Record collection pedantry

[ciderglider]

Also I have been considering having sections devoted to series: Acoustic Sound Series, Blue Note 75, 80, Classic and Tone Poet Series. There's something appealling about having all the Tone Poets etc grouped together. Again the jury is still out on this radical move.

Go for it. I file my MoFi CDs by themselves, likewise Audiowave Blue Note XRCDs and Analog Productions Blue Note SACDs.

One day I will file the rest of the collection according to the colour of the spine, going from red through to violet.

 

[paulfromcamden]

One day I will file the rest of the collection according to the colour of the spine, going from red through to violet.

 

[gavreid]

One day I will file the rest of the collection according to the colour of the spine, going from red through to violet.

That's not pedantry, that's time to get help

 

[Tony L]

so .38 Special were at the end of the T's, since if you read it or spell it out, it's "Thirty-eight Special"

Shouldn’t that be under ‘P’ for ‘Point Thirty-eight Special’? Maybe ‘Z’ for ‘Zero Point Three Eight Special?!

 

[Tony L]

One day I will file the rest of the collection according to the colour of the spine, going from red through to violet.

Being somewhat colourblind I’d favour alphanumeric by matrix number.

 

[Alex N]

rap

Perhaps most prevalent in rap... what do you do with made up names?

Is A$AP Rocky at the start of A (where iTunes has him), or is he between Aphex Twin and Autechre, or under R? Is Lil Uzi Vert with Lil Yachty and the (literally hundreds of) other Lils, or is he under U, or perhaps V? Is Biggie Smalls under S, or N for the Notorious B.I.G., or just Biggie and B? Is this why many pfm-ers are rap-averse? : )

One day I will file the rest of the collection according to the colour of the spine, going from red through to violet.

You know you want to.

 

[paulfromcamden]

what do you do with made up names?

Good point. Perhaps AFX should be under J along with David Bowie.

 

[gavreid]

Good point. Perhaps AFX should be under J along with David Bowie.

Goodness, let's not start This is reminding me of meetings at work now when we'd review the collection of exam papers for the current session. This is called the green book - people would even pick up the use of alternate but allowed symbols - just imagine writing the thing...

https://iupac.org/what-we-do/books/greenbook/

 

[Alex N]

Good point. Perhaps AFX should be under J along with David Bowie.

Rich James? Under T, right after Analord, Polygon Window, the Tuss, (cont. p.94) perhaps. : )

 

[Tony L]

Perhaps most prevalent in rap... what do you do with made up names?

I treat them like band names e.g. Captain Beefheart goes under ‘C’, ‘Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’ goes under ‘G’. That said I admit I have my ‘A Guy Called Gerald’ 12” in the wrong place. I think it may even be in with 808 State (‘E’), I can’t remember.

I’ve also been known to file solos under the main band, e.g. I had Edgar Froese under Tangerine Dream, though I’m pretty sure I’ve moved them now. I’d be tempted to do that with Aphex Twin, Squarepusher etc where there are multiple aliases to the extent I forget the names. I’d certainly view filing Polygon Window in with the Aphex Twin section as acceptable.

 

[Tumeni Notes]

Shouldn’t that be under ‘P’ for ‘Point Thirty-eight Special’? Maybe ‘Z’ for ‘Zero Point Three Eight Special?!

I don't think anyone reads it, nor speaks it, that way. Everyone I've ever heard says Thirty-Eight Special.

 

[tiggers]

I have 1000 Kings, 14 Iced Bears, 7 Seconds, 8 Eyed Spy and 808 State to accommodate.

I've historically filed them alphabetically but Gav has me wondering...

Simples

7 Seconds
8 Eyed Spy
14 Iced Bears
808 State
1000 Kings

filed before A

 

[Tumeni Notes]

I concur, all numeric bands are filed ahead of A in my digital libraries, simply because that's the way the software sorted them - if I had any in the physical collection, I'd probably do the same.

 

[Whaleblue]

What is this 'order' of which you speak?

Quite. Mine is ordered by “stuff”.

Classical stuff
Non-classical stuff

But, not necessarily in that order.

 

[ks.234]

A’s top left, Z’s bottom right. In between is a bit random

 

[ks.234]

I concur, all numeric bands are filed ahead of A in my digital libraries, simply because that's the way the software sorted them - if I had any in the physical collection, I'd probably do the same.

Depends on the spelling surely, Nine Inch Nails have to be a N, not a 9 obviously

 

[calorgas]

I used to follow the system championed by Rob's Records in Nottingham. Visually; something approaching total chaos, mentally; know where everything is.

Nowadays all my vinyl is boxed away sadly, and my cd's are sorted approximately alphabetically but with some severe inconsistency just to infuriate visitors (and my other half but her eyesight is piss poor these days so I mainly blame her inability to find stuff on that, instead of me putting it somewhere weird).

 

[Tumeni Notes]

Depends on the spelling surely, Nine Inch Nails have to be a N, not a 9 obviously

It's not a numeric name, though. It's spelled out with letters.

Numeric bands are 10cc, 10,000 Maniacs, .38 Special. Nobody writes out Ten Cee Cee, or Thirty-Eight Special

 

[poco a poco]

I assume people who file alphabetically have a reasonable amount of space or perhaps not that many records otherwise unless you leave gaps after each letter or at least every few letters how do you fit in new acquisitions in without moving everything each time.

Lack of space is the real problem for me. At present I file under a few main genres, Classical, Folk, Jazz, Rock and then as far as possible alphabetically after that. Jazz that forms the majority of my collection and does have the Music Matters 2x45rpms, Tone Poets, BN Classic / BN80’s grouped together, but other pressings of the same record are in the general alphabetical jazz group. It still all breaks down though through lack of space with lots of stuff stacked (at least properly vertically around the floor and some in other rooms. No space for more record racks / shelves unless we moved and that is unlikely to happen.

 

[ks.234]

It's not a numeric name, though. It's spelled out with letters.

Numeric bands are 10cc, 10,000 Maniacs, .38 Special. Nobody writes out Ten Cee Cee, or Thirty-Eight Special

That’ll be why I can never find it!