Sorting your Collection

In America they go under L.

 

What about bands that start with a number?
Where to you file 13th Floor Elevators?
I file these ones before the A bands.
I have trouble with bands with proper names such as The Ansley Dunbar Retaliation.
A or D?

 

Dunbar Retaliation, The Ansley

 

I'd put them under A. It's a band name. I have Alan Parsons Project under A. His solo works under P.

 

The, The.

Like Beatles, The.

It's that simple ;-)

 

Oh, really!

So, do you store all your Beatles records under, "The"..?

 

I've got a lot of Spanish and French bands but only recently I've begun filing them by their names instead of the 'Los's and 'Les's. Les Fleur De Lys is still under L though, because they weren't a French band. I'm weird like that...

 

I've never encountered this problem, my collection is Los-less.

 

I file them by country and then by name.

 

Nope. The only group under 'The' is The The.

I alphabetize everything by the first letter of the artist, regardless. B is Beatles, J is Jerry Lee Lewis, L is Los Lobos (which precedes Los Lobotomys), etc. etc. Absolute fastest, easiest way to sort. It works for me.

 

First letter or symbol of first word in the name, no matter what it is, with only one exception: "The"

So I put Bob Dylan under B
Los Bravos under L
A Silver Mt. Zion under A
(hed) pe under (

Etc.

But I put The Who under W

I do that for two reasons. One, because there are so many "The" bands, and two, because a lot of "The" bands were inconsistent through their careers re whether they included the "The."

 

I do it by "L." I only ignore the "the" for the English "the."

 

I only count articles as the name of the artist/band if that article is not of my native/spoken language.

 

Sooo...Beethoven's 5th, played by The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy - Go...!

 

OK

P: Philadelphia Orchestra (Eugene Ormandy).

 

Don't have that many Los records so Los Bravos and Los Lobos under L. However, French bands are sorted by the second word. Les Rita Mitsouko under R. This way, there's no chance of me putting Les Humphries Singers under L.

 

What a "los"

 

What about tribute albums? I sort them with the artist covered. For example " A Tropical Tribute to the Beatles" I sort under Beatles. OBTW if you haven't heard the tropical tribute and you're a Beatles fan give it a spin!

 

And how do you file the last Cat Steven's album ? Under Y or with the other Cat Stevens albums ?

 

DEF not my answer! If for no other reason, ergonomics!

So you wouldn't even think of filing it next to Furtwanger's reading of the same piece...?

 

That's how I'd do it.

Or under "I" for Islam, Yusuf?

 

Does that then mean D for Elton John? Z for Bob Dylan?

 

Another problem I encountered is artists and bands that changed names.
Manitoba = Caribou
John Cougar = John Mellencamp
Songs Ohia = Magnolia Electric Co.

 

Just pick one and be consistent! The whole purpose is quick retrieval. There are no "rules" in my room.

 

Ergonomics??

If Furtwanger directed the Philadelphia Orchestra he would be listed in the P's, for Philadelphia. Sub alphabetized by the conductor's first name. If it was some other orchestra it would be found under their orchestra name and conductor.

This system is really quite simple, I don't get your confusion. Everything is listed by the first letter of the first name (except for the word The). It's frightfully easy to sort and to find things. YMMV, of course, but there is no trick to it, quite easy.