CD Storage??

[mts819]

Hey,

I have been a busy trader and have around 300 cd's, how do you guys store your cd's? Binders? If so, is there a recommended place to get these binders cheaper than they are everywhere else? Right now, I just have loose sleeves all over the place - quote a mess.

Thanks,

Mike

[urth]

I use the slim Jewl Cases I can fit 2 dics in each with a piece of that cd padding like in the sleeves or a piece of cd cleaning paper in between

[BustedMachead]

I too am looking for some storage device. The cd books with those 4 pocket pages and what not are no good because once you put shows in and you get new shows, you have to take out all the other shows, move stuff around..it just gets difficult. I want to have pages with holes in them (3 holes binder concept). That would make things so much easier. Anyone know of any thing like that?

[nringelstetter]

some companies make cd binders that have a 3 ring system-but not many. Case Logic makes pages that are compatible with a normal office type 3 ring binder. However, you don't have any of the protection like zip up binders offer, if you're just storing inside that probalby isn't a huge deal.

-nate

[The Floodzone]

I use the case logic binders to keep my shn discs in. For audio I try to buy cd cases for and print out coverart, but thats expensive and I've gotten behind on doing that so now most of my audio cds are in spindles.

Chris

[Nstiffler]

I use case logic binders but i dont add to them until i have a spidle of 100 and then i go and do some cleaning up. I find this way is the best for me. Sure i cant listen to the 100 in the spindle untiul they are in cases but thats ok, I jsut wait.

[ICAGG05]

Originally posted by BustedMachead
I too am looking for some storage device. The cd books with those 4 pocket pages and what not are no good because once you put shows in and you get new shows, you have to take out all the other shows, move stuff around..it just gets difficult. I want to have pages with holes in them (3 holes binder concept). That would make things so much easier. Anyone know of any thing like that?

Actually a good way to catorgize shows with those binders is instead of catorgizing your whole collection, once you fill a notebook completely, Catorgize that by date and then your good.

[DMBMike36]

Right now I have a 160 disc cd spinning tower(4 sides, 40 per side). Half of it is DMB shows, the other half is just other CD's. Its rapidly filling up(less than 10 spots left) so I need to think of something else. I'm thinking about using the one I have for DMB shows only and buying a 140 tower(leave myself room to grow) for my other cd's.

I was just looking for CD towers online and found this site

http://directtoyoustoragesystems.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/?E+scstore

i was thinking about getting this one for $30

http://directtoyoustoragesystems.com/images/2848.jpg

[ibanezcollector]

http://brett.dmbwallpaper.net/Images/TheCollection.jpg

[rhino_1982]

yesterday at office max they had fellowes cd binders for 14.99 they hold 224 cds---pretty good deal-they had a 20 dollar instant rebate---anyway thought you would be interested

[dmb4life2000]

how do you organize your shows in binders like one binder with all dave and tim, another full band and another smaller one just Dave solo

[Mark]

found this the other day

http://www.justdmb.com/cdrack/cd-rack.htm

mark

[The Floodzone]

Thats a pretty good idea, I was thinking of buying a bookcase looking one like that. The problem is that I like the spinning ones more, but I think the bookcase way is the way to go.

Chris

[MGH4007]

i have a question. When you guys burn your shows to cd's

1)what format do you burn it in (shn, wav...?)
2)Do you burn a data disc, audio, mp3?

[SeanMH]

all my shows are audio, then put in slim jewel cases and then put into black cd storage cases sorted by year

[d+ter]

i can't imagine burning all my shows as audio. no offense, but that seems like such an inefficient way to do it. TONS of cds.

i archive onto DVDs. an NEC dvd burner cost me $45 from newegg. i got 25 verbatim DVD+r's and DVD-R's for $16. there ya go. i fit all my dave and tim and dave and friends onto 18 dvds (check out my list) i put each DVD in a slim case and put the slim cases in this cd holder thinger i got from ikea. it's my "DM archive." it's a great system, plus this way, to jump on and seed on dreamingtree (i check the seedless torrents every day) i can just dump the show back onto my harddrive. takes about 4 minutes to put it back on my hd and start seeding.

[onemanguitarban]

Case Logic makes Koskin CD binders (244-320) that have removable pages, with zip up sides. THey are not 3 ring binders, so you typically have to take a few pages out then put a blank one it and put the others back....but it works, instead of moving around 100 individual CDs.

And DVD archiving to FLAC is the way to to.....you can put hundreads if not a thousand shows in one Binder if you back up to DVD using FLAC.

[stpitner]

http://brett.dmbwallpaper.net/Images/TheCollection.jpg

Wow, surprising to see you on the boards! Long time to see... and I don't know about the others, but the link to the picture is broken.

Storage has always been a problem. I guess it all depends on:
1) Size of your collection currently.
2) Do you need your collection to be mobile?
3) Are you collecting audio or doing backups on dvd's?
4) How big do you intend to grow your collection?
5) How much money are you willing to part with to try to do what fits best?

The Key Component:
Knowing Where Your Stuff IS
What do I mean by that? Well, let's say you want to play a song from 3.23.93. You haven't had time to put all of your stuff in date order because it's just too much to do. Well, instead of ordering by date, keep a SEPARATE list of where your stuff is at. Also change up your numbering sequence to go by your own numbers instead of by the show date. This works best for larger collections as it's easier to sort smaller collections. This is also the best way to help you when you archive to dvd with the lossless formats.

The best way to track your stuff is if you know how to use Microsoft Excel. You can use Word or even Notepad if you're afraid of Excel. Format it however you wish. Just start a #1, and keep going up with each disc that you add. On your spreadsheet, use one row per show date. As you add the new shows, go ahead and insert them in date order. Here's an example:

For Archive DVD's
1993-03-23 - #6
2000-06-19 - #2
2005-09-10 - #1
2005-09-11 - #1
2005-09-12 - #1
2005-11-27 - #6

For Audio CD's
1993-03-23 d1 - #6, d2 - #7, d3 - #8
2000-06-19 d1 - #4, d2 - #5
2005-09-10 d1 - #1, d2 - #2, d3 - #3
2005-09-11 d1 - #9, d2 - #10, d3 - #11
2005-09-12 d1 - #15, d2 - #16, d3 - #17
2005-11-27 d1 - #12, d2 - #13, d3 - #14

So all you have to do is open this list and after looking up the date it will tell you what disc # to pull. If you're worried about it deleted, print out backups or keep the information in the comments section of a list online, etc etc. You dont' have to worry about keeping your discs in chronological order anymore. Just put them in your # order, and then this list will keep them in chronological order for you.

This works extremely well especially when you use the books where you can't move the pages. just number the pages (you can even do your numbering like 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d for the 4 spots on one page of your book), and then you don't have to keep shuffling cd's around. Note: if you use the big books to hold cd's, repeated shuffling of the cd's will scratch the bottoms (been there done that)

For small collections, low mobility:
You have the largest range to select from. The reason being is because what you have will be relatively cheap to get everything nicely put away.

I have one of these:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=4510407&type=product&id=1069297059179
Only it's half the size and only about $35-$40 instead of $78. I use it to store my archived dvd's. It fits about 55 cd's per row (standard-size jewel case), and I would presume about twice as much if you use a slim-size jewel case. I'm using full size because I received about 1500 of them for free back in 1999. I don't have that many anymore (had to toss some, gave away a bunch, etc), but they still serve their purpose well. You could store up to about 220-250 jewel cases on one of those things, and that would give you enough room for about 80-100 audio shows.

Small Collection, High Mobility
If you don't have many plans to expand your collection (say you just want the shows you've been to and you already have the ones from the past that you've been to), just get a regular cd album book, probably zippered, and just start putting them in there in chronological order. You can take the book with you wherever you go, the order won't be changing much, and it's cost effective for your collection.

Large Collection, Low Mobility
If you're doing dvd archives, I highly recommend the numbering scheme example I used above and then just write archive numbers on each dvd. That way you can burn whatever you want on the dvd's and it doesn't have to be even close to chronological order. If you use excel you can even have Excel do the sorting for you to get it to chronological order (just be sure your date is formatted with year FIRST)

If you have money to burn and plan on archiving maybe 100 or 200 dvd's or so, invest in this type of item:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1433480&CatId=44

It holds 100 cd's or dvd's, and you can control from your computer which one you want it to spit out. You can stack them and they all connect together.

Large Collection, High Mobility
You're going to have to go with the cd albums that hold about 300+ cd's per case. I have 6 or 7 of those, and I was trying to keep them in date order. Bad idea. I wound up using 1 for just my 2000 audio shows, 1 for just my 2001 audio shows, and then for another (for example) I put the 1994 shows in the front going back and the 1995 shows in the back going forwards. This way I was able to add more 1994 and 1995 shows without having to move all of 1995 stuff to add 1994. I would recommend not keeping them in chronological order though.

Looking to expand, but cheap:
If you're at a small collection right now, and you want to make it into a big one, here's a couple of the cheapest methods I can think of.

1) Label a spindle as #1-#100, put the discs on the spindle. It's not the fastest way to retreive a disc, but it doesn't cost any more than the spindle itself.
2) Go to Sam's Club and pick up a 250-pack of white cd envelopes (they are $15 or less at Sam's). Get a shoebox or maybe a slightly sturdier box. Put your discs in order. You can fit a ton of discs into a small box when you use the cd envelopes, and they stay relatively safe. Beware of discs falling out of the box if you're not careful! You could substitute the case logic pro sleeves or something else here instead if you don't like the white envelopes (tyvek stuff is nice) but anything else is going to cost you more.

Looking to expand, but expensive:
Either buy a bunch of those big zippered albums and you almost HAVE to use a way to sort your shows other than by chronological order (especially when you collect more than just Dave). You could build some gigantic cd racks and buy a bunch of slim-line jewel cases, you could archive to dvd (but that doesn't make sense if you are looking for a way to store the audio cd's that you want to easily be able to pop into a stereo and play), or you could make a contraption with a bunch of little dowel rods that you put the cd's onto (spindles without the spindles) and try to make it look fashionable or something.

If you read this whole post, kudos to you. Pat yourself on the back and then start organizing your collection ;)

-Scott

[bartender69]

Interesting thread. This seems to be an issue in which there is not one clear method, but there are many good ones. For me, I recently began keeping al my shows backed up in shn/flac, so organization is an even bigger issue. I keep all my shn/flac discs in cd envelopes, which are then stored in cases in chronological order, by date. I also use dividers with the tour and year, ie WINTER 2005. This way, I can more easily locate the exact show I'm looking for.

Once I get around to converting the shows, then I store them with my audio collection. My audio discs are stored in the clear 2 disc cases. If the show is three discs then I use the thin cardboard inserts from AD. The shows are then stored into wooden bookshelf storage units with a 250 disc storage capacity.

THis whole process may seem a bit anal, but it is worth the extra effort. I can't stand disorganization, or things not being in their proper place. :)

[j_jgarcia]

Hey,

I have been a busy trader and have around 300 cd's, how do you guys store your cd's? Binders? If so, is there a recommended place to get these binders cheaper than they are everywhere else? Right now, I just have loose sleeves all over the place - quote a mess.

Thanks,

Mike

bought a cd rack and burn shows to cd and moe recently dvd's in flac/shn and a case for audios.....no archives in audio form, just the originals...

[oasisfan35]

I back up all my lossless files (and previously mp3s) to DVD media. I keep all my lossless/DVDs in slimline jewels and mp3/CDs in envelopes (shop4tech.com). As for my naming structure for DVDs it's done by
Artist D+T, DM, DM+F, DMB
Volume 1/mp3, 2/lossless
Year 2000/00, 2002/02
Disc # in series

i.e. DMB VOL 2 00 01

And after burning I'll add them to my WhereIsIt archive, which is a great little tool for the PC.

Then I move it to my Audio Archive PC which has its own naming structure

[JmoneyDMB]

90% of mine are in spindles, the rest are in binders

[ordis]

i have been using the same binders for 7 years. dont remember the brand but they hold 208 cds and are from Wal Mart. I've found you can't get them at all Wal Mart's, but my local one has always had them for $15.98.

[d+ter]

The Key Component:
Knowing Where Your Stuff IS
What do I mean by that? Well, let's say you want to play a song from 3.23.93. You haven't had time to put all of your stuff in date order because it's just too much to do. Well, instead of ordering by date, keep a SEPARATE list of where your stuff is at. Also change up your numbering sequence to go by your own numbers instead of by the show date. This works best for larger collections as it's easier to sort smaller collections. This is also the best way to help you when you archive to dvd with the lossless formats.

The best way to track your stuff is if you know how to use Microsoft Excel. You can use Word or even Notepad if you're afraid of Excel. Format it however you wish. Just start a #1, and keep going up with each disc that you add. On your spreadsheet, use one row per show date. As you add the new shows, go ahead and insert them in date order. Here's an example:



im wondering if you could have made this process any harder, or more tedious.

listen up if you want to know the easiest way to organize your music collection. burn you lossless shows to dvd. (dvd burners are under $50 and media is getting cheaper every week.) you can fit 5, 6 at the most shows on each dvd. write the name of the show on the front, do it in a general chronological order. make a folder called something to effect of "Dave and Tim Setlists" or whatever you want to call it. put a copy of the .txt file from each of the shows that you own in the folder. you can even organize by year if you want. install google desktop search. search for a song (ie. "Crush") up pops a page showing every .txt file that has that show in it, showing you every show that you own that has that song.

it's is simple and doesn't requiring any typing into excel or anything like that on your part. any questions, hit me up.

russ

[annoying_2001]

i use the binders w/ excel.

i've got about 1,000 cds total, that is, every disc gets a number.
so if the show is three discs, disc 1 is #345, disc 2 #346, disc 3 #347, it goes on like that.

but, i collect a lot of bootlegs, not just dmb. i also use spindles after my binders fill up, which they have, so i've gotta get a new one, or three.

as far as the binders w/ the clips, don't get them, especially if you use them all the time because the binder clips become uneven, and then when looking through the pages, it's a pain in the ass because they keep falling out (my jj, dylan, & beatles cds are in that binder) and i very rarley go to it, because of the retarded thing.

but i recommend using excel, it makes things a lot fuckin' easier.

[onemanguitarban]

i use the binders w/ excel.

i've got about 1,000 cds total, that is, every disc gets a number.
so if the show is three discs, disc 1 is #345, disc 2 #346, disc 3 #347, it goes on like that.

but, i collect a lot of bootlegs, not just dmb. i also use spindles after my binders fill up, which they have, so i've gotta get a new one, or three.

as far as the binders w/ the clips, don't get them, especially if you use them all the time because the binder clips become uneven, and then when looking through the pages, it's a pain in the ass because they keep falling out (my jj, dylan, & beatles cds are in that binder) and i very rarley go to it, because of the retarded thing.

Note that I think he is referring to the "3-ring" binder style" where the rings meet in the middle, or D-ring style where they meet at the beginning of the curved part. Case logic makes some binders with a locking mechanism that shouldn't have this "warped where they meet" problem, becuase they don't work like that.....so don't dismiss binders on this prinipal alone.

I use Excel as well, and find it to be a great resource, and easy to update. The next step is to put it into a real database, like Access...so you can do more advanced searches easily. Which is ideal for larger collections.

[MGH4007]

ok, so should i burn them as data? or audio? They are in lossless format

[bartender69]

ok, so should i burn them as data? or audio? They are in lossless format

Always burn as data, and then convert the show to audio. This way, if anything happens to your audio (i.e. theft, wear, etc) then you always have the data backup to make another copy of the show. :)

[MGH4007]

what program is the best to burn? also do you burn the text, and md5 files also?

[oasisfan35]

what program is the best to burn? also do you burn the text, and md5 files also?

Yes, especially if you want to start or help seed a torrent. Keep it all, it's only a few KB anyway (plus the md5s are used to verify your files are good)