I’ve finally got my record shelves back - my housemate claimed them for storing odds and ends when we moved 9 years ago.
Until now  have been using a 9 Bay flat pack from warehouse stationery, which held my rock/pop/jazz, while miscellaneous and classic albums stored in plastic cubes.

Filing the rock/pop/jazz in alphabetical order of performer is easy, and most classic albums can be filed in alphabetical order of composer.  But many classical albums contain works by several composers.  Then there are performances by various artistes, e.g. Pavarotti, Placido, Te Kanawa, etc.  sometimes they perform works by one composer, other times by several composers.  Do I file them all under the perormer, or when only one composer, under the composers name?

Then there are genres, e.g. do I file operas on their own, or file them generally under composer?  I could also file symphonies or concertos separately, just to confuse myself!

Spent 4 hours today sorting things, still got religious music, soundtracks, popular shows and light operettas to sort.  Got myself so confused today that I lost the Ps for some time, until I realised I had taken the Ps out to make room for more Ms!

Sould be simple, but when dealing with 2-3000 LPs my mind starts to boggle!

How do other people deal with this?  Be interested to hear your ideas.

Have had this discussion recently with my record playing friends as well. The consensus seeming to be: whatever works for you. I have around 10,000 lps (27 lineal metres to be precise). I split rock/pop up from Jazz and Classical and another smaller section of eclectric left overs. My rock/pop section is strictly alphabetical by surname of artist or first name of band Rolling stones under R, Eagles under E etc. Jazz is the same, classical is alphabetical under composer which gets a bit tricky when an album combines pieces by several composers. I also have a seperate section for box sets and NZ music. Misfiled is as good as lost ,which results in my purchasing albums that I already have...

I have pop/rock first, alphabetically. Then classical under composer, just try and remember any combos.A special section of direct to disc, etc.And right at the end ones to be cleaned/uncertain if keeping.Not much jazz so that's in with classical.

That's for about 2,000 LPs,and I still can't find that certain album sometimes!

And after getting rid of another 2,000 last year,which I decided I never played or didn't like, I went hunting for one this week until I remembered I'd given it away.
That's what getting a new LV-1 does to you!

Hmm, keeping box sets separate sounds like an idea I could try, especially as several of my box sets contain LPs by more than one composer, e..g. One containing all the most favoured violin concertos.

Also might try to separate out favourite performers, e.g. am a big fan of Jacqueline Du Pre. If I have her performances spread around under composer I will lose track of her. The same will apply to performers like Te Kanawa, Pavarotti etc.

Re the plastic cubes I have been using for storage, (of the sort favoured by dealers at record fairs), I have discovered that one will fit neatly into a cubby of the record cabinet. That will solve the issue of having to get on hands and knees to look at the bottom row! I now have two cabinets, one 3x3 (9 cubbies), and the other 5x3 (15 cubbies), so will use 6 plastic cubes in the bottom six cubbies, where I can put records waiting cleaning/sorting, plus miscellaneous, e.g. religious music, soundtracks and such like.
,
Wish I had jumped at the LV-1 offer, as I have a prototype Pure Audio Vinyl configured for MM only, and having the ability to use my MC cart again would be a bonus. My Plinius 8150 phono section is configured for MC but the R channel op amp has gone again!

Hi sub.
Yes, I do general rock/pop/country/Americana like most of you - alphabetical / artist.
I collect the jazz/blues/NZ/reggae into separate sections.

Classical I like to do 'chronologically' -ie in order of composer birth date - because I like to know & remember where the composer sits within the timeline progression/development of classical music. So, for example, I start with early (eg Camina Burana say, Vivaldi), baroque & so on. Box sets included.

Some exceptions however:
- Vocal music I keep together separate. I don't have much, some operas, famous vocalists, Maria Callas, etc.
- At the end I have a 'Various' classical collection for stuff that doesn't fit solely one composer, eg ballet music selections, particular soloist selections (The Art of Richter, etc).

OTOH, it might suit you to organise your records in autobiographical order....

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

^ great film
if you like nick hornby, checkout his latest film, juliet naked.

my media is grouped according to media type - vinyl, cd, tapes, bluray etc.

movies are alphabetical, with few exceptions for specific directors, groups of related films etc.

music is in broad categories - pop/rock, jazz, classical, soundtracks.

simple !

all my cds are in alphabetical order except for box cds that just get fitted in where there's space. The majority of lps where I have multiples of that artist go into their own, sometimes shared cubby.
Bob Dylan gets two because of several large box sets, Hendrix and the Who share one as do Led Zep and the Allman Bros. Uk folk (except for Richard Thompson)get their own and blues/jazz are grouped in another.
There are 5 or 6 cubbies that are alphabetical, mainly where I only have one or two lps by that artist or sometimes just on a whim. There's a lot of spill over though and I've ended up labeling most of the shelving so I can remember that Rory Gallagher is in with the Doors and Santana. In my mind it all makes some sort of sense.
Just glad I have no classical records, trying to sort out a system for those would would really kick in any latent OCD tendencies.

Mar 22, 2019 21:24:01 GMT 12 cartridgeguyonline said:

. I have around 10,000 lps (27 lineal metres to be precise).

Sir, i bend my knee to you. You are indeed in the Premier League. Any chance of a pic or three?  

i’m sure we had a thread on this on the old AudioEnz forum.
then i had a mixed combo of genre, alphabetical and Geographical 😁!
geographic: UK/Europe; USA, Australasian and then world.
separate sections for jazz/blues, ECM and classical
all in alphabetical order
But, since my nomadic workstyle,sadly, its now licorice all sorts in random boxes - how does this happen....

"I see music as a lifetime affair." [Rory Gallagher]

Mar 24, 2019 8:33:08 GMT 12 foveaux said:

But, since my nomadic workstyle,sadly, its now licorice all sorts in random boxes - how does this happen....

Get the hammer and nails out and build that room. All will be chocolates, rainbows and unicorns

Mar 24, 2019 8:02:32 GMT 12 cooksferry said:

Just glad I have no classical records, trying to sort out a system for those would would really kick in any latent OCD tendencies.

for classical there's a bewildering number of ways to catalogue.

composers in simple alphabetical order for me.

Finally got the shelves full, but have five full plastic cubes left over. Three live permanently in my bedroom containing albums freshly ultrasonicallay cleaned, and into which I dip for current listening. Of the other two, one contains vocal classical performances, and the other “misc” that fit nowhere else.

My main collection lives in our shed - bit more than a shed as the original owners of our house built a one room small “house”, with mezzanine floor, circa 1987, where they lived until building the main house circa 1990. My book overflow, plus a table with my ultrasonic RCM set out, also resides there.

Classical I have sorted alphabetically under composer. Where more than one composer, have selected the prominent performance and filed under that composer. Have separated out LPs by noted performers, separated out to vocal and instrumental, and placed them in a separate compartment, also alphabetically. Will probably fine tune things later, separating out certain genre, e.g. operas. Owens idea of doing things chronologically also appeals.

Have separated out rock/pop, blues, c&w (although a few cross over performers go under pop/rock),  jazz, and soundtracks, all filed alphabetically. Although compilations get a slightly different approach than classic compilations. Where the compilation features works by one artist performed by various others, they are filed under the original artist. Genuine compilations go at the end.  Bit difficult with some that could be classed as easy listening being by noted jazz performers or by pop artists!

Have three plastic cubes full of recent purchases waiting sorting and cleaning, and they fit neatly in the three bottom cubbies of one of the cabinets.

Fine tuning will happen!

I have my lps sorted alphabetically by Artist post 2007, with all genres mixed together, including new classical albums. And all on Discogs!

The lps pre about 2007 are separate and sorted by where I got them from eg my own, my sister's, my brother's, my freind's, bought collection etc.
Most of my classical lps are secondhand and relatively few of them, so they are separate but really in no particular order apart from my Mahler which is kept together.


A bit of a hodge podge mess but I usually know where to find an lp...

worse thing about any collection is misfiling.

other day i spent nearly an hour looking for my marti jones albums.

eventually found them in the "B" section instead of "J"

oh, the perils of old age

I was about to say "autobiographical" as Owen did I tend to organise based on sub-genre (for example in Classical: Baroque, renaissance, classical, 20th century, Impressionists, contemporary), I prefer it that way in other case you end up having Bach next to Bela Bartok for example.