Q 4 CD/DVD organization neat freaks...

Looking for some ideas for storing everything in ONE place ( a closet bookshelf).
1.Do you guys keep the original cases or not? Store vertical or horizontal?
2.I'd like my small DVD collection organized alphabetically, I think, however, I'd like certain collections, like "all Hitchcock" together.
3.I'd like the PC recovery discs all in one place, too.
4. And I'd like all the music CD's in one place.
5. I was thinking that to make all of them look uniform and easy to retrieve, color coding might work. All jewel cases, perhaps.
6. I'm not inclined too much to carry anything outside, so wallets are not an option. I just want all of them in one place.
7. I also have a couple of hundred old VHS tapes that need practical storage, 'cause I still watch and convert them currently.

Is this all a bit too OCD, or not? Anyway, thanks if you have any ideas or drawings.

For my CDs they are categorized by genre...ei cast recordings, musical mixes (best of broadway type stuff), Disney, film soundtracks, television soundtracks, bands/performers, sports, Celtic, oldies, and Christmas (though if a performer has a Christmas album it goes with the bands/performers). Each cd is alphabetical within it's own genre. Annie Get Your Gun comes before Catered Affair. All of my CDs are in their original cases unless they somehow got broken and were put into replacement cases. I have a tower with individial slots so the CDs that fit in it are stored horizontally. All of the overflow is on a shelf of my dek and they are stored vertically.

I'm not as organized with my DVD/VHS collection due to lack of space but I am hopefully getting a new unit with storage on the doors so that should help. As of now my VHS tapes that are not in clamshells are in order by genre. They are on an old bookcase that actually belonged to my great-grandparents. It was brown but I painted it white and stenciled pink roses on it many years ago. The store bought VHS tapes are stacked with the top facing outward and tapes I recorded myself are in front of them with the sides facing outward. DVDs are mixed in where they can fit and many are organized my genre. It's hard to keep the organization right now but I hope that will change. The very bottom shelf of the bookcase has all clamshells, TV DVDs, and comic book DVDs.

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Updated On: 1/12/10 at 12:26 PM

I moved last August so my CD's are still in boxes.. I actually transferred my favorite songs to my MP3 player (615 songs) so I really don't need them on full display.

As for my DVDs, they're on two racks...each rack in alphabetical order. One is feature films, the other is TV series, box sets and other "special" stuff. Any overflow goes on the bottom rack of the second rack and gets alphabetized and put on its specific rack when I get ambitious. Big Lots, of all places, has become a treasure trove for classic DVDs lately and those have yet to be arranged.

My partner swears by his Discgears, of which he has three. He throws away the plastic DVD package, keeps the inserts and files the actual DVD in the Discgear. They sell them on QVC and I've seen them at FYE.