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How Do You Store Your CDs?
Posted by
Cliff
on Fri May 23, 2003 12:15 AM
from the minimizing-storage-space-yet-still-convenient dept.
from the minimizing-storage-space-yet-still-convenient dept.
lxs asks: "Let's face it, CDs are a pain. They are a great way to store your data, but when you have hundreds, or even thousands of CDRs and not much physical space, storage becomes a problem. With the advent of DVD+/-Rs DVD-RAM and Blu-ray this problem will not go away, since we all will collect thousends of those in the coming years. Jewel cases take up too much space; CD folders are better, but still wasteful (and expensive); and spindles are great, but you can't find anything. I've toyed with the idea of buying paper CD envelopes, and fill up a couple of old-fashioned 5 1/4" floppy cases with CDs (those were efficient: 200+ floppies in a plastic shoebox!), but there may be a better solution out there. So, Slashdot: how do you store your CDs?"
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I keep the CD's (Score:2, Insightful)
Great Question (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Great Question (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Great Question (Score:4, Interesting)
The question was about storing CD's, not accessing them. I keep frequently used CD's on a hard disk that I don't backup (since I can recover from originals farily easily.) For storing, I got huge packs of paper sleeves for the CD's and store them in a modified old dresser that looked nice. Basically I built new heavy duty drawer boxes out of 3/4" cabinet grade plywood for the sides, 1/2" plywood for the bottom, and heavy-duty full extension drawer slides. I put the original drawer front on the box so it looks nice.
I get about 1000 CD's in a drawer that way, which is fucking heavy - so it needs the modified drawers. I also put in some front-to-back dividers to keep things neat. I use tag-board dividers to label sections so I can find things easily.
You can also find commercial heavy duty steel units with the right sized drawers from most major office supply companies, but they cost >$1,000.
Parent
Re:Great Question (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:VCDJ (Score:5, Interesting)
Build a Virtual CD Jukebox [linuxjournal.com].
Parent
cataloging... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:cataloging... (Score:4, Informative)
cd
Then scribble nnn on the CD's hub, and maybe a few of the more salient contents if I'm feeling enthusiastic.
I then zgrep /usr/local/doc/cdcontents/* for when I'm looking for files. I use descriptive paths and filenames.
--
Parent
Face down on my desk. (Score:5, Funny)
You can start applauding my organisational skills any time now, folks.
Re:Face down on my desk. (Score:2)
Re:Face down on my desk. (Score:3, Informative)
Daniel
Re:Face down on my desk. (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Spindle (Score:4, Interesting)
storage? we don't need no stinkin storage (Score:3, Informative)
I regularly record TV shows with EyeTV [elgato.com]. I archive the files to mirrored hard drives, then burn them for viewing on TV. (I have TV-out, but the standalone DVD player looks and sounds better) After I'm done with the CDs I give them away or use them for drink coasters.
I don't trust CDR for long term storage. We don't know the long term properties of CDR dye, CD's get lost or scratched, I've even bought a 30-pack of Maxell CDR's that had a topside nick in every disc on the same location. CDR will forever be temporary storage to me.
Re:storage? we don't need no stinkin storage (Score:2)
I sometimes wonder, when people ask about reliability, how much is due to the media and how much to the CD burner. I have a Sony CD-RW drive which has been burning over the same 3 multi-volume CD sets every few days for over two years without any kind of error. (And yes, I do test my backups from time to time.) I keep wondering when the media will fail, but so
Re:storage? we don't need no stinkin storage (Score:3, Interesting)
For fixing scratched CD's, I once bought an advanced "CD Repair kit", wich supposedly would be the best thing in the world. That simply sucked, and didn't actually fix any CD I had.
However, I successfully recovered many *unreadable* scratched CD's and DVD's, simply by wiping toothpaste (Crest worked for me) from the center to the border using a soft cloth (and washing it later, of course). Yes, it's weird, but actually works better then the CD repair kits I tested. Try it
Re:storage? we don't need no stinkin storage (Score:3, Informative)
IF you're storing SVCDs, DVDs and the like (Score:5, Informative)
Downsides: cost (under $1/disc) is a bit more than printing CD/case labels and using jewel boxes. Some of the earlier models weren't compatible with all formats (though I know more happy users who can play their CD-R SVCDs and MP3s than unhappy ones who can't, Sony makes no promises - take some representative samples of your collection to the store to test the one you want to buy) Some of the models, at least, have a limited menu system (e.g. limited flexibility of folder/genre and playlist structure, limited title length, only 16 tracks per CD may show up in the menu)
Upsides: extremely compact storage for 301 audio or video disks. You can't beat the convenience for a DVD or VCD collection: just point and pick with the included remote. It has a quality DVD and audio player built in, which I consider a big freebie. The on-screen disc selection is great, if you buy a model whose menu system suits you; and they are daisy chainable, so if you need to store another 300 disc is a couple of years, you can tack on a second unit (which will probably cost half as much by then) instead of buying a completely new, larger, unit.
In short: research the models carefully on the web before buying (some have drawbacks that may bug you) but I know many happy users, and am currently in the market for one myself.
Re:IF you're storing SVCDs, DVDs and the like (Score:2)
Re:IF you're storing SVCDs, DVDs and the like (Score:3, Interesting)
I just tried this and, wow, the reviews I found [audioreview.com] were not too hot, to say the least. To say the most, it seems that people fucking hate this thing.
Lateral file with Case Logic CD Pages (Score:5, Informative)
I have roughly 1500 CDs. I've ripped them all to an external 160 GB firewire disk (with another one for backup), so I want to store them in compact a way as possible.
What I do is go buy those CD folders, in as large a size as possible. I cut them open (much cheaper than buy loose pages in packs), take the pages, fill them with CDs by band, and then file them in a lateral file cabinet which also functions as my printer & scanner stand.
I can get them at any time, and it's still reasonably compact. In fact, right now I'm in the middle of reripping from 256 KBps mp3s to 160 Kbps AACs, so having them arranged this way works pretty well.
I then spool music to several near-silent computers in the house over Ethernet. In this case, the whole thing is using Macs and iTunes, but it's just as feasible to do it all with x86 boxes - my first rev used an OpenBSD server spooling through icecast.
Re:Lateral file with Case Logic CD Pages (Score:3, Informative)
A critical piece to this working is that I cut several pieces of MDF to act as seperators in the lateral file cabinet.
Without them, once you have more than 20-30 pages, the pages all tend to slump over and slide beneath each other. The MDF seperators keep them in line and firmly packed, they work like a charm.
Keep CDs dry. (Score:5, Informative)
I've had CDs develop fungus, and become completely useless. Low humidity prevents this.
Re:Keep CDs dry. (Score:5, Funny)
You're not supposed to rub them between your feet!
Parent
Re:Keep CDs dry. (Score:2)
Here are some places to buy silica gel (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.jakesmp.com/CSD_Silica_Gel/CSD_Silic
Parent
Watch out for that paper (Score:5, Informative)
Cheers,
Ctrlphreak
Re:Watch out for that paper (Score:5, Informative)
Here's what really happened:
Surface of CD rests against abrasive paper. They rub together a little bit in transit. When this happens, the paper roughens areas on the CD, like fine sandpaper. No chemistry needed.
Next time, try tyvek sleeves. They cost insignificantly more money, resist tearing extremely well, and don't have such abrasive qualities as paper sleeves.
Meanwhile, you can restore playability to your CDs. Try automotive carnuba wax, Brasso, or peanut butter - whichever you happen to have handy.
Parent
Re:Watch out for that paper (Score:3, Informative)
I store the CDs in the attic (Score:3, Interesting)
With hard disks at about a buck a gigabyte, it only costs around 65 cents to store a completely full CD. Paper holders are nearly useless because you have to look at each CDs face to see what the disc contains (they travel well, however). Jewel cases can cost about 45 cents [sleevetown.com] and they take up a lot of room. Neither of the two are amenable to grep. The convenience I get for paying the "extra" 20 cents to keep them all on a filer is well worth it to me.
-B
discsox (Score:4, Interesting)
I ultimately settled on DiscSox [mmdesign.com] DJ sleeves in an IKEA shelf for my Audio CD collection (~650 CDs), but I use CaseLogic folders/spindles for most of my data discs. (Stuff I need to find in the folders, spindles for archival stuff.)
The discsox DJ sleeves are great 'cause they can hold all the inserts from the jewel box, and the DJ insert tabs allow for quick scanning of the sleeves' contents.
The DiscSox aren't cheap at about $0.50/sleeve, but they hold up better than paper. There are many other [jewelsleeve.com] sleeves like this on the market, but the discsox hold up better in my experience.
BalamRe:discsox (Score:2)
plumbing insulation (Score:4, Insightful)
take a couple of those and stick them on the vertical surfaces of your cave (table legs,shelf edges and stuff) grab the trusty old x-acto and cut yourself some horizontal slits about an inch apart and presto! every narrow vertical surface is cd storage at hand.
plus, if you drink too much beer and fall over, you don't have to worry about hitting your head!
3-ring binder... (Score:3, Informative)
Make sure to get a binder that's at least 2" thick if you have 10 or more pages because your pages will otherwise be impossible to turn (CDs are suprisingly thick when stacked).
Also, get yourself some cheap dessicant [brent-krueger.com] and store it with your binder if you're not carrying it around. If you can score the small packets (get 'em from shipping/packing suppliers) you could even tape them inside the binder. Haven't tried it myself, though.
Interseting ask.slashdot. Cheers!
I compress them... (Score:2, Funny)
more important is locating CD's (Score:2, Insightful)
CD's are good after all, having what you want is also good, but locating the needed CD is much harder. Numbering CD's is very important, keeping them with increasing numbers, also. I took that question much more serious than others, windows users can check disclib [lyrasoftware.com]
program.
Coffee maker filters (Score:2, Interesting)
I read this tip in the appropriate section of a household magazine but it seems that once in a decade they actually manage to publish a good tip: instead of 5¼" floppy folders, use coffee maker filters, put CDs in there and you can even write on them. You can then put them wherever you like, even a shoebox or some other container that you can browse easily.
How about... (Score:3, Informative)
What I Do . (Score:4, Interesting)
2. Get an empty CD can
3. put in the oldest 10/20 CDs in chron' order.
4. put a bit on platic sheet - size of a cd + a 1/2" x 1" tab - threaded onto the spindle, and write on the tab the number of the cd it's sitting on.
5. repeat steps 4 & 5 till can is full.
6. lock it up & label the can case.
when you open the can, the tabs spring out.
(Do I need to explain the rest?)
job done
(oh yes - a little spreadsheet too : cd number,subject type (e.g mp3,pdf,app),extra info (e.g. for albums- artist,album,#tracks,bps,vbr/cbr....))
WOW DO YOU LIVE IN A STUDIO APARTMENT? (Score:5, Funny)
You make CDs sound like VHS tapes. I current store my CDs in loose leaf binders, with CD sleeves. For example, I have a 2" thick binder, with 16 pages, with each page holding 8 CDs; it can hold up to 128 CDs, not including the booklets that may come with the CDs. I like the CD sleeves, and they aren't expensive if you know how to shop. If you go and buy the premade CD books, that will cost you money. If you get a loose leaf binder, and the sleeves, you will save 50% or more off the price of the premade books.
I'll put it to you this way. DVDs are a better solution, but I don't like their current prices; I'll wait till they come down to the cost of CDs.
What you need to do is.... House cleaning for CDs. That's right, you need to clean your room. Sorry to sound like your maternal one, but it's the honest truth. I have CDs i know I can throw out. When will you ever play that first version of *insert_first_iteration_of_computer_game_here* again? Sometimes, you just have to throw it out.
I have old computer books collecting dust. My book collection is a bit heavy considering. I have books double-stacled in bookshelves through out the house.
You could spend the time putting all the data to DVDs or Harddrives, or just deal with it and clean up your collection.
*now speaking in a motherly voice*
Now stop asking slashdot questions, and go to bed, you have work tomorrow. And brush your teeth, I can smell the cheetos.
Re:WOW DO YOU LIVE IN A STUDIO APARTMENT? (Score:3, Funny)
Unfortunately, that's what my Mom thought about my Action Comics #15...
DiscSox (Score:3, Informative)
Dewey Decimal (Score:4, Interesting)
I doubt that this would be at all simple for anyone who hadn't been in libraries putting books away for fifteen years of their life, but there you go. I also try to keep a relavent catalogue with cross-indexing, but... didn't i mention i'm crazy?
Upside down is wrong, people (Score:5, Informative)
My methods for organizing 3200 audio CDs/DVDs: 3 400 disc CD changers, 3 300 disc DVD changers. The contents of each changer are indexed in a plaintext file and a searchable web db. That takes care of about 2/3s of my storage needs, and since all these units have a display and a PS/2 port, it makes labelling simple.
I like jewel cases, so I keep my cases in them. I got a local cabinetmaker to build me some nice 7' tall shelves to store cases. They're simple, pine construction, but he put on oak trim. They look nice, and keep my collection visible. The overflow is kept in $10 3' bookcases I got from Kmart. I organize cases alphabetically.
For data discs, I just throw everything in 200-CD binders. Those sit on the bookshelves in my computer room. I have a couple for games, a couple for drivers, one for OSes and apps, and about 10 for my prodigious collection of pr0n.
I just roll my own paper sleeves. (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Take the piece of paper, and holding it portrait-wise, fold the bottom up to about an inch down the page (try this for a while with a CD in it, and you'll see how it works.)
2. fold that top inch down into a flap.
3. Open it up, and fold in about 1.5 inches on each side. (Again, use the CD in it, and you'll see how I mean.)
4. Toss CDs into the inside flaps, fold it up, and fold the top flap over. Presto! Instant and compant CD sleeve.
I store my CDs and DVDs (Score:5, Funny)
KDS CD Organizer (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, the software supports many of these attached to one computer, so you can buy as many as you need. Obviously real estate starts to become a concern, but you can always buy a long USB cable and stuff these out of the way somewhere. Still, though, it's a pretty nifty arrangement, and I like mine a lot.
DJ binders (Score:3, Informative)
Here's an example:
[targus.com]
http://www.targus.com/cases_media_104_208.asp
CD's are stored 4 to a page, and pages are double-sided. CD's are stored in plastic sleeves, and the plastic is flexible enough to allow the liner notes to be placed behind the CD when stored. Putting liner notes behind the CD also marks the proper location to put back the CD when you are done using it.
When filled, each binder is around 3" thick. It fits in a standard shelf, and its height is roughly that of standard paper in the US (11"). The only disadvantage is that the binder is rather wide, and can require a deep shelf to store without risk of toppling out.
The plastic cases for CD's are then thrown away. I keep interesting ones that would be hard to replace if ever needed (imports, etc.) and use them as generic cases for CD's I frequently use, keeping them outside of the binder.
The result? Around 40GB of music on the hard drive, and all CD's safely tucked away in binders!
Re:You mean... (Score:2, Funny)
Not so good... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent