For christmas I got a nice shelf that'll hold a lot of records. I don't have thousands, mind you but between the new shelf and a couple of those wire record stands it should hold everything. I probably have 300 or so albums, I dunno. I plan on counting them in this little endeavor plus organizing them. How's this sound:

60's/70's
80's
90's & up
Folk/Country
Soul/ R&B
Crooners/ Male & Female Vocals

I don't think I'm going to alphabetize them. They'll just get mixed up too fast.

It's a lazy sunday why not?

what would you put Bob Dylan in? 60/70's or folk/country??

i would think doing it this way would be more of a pain in the ass. i'm a fan of alphabetizing

Ya. I just think they won't stay alphabetized very long. My roomates play them too and when we're hanging out drinking I play a lot of records (instead of MP3s off the computer) so then they'll get mixed up then too.

I have about 1,200 albums. I recently changed them from an A-Z system to a genre based system.

It's a complete pain in the ass. I'm going to change it back as soon as I have a couple of spare days.

I vote for alphabetizationing. All you do when you pull an LP out is pull the one out in front of it. Then you know right where it goes.

The other way takes too much thought.

fp

Yep - A to Z is the way to go.

This is why I file all popular music together, and only break out, like, two or three other genres: Comedy; '60s Girl Groups, 'cause I got a major shitload of 'em; and "Other," which covers non-pop music (classical, ambient, world, oddball stuff...)

i keep it genre and alphabetical, but i try to arrange genres to more the type of music i want to listen to depending on the my mood and whether i want real instruments or to go into the electronic realm, and i keep it very broad.

Finally finished.

Looks like I went against the grain here and stayed clear of alphabetizing. I think I know myself and know that I couldn't keep it in order as time went on. The chronological will hopefully work for me. Turns out I've only got 320 or so albums anyway so it's not too hard keep a handle on. I stayed with my original categories.

Oh, and I put Bob Dylan in folk. NS had a good point in that he sorts them according to mood. When I'm in a folky mood, that's when I reach for Dylan, not in a 60's/70's mood.

You must have very trustworthy roommates.

Next time my CDs are moved, I'm alphabetizing them and I'm so excited about that. Seriously. It's sad.

trust me, they don't want any of the shitty Styx albums I have.

As far as I'm concerned, alphabetical followed by year of release is the only way to go. Any other method (especially genres) causes trouble.

enter all in excel and then randomize your music, that will keep you busy

I think you should organize them alphabetically by album title:

() - Sigur Ros (sorta makes sense that this album should be first)
Abattoir Blues - Cave, Nick, and the Seeds, Bad
Cure, The - Cure, The
Effloresce - Oceansize
Furious Angels - Dougan, Rob
Lost in Reverie - Peccatum
Lyre of Orpheus, The - Cave, Nick and the Seeds, Bad
Mess We Made, The - Elliott, Matt
etc.

This is actually how I do mine, too. Rock/Pop makes up the majority of the rows, then I have an R&B/Reggae section, a Comedy/Spoken Word section, & a Classical/Jazz section. It's all alphabetical, & where there's more than 1 album by someone they're in the row chronologically.

I use Case Logic books and store them in the order that I buy them. For the most part, I remember which album is in which book, and I never have to re-organize them.