Storing an LP collection

January 21, 2005 6:56 AM

I have a large record collection. For years I've used discount store shelving, DIY CD racks from Record Town and cardboard boxes & milk crates to store them. It always wound up looking sloppy and being kind of ad hoc organizationally. I've looked at the usual furniture outlets, but their either too expensive or not what I'm looking for: a collection of storage units that could stand against one wall in a small room, capable of holding a large quantity of a large variety of media (CD's, LP's 45's cassettes, boxed sets). Does anyone know a place that specializes in large quantity collector shelves at a reasonable price or has anyone come up with a good home-cooked solution?
posted by jonmc to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

I don't know of one off the top of my head, but have you considered asking at the various record stores I'm sure you frequent? If you've got a good enough relationship with them they may even be able to get you some at cost (or cost plus) from their suppliers.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:07 AM on January 21, 2005

I know this isn't what you asked, but: I recently put all of my DVDs into binders and boxed up the cases, taking two handsome IKEA Benno shelves off my wall, and I frankly can't believe how much it has helped the room. My collection is made available electronically via Delicious Monster for those who want to browse. You may want to think outside the box to see if you really want to devote so much aesthetic real estate to the skinny sides of jewel cases.
posted by blueshammer at 7:16 AM on January 21, 2005

Your best bet is a big, deep bookcase. One deep enough to hold LPs. We got one chiefly for CDs, and with a little ingenuity of rigged cardboard boxes behind one row of CDs, you can double or triple rows of the things on one shelf.
posted by agregoli at 7:19 AM on January 21, 2005

The Ikea Expedit is the perfect size for holding LPs - it comes in a 4x4 or 5x5 version. I've got 1,000+ records anchoring down most of the bottom three rows of a 5x5 (leaving a couple slots open for the insert drawers, one full of 7"s, etc). It's the perfect record storage as far as I'm concerned.

And of course being Ikea you can get corresponding shelving units to hold your CDs, DVDs, etc.
posted by Gortuk at 7:23 AM on January 21, 2005

Blueshammer: But how did you organize a) the binders, and b) the discs within the binders? I've been thinking of doing this myself, but haven't been able to figure out an approach that works for me.

jonmc: I don't have an answer for you, but thanks for asking this!
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:01 AM on January 21, 2005

Blueshammer - I too am considering putting my discs in a binder. Are they still easy to browse when you're not looking for anything in particular?
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:06 AM on January 21, 2005

Alphabetically. I just bought enough/big enough binders that I could leave a blank page every few pages to allow for new additions so I would only have to move a dozen or so CDs to accommodate. Or take the Rob Gordon approach and go autiobiographically; that way the new stuff is always at the end.
posted by blueshammer at 8:08 AM on January 21, 2005

I go to Racks and Stands for media storage. This was our starter CD shelf, and it's just perfect.

On binders: I've heard a lot of people swear by binders, but I use them for my DVDs and couldn't imagine using them for a larger collection than, say, 100 items, for the sole reason that it's a pain to add stuff and keep it in order (but I'm pretty picky, I admit). Also, unlike DVDs, CDs tend to have print material I want to keep, and it doesn't fit well in binders. On the other hand, if that stuff isn't so important, binders will save you so much storage you will want to kiss them and kiss them.
posted by frykitty at 8:15 AM on January 21, 2005

HGTV's "Design On a Dime" did a show about a Jazz Drummer with a VERY large record collection and they seemed to be able to get most of it set:

• Episode
• Article
• Bookshelf Image

posted by bkdelong at 8:19 AM on January 21, 2005

I have a large-ish collection (800 LPs, 4500 CDs and about 500 DVDs) and I do what Gortuk said, Ikea shelves have exactly the right size shelf for LPs and Laserdiscs, plus they are sturdy (if you buy the not-lowest-end ones) and easily replaceable. (for the CDs I now use Boltz shelving, but they used to be stacked horizontally 2 deep on the same set of shelves)

(this may all be obsolete soon, as I'm looking into Dj cases for the CDs)
posted by milovoo at 8:21 AM on January 21, 2005

If there is a Container Store near you, you may have some luck there. They do have New York stores, but I dont know how convenient they might be for you. They also offer online shopping. If you go in person with some measurements regarding the space, you can get help from one of their people planning the space.
posted by Medieval Maven at 10:36 AM on January 21, 2005

I am looking for something similar myself. The best would be custom designed shelves, which I have seen and looks fantastic.

Thanks for asking this question.
posted by xammerboy at 11:02 AM on January 21, 2005

Ikea, as others have recommended, is what I use. They have these bookcases that are pretty much perfect. They are thicker than the normal bookcases...the shelves are about 2 inches thick and they are about a foot and a half wide. The thinner the better as the wider ones sag with the weight of LP's. They are about 100 bucks apiece. The best part is that you can configure the shelves however you like...CD-sized, LP-sized, whatever. I would link to a picture but the Ikea site gives me a headache with its bad organization.

Anyhow, I've been storing my numerous LP's in these for about 6 years now and they've held up to 3 moves so far. Cheap, configurable storage is exactly Ikea's bailiwick. Don't fight the bailiwick!
posted by tinamonster at 11:30 AM on January 21, 2005

Most of the college/public radio stations I've visited use adjustable steel industrial shelving for their vinyl collections.

Besides being insanely sturdy, it's probably easily available considering most of this radio stations are on or near or affiliated with college/university campuses, and may be just surplus stock.

It's not very aesthetic though, but it holds - literally - tons of vinyl, and the shelves don't bow or break down, and resist abuse nicely.
posted by loquacious at 11:39 AM on January 21, 2005

You can make very strong and attractive shelving out of four threaded rods and some boards. Drill holes at the corners of the boards and put the rods through the holes. A set of nuts snugged up against each other with perhaps a large washer on top of them supports the boards. The height can be adjusted to efficiently accommodate your media. Black threaded rod is the best if you can find it, otherwise mask off the wood and spray paint the rod if you want to hide the bare metal. Obviously you can finish the boards any number of ways. For records I agree with tinamonster that because they are so heavy you do not want too much of a span. You can also use longer boards and put sets of holes midspan. Make the rods close enough together so as to support your media at the ends. Substitute high or medium density fiberboard (MDF) and you can make decent stereo equipment racks this way. Here you want mass to dampen vibrations. I wouldn't use MDF for records as it isn't strong enough. Plywood is the strongest but then you probably want to treat the edges. You can put strips of veneer on but they are not so easy to apply.
posted by caddis at 11:44 AM on January 21, 2005

. . .large quantity collector shelves at a reasonable price or has anyone come up with a good home-cooked solution?

I don't know how much time you have to devote to this/if you have access to a pick-up or van but this has worked for me:

Scour the garage sales section on craigslist (they also have a section for things being given away for free). Also check freecycle.

Also depending on the time you have, the flea markets in Manhattan (expect to pay more than you would at a garage sale but less than from a store) and in the tri-state area.

I found a wall to ceiling cherry bookshelf on craigslist - you might find the shelves you are looking for, too.
posted by mlis at 12:10 PM on January 21, 2005

Also: Gothic Cabinet. Better than Ikea at similar prices. Cheaper than the Container Store for nice shelving. (Yeah, I've been thinking shelving lately too.)
posted by dame at 12:26 PM on January 21, 2005

I have my DVDs in binders, which I organized using an Excel spreadsheet. I have my DVDs organized in a random alpha order. Letters are sorted together, but not alphabetically by title within the letter. This makes it slightly harder to find a particular movie, but it beats reorganizing your collection each time you add another movie.

You are welcome to see if my spreadsheet will help you. It's a bit messy, but it helped me a great deal.

Instructions

You can define the size of the binder and the slots per page on the Page Calculator sheet. To allow for your collection to grow, there is a cell for Growth Amount, which allots additional pages based on how much more you plan for your collection to grow.

Paste the titles of all of the DVDs you presently have into column A of the Movie List Sheet. The titles must have any prefix, such as "The" or "A", appended to the end or removed or it will cause your list to have a high number for A or T. I found that amongst any list of movie titles the letters S & B occur the most.

You can try the spreadsheet either Populated or Empty. Let me know what you think.
posted by the biscuit man at 3:42 PM on January 21, 2005

I'm about to buy a cabinet from Can-Am to house my 1400 CDs...for DVD storage i use the requivalent of this
posted by softlord at 7:49 PM on January 21, 2005

I'm about to buy a cabinet from Can-Am to house my 1400 CDs...for DVD storage i use the equivalent of this.

For keeping track of CDs, Music Label 2005 and for DVDs, DVD Profiler.
posted by softlord at 7:48 AM on January 22, 2005

The problem with Can-Am and solutions like it is that when you reach a certain critical mass it a) stops scaling as well, and b) the cost per disc is high.

To clarify point (a) above, at some point you still end up with multiple walls lined with the Can-Am drawers because each drawer holds a 'relatively' small portion of the overall total.

I passed on Can-Am because I needed to store 5000+ CDs and the cost is just too high, especially when you add in the 'tops' and wheels.

If you buy the Can-Am, please come back and tell us how you like it.
posted by kreinsch at 8:11 AM on January 22, 2005