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[sixdoubleo]

Sorry for the off-topic post but I couldnt figure out where to post this...

With all of my CD's ripped to MP3 for the last 4 or so years, I have found no use for having the CD's themselves out in the open.

I'd like to find a nice rubbermaid-like storage container for them. Yeah, I could just throw them into large Rubbermaid tubs, but I'd like to be able to find a CD if I need to.

So I was wondering if anybody new of some cheap, stackable storage containers for CD's... I was thinking along the lines of something that would hold maybe 100 CD's and arrange them in like 2-3 rows and only one "layer" so I could see all of the spines.

Anybody have any ideas?

[KingSparta]

https://www.effectuality.com/store/item.php/name/CD_Spindle_-_Beehive/product/view/itemid/78/catid/9/store/us/lng/en

[sixdoubleo]

Thanks, but I wanted something to store the whole CD (jewel case, liner notes, etc) in its original form.

[jgreen]

I think Sparta's got the right idea here.  If you've ever had to restore your library from CD (something I've become an expert at), you will understand that you do not want to hunt through a stack (or shelf, or box) of CD jewel cases.   Browse them by their spines?  You are dreaming.

Here's what I recommend you do:
1.  Re-rip your entire collection to WAV or lossless.  Even Alex B, who only listens to mp3, has an online archive in lossless format.  This is so that you never have to restore from CD again, unless you just love plastic.

2.  Separate the platters from the jewel cases, put the jewel cases in a tupperware tub, and hoist the whole lot up to the attic.  I've had to restore from a tubfull of CDs (twice at least), and I've vowed to never do it again.

3.  Put the CDs in SLIPCOVERS.  You can buy the kind that are 50% fabric, guarranteed not to scratch, or you can do like I did and fold up sheets of paper.

4.  Put the slipcovered CDs into an appropriate box you can browse through.  I used old 5 1/4' floppy cases, which fit perfectly.  You want a long box with enough room to filp through your collection.

5.  Here's the really sublime/ridiculous part:  Number your CDs.  I used a variation of the Dewey Decimal system, which will show you how far off the edge I've gone (remember--I've vowed NEVER to go back to the tub).  What I did was to order my collection alphabetically, number them, and then add -1 or-2, etc, whenever I added another CD.

6.  Lastly, I created a new field in MC for the CD numbers, and put the corresponding CD number in.  If I accidently delete and album or two or 100, I know which CDs to bring back.

I've already tested this system under combat conditions, and I heartily recommend it.  Granted, most people aren't as obsessive/compulsive/anal retentive as I am.  Then again, I hope your disk drives are more reliable than mine, and you never accidently delete anything.  Every now and then somebody posts on the forum:  Is there any way to recover a library once it's been deleted off the drive?  There isn't, you must back it up.

[sixdoubleo]

I appreciate the response.   And while I am anal about some things, I'm not so sure I'm going to go as far as you.  To me, the physical CD...the thing you buy...is the CD+jewel case+liner as a unit.  And that's how I'd like to store it.   To separate it out just seems like a bunch of extra storage and management that I dont want to do.

Some CD's come with non-standard jewel cases...the cardboard folder boxes and whatnot. 

I am still going back and forth on the WAV/MP3 issue.  (I know it's a very religious one.)  If I was starting my library today, I would probably go lossless.  However, I currently have 65GB of MP3's (about 800 CD's) and I really dont want to go back and re-rip right now. 


I can very much appreciate your reasoning and the design of your system.  Just for me, the extra storage/management of separating the CD's would outweight the benefis.

[Galley]

I would love to keep my DVDs in their cases, but 300 of them takes up way too much space, so now they are all in sleeves, in one drawer of my nightstand.  The cases are in the closet. 

[KingSparta]

I would love to keep my DVDs in their cases, but 300 of them takes up way too much space

i have over 1500 and they are still in the original case and they are just fine.

they only take up 1\2 of one of my walls, kind of like wall paper but it is a bit thick

[outsider]

Jgreeen's just shown the extremes people will go when they get fed up with doing things 3-4 times.
I too have thought about this topic of how to keep track of my mp3s in case of a disaster.
The approach I chose was to use a comercially available backup software pachage (Genie Backup Manager in my case, which is free)
Anyhoo, I just back up my MP3 collection onto DVDs. 50 megs of mp3s (which is quite a lot of albume) is only 11 DVDs. About 3 times a year I do a full backup, and every few weeks, an incremental backup, to catch any new albums/songs that I might have bought and added. DVDs are cheap.
And even if one DVD fails to read when restoring, that's only a handfull of albums I have to worry about re-ripping.

Just thought I'd share with you my experiences...