Record Storage - Categorizing, Labeling, Discogs and All That Fun Stuff

If an album has split or cracking seams, it's best to store outside the cover to prevent further damage.

 

Out her sleeves.....load the record from the top (bottom of the cover to the bottom of the sleeve) or put the the opening edge in first?

 

If you are storing your records so tight that you are crushing the jacket from pressure, the you are already doing it wrong. I store on the outside for ease of access and have had no such problems.

 

I used to put everything to the side so I didn't have to do all the extra steps to get the record out of the sleeve. Now, I do inner sleeve up, inside sleeve, inside outer sleeve, facing up.

 

I store mine inside the sleeves but replace the inner with a non scratchy one. The record also gets put in a nice shiny plastic pvc sleeve.
I always store them upright or just slightly leaning and have never had any problems.

 

Be careful with PVC outer sleeves.

 

I've heard about this, but how do I know the difference? A lot of my records had outer sleeves when I bought them and I've never been sure what to replace and what to keep

 

I've never had a problem in the 40 odd years I've been using them.

 

Best way to describe it is that they have a strange thickness to them, and they're not especially clear. Pretty sure it was always more of a European thing to use them.

 

Interesting, I've got some of my records in glossy plastic like sleeves, and some in softer, foggier looking, almost rubber textured sleeves. I'm assuming those foggy ones are the bad ones?

 

No, pretty much all sleeves turn foggy after a while. The rubber texture sounds like it would be pvc - it's got a distinct feel for sure.

 

Something like this is perfectly safe.

 

That would have left me in the position of having inaccurate submissions in my collection.

Not preferable.

What I'm saying is, doing it "right" by their standards was not worth the effort for me. If it were simply a matter of matching label and cat. #, no problem.

 

For the titles that I think need labels, I put small white stickers on the outer sleeves. And yes, usually that's the country of press and maybe "first pressing", "'80s repress", etc. If condition is an issue (i.e. I need a reminder that I should or shouldn't upgrade a title I care about), I'll put a grade on a sticker too. Whatever helps me identify a pressing without having to pull the record from the sleeve or check the back. Then if you want to sell them later, or if your loved one does, you're all set.

 

I use Post-It Notes stuck to the rear cover. I don't think the adhesive on the post-its are strong enough to do any permanent damage. I try to include as much info as possible, including if it contains a poster, merchandise insert, lyric or photo inner sleeve, etc.

Here's an example. It may or may not work for you...

 

On the labels I would simply write the Discogs release ID.
That way one could find all the pressing details (even if they don't have access to your account to see your collection) on the Discogs page.

Then there's custom collection fields on Discogs, you can add any number of them, for all the type of notes you can think of.

Off topic:
@jon9091
regarding The Ogger Club, if you just want to filter by one keyword, you don't really need to use the Tags (that's usually for more advance queries like including/excluding multiple tags), you can just search for the keyword in the individual columns.
And it also works for partial searches: for example for the year column, you can see all your 70's releases by typing just "197".

 

I’m also cataloging my collection into Discogs.

I place small labels on the outer sleeve with the basic pressing info and condition. This helps especially when you have multiple pressings.

I also place a second label on the outer sleeve with the cleaning method used and date.

 

I’m not sure I understand. If I want to create a list of only the albums in my collection that were released in 1974...I would have to use the filters (which only work on the tags). Correct?
Otherwise, you’re going to get any results that feature 1974...not just the year of release.
For example, Bryan Ferry-Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1974. It was actually just released...but it would get included in a column search of “1974”.

 

Sorry if I didn't explain better, I meant that you can search each individual field separately, so you can search only in the "year" column.
From the screen you posted:

 

Do you have any picture discs? Or know how they were packaged? They're a really good example of the thick kind of PVC sleeve that has "issues." Best example I can think of is this one of mine from a few years ago. Check out how the vinyl "absorbed" the design from the sleeve, through the plastic. Amazing.

Most remarkable example of this I've ever experienced. Got two McCartney records yesterday that originally came in PVC sleeves with graphics on the sleeves. I've put a plain black sleeve under the "cover" in pic 1, then the vinyl in pic 2. Note how the actual lettering has leeched onto the record itself! Fortunately I just bought these (dirt cheap) to fill holes in my collection and can live with the damaged goods...


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I've never seen anything quite like that!

 

On a few occasions over the last few years I've gone through collections of ones who have passed on. Unless you know your wife/daughter really has an interest in dealing with, if you're of that age, I'd highly suggest you start thinning down the heard so they don't have to deal with it once you move on. None of the widows/familes I've dealt with wanted to be dealing with what they had, they just wanted the "stuff" out of their house not caring what the value of it was. If the thinking is you're leaving them something valuable, start selling now and put the money in the bank for them, because once you're gone they won't care or want to deal with it and it'll probably be given away for well under it's true value.

 

Gross! Weird! What!?

honestly could have nothing to do with vinyl storage science, that could simply be a phenomenon associated with naming your band after a David Lynch film/series.

 

If you have your settings set to public, so others can see your collection, can they see your notes too or just artist/title and grading?

 

No. People can only see what title you have.