Mild OCD? Arrange your CDs alphabetically? HELP………………

I used to arrange mine by genre, co-locating related genres horizontally and vertically… When this became too difficult to achieve physically without compromising in one way or another, I turned to alphabetical arrangement. Now they are sorted by first letter of band/group name, surname of solo artist or composer if ‘classical’.

My vinyl is loosely grouped by genre. Over time, things get less organised. Looking for the desired album inevitably leads to the rediscovery of something long unheard.

Which is nice.

But Cougar, Jethro Tull is the name of the band, not the individual artist, so it goes under J, obviously!

True, and I know this. Bad example maybe.

As stated already. CDs should be stored alphabetically by artist (either band name as in the Jethro Tull example, or by surname as in the Jeff Wayne example, or by known name as for the likes of Prince or Adele).

Multiple albums by the same artist must be in album release date order earliest to the left.

CDs must be picture side up.

And the cd must be correctly oriented so that the writing is the right way up.

You can never split an alphabetical segment across two shelves, so all the G’s must be on one shelf for instance.

CDs are only ever out of the shelf when they are being played. The cd case must be placed neatly on top of the stereo.

CDs that you have brought, but not ripped to iTunes must not be filed. They must be left by the stereo until they are added to iTunes at which point they can be added to the shelves.

I do OCD properly. You lot are amateurs…….

DrRSwank – are you me?

I can see a lot of similarities between myself and DrRSwank too 😳

Mine used to be in chronological order of when they were bought. This was ace, until I tried moving the shelves (them tall Ikea jobbies) and spilt the CD’s all over the floor.

Now by genre mostly.

Alphabetically just sounds dull.

DrRSwank is correct in most details, but should be alphabetically by artist, and then alphabetically by title within the artist grouping.

What causes me an issue is deciding whether stuff like spoken word should be mixed in with the music or kept separately.

My wife’s approach is simpler – she loses the box, keeps the cd on a radiator/floor of the car/in the cutlery drawer etc until it’s time to ask me “how come this cd isn’t working”?

Mine were split into favourite 50 guitar, favourite 50 electronic and classical, next favourite 200 guitar, next favourite 200 electronic, then by genre into 8 different categories. Then there was the pile of stuff by the stereo, the not yet listened to stack, and “others”.

All now ripped and stored in the loft.

My soul is gone 🙁

Was at a mate’s house recently and there bookcase full of CDs was done by colour. Looked very pretty.
Don’t know where mine are, telly or R2 for me 🙂

First letter of artist’s first name/band name. Sort albums by order of release, newest on the right. Writing should be oriented so that the top of the letters is on the right. New CDs must sit on computer keyboard until they’re ripped. Then they go on the shelf. If a CD is odd sized, then all others must be brought forwards so that all the spines are flush with one another. This is how it’s done.

i also do it by colour, it makes you listen to stuff differently, and looks great. apart from stuff that i listen to all the time, they are permanently out or in the car.

You can never split an alphabetical segment across two shelves, so all the G’s must be on one shelf for instance.

But that is impractical bordering on the impossible!!

My soul is gone

And you did that to yourself, RichPenny….. 😉 I have a slight honey confession….. if I tell you in public, then you will have to control your shouting and anger 🙂

Woah, I wish I hadn’t ‘dipped’ in to this.

Having recently got a sonos system I HATE alphabetised music, it takes me ages to find what I want…

On the cd side of things think how much fun you miss playing hunt the chuffing cd (I’ve looked through this box twice already but it’s got to here somewhere…) and the, ‘oh, I haven’t listened to this in ages!’ as you progress.

Must be a right brain left brain thing.

You have eaten my honey, haven’t you Anna 😥

I’ll have to console myself by drinking the bottle of wine i bought as recompense. It has a dippy bit that’s bigger than the exterior dimensions of the bottle. It’s so large that the bottle has ceased to exist on this physical plane 🙂

Scaredypants – too many people misread ‘worrier’ with an ‘a’ and made judgements 😉

Kind of Rich, but was still technically mine…. However, I am contrite 🙁 Hmm, wine, hmmm, dippy bits….. is the dippy bit so big that there is less room for alcohol?! You know wine is better shared 😉

Alphabetical order by artist, then (if more than one CD by the same artist), alphabetical order of the album name.

A mate had uni had LOADS of CDs, a collection probably bigger than the rest of us put together. Unfortunately, when he finished playing one CD, he’d take it out of the stereo and put it into the case of the next CD he put on play. Result was that none of the CDs matched their cases. It took three of us about 2hrs to reunite each CD with its correct case. And yes, we HAD to rehome them, it was too traumatic to be in the same house as such a badly housed collection.

#ocd

easy, what I’m listening to, in the CD, otherwise on the floor, with my clothes.

thankfuly most is on itunes LOL

Alphabetical by artist’s 1st initial here. I do confess to ensuring CD’s in cases are all turned to keep the text perfectly horizontal when the case is opened.

For the true obsessive compulsive, what about…

Key of A A#, Bb B, C C#….etc

or

2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 time? Where does Dave Brubeck go?

All my cds were in loose alphabetical order by artist that is allowed artists beginning with a were together etc then I moved to a smaller flat stored the lot on pc and sold the cds to music magpie. No. No problem at all with my music on pc but my ipod lookalike stores things wherever it likes at random
😀

Right.

Have now sorted all shows and operas by composer rather than name.

I’m still in two minds about the hundreds of free magazine CD’s –
the ‘Mojo’ ones are currently all under M, the ‘Q’ ones under Q, ‘Word’ ones under W etc.
I suppose they should all go under V for various, but I just can’t face it.

crazy-legs – Member

Alphabetical order by artist, then (if more than one CD by the same artist), alphabetical order of the album name.
These magazine CD’s are the only ones that are sorted by name rather than release date, as some don’t have the date or issue clearly visible.
Individual artist’s CD’s should be ordered by release date, surely everyone knows this? 🙂

Unless it’s causing you severe anxiety or panic then it’s just you being fussy and nothing to do with the horrible spiteful mental illness that is OCD.

Rusty (OCD battler/sufferer) and killjoy 😉 🙁

p.s, my CDs are alphabetical for artist and chronological upon release date for each artist. This is not related to my OCD as it doesn’t bother me mentally, it just makes them easier to find when i want to listen to them 🙂

rusty trowel – Member

Unless it’s causing you severe anxiety or panic then it’s just you being fussy and nothing to do with the horrible spiteful mental illness that is OCD.

Rusty (OCD battler/sufferer) and killjoy

No it’s not causing me anxiety or panic – no offence to actual OCD sufferers intended, obviously.

However, now you’ve replied, if you’re anywhere near Burnley and have a spare few hours………. 😀

Couldn’t be much further from Burnley (in UK), i’m in Poole.

No offense taken, but the missuse/flippant use of the term does no favours for the image, funding and treatment availability for what is a horrible illness to be involved with.

I’ve upset people before on here on this subject which isn’t the intention, but i’d be doing myself and my friends at OCD-UK a disservice if i didn’t reply.

So, how do you lot deal with 10,000 maniacs.
Or The 78th Fraser Highlands?
And what about June Tabor and the Oyster Band, when you have lots of Oyster Band albums but no June Tabor. And do you cross-reference so you can find guest appearances on another album – a particular problem with country music, Willie Nelson etc.
I need to lie down…

Numbers at the front, before the A’s.

Numerical order, obviously.

Only got the 10cc albums and ’16 Great Guitar Tracks’ at the mo. 😐

I’ve upset people before on here on this subject which isn’t the intention, but i’d be doing myself and my friends at OCD-UK a disservice if i didn’t reply.

No upset caused at this end. 🙂

So where do I put this?

Dunno. S’all Greek to me.

Numbers by the letter they start with surely. Compilations are a tricky one – genre, record label letter or title letter?

That one goes in next favourite 200 electronica Squidlord.

What about !!!, where does that go in the limited alphanumeric system, eh?

Artist name, then chronologically

@petrieboy – I just repurchased “this is the day”

rusty trowel – Member
Numbers by the letter they start with surely. Compilations are a tricky one – genre, record label letter or title letter?

What ? Nothing could be easier for arranging numbers than putting them in numerical order surely ?

Artist surname or band name, numbers before A in numerical order, classical by composer, shows by composer, compilations after Z by title.

June Tabor and the Oyster Band goes with The Oyster Band, if you have other Oyster Band CDs, or with June Tabor if you have June Tabor CDs. If you have both then you have to buy 2 so you can file it in both places. (I have done this on more than one occasion.)

The way iTunes “organises” itself can lead to days of info editing so the library files correctly.

And yes, I’ve been tested, and yes I have a number of OCD and autism markers. How I manage to live a “normal” life was questioned by the testers.

I spent years with all my LP’s randomly placed on the sheles. I knew any effort I put in to sort them would be undone by laziness after a short while.

I could get within about three of finding any given LP by just going to where I thought it was on the shelves. Did the same when I started buying CD’s

You don’t need a system, just a decent memory.

(My son recently counted my LP’s – there’s over 400 of them and I have a similar number of CD’s)

So where do I put this?

Under ‘M’ – the title is “mu-ziq”. It’s a pun, you see.

recent purchases and favourites go on that shelf nearest the CD player that you use for the cleaner.

once full they are transferred to a suitable space on another shelf ( or at least thinned out )to make room for more purchases.

makes it much more fun when you want to play something random, you can just pick from any shelf but that one and know it will be something you haven’t heard for a while…..

p.s am also a believer in using the floor….. particularly for Blue ray and DVD

I’ve always gone for ordering by genre but artist’s albums must stay together in chronological order. Artists that have changed style over the years are useful for bridging genres. I’d accept alphabetical and chronological but by genre avoids the complex questions of where to file compilations etc. I’ve not heard of anyone sorting by CD spine colour but can see how it may work. So by genre, alphabetical, chronological or colour (although not entirely convinced by this one) is ok; no order at all is not.
CDs must be stored vertically not horizontally.