How (if at all) is your music organized?

[Ceasar’s Palace]

How (if at all) is your music collection organized?

So I started off at age 8 or so, with piles of old singles and albums I got from my brother, sister and uncle along with a very old mono Pickup. A few years later it became mixtapes.
And stayed that way for many years , even I transferred them to cd’s later on.
Then came iTunes and it dawned on me that I could organize things. Ever since it is collections of various artists and bands per year. Whenever I have more than four songs I lift the artist/ band fron the year collection(s) and they become a (little) collection of their own. Reason is that I don’t want the year collections to be doninated by one band/artist.
Why four? Because then you have about 15 minutes of listening which is my minimum for a listening session.

I used to have a seperate classical music collection, until I realized that it ‘s really just another style of music like any other.
So my 1940s collection has Katchaturian’s Sabre Dance sitting cosy with Billie Holiday’s The Man I Love!

The only seperate themed collections I have left are Funny English Songs, Funny Dutch Songs (novelty and such) and Songs in Dutch.

What about albums? I obviously have a lot from Yes and the odd one here and there. But as a general rule I don’t want to “suffer” the bad songs that are on a good album. But I also don’t want to disregard good songs that happen to be on a bad album!

[Ash Armstrong]

Classical CDs alphabetically by composer, subdivided into symphonic works, concertos, other orchestral works, piano pieces, chamber music, vocal music, choral music and finally operas. Oddities like multi-composer boxsets or artist recitals alphabetically by title.

Rock and pop alphabetically by artist, or by title if it's a multi-artist compilation.

Film DVDs alphabetically by title, or by director if it's a boxset. TV DVDs by genre. Music DVDs alphabetically by artist if it's a single performer (e.g. Yes or Zappa), or by title if it's a multi-artist film (e.g. Woodstock or The Last Waltz.
Classical DVDs by composer.

[pianozach]

Classical CDs alphabetically by composer, subdivided into symphonic works, concertos, other orchestral works, piano pieces, chamber music, vocal music, choral music and finally operas. Oddities like multi-composer boxsets or artist recitals alphabetically by title.

Rock and pop alphabetically by artist, or by title if it's a multi-artist compilation.

This is pretty much my method of organization, although I also keep my Broadway&Soundtracks, Beatles (and solo-Beatles) and Yes (and solo-Yes) collections separate.

[madbear]

CDs and LPs alphabetically, cassette taes by number - i have an a-z index and no index on my computer. there are also newer CDs etc piled up, and some boxes of current listening CDs in other rooms, too. Thse are usally not in alphabetical order.

[cjreyes]

CD's and records alphabetically, then chronologically by artist. Separate sections for classical, jazz and christmas music. I don't do itunes.

[Ash Armstrong]

CD's and records alphabetically, then chronologically by artist. Separate sections for classical, jazz and christmas music. I don't do itunes.

I should have added chronologically. I place live releases chronologically when they were recorded, rather than by when they were released, so Progeny is placed between Close to the Edge and Yessongs.

[Soundwaveseeker]

I pretty much have everything alphabetized and as chronological as I can. Live albums and comps are in there chronologically, but different versions of an album, like FFH Return Trip or a new version of something with different bonus tracks or where I want to keep the original generally may be lotted afterwards.

Solo albums are generally after the main band the next shelf down. So Jon Anderson would be in the Y section instead of the A section. Same with related bands: Circa, Badger, Buggles, Rabbitt, Conspiracy etc, all in the Yes section for example. I got Asia in the A section though. On some occasions where a musician is so far removed from the original sound of the outfit they came from or started with, they get their own section away from the main band. Brian Eno would go in the E section and not after Roxy Music for example. But these aren't necessarily in ABC order, the ones I'm less inclined to reach for may be on the bottom shelves - Steve Hackett isn't too far after Genesis on the rack, but obscure Anthony Phillips acoustic stuff about birds or 'Genesis For Two Grand Pianos' may be down below.

Tribute albums are generally slotted after the band or solo albums from band members.

The bulk of my collection seems to be rock and electronic music, so on a separate rack I have my classical and my jazz. These are grouped by composer or artist, but not necessarily in alphabetical order, I know where to find what if I need it. Christmas music I have in its own corner too, as well as a few comedy ones. No space for stacks of CD-Rs, if its significant enough I'll whip up a case for it and slot it in with its related artist. Some stuff piles up, new albums coming out from my favorite artists may not see space next to the rest of their catalogue in a while.

Various artist/soundtrack discs are a tricky one to slot somewhere - usually I have it by whatever artist is on it and that can change. For example, the 1984 Metropolis soundtrack - sometimes I got it in the Yes rack 'cause it's got a Jon Anderson song on it, sometimes its in there with Queen. Or sometimes it ends up with a bunch of one offs and odds & ends. "Damn, where did I put Metropolis soundtrack?", sometimes it rattles my chain.

[Olorin]

CDs...

Non-classical: Alphabetical by artist, chronological within artist. If it's multi-artist, I either put it under V for Various Artists, or if it is a label sampler or collection, then alphabetical by that label, e.g., Windham Hill.

Classic: If it's all one composer, then alphabetical by composer. If it's multiple composers but one conductor, then alphabetical by conductor. If the conductor isn't identified or there are multiple, then alphabetical by orchestra/group. If it's something other than those options, then alphabetical by album title.

iTunes:

Pretty much the same was as for CDs, with allowances for how iTunes does things (e.g., compilations). As for playlists, I have scads of artist playlists. If the playlist is very long, say over two hours, I'll typically create secondary playlists to break it down into more management chunks. Take Yes for example. My primary Yes playlist is over 14 hours long, so there are also playlists called Early Days, Early Classic Period, Late Classic Period, ABWH and YesWest, and Later Years. I also have a Yes One Song from Each Album playlist. So far I've only created these secondary playlists for a few artists, but I'm about to embark on creating them for most. For example, itunes tells me my Van Morrison playlist is 1.1 days long. I've really got to break that down....

Curating my music collection is one of my longest-running hobbies. I started back in the mid-70s keeping track of purchases in a steno pad. This became a database in the late 80s. Entering new purchases in the database is easy; entering new CDs into the shelves is a labor of love. When you've got to shift hundreds of discs to fit the new one into the right spot....

[Ash Armstrong]

We could all have worked in a library, as I used to...

[Grey Wolf]

I just throw everything in a big pile and pick something out of the middle when I want to listen to something...

Actually it's sorted by artist and release date, with things like soundtracks and various artists in separate sections. That goes for vinyl, CDs and digital files.

[soundchaser09]

i have my genesis CDs in their genesis boxsets and the Yes albums in chronological order. Everything else is in no particular order

[Frumious B]

Physical library is alphabetical by artist with albums in chronological order. Digital library uses alphabetical instead of chronological because I have a lot of reissue albums that got ripped with the year the reissue came out instead of the year the album was originally released and I’m too lazy to go through everything and fix all those tags so I do alphabetical rather than let it be wrong.

[Ash Armstrong]

i have my genesis CDs in their genesis boxsets and the Yes albums in chronological order. Everything else is in no particular order

Unforgivable!

[soundchaser09]

Unforgivable!

my apologies Ash, though my physical library isn't that large to be fair, they're all in a couple of drawers, close at hand.

[Olorin]

OMG, if I didn't have my CDs organized, I'd never find anything. I have nearly 2700 of them. I've been collecting since 1986.

I forgot to mention, with iTunes, in addition to best-of-artist playlists, I also enjoy making thematic playlists. For example, I have one for each season. My autumn playlist that is a little over 5 hours long, and it is absolutely fabulous for cruising down country highways looking at autumn colors. I have one called Songs of Nostalgia that features songs like Main Street by Bob Seger and Cherry Bomb by John Mellencamp. Mystical Places features songs about, well, mystical or semi-mystical places, with quite a few songs by Van Morrison as well as Clannad, Rush, The Moody Blues, and others. Night and the Numinous is otherworldly music that evokes a sense of the supernatural or the divine. (I cribbed that title from a line in a Piers Anthony book.) Eldritch and Eerie is similar but veers to the creepy/scary end. Perhaps my favorite playlist is one I call Nocturnes, which I've been developing in some form or other since cassette days in the mid-80s. It is typically moodier, more reflective music suited to a quiet contemplative evening, a long soak in the tub with candles and wine, or dare I say it, romance (as though that would ever happen). In short, I'm always on the lookout for new themes. Curating a playlist is fun and the finished playlist gives me yet another way to enjoy the collection to which I've dedicated so much time and money over the decades.