Basically, with my collection existing now with CDs only (and it has been that way for a while) I have my prog CDs filed in a half-hazard way now. That way, when I browse through things, less things get overlooked in the process of looking at things, which is kind of cool. Variety is the spice of life! The only exception to this is my Triumvirat, and Eddy Marron collections, where everything is grouped together.

             With my Classical music collection, I still have every work accessible, but only with the very best version of a given symphony or piano concerto or sonata available. Other versions have been stored away and archived. That way, I get more variety in my music accessing and listening, with my focus on the "creme de la creme" of versions. Things are half-hazard, as well, except for my CDs of my favorites Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Berlioz and Mahler, all grouped together.

             How do the rest of you organise your music? Do you still have hard copies of things at all, now? 

i used to have like 200 records but i'm a total idiot who threw them out instead of taking them with me when moving.

My original vinyl from the 60s and 70s is divided into two sections. Imports (500+) and US releases (1200+).

The new vinyl I'm collecting now (350+) is in a third section.

Then that became all too much to store in one room so the collection overflowed from the dining room to the living room to the conservatory and now into the spare bedroom and any thought of organising them in any meaningful way flew out the window. Since my daughter and her husband moved back in to the family home any hope of accessing my vinyl collection has also flown out the window as all their belongings are now stored in front of the wall-units they are shelved in so all new purchases are for now being kept in the hall-way. On the CD front, once again I have run out of storage shelf-space but now have reached the point where I have also run out of wall-space to stack the Ikea towers I've been buying to store them in. I fear the only two options remaining are the master bedroom (I doubt I'll swing that one past she-who-must-be-obeyed) or the attic. 

greedy, you couldn't have finished the first one that quickly....

Still have 800-900 vinyl albums which I add to regularly.  Those are alphabetical except for the multi-disc sets which are mostly displayed on bookshelves.

Really though except for some vinyl albums that were never released on CD, I rarely play anything except digital music now (Spotify, Amazon player, or stuff I ripped myself from my own collection).

 

you did that just so you could post it on this thread, didn't you?

I mean in reality, in the real world, how for example do you physically re-organise half your collection just because the next CD you've bought is from an artist whose name begins with "M"? 

Assuming that your CD storage looks something like this:

or this:

or if you are true prog fan, like this:

Do you leave gaps in every section on the off-chance that the next purchase will slot into the vacant space, or do you shuffle everything along one space each time you buy an new album? 

I leave gaps throughout the collection. I tend to keep a pile of new stuff for 3 or 4 months and then put aside an hour or so to insert them into the shelves. I only have around 1700 cds so it doesn't take too long to do.

Each suspended wallet is double-sided, so I put the booklet in the front pocket and the disc in the back pocket. Each box stores 250 CDs this way.  I don't worry too much about alphabetical, chronological or thematic ordering because I enter the box and envelope number of each CD in a spreadsheet so I can search for what I want. The back inserts for the CDs are bagged up and stored separately as I'll only ever want them if I sell something.

Well, above is the theory. The fact is I have filled three boxes and have four more empty ones to fill, and the last time I did any work on this was a year ago 

As for CDs that are in digipacks or other carboard packages, and box sets, they aren't organised at all 

Neither is vinyl, though I don't have enough vinyl for this to be a problem, and don't buy vinyl except where CD isn't an option (and then rarely).

For the jacket spines to be facing out you have to put "Z" on the bottom row left and "A" on the top right. If you buy a lot of music you have to have room for your collection to grow up and to the right.

There is no perfect way to do it. If you own a lot of albums and plan on buying more then a certain amount of work will always be involved. 

My friend....I will gladly take all that vinyl that you do not play anymore, off your hands!! 

The 250 or so CDs I have are in a file cabinet, nice old wooden cabinet my wife found at antique shop, holds the CDs in nice fashion in the top two drawers, just open a drawer and easily thumb thru the cases. Those do not get played too often at all.

The 500 or so vinyl I have is all alphabetized on shelves with band label dividers, this was due to my wife always complaining she could not find something easily....the boss wins!  

I also keep two wood boxes that hold about 150 albums near my audio system which are the heavy rotation LPs. Couple times a year I will rotate out bunches to keep things fresh to my ears. I find it easier to flip thru vinyl with the fronts towards me rather than trying to read the 5-6mm wide album spines in my shelves.