# How do you alphabetize your CDs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245 "2012-08-03T02:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/41 "2012-08-08T00:26:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I alway organize them with the most recently played CDs at one end. That way, I can see what I haven’t played in awhile and pick one of those. I thought I was the only person who did that! And now that most of my CDs have been ripped to my audio PC, I use the “Date Accessed” column (you have to add it) in my Windows explorer to see what I haven’t listed to in the longest time. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/42 "2012-08-08T15:26:29Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Note: To all you young whippersnappers, once upon a time there was a music format known as the “compact disc” (“CD” for short) which were round plastic discs 5½" in diameter, read by a laser which could store up to 80 minutes of music at a time, nearly twice as much as the record format which preceded them. (I’ll explain records and 8-track tapes some other time…now get off my lawn!!!) > > Anyway, to those who still maintain CD collections – do you group solo artists and side projects with the original bands they came from, or keep them separate? Generally, I’ll keep them separate, so “Genesis” remains separate from “Phil Collins” and “Peter Gabriel” (although Genesis and Gabriel end up close to each other, oddly enough.) > > However, for the musicians who essentially _are_ the band, I’m thinking it’s better to keep them together – The Doors/Jim Morrison, Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor, David Coverdale/Whitesnake, and so forth. Do any of you guys store CDs this way? Or by genre, perhaps? > > Also, does the J. Geils Band file under “G”, or “J”? > > Need answer fast, by the way. 😉 My anwer is you REALLY need to get out more. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/43 "2012-08-08T15:50:20Z")
I tended to group by genre. Within each genre, the artists/groups were arranged alphabetically. If I had more than one CD from an artist, I’d arrange the CDs in chronological order (by release date). ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/44 "2012-08-09T06:43:51Z")
I arrange by genre, in boxes because I have over 1,000, and do not bother alphabetizing since I’m swapping out ones on my playlist from boxes all of the time. I just generally remember which box I stored any particular CD in. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/45 "2012-08-09T13:26:36Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Also, does the J. Geils Band file under “G”, or “J”? > [@campp](#): > > J Geils goes under J, as the name of the band. **campp** , you ignorant slut (wait, is that from before the CD era?), J Geils goes under G as the artist name, just like (as an example, not that I have any of his albums) the Dave Matthews Band goes under M, or James Brown and the Famous Flames goes under B, not F. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/46 "2012-08-09T14:18:48Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > What the hell are you talking about? A jewel case is a crappy piece of plastic, containing no information. A record jacket has liner notes, maybe a gatefold, cool picture on the front. Nobody sane on earth throws out liner notes to CDs, so no information is lost, ever. > > And what does this have to do with audiophilia? Yeah, but along with the front booklet CD jewel boxes also contain a rear cover sheet which you’d have to take apart the insides to save. Besides, jewel boxes are just what CDs come in, _ **damn it!** _ At least that’s what they came in when I used to buy them, so to me they’re the same as vinyl record sleeves/covers, they stay with the discs. 😃 Hell, when CDs first came out they were sold in the infamous ‘long box’ (till the neo-hippies whined that they were gonna destroy the Earth or something) and I used to save _ **those!** _ (though I eventually threw them away)… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/47 "2012-08-09T20:52:36Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > **campp** , you ignorant slut (wait, is that from before the CD era?), J Geils goes under G as the artist name, just like (as an example, not that I have any of his albums) the Dave Matthews Band goes under M, or James Brown and the Famous Flames goes under B, not F. See, this is one good reason why my music library is on a first-name basis with all artists: it avoids such controversies. P.S. Yes, it’s from several years before the CD era. “You pompous ass.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/48 "2012-08-10T02:16:29Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > **campp** , you ignorant slut (wait, is that from before the CD era?), J Geils goes under G as the artist name, just like (as an example, not that I have any of his albums) the Dave Matthews Band goes under M, or James Brown and the Famous Flames goes under B, not F. I’m curious to know how you would alphabetize the following: The Alan Parsons Project Steely Dan Freddy Jones Band Jethro Tull The Marshall Tucker Band ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/49 "2012-08-10T03:02:06Z")
Someone already mentioned their Tom Petty and their Tom Petty & the Hearbreakers albums both go under “P”, which is the way I’ve done it with my Frank Black and my Frank Black & the Catholics albums, even though it seems weird. What about Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, where “Edie Brickell &” was added by the record label for marketing’s sake, and the band was previously known to themselves and others as “New Bohemians”? Certainly it doesn’t belong under “B”, I’d think. Does punctuation precede “A”? I’m thinking about bands like …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and !!!. And presumably numbers come before “A” as well, right? Compilations? “V” for “various artists”? Yeah? No? ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/50 "2012-08-10T14:18:42Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Alpha, by band name or artist last name. The Band comes before Bob Dylan, etc. If a work is truly solo, it goes under their name. Paul McCartney mostly goes under M. > > J Geils goes under J, as the name of the band. I spell out numbers, like 10cc under Ten. > > Rinse and repeat. This with the exception of numbers, all numbers are before the alphabet in my organization. That said that collection is sitting on a shelf gathering dust since they’ve all been ripped to my media library now. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245/51 "2012-08-10T14:32:31Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > Compilations? “V” for “various artists”? Yeah? No? No. Those are filed under the title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-alphabetize-your-cds/630245.md?page=2)