Home Entertainment/Media Organization

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

So. Many of us like to have some sort of entertainment available to us, whether that be books, music, movies, video games, or something else entirely. And some of us tend to build up large collections of these things over time. So my question is this: for those of you who have large collections of things (either digital or physical copy) how do you go about organizing it? And do you use any programs to keep track of what's in your collection?

 

For myself, books, movies, and to a lesser extent CD's make up the bulk of my entertainment collections. My books aren't currently arranged, but I think eventually I'm going to adopt the library system of organization, just because I work at one and I think the way they arrange books makes sense. CD's are arranged vaguely by type (film score/songtrack, jazz, folk/country/folkabilly, "classic", "other"). Movies just aren't arranged by anything, mostly because I'm still trying to figure out what method to use. Alphabetically doesn't appeal to me because I'd like to keep certain groups of movies together, like Disney titles or movies in a series. Going by director isn't really useful for similar reasons. I've thought about organizing alphabetically by studio, which has it's own compromises but would probably be the best.

 

So how 'bout you guys?

Edited April 11, 2014 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Kopekemaster]

Most of my music is stored digitally, on my computers and iPod, though I keep my physical selection, when on cassette tapes, in a cassette tape holder. CD's I keep in a cd holder, and records I keep in a weird briefcase thing that I keep under my record player. I have a large collection of Adventures in Odyssey, and they are kept together in a few cubbies.

I don't keep much of a movie or television show collection, since most of what I watch is streamed via Netflix or something similar.

Books. I have four bookshelves, all full. My books are roughly sorted by age, genre, and author (primarily the last one).

[Timelady Gallade]

I put my classic who dvds in episode order, and my books, if they're a series, in book order.

(no ones been on the doctor who topic in 20 days...)

[~Shockwave~]

uh... What's this organization you speak of?

 

Kidding. Mostly. I have a binder of my Bionicle comics organized by story ark. As well as a bookshelf containing Lots of books I have read or need to.

 

Most things that I can store digitally I do. So I have a small collection of CD's I consider worth having a physical copy of, not really organized by anything, the rest is in the cloud and legally obtained.

 

My home console video games are in their cases and organized how I see fit, and all my Good DS games are stored in a nice container designed for them and the cases I have are in a different container. And my computer games are mostly steam, so I don't have enough cases to feel like orginizing them.

[Laughing Man]

I've got 22 boxes of CDs, each holding 30 jewel cases, that are separated by genre and alphabetized by artist. they're all full except for one, which is slightly over half full. since some digipaks are pretty thin, a lot of these boxes go one or two over the 30 jewel case limit. albums that come in packages without a sufficient means of holding the discs in place and protecting them, IE mini replica "record" sleeves or digipaks without plastic trays, are kept in separate thin jewel cases next to their respective empty packages. unfortunately, due to the small size of my room, I don't have a particularly good means of storage or organization for all these large storage boxes - they're spread throughout one side of my room, with six on shelves built into my nightstand, ten more on top of my nightstand, and another six underneath a coffee table next to the nightstand.

 

I have digital audio rips of nearly all of my CDs, which I ripped myself from the original discs using Exact Audio Copy, encoded to V0 VBR MP3 with the latest stable version of LAME, and with the rip accuracy tested and verified via the AccurateRip plugin. those are all kept along with my digitally-purchased albums on a 500 GB external USB drive, while only the music I generally listen to the most is copied over to my laptop due to space issues.

 

as for my much smaller collection of DVDs, I've just got those split between two shoeboxes next to my bed - one for the movies, another for the TV shows, each alphabetized by title or series. I don't buy many DVDs.

 

since most of my video games are for PC they're owned digitally through Steam or GOG, although I do have a good sized collection of Nintendo DS/3DS games which are kept alphabetized by title across a few DS storage cases. I've also got like three Xbox 360 games that I can't play since my console's not set up, and those are kept on a shelf next to my desk.

 

the majority of my books are digital rather than physical. my physical books are mostly fiction, organized by title/series on various shelves in my room, while the few nonfiction are kept in a somewhat disorganized mess in a bookshelf in another room. my digital books are stored on the aforementioned external drive, where they are broken up into two main folders, fiction and nonfiction, and are further broken down into subfolders by genre (drama, horror, mystery, comedy, etc.) and topic (science, philosophy, history, paranormal, etc.) respectively.

 

my comic book collection used to be organized neatly, but ever since I stopped collecting I've kind of let it go. now they're pretty much spread throughout various bookshelves in my room, organized by company, alphabetized by title, and arranged in chronological order by issue. I've got a few digital comics that are kept in a subfolder of the fiction books folder on my external drive, arranged only by title and issue.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Ryuujin

[fishers64]

All of my extensive music collection is digital and organized by genre. My soundtrack collection is too big for one folder so I subdivide it by what it's the soundtrack of. (ex. Bionicle, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc)

 

Movies are also digital mostly. Sometimes I check DVDs out of the library, but I don't organize them.

 

Books are everywhere. I have two boxes of them in my closet, there are some in my parents' bookcase. I also have a rack on my desk for books, and there's this fat textbook sitting on top of my three binders of writing stuff and another one in my backpack, and my Bionicle books are hanging out with my Lego in another box. If there's an organizational system for that, my subconscious mind has yet to inform me of it.

[JAG18]

My books are stored on a bookcase and in a cabinet; both are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System, of course.

 

My music collection is kept digitally (and largely unorganized) on my computer and Zune device. My CD "collection" is currently too small to warrant anything more than a small corner of my nightstand's drawer.

 

And I don't have a personal movie collection.

[Terminus]

I have a large bookshelf in my room, and the shelves are organized by media type (I store most of my books and magazines there, and a good chunk of my DVD and game collection, too), and then I'll organize things alphabetically (DVDs/Games by title, books by author, and magazines by publication). I also have a TV cabinet, in which are most of my PS3 games and DVDs, again, all organized by title.

 

My music collection is kept stacked on a small shelf by my CD player, with either my most recent purchased or most listened to album at the top (my physical collection is about 10 or so CDs). My digital collection (which is much, much bigger) is all organized on iTunes on my laptop.