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  3 0 1st 600 lps? Is that like, an entire bookcase?? Plus HEAVY. Dayum. 2nd Alpha. Genre sometimes changes over time and you'll just have to fret or reorg later. Alpha doesn't change. Then chrono for each artist. ...though I tend to first separate songs from instrumentals (like classical or film scores) If you need a bit more chaos to your music organization then organize alpha, but sort first by DECADE. 70's starts with ABBA, 80's starts with adam ant, and so on... Rev.Enant answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 1 comment by stinkbug… 0 0 Alpha is teh sux. Where are you putting split records (i.e. a Los Crudos/Spitboy LP)? Some records deserve to sit side-by-side, like ones by Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch. I'm not going to separate those with a bunch of unrelated records. stinkbug commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  2 0 Alphabetical. Genres are for squares. Nicolas Heliotis answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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• Reputation: 48 Q&A: 1 0 0 29 1 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Music Panel Follow Following 0 Jake London

  2 0 This seems like more of a question for the Librarian and Archivist Panel. I think they'll be discussing cataloging and taxonomies on Questionland next week . But seriously, who and what is the organization for? Is it just for you, so you can find what you want when you want it? Do other people use it too? Are you interested in genre categories as a way of reminding/inspiring yourself to listen to more of your collection? All of those factors would contribute to what you end up doing. When I had more vinyl than I do now, I usually just went alphabetical, to the extent I even did that. I get kind of overwhelmed trying to classify things. In iTunes, I rarely use genre categories. I like to make smart playlists based on play counts and skip counts, so I get a mix of stuff I haven't heard that much of along with favorites. But there's no genre involved in that. It's just the variety mix, so to speak. If I want to make a genre playlist, I just put it together manually, or I use a program like Music IP DJ, which is like a slightly more sophisticated iTunes Genius or Pandora for your iTunes library. But vinyl is a different mindset for sure. Unless you have a record changer, it's one thing at a time. Jake London answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 Oh, this is the great question of all time. I could literally talk to you about how to organize your records for a hundred hours and not get tired. You certainly would. In the great documentary "Vinyl", one of the nutcase collectors sorts all his records by artist, INCLUDING THE, meaning "The Beatles" goes in T, not B. Which is seriously not right in the head. But then, neither is anything else. By artist, you say? Well, what about solo LPs? Does John go with the Beatles, or under "Lennon"? What about Yoko? Does she go with John, or under O, or god forbid under "Beatles"? What about John AND Yoko records? What about Beatles rip-off records, like The Beetles Beat? What about a guy who changes his name, like John Cougar Mellancamp Cougar or whatever his name is? That one's easy, get rid of them all, but you get the idea. What if you want to keep Future Bible Heroes and The Sixths with your Magnetic Fields? They're sort of the same band, sort of not. Or Cinerama and Wedding Present? I sort by genre, myself. When you reach a certain quantity, it's just easier. Plus, I find those borderlines, where genres overlap -- or even worse, where an artist, particularly one with a long career, spans multiple genres over time. Bob Dylan -- folk, rock, or folk-rock? I'm not even sure that some of his later genres are even classifiable. But that's where the interesting stuff frequently is. I enjoy making this problem even worse by inventing new micro-genres all the time -- I separate "jazz" from "jazz vocal", which creates all sorts of delightful problems, especially since "jazz vocal" shades into all sorts of vocal records that aren't really jazz at all, like Buddy Greco (hey). Really, what you have to do is change your mind all the time. Right now, we have everything in four broad categories -- "before rock", "rock", "punk and after" and "huge unsorted pile spread all over several different rooms". One of the great things about iTunes is being able to do all this genre-fucking at the keyboard. The built-in CDDB genres are total bullshit -- just the sight of "Punk and Alternative" makes me cry out in rage -- so I make my own. My biggest pet peeve is "World", as if there was anything remotely similar between Francoise Hardy (60s French pop) and Kanda Bongo Man (80s Zairean soukous) and Luis Bonfa (Brazilian bossa nova guitarist). I've created at least fifty new genres there. There is no known medical treatment for this condition. Fnarf answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 2 comments by stinkbug and Fnarf… 0 0 Vinyl is one of my favorite movies, although it was a bit disturbing to watch since it hit too close to home. stinkbug commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 That's the best part! That creepy old guy wandering around his unlit, collapsing basement full of moldy old 78s? That could be me! Fnarf commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 Your collection is small enough where your current system seems like the most logical way to organize it. Unless you're a DJ who has gigs for different occasions, organizing by genre isn't all that helpful. If your LP stash, say, doubles, then you may want to start filing the records according to genre—especially if you like busy work. Dave Segal answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 Genre. Just do it. Not only will you still be able to find everything easily, but you'll also have a MUCH easier time of finding something to play when you only have a vague idea what you're in the mood for. For example, now if you want to listen to country, you might immediately think Hank Williams, but forget all about Dolly Parton. Grouping by genre solves this problem. And, don't sweat Neko Case. Wherever she ends up, you'll always be able to find it (if only because you agonized about it). Have fun with it. Hell, I have a Butthole Surfers section and a Velvet Undergound section because I had no idea how to classify them! When I organized my music by genre, it was like rediscovering my collection all over again. By genre is the only classification that actually requires you to think about your music, so it's rewarding, even if it isn't necessarily the most efficient or obvious. Mahtli69 answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 1 I would do it chronologically, that's how I organize mine. so-so answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 4 comments by Mahtli69, so-so, and Mahtli69… 0 0 What do you do with "greatest hits"? Mahtli69 commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 still chrono...because artist's "greatest hits" change over time. so-so commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 But, by release date? Or by the earliest song or latest song on the collection? As an example, I have James Brown's Star Time. It's a 4-disc set, and the songs were individually released between 1956 and 1984. Where would you put that? Mahtli69 commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 By release date. It's not that big of a deal for my records, as I only have 2 greatest hits albums. (I'm not really a fan of them on vinyl, though I have a few on CD) Perhaps if I ended up with a ton of them I would have to do something else. But I like my system, no one is perfect but this is the one I keep going back to. I like viewing the recordings as a drawn out conversation about music and who was influenced by who. If stuff has been re-released it tends to be remastered, and I like considering what was being done at that point in time, technologically, to improve already existing recordings. It's the idea of that particular music at the time that it was released. so-so commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  0 0 First of all......600 LP's? When are you having a listening party, and will you please invite me? Second...Genre requires you to think, alphabetically is simple and child proof! Vincent Gates answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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