Storage of cd's

spiritofmusic · Sep 13, 2014

A little q to What'sBestForum'sters. I know a lot of digital guys have gone to the full extent of ripping their cd's and getting rid of the discs and their pesky jewel cases. However I'm one who is sticking w/my cd collection. However my collection (2k+) is starting to outgrow the space available to store it, and I need to get 'round to reducing the room taken up by the frankly wretched jewel cases.
There seem to be two main ways to go, involving scrapping the bulky cases.
One is Jazzloft polypropylene sleeves, which duplicate the function of jewel cases, but are less than a fifth of an inch thick each, w/an option even to use inner paper sleeves. This would reduce the space taken up by well over half.
The other is Case Logic and other such cd folders, where one stores cd's, 2-4 per page w/artwork separately, and like an old-style photo album, one can add storage pages as collection grows. There do seem to be issues w/the durablility of this option as many makes use pretty cheap, easily damaged materials for the individual pages.
The advantage of Jazzloft seems to be durability of material, and that collection w/spines is visible on one's shelf; the storage binders having the ability to grab whole collections of cd's easily and move a-b.
Cd collectors, your thoughts please.

amirm · Sep 13, 2014

I am out of business the moment you said you don't want to go the audio server route

.

I used to travel with a colleague of mine to demo HD movies when they were first launched and he would carry hundreds of them. His solution was a binder. The nice thing about that is that you can categorize what each binder is as he had done with his discs.

Phelonious Ponk · Sep 13, 2014

I have a bunch of the big, four discs to a page (per side) binders. They are the best for compact storage, but they are kind of floppy and clumsy, and I'm not sure how well they'd hold up if you were pulling discs in and out of them all the time. Rip them all, then put the binders away; you'll be glad you did. If you can't go there yet, go with the thin cases.

Rip 'em. Instant search by genre/composer/artist/album/song is wonderful. You'll re-discover your collection.

Tim

spiritofmusic · Sep 13, 2014

Boys, obv I need to change my username to "Luddite"

! This is not the place to go down the to 'rip/not to rip' argument - I'm happy w/my decision to retain physical media, and I have a cdp which I feel outperforms a number of sacd players I've heard, and I'm (one of the few, tbh) listeners who has never been fully convinced by streaming/downloading/hi rez - but that's just me.
Would like to hear from those who have invested in JazzLoft Space Saving Sleeves.

esldude · Sep 13, 2014

If you are sticking with the physical media, then stick with jewel cases. Jewel cases on a shelf provide random access. I would alphabetize them of course. Anything else is too clumsy even though it saves space. Jewel cases do protect discs better than sleeves when they are handled often as will be the case in your scenario. The space of keeping jewel cases is just part of the cost of doing things that way.

Of course I too will tell you what you don't want to hear. Rip them to a hard drive. The advantages are numerous.

Ronm1 · Sep 13, 2014

As I mentioned in an older thread.
Single & doubles unless being played are in CanAm cabs. Same with DVD's.
Sets are on bookcase shelves, same with DVD sets. Ripping is so passé

Don't get me started on hardcover books especially cook books.

spiritofmusic · Sep 13, 2014

Ronm, CanAm cabs??? Where is your thread?

microstrip · Sep 13, 2014

spiritofmusic said:
(...) This is not the place to go down the to 'rip/not to rip' argument - I'm happy w/my decision to retain physical media, and I have a cdp which I feel outperforms a number of sacd players I've heard, and I'm (one of the few, tbh) listeners who has never been fully convinced by streaming/downloading/hi rez - but that's just me.

+1!

Do you know the famous Chicken paper http://stat.fsu.edu/~chicken/webfiles/chickenpaper.pdf? I am sure some of our respected members would love a Rip paper - just replace every "chicken" word by "rip rip" using an adequate word processor.

Ronm1 · Sep 13, 2014

spiritofmusic said:
Ronm, CanAm cabs??? Where is your thread?

Here is a link to h/w

http://can-am.ca

I should add that I'm currently using two 4 drawer and 2 three drawer units

astrotoy · Sep 13, 2014

I have several Case Logic Albums to store my CD's that I have ripped. That means I don't have to go back to find individual CD's unless I want to rip them again. The problem I found with storing the CD's that way is when I buy a new CD and it fits within some category that I have chosen, there is no space to put the CD, unless I take apart the album and add an extra sheet (then I have 7 blank spaces just to add one CD, or I have to move all of the CD's around to free up a space. Depending on what it is, I have the CD's arranged by type of music and then alphabetically by composer or artist, if it is a collection (these are almost all classical) or sometimes by label and catalogue number. In any case, putting them in the Case Logic albums is the cheapest and most compact way I have found to store the CD's (about 1500 in my collection), but not the easiest to find a CD to play. I also think that the jewel boxes probably protect the CD's better from damage.

I don't know whether the little sleeves have any effect on CD rot, good or bad, since I have only been using the cases for 15-20 years or so.

Larry

asiufy · Sep 14, 2014

I use the Polysleeves myself, with 9000+ CDs. Simply no space for them all, if it weren't for the sleeves. I buy them at Bags Unlimited, not Jazzloft (cheaper that way).
I've been using them for many years (10+) and they are indeed durable and protective.
You do lose the "random access" bit, as mentioned, but I keep them in alphabetical order, in separate drawers.

alexandre

still-one · Sep 14, 2014

When I rip to SooLoos I retain the original CD and cases and store them in a rack just outside my 2-channel room for two reasons. Legally in the US you cannot rip music then sell or give away the source CD. The CD's are my back-up.

treitz3 · Sep 14, 2014

Hello all. I may be off the beaten path with my CD storage but here's a thought you may want to entertain. I have the CD storage units as seen below in the picture. These are from IKEA, are about $5.00 a pop and look great IMO (Even the wife approves).

I purposely over bought the amount needed to accommodate the constantly growing collection. Each one holds about 80 or 90 CD's and they do not have to be stud mounted in order to hold the weight, though sheetrock anchors are recommended. We spaced ours exactly one Jewel case apart, stacking them from the top to bottom. One great thing is you can set them at eye level for ease of access and they take up zero floor space. Very modern looking, convenient and strong. Food for thought for those who may be interested.

Oh, you can turn them vertically for DVD storage if you so wish.

Tom

Scott W · Sep 14, 2014

I use a 4 column Boltz rack and I love it. As a bonus it works as diffusion

JackD201 · Sep 15, 2014

Used to have a Boltz but when I moved I had a room built just for CDs, LPs, the RCM and the odd doodad. I've always kept my CDs in their jewel cases. My cousin whose CD collection is larger than mine went the binder/suitcase route. I have dust and sometimes mould problems. He doesn't.

spiritofmusic · Sep 15, 2014

Gentlemen, this thread is not about racking storage, but about individual storage of each cd (ie sleeves) - I'm pretty happy w/my main Ikea shelves, it's just what form do cd collectors hold the individual silver discs to cut down on space issues.

cpp · Sep 15, 2014

esldude said:
If you are sticking with the physical media, then stick with jewel cases. Jewel cases on a shelf provide random access. I would alphabetize them of course. Anything else is too clumsy even though it saves space. Jewel cases do protect discs better than sleeves when they are handled often as will be the case in your scenario. The space of keeping jewel cases is just part of the cost of doing things that way.

Of course I too will tell you what you don't want to hear. Rip them to a hard drive. The advantages are numerous.

I do the same, and I keep the old CD just in its case, after all I have the space in the home to store them along with 3400 LP's. .

LL21 · Sep 15, 2014

spiritofmusic said:
Gentlemen, this thread is not about racking storage, but about individual storage of each cd (ie sleeves) - I'm pretty happy w/my main Ikea shelves, it's just what form do cd collectors hold the individual silver discs to cut down on space issues.

I keep them in the jewel boxes...but I think people are suggesting that rather than change to a new holding case...make the shelves as efficient as possible...so you can fit as many jewel boxes into a given cubic volume of bookshelf as possible. I actually took our bookshelves and cut new shelves myself to insert in between the existing shelves...and essentially double the shelf space by halving the height of each shelf (which of course was originally for books).

spiritofmusic · Sep 15, 2014

Lloyd, the moment I saw the jewel case in 1983, I hated it. Clunky, prone to breaking, and a world away from the aesthetics of the lp. I'm a much bigger fan of the Digipak(?) where the disc is held as part of the packaging. It looks like I'm going down the Space Saving Sleeves route, seems a neat solution.

LL21 · Sep 16, 2014

can you see the album name/artist from the side of the dipipak? if so, that sounds very interesting...can you basically take your existing CDs/papers out of the jewelcase and put them in these presumably thinner cd cases? Again...and still read the side? I am pretty organized (Jazz, Blues, Classical, World, Soundtracks, Rock, Hip Hop/Deep House, Other...and then alphabetized by artist)...and thus it needs to be legible on the side.

spiritofmusic said:
Lloyd, the moment I saw the jewel case in 1983, I hated it. Clunky, prone to breaking, and a world away from the aesthetics of the lp. I'm a much bigger fan of the Digipak(?) where the disc is held as part of the packaging. It looks like I'm going down the Space Saving Sleeves route, seems a neat solution.

Storage of cd's

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