What do you do with all those CD's??


I need some help deciding how to store my CD's. I have about 1500. My stereo is in the living room, so I need something that looks good but is practical. I've tried binders but found them such a pain to add new CD's and keep everything in alphabetic order. What is everyone using out there? Has anyone found a good solution?
rdylan
I have 4 can-am 3 drawer cd/dvd cabinets and they are wonderful.

You can stack them on top of each other and they have many add-on options from wheels to metal bars that install right into each individual drawer so you can keep your cds separate.

They also look very nice.
i second yoby's recommendations of cd racks -- they have well made oak bookcase racks designed just for cds and the large ones hold a lot of cds . THey provide very efficient storage -- I have three and wish I had room for more . Also they very good company to deal with and ship quickly.
CD magazines. I bought a couple 300 cd holders (size of a briefcase). Completely out of the way, organized and portable since I listen in multiple rooms-just grab the jazz collection and go.
Get 4 Sony megachangers (they're cheap). If you don't want to use them for playing CDs, you don't have to. You can just use them for storage and retrieval, with an alphabetical listing on paper cross referencing to the changer and slot number.
Has anyone found a good solution?

I use four Sony CD megachangers and feed the optical to a DSP. All controlled from the listening position. I've used this setup for a number of years but I'd recommend you rip them and go straight a PC - DAC solution - as that is what I would do if I was starting out...
I have custom built-in cabinetry with pull-out drawers for the CDs; the cabinetry is elegant and the CDs are hidden. However, I went on a buying spree when I upgraded my entire system and ran out of space in the drawers. I am slowly replacing the plastic jewel boxes with a product called Jewelsleeve - each is approximately 1/4 the thickness of a standard plastic jewel box.
I have a Billy Bags that holds 1000 cds. Looks good and makes it easy to see all discs. Good luck on your quest.
Need CDs live in the same area as the system. I keep 1,400 in a custom built floor to ceiling cabinet in a spare bedroom and simply haul them out by the handful when needed.
I hate to rub it in, you guys, but here it goes: If you jump on the bandwagon and rip your cds to a hard drive you can do away with all that unpleasantness. It's quite liberating! Only vinyl deserves to be displayed.
I really don't like looking at them at all, so I prefer drawers as they're easy to access. I recently discovered the storage drawers made by CanAm which are a bit pricy, but are heavy duty and hold alot of CD's efficiently and with a clean modern look.
Built to hold 2,000. I probably have 3,000 stuffed in mine... sets, and all:

http://www.uarts.com/woodworking/pr_cdvideo.htm
http://www.uarts.com/woodworking/ph_09.jpg
Take a look at my system page as well. I had a friend from work build me a 48" wide floor to ceiling unit with a larger bottom shelf for support and also useful for lp's or storage for box sets. When I began to fill the first unit up, I asked him to build me another just like it. After getting both up side by side, I had ASC build me a custom diffraction/absorber panel to cover 1/2 the unit. Each 48" unit stores 1440 cd's.
The only thing I would do different next time is to allow just a little more space between shelves to accomodate some of the recent lp style reissues.

Don't remember exactly how much I paid for each unit. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $450 in oak.
I really like the Boltz system. Nice look in my eyes. Scaleable. Very well made and very nice people to do business with. Check out their website

boltz.com