Of course most of us store our music digitally on a computer or iPod these days, but some people still think having physical CDs (or even—gasp—vinyl) is a pretty neat idea. If I learned anything from reading/watching High Fidelity (book | DVD), it’s that there’s more than one way to organize one’s albums, and an occasional resorting can do wonders for the spirit. If you’re looking for a novel way to organize your discs and want some inspiration, consider these ideas. (Full disclosure: My CDs are currently organized alphabetically by performer’s last name, and, for each performer, by the original album release date.)
- chronologically by album release date
- chronologically by historical era (Bach before Bacharach before Beck)
- chronologically by when you purchased them (autobiographically)
- chronologically, grouped by life stage you associate with each album (e.g., high school, college, first job, important relationships)
- alphabetically by performer’s name
- by album cover—color, type of image, size of title font
- by length of album (based on number of tracks or total play time)
- by length of album title
- by genre
- by relationship links between performers (e.g., Elvis Costello and Diana Krall)
- by the frequency with which you listen to them
- by composer (good for classical music)
- by instrumentation (string quartets, solo pianos, 4-piece rock bands)
- by country of origin (of performer, composer, or genre)
- by the activity you like to perform while listening to it (cooking, cleaning, studying, romancing)
- by average tempo
- by mood (slow, ponderous albums together; peppy, danceable albums together)
