apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Nate-

Oliver is correct in that's one way to do it...

I have a vintage turntable from the early 60's and though I could have plugged the audio plugs directly into my soundcard I chose to add another step, but only 'cause I could:

I ran my turntable to my reciever and then ran an optical cable from my reciever to my sound card. The optical cable just ensures that whatever comes out of the reciever is exactly what goes into the computer. The left/right chanels are maintained and there's no sound loss.

Essentially the reason I did this is that the reciever does a better job of realtime conversion of the audio signal from analog to digital than the computer- so that when the computer recieves the optical signal it's already digital so there's less stress on the computer which will be writing massive files to the hard drive in real time which takes alot of RAM.

The real trick is to then take the digital files into sound studio software and clean them up/correct them etc... This way you don't have to worry about inserting breaks while recording, you can do it later. Most of my vinyl is is great shape so I didn't have to do much-plus I like the ever so slight imperfections-they remind me that the music was born onto wax.

As for the pain of recording in real time...It took about a year or so to casually transfer the records...I did one at a time while cooking diner...folding laundry...etc...

After all that I still have about 30 records I cannot part with- mostly jazz records-alot of them first printings..

I took all my cds and put them into two Case Logic binders and just shelve the binders in my bookcase. It was quite satisfying to get rid of my cd tower. But I also have an Ipod and run most of my music from that instead of the physical CDs.

If you decide to get rid of the cases, SCRAP should recycle them. www.scrap-sf.org Call just in case!

You can also try Freecycling the CD cases. I actually took CD cases from a Freecycler, to put CDs in when I need to send them to clients. I used to buy the paper CD envelopes.

I am having the exact same problem, except that I have about twice the number of CD's and a large number of LP's. My husband and I met as radio DJ's and the idea of getting rid of the packaging etc is vile to us. That's because we are music nerds and this is our passion. It would be simular to telling a wine collector to store the wine in plastic sacks and discard the heavy bottles.

So what are we doing about it? I still don't know yet. The company that Sachi linked to is the best one I found too, but we also felt that it looks too officey. It would look great in a loft, but not in our 1920's house. In the end, I think we are going to work with a custom cabnet/furniture maker to make our dream music library. We will probably buy a couple of these (http://store.jdpacificrim.com/Categories.bok?category=Storage+Cabinets) and then get the cabnet maker to incorporate them into a media cabnet with LP drawers. We haven't started this process, but I think it's going to cost a lot. If anyone else has any good ideas, please let me know. There are so many music nerds/ collectors out there I'm actually surprised that there isn't a good system yet.

Not to be a smarty-pants... but the best CD storage solution is clearly a hard drive.

You really ought to look into investing in either a computer or a media-solution type thing...

The best part of this is no that all you music can be storred in a small package but that it is now safe from scratches, dirt and tehiving friends...

I've transfered about 600 CD's and abotut 200 LP's to my computer. I miss the tangible quality of the cases but come moving time I certainly didn't!!

I agree with Claudia that it's surprising there isn't a better solution. I was also a DJ in a former life, and while the ipod is a great new addition, I like the process of flipping through my cds to find that perfect setup for a mix in my disc changer for a party, or for pre-programming a whole evening of music.

I don't have a huge computer and hard drive, and I do like the tangible nature of cds.

Some friends who also have a lot of music (he works for sony, she was a rep) built custom cabinets and lined their entryway with the cds.

we have about the same number of CDs (800) and ended up buying two of these revolving shelves from cb2. they take up less space because both sides have storage. they hold 297 CDs on one side and 150 DVDs on the other or about 500ish CDs total.

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=310&f=2397&viewall=1

if the link doesn't work, it is the trig revolving media storage

Gah! My ongoing dilemma!

Julian, perhaps this is not the appropriate place to ask, but how do you transfer LPs to your hard drive?

It's so nice to see wonderful tips from others! Thank you, guys!!

We are a bit audiophile and would like to avoid hard drive. Also I enjoy browsing CDs phisically as well :)

When my CDs were 300 or so, I used a CD changer just to store CDs and put the cases away. It worked as good storage but I couldn't remember all the names of musicians or albums, which made it difficult for me to find what I wanted or know what the CD was. The packages are good visual information for me.

I will look into the furniture Claudia and mc found.

Thank you, again!

I too can't stand the idea of getting rid of my cds or their cases, and long for a clean storage solution.

I'd love to get these (Corner Me CD Rack) from DWR, but they are, alas, out of my reach.

http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=2716

This is kind of an interesting option that may work better with older homes... can double as end tables. Holds about 350 CDs.

http://www.greenteadesign.com/reproductions/step_tansu/cdstep.html

Here are some other wood media storage options that make the CDS easily accessible, but you won't just see a wall of CDs. http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/101115_media-cabinet-228.htm
or
http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/6768_cd-cabinet-288.htm

Good luck!

Another vote for ripping the CDs to a computer and storing the discs and packaging (gotta have a backup just in case). The savings in space, the ease of access and organizing, and the possibilities for playlists outweigh the tactile fun of real CDs for me. Get an Airport Express or a Squeezebox and you're all set.

A note to the audiophiles--you can rip CDs to lossless formats too, if you have the hard drive space.

Nate--you transfer LPs to a hard drive by digitizing them. Essentially, you take the audio output from a turntable and plug it into the audio input on your computer. Then you play the records and tell the software to start and stop recording. You can trim and edit the tracks, and also tag them. It's not terribly difficult, but the fact that you have to record in real time can be a dealbreaker.

I too am having the exact same problem -- although I have found half of a solution so far -- I put all my discs in Tyvek CD sleeves. The sleeves instantly reduce the space each CD/DVD takes, yet still protect the media. The plus side of this method as opposed to storing them in binders is the ease of organizing -- when I add new titles, I don't have to re-shuffle the discs just to keep everything alphabetized. I very much would like to find an inexpensive closed storage for these sleeves though... I have spent hours searching online, and have not been able to find affordable drawer cabinets that is an exact fit to house the sleeves. The Can-Am cabinets is about as close as it gets; but yes, too officey and still too expensive.

Another former DJ here:

I've placed all of the CDs in books by genre. It's not ideal but the storage is helpful, and I've kept the cover art in the sleeves and just tossed the jewel cases. I find the imposed discipline of having to put things away... makes me put things away. My stereo area was formerly littered with cases, but you have to put bare CDs away so they don't come to harm. Anything I'd play for a party is digitized so it's easy to access.

The DVDs are in a tall Indian sheesham wood cabinet which resembles a bookcase. I do think they look busy, but I need to browse the stacks to choose movies and don't feel that same compulsion when it comes to music, since I know what's on the CDs.

You could try these. They seem to be a cleaner solution and look a bit more upscale than the cd cases you find at an electronics shop.

http://store.yahoo.com/herrington-catalog/as249.html

A quick and easy way to digitize old vinyl records is to get a USB turntable like this:

http://tinyurl.com/zwr8y

Although you will most definitely get better results using Juilan's method with a higher end turntable and sound card.

my boyfriend and i have around 1000 cds between the two of us, and a tiny apartment. we bought the malm 4-drawer dresser from ikea and loaded them all into there. it should definitely fit 800. the bottoms of the drawers are sagging a bit, so we plan to just screw in a cross-beam to support each drawer from underneath.

Oliver, Julian and Oakland Jeff, thank you very much for taking the time to share these methods and tips with me!

I am not a big fan of ditching ones CDs to store on a harddrive. If your harddrive were to crash, and I've had it happen so I know, you'd lose everything.

CDs, to me, are like books - they have a value to them. Someone spent a lot of time designing the package, the spine, and the inserts. I go to a lot of shows and buy many a CD from the show or artist directly. Others, I buy when I travel - so when I pick up, say my Jann Arden CD, I remember the day I purchased it in Montreal with my friends Karen, Nadia and Stephaine. I link memories to many things that I purchase.

I HAVE an ipod, and yes, I'm a big fan of reading news online, podcasting, and design blogs, but they'll never replace a magazine I can hold, a book I can flip through, a newspaper I can read over coffee on Sunday morning.

I'm just saying that you have to be careful about making that big transfer, because you risk losing everything.

My 2 cents.

Holly

Oh, and if you *do* make the big transfer, please don't get rid of your CDs.

You need backup JUST in case.

Holly

We did another research based on the tips from everyone and ended up buying a media cabinet which Claudia mentioned. It's a little officy but looks much smaller than I thought and does swallow so many discs! We are very happy with the outcome.

We got a beige one. The color brends in the wall and looks okay. I may be able to soften it by putting some decorative stuff on it.

If you are going to buy the cabinet, get dividers for all the drawers as well. They are so helpful.

I came across this discussion today while looking for the cd storage solution of my dreams. Here are some options I have found that are a bit different from those already posted. More modern than traditionl for sure.

www.sleevetown.com/cd-storage.shtml

http://www.slappa.com/site/360.html My favorite, drool.

Before our discussion got me thinking in the new way, I would have totally gone for this. Very sleek and metally.
http://www.boltz.com/showitems.asp?deptcode1=500&advid=1230033

There are a variety of possibilities at HomeDecorators.com that are high-capacity, reasonably priced, and could blend in beautifully to many decors.

A few months ago I purchased about 500 plastic gatefold cd sleeves to take care of my CD storage problem. I removed the art and discs from all of my "plane jane jewel case" packaged CDs and transfered them into the sleeves, then shelved them as usual. They are all mixed in with my digipacks and box sets and other CDs that for whatever reason I wanted to keep in their original packaging.

This works quite well for me. I can store almost 1000 CDs in the space it took for about 300, and I can still flip through their spines and handle them individually as before. They also open and kind of act like jewel cases. To see what I mean, watch the video near the bottom of this page: Jazz Loft CD Sleeves.

For me, this is far superior to a binder case type solution. I get to keep everything that came with the CD minus the actual jewelcase. I get to organize them however I want, right in with the specialty packaged CDs I didn't modify. It's great.

I did a similar thing with my DVDs and took a picture.