I was on a Zoom call the other day in my basement to avoid the screaming kids and my background was the two expedits I have down there and it was more distracting than the kids. People were genuinely shocked to see so many records and people are still asking me about it. I’m so used to my friends having large collections that it never really crossed my mind that people would find it odd.
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Said in the manner of Rutger Hauer playing Roy Batty:
“Gosh… that’s a really… big… collection you have there”
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i work out of my record room so i hear about it a LOT on calls. at first people thought i was using a goofball background. then i stand up and start flipping through them and people are like “hmmm”.
the funny thing is that i work in digital music, but am basically a record store dork to the core. so many of the folks i end up on calls with are like “you know you can stream all of that on our service, right”.
there’s a few folks who’ve turned it into a game like “ok show me a PUBLIC ENEMY record GO!” or “ok show me a daVID BOWIE record GO!”. nobody i work with is cool enough to ask to see a ron trent record or a 4 hero record, but at least i haven’t been asked to show a marillion record or a tool record. i don’t have any of those.
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Literally everyone would comment on the majesty of my spines if they weren’t in FUCKING STORAGE
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That would be my worst nightmare at the moment. There is no order at all to the collection (a future product) so they’d ask and I’d only truly be able to say “yep, somewhere in there”.
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Same here. People have asked how do you find a specific record you want to listen to? My answer is you can’t, you flick through and see what happens, there’s no search input box, and I’m not going to keep looking for an hour.
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Feel this 
Most of my records and books have been in storage for 6 years now. Considering just getting rid now tbh
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it’s a dumb thing to be proud of but i started an organizational system when i was like 12 and have adhered to it to this day, and because of that i can usually put hands on any record that i remember within a couple of minutes.
the funny thing is the records that you buy, file and forget. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve run across something to be like “OH MAN i always wanted one of these” only to come home and find out that you already have one (or sometimes two), filed away perfectly.
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Never had any organisational system. Always a ‘think I remember that was near this or that record’ system. Not ideal, or sensible.
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I tried ‘genre’ as a loose filing system years ago but all my dickhead mates used to mess it up on purpose after every night out. 
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I’ve tried it all: alphabetical, by decade, by genre etc. but honestly the chaos is way more fun. I’m constantly rediscovering things and that’s my excuse for being shit at putting my records back where I could find them.
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I’ve just spent a couple of weeks of evenings organising and loading into Discogs. I recommend a numeric pad and a MacBook and banging into catalogue. It gets to the point when you are hoarding, not having a accessible collection is a waste of time. I have two rooms, House and not disco records in box room. Room two is disco and funk and albums. A-Z dividers, a Madonna section (don’t know why either) and a V/A for dance compilations.
More than 4000 and this will double this year.
The above is unlikely to make logical sense to the majority. I’d be digital only if I bought new music.
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I’m too OCD to not have a filing system.
Well, I’m fortunate enough that my storage is “free”, in as much as I’ve got a big outhouse*, but it can be an expensive purgatory.
I need to have a root through to find some big ticket items to sell… will probably purge in that process.
*it’s all in boxes and a major PITA to get to and root through 
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I just can’t imagine keeping to any system for long. I keep my books in a certain kind of order, mainly subject area, but that’s far more manageable than records. I tend to have a collection of stuff that is either new or what I’ve been listening to lately. Things get added and subtracted. After that, it’s all just vague memories. I store my records in wooden cubes and have a rough idea what is in each cube. I only have about 1000 in my flat which makes this chaotic system more reliable.
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I only have a collection of a few hundred, i’m guessing, so it’s manageable at the moment.
I often go to my little square piece of land to pick up things with the naive plan to sort through it all. I unlock the padlock, get overwhelmed and lock it up again. The monthly fee is easier to deal than sorting any of it out.
Like a large, expensive kitchen drawer.
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I have about 10000, 9500 in the basement and 500 upstairs. 2 decks and a mixer downstairs and just a turntable upstairs. It’s very bipolar as downstairs is complete chaos, no rhyme or reason but upstairs they are very neatly filed and behind locked cabinet doors - I’ve got three kids under 8. Upstairs I put on a record and listen to it start to finish, no skipping. Downstairs it’s 2 minute bursts. I may need to seek professional help.
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I organise as you would books on surname. If you start by full A-Z you will break the collection down to chunks of 300-400 with ‘C’ ‘B’ and ‘S’ being the largest.
If you enter into Discogs you can clear easily 100 and hour and upwards, although Discogs A-Z is at odds with the library system.
You are sitting on 40k plus worth assuming you are selective with your purchases.
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