Organizing CDs

Have you ever noticed how everyone seems to have their own special thing that they absolutely have to collect? Some people like to collect toys (personally, I love my old G.I. Joe action figures), others books, and still others love to collect compact discs (CDs). I can totally understand the attraction and love that a person might have for their CD collection. After all, who hasn't felt music move them in some way?

As with any collection that you might have, your CDs are more than just a source of entertainment, it is also an investment of time and money. Whenever you have an investment, you are going to want to take good care of it and protect it as much as possible. One of the best precautions that you can take to protect your investment is by organizing your CDs.

As with any attempt at organization there is more then one way to organize your CDs. None of the systems are better than any of the others since there is a large component of personal preference. Below are listed several of the best ones, and a brief description about each so that you can make an informed decision about which one would be the best for you to use.

• System of organization. The very first thing that you are going to need to determine is the system of organization that you want to use. One of the most basic forms of organization is to list everything alphabetically, usually by the last name of the artist—this is one of the first things that almost everyone thinks of when they first start to organize their compact discs. Another great method that you could use is either chronologically, or by genre of music. If you want to get really creative, then you could also use some kind of combination of the above.
• CD racks. CD racks can be purchased at almost every department store across the country. If you have an extremely large collection of compact discs, then what you might look into is assigning a separate rack for each genre of music. Perhaps you could separate your racks chronologically, or even have a smaller rack where you can place your current top favorites.
• Albums. Similar to photo albums, you can purchase CD cases that your collection can go into. Depending on the style or size that you want to get you can have your entire collection in one place, or you can separate everything in a similar manner as above.
• Computer. Considering how popular and necessary computers have become over the recent years, why not try using your computer to organize your collection. There are barcode scanning systems that you can purchase to run off your computer, as well as simply using the computer to back up your entire collection. Using the computer, you can sort—or organize—your collection in whatever manner that you wish.