in the same place as Cliff Richard ...

(apart from the one sample in KLF's "Chill Out" ...)

*scarpers*

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I'm terrible for making people listen to something which is the opposite of what they expect. So if my nan comes over it'll be something heavy (it doesn't matter, she'll say its mindless pap even if it's really soft and fluffy, so why not play something heavy), and if my metaller friends come over it'll be coffee table all the way

 

[El Jefe]

This is what I'm asking. Everyone is answering "I do genre" or "I do A-Z", or whatever. Which is fine; nice to hear from you. But what I was interested in is: if you do genre, how do you select where to put whom?

I gave Elvis as an example. Do you put his early stuff under rockabilly, his country stuff under country, and his 70s stuff under rock and pop? Or do you do as Jefe does, and put it all under rockabilly/rock 'n' roll?

Do you have "metal" as a genre, or do you distinguish between stoner, black, death etc?

Do you have minor genres like post-rock, or do you put them in general rock and pop?

I have separate soul, funk, hip hop. HMV just calls it all "urban".

And so on.

I have about 3 "sets" of genres running along 3 sort of continuums. It's not perfect but it works for me.

So one set of shelves runs

blues > gospel > soul > funk > disco > hip hop > modern R&B etc

one runs

house / techno >electronica / IDM / whatever > jungle > dubstep

one is just reggae, from mento to dancehall, but sort of going

ska > rocksteady > roots > dub > deejay > early dancehall > dancehall > british digidub and related genres

etc etc etc.

 

[belboid]

I just divide everything into "Classical/Modern Composition" and "Everything else", and then sort them alphabetically and by release date.
I'm too old now for the angsty "Hi-Fidelity"-type personal categorisation systems.

me too, the only problems come with peoplle like Iggy. All under P for Pop? I for Iggy? S for Stooges and I for Iggy and the Stooges? Genre classifications just dont really work for any reasonably sized collection, and if it isn't a reasonably sized collection, you dont need to do it.

 

[El Jefe]

Genre classifications just dont really work for any reasonably sized collection,

they do, as long as you're imaginative about it and accept it'll never be perfect. I bet if i showed you how my collection works, you'd find my God Bullies album in about 20 seconds

 

[belboid]

I'd do it in less if you had them all alpahabetically!

And I can't work out form your list where you put your hawkwind

 

[El Jefe]

I'd do it in less if you had them all alpahabetically!

And I can't work out form your list where you put your hawkwind

there's a more general rock / pop continuum, they appear after all the 60s psych and hippy stuff, and before punk. To be honest, my 70s stuff is fairly thin on the ground pre-punk so it's not a particularly finessed area.

 

[El Jefe]

say i'm sorting tunes for a DJ set. Do i start at A and work my way through thousands of records. Or go - right, it's a reggae set and go directly to the right shelf

 

[belboid]

pull out your best of bob marley n think 'that'll do'??

 

[El Jefe]

pull out your best of bob marley n think 'that'll do'??

well there is that...

 

[ericjarvis]

I have 7 piles of CDs and a rack. In the rack are the albums that are so absolutely amazing I have to listen to them often. The piles are sorted chronologically by when I last listened to it. Every so often I move the piles along one and start a new one. I currently have less than 100 CDs that I haven't listened to in the last 12 months.

 

[The Groke]

I have a rather nice Naim CD player that's still as solid as a rock after 10 years and I don't know how much I would have to pay for a sound card that sounds as nice ...

I will eventually get a nice amp and speakers again and just buy a decent separate DAC with DIG/OP in.

Pipe the DIG/Op from my Mac mini with the lossless music library on and bob's yer uncle.