Best way to store CD / DVD at home?

[csuzor]

There must be plenty of different options to store the CD and DVD (and all derivatives like SACD or DVD-A or DualDisk etc...)

I've been throwing away the plastic cases, keeping all documentation / artwork on a shelf, and the disks in a portable storage case (64 disks per case). I have a dozen cases, labelled by genre, and if possible I'll put the documentation next to it.

Anyone have some good ideas to save space and store large quantities of disks? What brands?

Thanks
Christophe

[George Bellefontaine]

I keep mine in their original cases and stored on a rack in my HT.

[jcnoernberg]

You have to beware of those plastic sleeves in the portable holders, because they do breakdown and actually stick/ruin your CD's surface! I've had it happen before, especially if they're exposed to heat/sunlight (car?). I think the best place for a CD is stored on your hard-drive in a high resolution format, and burn CDr's for your portable case. Put the originals in the attic stored in the original case. Backup the harddrive regularly. That is the safest! Sony of course makes those 400 CD players, and they are linkable so your could get two to hold 800 CDs. but at $200 or so each, that's an investment.

[ajpoe]

I have to agree with those sleeves. I've had them stick to the tops of my disks and ruin them as well. I backup all my music to my computer in Monkey's lossless and use it as a server for playback. I also have a 2nd external hard drive that I use for regular backups of my music files.

I don't think I'd put the disks in the attic because it can get very hot in there, but I think you could still box them up and store them somewhere safer. I agree that CD-Rs, especially for taking in the car, are the way to go if you need to bring your music with you.

I have a lot more CDs than DVDs and I don't know how it works with SACD because I have none, but I would just get something nice to put in your HT room to store them in so you have easy access. Although, if you can afford the hard drive space, you can backup DVDs to the HD very easily too!

[Andrew Pratt]

I store mine in the CD and DVD jukebox's with the CD jewel cases in a box and the movies in three draws under my gear rack

[csuzor]

Isn't anyone using those Case Logic ProSleeves or similar? I havent bought into them yet because I can't find a decent drawer to store them, but I am sure there are many professionals using sleeves like this... storing the jewel or dvd case seems a waste of space, and quite unsightly (ie low WAF).

[RebelMan]

... storing the jewel or dvd case seems a waste of space, and quite unsightly (ie low WAF).

Not such a waste really, you still have to store something and not so unsightly if you have cabinet doors to conceal them behind.

[David Meek]

I prefer the original jewel box / case in a large cabinet. I guess I'm a collector, and I like the ability to have my collection right there in front of me. But, when we go up to our place in Washington I'll put a couple of hundred CDs/DVDs in a hard-back carry case for the extended trip.

[Burke Strickland]

I've found that over time the CDs and DVDs are easier to organize and tend to stay in better shape if I keep them in their original cases rather than in portable multi-disc carriers or sleeves in "books" etcetera.

Also, although I have enjoyed using "jukebox" players that handled hundreds of discs, my play pretty much got limited to what I had loaded into the players and the hundreds of other titles in my collection tended to get neglected. When I updated my players due to newer technology, I opted for a single disc universal player.

I've found that having all of discs on hand on shelves in the HT actually makes it easier to find a particular disc and since I have to get up and put in whatever I am going to listen to these days, I am watching/listening to a far wider range of choices than I had been.

As for the shelves, I custom built them to fit the space in my HT and built add-on units of the same design (but didn't assemble them yet)

Burke

[gd]

I went the original case / large cabinet route... dunno if it's the best, it's just what I fell into by the time I accumulated 300 or so CDs.

I use these "Rackit" modular units: http://www.rackittm.com/

They're not cheap, or particularly attractive (to me anyway; I don't like blonde wood)... but they're extremely well built, custom-fitted for various media, modular, lightweight and space-efficient (assuming you want to retain the original cases).

My priority is protecting and organizing the discs... looks are relatively unimportant (no WAF), so these work fine for CD, vinyl, LD, VHS, DVD etc.

For now anyway.

Down the road, I can see switching to an elaborate hard-drive setup and moving the discs and cabinets out of view if circumstances dictate it.