Storing Hundreds Of CDs? 31
mckwant asks: "I'm running into design conflicts with my significant other regarding the number and volume of my/our (well, mostly MY) CD collection. Music covers about 700 disks, with assorted computer stuff tacking on another 100 or so. Question is, if I were redesigning how I pursue storage, HOW? I haven't seen anything that combines reasonable access to the disks ('notebook' style disk holders are out on that principle) while doing better than my current bookshelf-style CD racks."
CD books (Score:1)
A hard outer shell, zippers shut, and a carrying handle. (it's designed for carrying mass quantities of audio CDs, but I dare you to tell the difference between that and a data CD
It cost me approximately $20 total. I don't exactly trust the pages, because they are *quite* thin, and I'm always afraid that I might bend or crack a CD while flipping through it.. but so far no problems.
Hide them (Score:1)
No, not in the basement with your Playboy collecction. I assume your SO doesn't like the look of a huge stockpile of CDs, especially in all the "modern" cheap, black, plastic, and wire cd towers you can get at Wal Mart for $19.99. In that case you could get an apothecary-like piece of furniture (i.e., a chest of drawers piece with more and smaller compartments) that is designed to hold CDs. Access is as easy as pulling out a drawer.
Possible (but expensive) solution (Score:1)
http://www.boltz.com/ [boltz.com]
These units are very nice looking (a friend has two), can be bolted together to make larger units (you would need two units, which at $250 each, may be more than what you want to spend!), and hold
the CDs quite nicely. They also deliver them to your door assembled.
Other solutions I'm pursuing are custom-built shelves (the key thing is that they not be too deep -- about 7" deep is the maximum you can go), or a hybrid solution -- normal bookshelf with "inserts" to slot CDs into (this would alleviate the "depth" problem).
I sympathize with you... I hope *someone* out there has a better solution, because for me $500 is out of the question.
IKEA, for all your furniture needs... (Score:3)
Mine is black, so it goes well with anything. I'm out of space on it, so it's time to get another one.
Caveats: It took a long time to put together.
Also, when loaded, it sinks enough into the carpet to not rotate too well (depends on your flooring, of course). So I got a 'lazy susan' type thing of the same size as the base to put under it - rotates like a champ now.
As I recall, it was something like $80 or so, but I could be completely misremembering. Check out IKEA...
Re:Hide them (Score:1)
get the bigger version (Score:1)
http://www.boltz.com/default-cdsystems.htm
at the bottom of the page
-andy
Re:A couple of suggestions (Score:2)
Re:A couple of suggestions (Score:2)
A couple of suggestions (Score:3)
Failing that, MP3 the music and buy a 30Gig HDD, then archive the CDs.
I beleive Jamie Zawinski addresses this once (Score:3)
Here you go for the rack: http://www.jwz.org/bookcase/cd.html
I've got a heafty CD collection as well, about 1000 discs, nobody has ever complained about them before, usually they want to borrow stuff. My solution have been to get some metal shelves from the hardware store and then I've cut pieces of wood about the same thinkness as a CD jewel case and as wide as the shelf and so I can stack them that way. The shop shelves have the structural integrity to support a couple thousand CDs, that has been the big problem with most racks I've seen, they need to support some weight.
Re:CD books (Score:1)
I know that, for instance, Case Logic manufactures versions that have a slot for the booklet as well. (Though those are generally only for 100 CD's.)
Or you could just do what I've done with my music CD's. Put them in a jukebox type CD player.
Bookshelves (Score:2)
I'd give more info, but I was just re-alphabetizing my collection, and now I have to start all over again... fsck...
--
go to a used office furniture warehouse... (Score:1)
it was used by a county courthouse to hold deed records. it fits 4 cds across in each drawer, spine up, and fits 75 deep in each drawer. with its 5 drawers, i'm still about 1.5 drawers away from running out of space.
cost? $200, and one missed day of work because i tore my diaphragm moving it. (fireproofing = weight. it weighs about 1000 lbs. minus drawers.)
i use matboard as dividers and indexing cards.
the fireproofing was unusual, but they had multiple other file cabinets that were designed for 8x5 cards and such that would have worked as well.
Re:My solution... (Score:1)
Re:Hide them (Score:1)
thanks.
mckwant
Re:800 CD Revolver (Score:1)
Just a thought.
mckwant
Re:replace the jewel boxes with slim covers (Score:1)
Keeping track (Score:1)
You could set up a computerized catalog system not unlike libraries have for books. Put a "call number" on each sleeve or jewel case. When you want to play something, look up in your database for the appropriate call number, locatate it on the shelf, and bingo! there you have it.
If you're like me, you'll be too lazy to put the disc back in order on the shelf. So instead, put a barcode on every CD. When you put it on the shelf, scan it in and then type in which shelf it's on. Then you don't have to alphebetize anything. When you want to find a disc, the computer will tell you what shelf to look on, then you only have to search through 100 CDs rather than 1000.
The biggest failing of the music CD standard: no on-disc database detailing track information, artist information, etc. If they'd thought to include this, it would be a snap to build a database. Instead, you have to type it all in manually or find an online site that has that info and hope it's complete.
Dimensions (Score:1)
Get a box of this size.
Jeremy
try hard drive? (Score:1)
Re:A couple of suggestions (Score:1)
And when you store them, make sure you vaccum seal them in plastic, as putting them in some sort of deep storage will probably speed up CD rot.
Re:try hard drive? (Score:1)
Well, when you get a *big* collection.... (Score:1)
We have several of the 480-disk model in the office for storing the digitized sky survey [stsci.edu] and the Multimission Archive at Space Telescope [stsci.edu], excluding the Hubble Data Archive [stsci.edu]. (We keep the Hubble data on other, larger capacity media.)
I visited Plasmon [plasmon.com] before we selected their MO jukebox, and the guys there confirmed that you could use the CD-R drives to play music CDs, with the appropriate audio mixer and drivers.
This may, however, be a bit more expensive than you'd like.
tc>
Re:CD books (Score:1)
Actually, what the hell am I saying--CD's usually end up in a stack on top of the tower/stereo...
"Hey, baby? You seen my Pato Banton CD?"
"Uh. Try the stack on the left.
*clatter of 25 CD's falling down behind entertainment center* "Uh oh. Was that anything important?"
"Naw. Mostly yours, I think."
replace the jewel boxes with slim covers (Score:2)
The college radio station that I once volunteered at had the same problem. They sourced out a really great product that was basically a small plastic envelope that held one cd with a seperate pocket for liner notes, and a pocket on the other side for the back U-card. The edge of the U-card with the title/artist was designed to bend so that you could put your cds in normal shelves and quickly flip through the collection by running your fingers along the edge. This was incredibly compact, you could hold 50 CDs in the palm of your hand easily. It also gave the satisfaction of random access to the collection and full liner notes/track listings in one place so you could carry a few "cases" to the couch to browse the notes while you listened.
I wish I could tell you where they got these, actually I wish I knew myself.
CD Storage (Score:1)
800 CD Revolver (Score:1)
Some day I hope to have a
Try the Container Store (Score:2)
I put together a Skandia [containerstore.com] shelving system for my entertainment center. I put four drawers (with CD inserts) along the bottom that hold probably around 400 CDs. It wasn't cheap (well over $1000) but then again it also holds a 32" TV, all my stereo components, multi-media PC, and a bunch of picture frames and the like. It's really sturdy stuff.
They also sell a media storage cabinet [containerstore.com] that is rather compact for holding 210 CDs.
--z
Wheeeeee (Score:1)
My solution... (Score:1)
My current solution is that I use CD drawers for my computer CD-ROMs and keep them in thinner sleeves -- no jewel cases. I found a bunch of half-height colored jewel cases, so I can double my storage density while still having a hard case for CD-ROMs that I use a lot. The half-height jewel cases are really half height, too. The only drawback is that you have no room along the edges to see what's there. In a drawer styled layout, that's OK, however, since you index by the front. I really don't use those CDs very often, so it's not too problematic.
The next suggestion, which I haven't done, is to keep all of your CDs in a closet, stacked to the ceiling, and then just rip them to MP3. You get about 10x the storage density with CD-Rs, and much much more with an extra hard drive or DVD-R/RW/RAM disks.
Now, I'm going to pull back and turn this into a computer architecture problem to give you an alternate solution. You have already reached the maximum local storage space and have fast access times to all storage. Now we need to introduce paging. Take your 300 most favorite CDs and keep them in a tower placed for maximum access time, indexed, with the full-height cases. This is your cache. Keep the rest of your CDs in a closet, with all of the cards intact, so that you can replace a lesser accessed CD from the cache with a CD from the closet that has been getting heavier usage. This is something that I use and it's rather convenient.
Can-Am (Score:1)