I know I'm not the only one around here with a couple hundred cds that have data and no jewl case. So, how do you guys store them? right now I have them in a plastic box standing on thier sides, two full boxes inside an under the bed box but i'm running out of room and don't want to go buy 3-4 big wallets. Any ideas?
glass
How do you guys store large numbers of CDs?
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glassoftea
- Posts: 603
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 7:39 am
after i filled 4 120 cd wallets, i started just labeling cds and putting them on empty spindles, each spiddle has a number, and i enter that info into an access database so i can search for a program and acess tells me which spindle and which cd it is on
[align=center]<img src="http://www.statgfx.com/statgfx/folding/?&username=Billygoat(pcabusers)&border=0,255,0&label=255,0,0&header=0,0,255&stats=0,0,0&bgcolor=255,255,0&trans=no&template=fah_original&.jpg" alt="PCA Folding Rules!" />[/align]
Right now I just use Spindles, but when I get the money I'd like to get this.
It's 199$ over at Tigerdirect, but it holds up to 100 CDs. It looks pretty neat. You tell it what CD your loading, and it puts in into a database. You can stack up to 10 units into 1 tower, and up to 127 towers for a total of 127,000 CDs. You tell the program what CD your looking for, and it'll locate it and spit it out. Seems prety damn neat!
Features:
Automatically detects CD insertion
Automatically positions on an empty slot
Will not turn with CD half inserted (prevents jams)
User defined Century-CD names
Allows sorting by CD title
Allows searching by CD audio track
Allows password protection of CD
Connects via RS232 for Microsoft NT
No offline access allowed to prevent inaccurate data
Tracks CDs even when moved between CCD units
Database can be saved and moved between PC
Specs:
Capacity
100 discs per unit; 127,000 discs with 1,270 units
Robotics
- Max CD Ejection Time: 7 seconds max
- MTBF: 3,000,000 cycles
Connections
- Communication Port: 1 x USB 1.1 Compliant; 1 x RS232 (cables provided)
- Electrical Input: 110/220~240 Volt AC
- Stacking Port: RS232/power
Broad Media
Stores most 5.25" media including CD, CD-RW, & DVD
Hardware Requirements
- Pentium processor
- 20Mb or more of hard disk space
- 16Mb of RAM
- Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP or Mac OS 9.1 or higher
It's 199$ over at Tigerdirect, but it holds up to 100 CDs. It looks pretty neat. You tell it what CD your loading, and it puts in into a database. You can stack up to 10 units into 1 tower, and up to 127 towers for a total of 127,000 CDs. You tell the program what CD your looking for, and it'll locate it and spit it out. Seems prety damn neat!
Features:
Automatically detects CD insertion
Automatically positions on an empty slot
Will not turn with CD half inserted (prevents jams)
User defined Century-CD names
Allows sorting by CD title
Allows searching by CD audio track
Allows password protection of CD
Connects via RS232 for Microsoft NT
No offline access allowed to prevent inaccurate data
Tracks CDs even when moved between CCD units
Database can be saved and moved between PC
Specs:
Capacity
100 discs per unit; 127,000 discs with 1,270 units
Robotics
- Max CD Ejection Time: 7 seconds max
- MTBF: 3,000,000 cycles
Connections
- Communication Port: 1 x USB 1.1 Compliant; 1 x RS232 (cables provided)
- Electrical Input: 110/220~240 Volt AC
- Stacking Port: RS232/power
Broad Media
Stores most 5.25" media including CD, CD-RW, & DVD
Hardware Requirements
- Pentium processor
- 20Mb or more of hard disk space
- 16Mb of RAM
- Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP or Mac OS 9.1 or higher
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FlyingPenguin
- Flightless Bird
- Posts: 32784
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:13 am
- Location: Central Florida
- Contact:
Best system I've found. I'm anal retentive 
I'm sloppy about some things, but if I can't put my hands on a CD in 30 seconds, I get pissed.
I buy the case logic 3-ring loose-leaf book sleeves (each sheet holds 8 CDs). No one carries them locally so I get them from CDW.com. They're cheap in bulk: http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=299936
I put 8 sheets in each 2" 3-riing binder (64 CDs per book, which works out just right as far as weight and thinkness). I buy the good quality imitation leather 3-ring binders at Office Depot so they don't fall apart from all the weight.
My whole library fits in a 12" x 12" x 12" space in my computer desk hutch. 5 binders x 64 Cds each = 320 CDs so far. That's just software. Photo albums, DVDs, etc are in other binders in a living room book shelf.
I wrote my own simple MS Access software inventory program. Each CD has a unique number and they're filed in the books in numerical order. If I need an app, I just look it up in my database and pull the proper book.
For MP3, clipart, video CDs, etc I use an excellent database program called "Where Is It?". You just create your database and then let it scan all your CDs and let it assign a number for each CD.
The search engine in it will look up file names (even files inside archive files if you allow it, and imbedded descriptions in MP3s and other media files. I use it to database everything from Fonts to MP3s.
I'm sloppy about some things, but if I can't put my hands on a CD in 30 seconds, I get pissed.
I buy the case logic 3-ring loose-leaf book sleeves (each sheet holds 8 CDs). No one carries them locally so I get them from CDW.com. They're cheap in bulk: http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=299936
I put 8 sheets in each 2" 3-riing binder (64 CDs per book, which works out just right as far as weight and thinkness). I buy the good quality imitation leather 3-ring binders at Office Depot so they don't fall apart from all the weight.
My whole library fits in a 12" x 12" x 12" space in my computer desk hutch. 5 binders x 64 Cds each = 320 CDs so far. That's just software. Photo albums, DVDs, etc are in other binders in a living room book shelf.
I wrote my own simple MS Access software inventory program. Each CD has a unique number and they're filed in the books in numerical order. If I need an app, I just look it up in my database and pull the proper book.
For MP3, clipart, video CDs, etc I use an excellent database program called "Where Is It?". You just create your database and then let it scan all your CDs and let it assign a number for each CD.
The search engine in it will look up file names (even files inside archive files if you allow it, and imbedded descriptions in MP3s and other media files. I use it to database everything from Fonts to MP3s.
Christians warn us about the anti-christ for 2,000 years, and when he shows up, they buy a bible from him.
judg3, i wonder if i could then make it work with a slot load cdrom so that its totaly automatic? I bet i could do it. have the thingy spit the CD into the CDrom and make it work the other way around... that would be the shit!
[align=center]A self-aware artificial intelligence would suffer from a divide by zero error if it were programmed to be Amish[/align]
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Executioner
- Life Member
- Posts: 10141
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:34 am
- Location: Woodland, CA USA
Like FP, I use the software "Where Is It" for all my CD's. I have each CD in a jewel case with a number. I then use Where Is It to locate the CD I'm looking for. The problem for me is my growing library of software, mp3's, movies, etc, especially mp3's. I currently have 54 CD-R's fulled with mp3 music.
Originally posted by Pugsley
judg3, i wonder if i could then make it work with a slot load cdrom so that its totaly automatic? I bet i could do it. have the thingy spit the CD into the CDrom and make it work the other way around... that would be the shit!
Holy crap Pugsley! Ya know, if ya did that, you'd basically have a 4000$ DVD Jukebox for only 200$! Now thats a hell of a deal!
I have one smaller CD case that holds all my mission-critical discs, such as OS, anti-virus, original drivers discs, etc. Makes it easy to grab and go if I need to rebuild my own machines or a friend's machine.
I have a large binder for all my CD's from boot/MaxPC. Yes, it gets its own binder
. Damn thing is almost full, too...
I have a drawer right next to my chair that has most of my apps and backups in jewel cases, easy access. I just took a cruddy, plastic CD stand, laid it on its back in the drawer, and I can easily read the spines when I open it.
My MP3 CD's are in a small travel CD binder that I keep in my backback. Makes it easy to listen to my music either in my truck or at work. I also carry my iRiver (tho' it really doesn't get a lot of use). But I normally listen to my original CD's if I'm at home (I've got an HT for my computer's sound system, might as well go for full-fidelity).
More than half of my burned CD's are on spindles, tho'. They sit on the shelf above my monitor. However, just a couple of weeks ago I created a spreadsheet that has every title on the discs, which disc it's on, what type of app it is, etc. Not as fancy as a database, but it does the job.
I have a large binder for all my CD's from boot/MaxPC. Yes, it gets its own binder
. Damn thing is almost full, too...I have a drawer right next to my chair that has most of my apps and backups in jewel cases, easy access. I just took a cruddy, plastic CD stand, laid it on its back in the drawer, and I can easily read the spines when I open it.
My MP3 CD's are in a small travel CD binder that I keep in my backback. Makes it easy to listen to my music either in my truck or at work. I also carry my iRiver (tho' it really doesn't get a lot of use). But I normally listen to my original CD's if I'm at home (I've got an HT for my computer's sound system, might as well go for full-fidelity).
More than half of my burned CD's are on spindles, tho'. They sit on the shelf above my monitor. However, just a couple of weeks ago I created a spreadsheet that has every title on the discs, which disc it's on, what type of app it is, etc. Not as fancy as a database, but it does the job.
well, then why dont you buy me the 2 parts... i will make the hardware.. send it back to you... and you can write the software to make it all work? I could probbly go to WADs and pick up a 4U server and gut it to put every thing inside of it.
[align=center]A self-aware artificial intelligence would suffer from a divide by zero error if it were programmed to be Amish[/align]
I have been reading the images onto my HDs. Mount them virtually, and you have a 1000X cdrom. Just need the HD space, but with IDE drives so cheap, I have bought a few, and put them in USB2.0 and firewire cases. I think you will find that the older CDs dont fill more than 20-30% of the disc. Turn on file compression for the drives you use, and you get another 10-50%, cut from the image size. Kinda exspensive, but all my cds are in a box in the closet. So it is nice and neat.....
