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Storing Hundreds Of CDs? 31

Posted by Cliff from the when-you-have-CDs-coming-out-of-your-ears dept.
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."
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Storing Hundreds of CDs? More

Storing Hundreds of CDs?

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  • CD books (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This may be what you mentioned in the "notebook style", however.. when contemplating my own solution (for ~200 discs) I ended up with a short trip to a local Walmart and picking up a 224 disc holder. It's a big book, with 8 CDs per page (4 per side, 2 sides) and surprisingly small for the amount of discs it holds.

    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 :-P)

    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.

  • 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.

  • I'm in the exact same situation, and a possible solution is found here:

    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)

    by Tumbleweed ( 3706 ) on Monday November 27, 2000 @08:14AM (#599482)
    I have a CD tower from IKEA (read here: inexpensive) that holds 444 CDs (assuming 1 CD per regular size jewel case). It rotates on it's base, and it's only 13.5" on each side, so it's got a pretty small footprint. You could easily fit 2 of these pretty much anywhere, and have more than enough space for your current collection, with space left over for yet more CDs.

    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...
  • In fact, the last time I was in Sams Club (WalMart's warehouse stores, you probably have one around), they has something exactly like this - it was a "tower" of...hmm...20 or so apothecary-style drawers, arranged sort of pyramidically (2 rows of 6, a row of 5, another row of fewer, maybe another row on top of that, I didn't look too hard). They were about 16" deep, so you're looking at about 50 CD's per drawer.
  • on an added note... the link you provided also has a 1200 CD holder version for $400. Save some money... it's the same as 2 of the 600's.

    http://www.boltz.com/default-cdsystems.htm

    at the bottom of the page

    -andy
  • Dammit, they prevent deep linking. Go to www.dse.com.au [dse.com.au] and put in the product code "X7426"

  • A couple of suggestions (Score:3)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) on Sunday November 26, 2000 @09:05PM (#599487) Homepage Journal
    How attached are you to the inserts? Here in Australia, Dick Smith Electronics stocks a 4-CD holder that's the same size as a chunky old single jewel box. That will probably get your collection down to about a 3rd of current size (if you have as many slim-line doubles as I do). Then I recommend any storage system that presses the cases together, rather than having a slot per CD. You'll fit a good 20% more in with a slot-less CD storage system. I recommend a freestanding tower -- I have one that's also used to store video cassette tapes. e-Mail me and I'll send you some photos.

    Failing that, MP3 the music and buy a 30Gig HDD, then archive the CDs.

  • I beleive Jamie Zawinski addresses this once (Score:3)

    by Mr T ( 21709 ) on Monday November 27, 2000 @09:33AM (#599488) Homepage
    Check out his site www.jwz.org

    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.

  • I store a lot of data cd's this way. They are really great!

    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.
  • So what's the problem with the bookshelf-style storage? I've got around 500 CD's, and they go really well on a set of shelves I built out of pine. They're similar to what radio stations use - each shelf is just high enough to accomodate a jewel box, and has a stop-rail along the back so all the fronts line up and don't slide all the way back. Pine's really cheap, and the construction couldn't be simpler. Scalability? Either add more shelves, or spend another $20/2hrs building another set.

    I'd give more info, but I was just re-alphabetizing my collection, and now I have to start all over again... fsck...
    --
  • that's what i did. after considering making some drawer units, at considerable expense (the slides are ridiculous) and time, i found a used fireproof locking file cabinet.

    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.
  • Tried your second solution once, but it nearly drove me insane. Couldn't keep track of what was "cached" and what wasn't, so trying to find a specific disk was a nightmare. That solutions also takes twice the alphabetizing as well.
  • What do you think STARTED this whole mess?

    thanks.

    mckwant
  • I'm suspicious of revolvers. If you have carpet, they can have problems turning, and I always underestimate the space they need to actually revolve. They need space between them and the wall, as well, so they're not the most stable things in existance.

    Just a thought.

    mckwant
  • These are called Pro-File by Case logic.
  • Once you figure out where to put everything, you need some way of keeping track of them. When you want your Leann Rimes CD that you haven't thought about in months, do you really want to search through a thousand discs?

    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.
  • Well, in the spirit of engineering, 1000 CD's (assuming that each CD takes up approx. 54cm^3) results in a total volume of approx 54,000cm^3 or .054m^3.

    Get a box of this size.

    Jeremy
  • i would try putting it all on some hard disks - had disk space is incredibly cheap these days and i bet you could rip it all to mp3 and toss the data in along with it - just an idea
  • As a sidenote: If you're going to MP3 the music, you'll need more than a 30 gig drive. I have ~400 CDs ripped at 192k, and it takes up almost all of my 40 gig drive. Get an 80 gigger. That should hold it.

    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.
  • All you need is 2 50-giggers, which you can recoup the cost of by selling the CDs (possibly even make a profit!)
  • You could stick them in a CD jukebox like these [plasmon.com].

    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>

  • Binders rock house. I've got at least one whose recommended max load is 100 cd's wherein I have managed to cram twice that amount. They take up SO much less space that way, too.

    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. ...no, your other left."

    *clatter of 25 CD's falling down behind entertainment center* "Uh oh. Was that anything important?"

    "Naw. Mostly yours, I think."
  • I'm assuming that the MP3 suggestions are not what you're looking for.

    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.

  • If you want to keep the current sound system you have, you might want to look into getting a multi disk CD player (jukebox style) You can get up to 400 CDs in some for about $300. Some of them including categorizing software imbedded, but I don't know which are the best. MP3 is my recommendation, though. Cheaper too.
  • I'd been looking around for something new myself. If you're considering a revolving holder, there's one here [improvementscatalog.com] at Improvements Catalog that holds 800 CDs on four 19-inch (.5m) sides that stands 52 inches (1.3m) tall for US$169.

    Some day I hope to have a .plan.
  • Try the Container Store [containerstore.com], they may have something you're looking for. They have a lot of the usual CD storage devices, but also a couple high-volume options. They are pricy but the nice thing is some of their stuff doesn't look like CD storage.

    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

  • Well, there's always the multi-cd changers, PowerFile [dvdchanger.com] makes one for data CDs and DVDs, and there is always buying masive hardrives, and archiveing all your CD's as MP3s (I recomend 160kbps MINIMUM)
  • I don't quite have the same magnitude of a problem, but I have some solutions that work..

    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.
  • This place http://www.cdcabinet.com/ has some great cabinets that can store a massive volume of media (CDs, DVDs, VHS, etc). The cabinets are not cheap (but are still reasonable), look good, strong as heck, and store more than anything else that I have seen in comparable space. They are located in Canada, so delivery time is a little long if in the US.

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