Categorising physical music collections

[Telliot]

I’ve got mine alphabetized, and I feel accomplished in that. It’s good enough for me, and I tend to hate the whole concept of genres (although I understand their purpose). For me, music falls into two categories: good or bad. My tastes are so eclectic it doesn’t make sense to do anything but keep them sorted by alphabet.

[Flurko]

I have a friend who used to keep most of their collection into four different categories, them being "metal", "garage", "drugs" (mostly electronic stuff), and "mom", which was the category her mom could pull from when she was visiting.

[sal paradise]

What kind of human would do that?

I’ve put bands or artists into best fit based on how I would instinctively think to look for them. Simon & Garfunkel are in 60s, not folk & country. At the same time I’ve got Gram Parsons sat next to Fleet Foxes. But you need to go to indie/alt to get Father John Misty.

Yes. And now even I’ve confused myself with wtf have I actually categorised these into?

But then do you have Simon & Garfunkle in a separate section from Paul Simon, Paul Simon, Paul Simon, Paul Simon, and Paul Simon?

I can't imagine splitting up all those albums, or trying to stuff them into the 60s or folk section!

No one is splitting up albums. Every time you write that it gives me heart palpitations

Paul Simon, Springsteen & Tom Waits etc do pose problems. This is why the 60s section is 60s/70s/80s folk/rock. I think I need a singer-songwriter category. But then do Chris Gantry, Lee Hazlewood & Bobbie Gentry move out of country?

If this carries on I’m going to need separate Memphis Soul from Detroit Soul, California 70s folk rock from 70s southern country & Delta swap rock… who knew genres can spiral out of control so quickly.

P.S. all my REM albums are filed under 90s

[Embenny]

No one is splitting up albums. Every time you write that it gives me heart palpitations

Paul Simon, Springsteen & Tom Waits etc do pose problems. This is why the 60s section is 60s/70s/80s folk/rock. I think I need a singer-songwriter category. But then do Chris Gantry, Lee Hazlewood & Bobbie Gentry move out of country?

If this carries on I’m going to need separate Memphis Soul from Detroit Soul, California 70s folk rock from 70s southern country & Delta swap rock… who knew genres can spiral out of control so quickly.

P.S. all my REM albums are filed under 90s

Hey, I'm just asking questions, since I'm only now learning how other people do this! I guess I always assumed "alphabetical by artist, chronological within artist" was how everyone else did it, too.

Anything more complicated than that and I feel like I'd need the Dewey Decimal System, or specialized shelving with labels, or something like that

I'm not great at organizing things or remembering how I did so previously, so I need to be able to set up my music collection in a way that would be easy for a total stranger to find things. Going to the same section for Graceland as for Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy would not be something that would occur to me a year after reorganizing things, regardless of the logic.

[windmill]

due to a slight touch of OCD I have filed the music collection in at least the following ways
Alphabetical
Artist
Era
Genre
Nationality

Then I realised I like them all, so it doesn't matter which one comes out of the shelf first.

So it's random now, and occasionally leads to a pleasant surprise to play something I hadn't thought about for a while. ( in other words, something I had forgotten about ! )

HTH

[Embenny]

due to a slight touch of OCD I have filed the music collection in at least the following ways
Alphabetical
Artist
Era
Genre
Nationality

Then I realised I like them all, so it doesn't matter which one comes out of the shelf first.

So it's random now, and occasionally leads to a pleasant surprise to play something I hadn't thought about for a while. ( in other words, something I had forgotten about ! )

HTH

So basically, you settled on "analog shuffle mode."

Whatever works!

[panoramic]

Do you categorise your music collections in different ways? Keen to get some tips/ideas

Yeah, Shit that I own in no particular order.

[Jonesie]

Alphabetical by artist and chronological order.

This is exactly how I do it. Kind of shocked that it took this long to find someone in this thread with some sense

Ah yes, the correct way of doing things. Anything else borders on High Fidelity "Autobiographical" sorting.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I have mine alphabetised/chronologified for the most part, but I'm toying with the idea of having separate sections for recently-purchased, most played, and/or 'genre de jour'/favourites, all of which can be easily reassimilated into the general section at will.

My biggest vinyl problem is I bought a couple of Kallax units to keep things neat, allowing me to sort in my preferred front to back - as opposed to left to right - format, and the weight of the storage boxes is hard going*, meaning I could do with a 'browsing table' for making selections (but don't have the space for one).**

* I came up with a life hack of using polysterene blocks as spacers at the back of each box, but they're still too heavy. I long for the days when my records lived in rows of cardboard boxes on the floor.

** Maybe some sort of plant or speaker stand hack is called for.

[s_mcsleazy]

by artist then year ALTHOUGH. because i've been slowly collecting every discord records release over the last 15 years, discord records has it's own section. also if there's a connection to another band/artist, i sometimes lump them together. so nocturnal habits is in my unwound section.

[cestlamort]

Alphabetical by artist and chronological order.

This is exactly how I do it. Kind of shocked that it took this long to find someone in this thread with some sense

Ah yes, the correct way of doing things. Anything else borders on High Fidelity "Autobiographical" sorting.

I was going to quote that passage from “High Fidelity”.

In our house:
CDs - alphabetical by artist, compilations at the end (plus boxes of random and obscure 80s/90s/00s stuff that we never listen to and should probably digitize and release into the wild)
LPs - alphabetical by artist, compilations at the end. Divided into the rough categories of jazz, not-jazz, and random thrift store stuff (instructional records et al). Although our CDs are co-mingled, my wife and I still maintain separate LP sections.
Side projects and related bands are filed with the primary artist (Steve Kilbey solo with the Church, Brendan Lerrg with Dead Can Dance, Nyte Skye with Film School etc. The Sisterhood with Sisters of Mercy but: Mission on its own)
7” - boxes of indie etc, more or less chronological more than by artist
Most of our home listening is from a networked hard drive to various Sonos speakers in the house. Or via Spotify if we haven’t gotten around to buying the album. (or via Bandcamp if we have).
Turntable in the living room, but set up to play throughout the house. (Sonos wasn’t kind to the quality- not horrible but not ans good as straight analog either, so what’s the point). We’ll sometimes grab a handful of CDs for the car but they never get played as CDs at home, rather as the bones or delivery device for whatever got put into the computer.

[Sweetfinger]

I guess I'm alphabetical. There's no further rule on whether something like Pat Boone would be under "P" or "B", and usually, bands with "The" as part of the name might get filed under "T", but might not. So searching for "The Anomalys" might involve looking in a couple places.
Random related story, apparently Keith Feguson the original bass player for The Fabulous Thunderbirds, kept his records organized under "Texas", "Mexico", or "Other".

[Plumerai]

alphabetical for me but random within the artist/band & comps at the end. I wish I had the space to set it up like a record shop (face forward). trying to read the spines is a pain with protective sleeves.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I wish I had the space to set it up like a record shop (face forward). trying to read the spines is a pain with protective sleeves.

As I alluded to, IKEA Kallax storage with pull-out boxes lets you do this, but the depth of the boxes makes them really heavy, so the ideal set-up would incorporate something to rest a box on while you're trying to find the record you want. IKEA probably also do a folding stool which would work for this purpose then lean against the side of the units when not in use.

[Plumerai]

I wish I had the space to set it up like a record shop (face forward). trying to read the spines is a pain with protective sleeves.

As I alluded to, IKEA Kallax storage with pull-out boxes lets you do this, but the depth of the boxes makes them really heavy, so the ideal set-up would incorporate something to rest a box on while you're trying to find the record you want. IKEA probably also do a folding stool which would work for this purpose then lean against the side of the units when not in use.

came across this lpbin site https://www.lpbin.com/lpbinmodernblack.html. linked item holds 450.