How To Best Store CDs 

The Container Store and Amazon sale media storage boxes that store around 90 to 100 CDs. It has three rows. These containers work great.

Very solid video. Thank you so much for this. I have hundreds of CDs and just trying to figure out the best way to store. I am impressed with your collection. ✌️🎸🎹🥁

CDs are the best. Always will be

I'm slowly converting my 6,000 CD's into the soft PVC sleeves so I can fit more CD's onto my bookshelves - I totally get your point about not being as secure, but I keep some of my favorites in the cases and the more generic in the plastic sleeves. I'm also hoping to reduce my CD's since I have over 2,000 LP records and 6,000 CD's so need to reduce my footprint. I use dividers to easily identify the section of CD's since the downside is that you can't read the spine when they are in sleeves instead of cases. My radio shows I keep in a binder. I have my whole collection alphabetically.

Hi Brendon 👋 I live in a one bedroom unit. So I don't have much space I have a large collection of cds. I have them stacked up against two walls. The only thing is it can take me a long time to find a cd. And also I have had cds fall down. Recently i got a couple of cardboard boxes from a supermarket and i have put cds in them. I like your system. I'm going through my cds playing ones that i haven't listened to for ages. I have them stacked by my bed. I like listening to music in bed in the evening, and i have Edifier speakers 🔊 for quality sound connected to my Sony cd player. I have a lounge cd player and one in my bathroom set up so i have music to listen to while showering . Do you like Nick Cave ? , I'm listening to him as I'm writing this message. I saw him in concert here in New Zealand in 1982 with his band .

Ha, I just mentioned you over on "All or Nada", storing CD's and all that stuff. Nice coincidence!!

I've been thinking of putting my cds in the cellophane wrappers that protect the jewel case and cd, what are your thoughts on the cellophane protectors?

I love Cheap Trick

Have you ever thought about having an entire blank wall full of CDs from top to bottom? Think Belle and the giant bookshelf with ladder in beauty and the beast

*What size are the bigvboxes that they ship cd's to the record stores??*

thank you🥰👍🏼

Great video. I know previously that you have said that you would never sell/trade any albums but do you think there will become a point in time that you might have to ?

Man, I thought my 6080 (as of today, anyway 😉) was bad; I can't imagine having twice as many! 😱 Like you I have all mine on shelves vertically. My collection is all stored alphabetically by Artist. How do you keep track of what's in those boxes in the closet? My other issue is that I can't possibly listen to all the ones in my collection in my remaining lifetime, yet I keep buying more ...🤕

I have over 16,000 CDs including several hundred box sets of various sizes all in one room and all on display with easy access to every title. Everything is in alphabetical order. I also organize each artist in order of original release date oldest to newest within the alphabetical order. Every spine is viewable. I custom built standard CD jewel case size shelving along each wall from floor to 10’ ceiling with the reachable top shelves deeper that are deep enough to hold any oversize box set. The box sets follow alphabetically by artist the standard jewel case CDs below them - all the way around the room. I added controllable lighting in eight sets around the room so that every title is lit and easily readable. The room is large enough to include on one end a top end audio system with 18 different playback and recording formats that are controlled in a central mix system. My 8,000 vinyl albums and 45’s are housed in this floor to ceiling system cabinet. At the other end of the room a current vintage large widescreen offers glorious video with awesome surround sound. My many music videos flank the big screen TV. The head in the system sends audio to all rooms of my three story home as well as to all sides of exterior of my home so that I can hear audio anywhere in my yard and garden. I have a custom German handmade 9.2 surround system in this studio room as well as stereo or surround in all of the rooms of my home. Been collecting since I was five starting in 1964 with “Introducing The Beatles”. May sound like a brag. Not my intention. I am a music nut like the rest of you and I assembled this piece by piece over these many years and I chose a profession in the pro audio industry that gave me the contacts and the means for assembling what I have today. I haven’t many years left but I will enjoy what is to come. Thank you for reading this.

kool, bro

Do you have all 12k of your cds on a pc music server or nas?

You are repating content. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

I know it's easy.... put them on a hard drive then trash them! CDs are worthless.

Very awesome tips. But then again you always have great advice when it comes to storing CDs. This is why I come back everyday to see what you are up to. Glad to call you friend. 🎶🎵🎹

Just curious if you have seen or used the large carousel cd shelving unit where you can store say 1500 cds in one piece that can be spun around. It has 4 sides that hold about 350 cds. The benefit is that it takes up less wall space.

I take them out of the cases and put them in CD sleeves. Probably not so great for rare expensive ones, but it saves a ton of space.

I am 100% on the jewel case train. I think I switched to booklets when I was like 14 or so and switched back when I was maybe 22 or 23. I'm never looking back. All those CDs from my teenage years are ROUGH. And it wasn't me abusing them. Those darn booklets are just awful.

Great video , I go one step further and use resealable 5 1/8 x 6 1/8 Polypropylene bags for all my CDs .

What causes cd rot and how do we avoid it?

I know that you never lay CDs down with the labeled side facing the ceiling. That mars the CD. Labeled side should be facing the floor or table top, instead. I learned this from my days as a college DJ nearly 3 decades ago.

My problem is; It's kinda hard to admire every single album when one of the other album have bonus songs from the other album. So i more often stay away from a cd which has hit songs from the other album. Am i taking it too serious? (Though i don't mind to have one with unreleased tracks which weren't included on the original release of the album). What's your opinion on this kind a situations? does it bothers you too? And which cd has value with bonus trackss or without bonus them?😐

Great video, Brendon. But man...I really hate to say it now...but buying CDs (and sometimes vinyl records) has unfortunately become a millionaire's game. I remember when I could buy them cheap. Those days are long gone now. I want to continue buying and collecting CDs, but it's really hard. Those Discogs prices stagger and kill me at the same time.

Great video, Brendon! I have clear plastic drawers to protect my CDs from dust and I can actually see the CDs I have in my collection. I did not know that moisture could damage CDs, though. I'll have to look into getting a dehumidifier!

I recently learned about the warner brothers issues on DVDS. Half my Tales from the crypt discs are just unplayable. I bought them new, store them in climate control room, neatly on shelves, yes I tried other payers , and yet my discs are just bad. I have yet to find this issue in any of my old cds but I am wondering if you or anyone has head of it with cds? I store all my cds, books, and films in a climate control room on custom shelves thinking they were safe but bad manufacturing is something I never considered.

I took your example from a previous video for storing CD's , and am using 2 And 1 shoe boxes works good 2 rows, as I an havining to rebuild my collection after losing a lot of CD's in a flood back in 2017. Thanks Brendon

Hello your channel is very helpful for me as an collector. I have an question,an stupid seller have shouved an supper thick and supper phat booklet in to an front tray with 6 booklet holders,the booklet is fully folded over one of the middle booklet holders,its an foldout folder booklet,there is not any way to take out the booklet,if take this booklet out from the left side it will rip the page off,if i take the booklet out by the spine it will allso rip the page off. I dont want to press this page down until it lays under this booklet holder because that will damage this page on the edge,this page is allredy worn on the edge from the wrong handlings of the seller. Is there any safe way to broke the front tray or to broke the booklet holders without that the booklet gets damaged,the jewelcase is allredy damaged so i have nothing to loose about this jewelcase even if this jewelcase was not damaged i would broke it to protect this booklet. I cant understand it how this seller have could have make this mistake,even because of the fact that this booklet is way to phat for an 6 booklet holder tray, if the booklet was put in safely than the booklet would have siting under all of the 6 booklet holders . Normally i take the booklet out by the spine and the booklet will come out safe without any damage,bud one page of this booklet is fully folded over this middle booklet holder. Hopefully you have some advice for me. Thanks in advance. I dont know the exact name for these 6 things on the side that are made to protect the booklet so thats why i call it booklet holders. kind regards

Hey I was curious, how do you store cds that don't fit standard jewel case dimensions? Jewel cases are naturally the most common in my collection, but I do have several digipaks which are taller, cds with special plastic sleeves that make them larger overall, etc. and buying storage to accomodate them has been a pain. Most options I see have me stuck between storage made to fit standard jewel cases exclusively with no room to fit even somewhat larger cases, or more generic storage which takes up significantly more room space.

Storing is important but so is backing up your cd's.

Hi my name is Lori black is a d OK if it is pre owned

Some great album cover art out there. I store most of my cds on a shelf, but I also invented a tack that allows you to put your cds and vinyl albums on the wall.

Those banker boxes are so spendy. I have probably 15 of them so far but i need more. I cant justify the cost for a cardboard box but im always on the lookout for more at a decent price.

Hi I think you are missing a couple of tricks to increase capacity. 1. Put units around the barristers. 2. Make your 2 L shaped units U shaped so they come out into the room, also have them double sided. Remember you saying you liked to sit on the floor close to the CDs, and for each half to be it's own zone, this would really enhance that without compromising the room as a walk through. This might get you up to 50% of your collection on display. Cheers Mark

I love those Staples boxes. Helped me out a bunch. Thank you 👍. I'll check my record store now

How many of these do you listen to on a regular bias? Ever heard of streaming.

From day one back in the 90s I have always enjoyed CD RACKS. I have two 1000 CD Racks, and two smaller racks that holds about 200 plus CDs. Displays great and easy to find everything.

Me i have these CD towers that spin...4 sides...as well as a plastic/metal rack unit, then 3-drawer plastic units with clear drawers...but lately, i did something really radical to save space...with artists with big catalogues, 3+, i take the discs, booklets & back sleeves, and combine them in ziplock sandwich bags, i put everything inside the booklets and "stsck" the booklets in the ziplock bags... nothing gets bent, all protected, discs don't get scratched, nothing...when i did that, the space of my CD collection (not the size or amount of titles) was cut by over a third!!

Can-Am Cabinets are by far the best storage compartments out there. They're not cheap, but they're a high-quality and very attractive way of storing a CD collection.

I’m just wondering if you play them

It's all well and good storing them in the correct climate, but they also need to be catalogued so you can search for them to find where they are located, especially when you're talking thousands of discs.

I just found your channel a few weeks ago. It's really inspiring to see the kind of passion you have in your physical media -- even with storage!

Serious question, no shade intended - do you have a video that explains WHY you own 12,000 CDs?

I been using an ammo container and its fire asf

Great video brendan i have plastic boxes with lids called really useful boxes holding 18 cds i find that more manageable when looking for a cd I want but im also going to label in some way so i know whats inside you can stack them i have alot of them but haven’t got anywhere near your collection. I have more vinyl which are all on good old kallax. Love the video as no one really explains storage of cds or vinyl. Thanks joe

How to keep your cds clean that are in your book cases do u just use a duster?

Thanks for this video Brandon. I live in a condo and am limited for space. I have some of my CDs but have a room in my parents basement with a bunch of my other CDs but would eventually like to have all my CDs in my condo. I’m going to try some of your ideas with the boxes.

WTF is a record store?

Great advice, B. 😃👍. When you previously showed the banker box cut-downs, I employed that method. It was a great option. They stack nicely in a closet. I also use wooden crates like you use the cardboard ones. They are sometimes hard to find but Hobby Lobby has them in the wood craft area. For digipak CDs, I use Square Deal CD outer sleeves and put them in tiny wooden crates into a white bookshelf, They look like tiny LPs. With the chunky boxed sets, I do the same thing but with little clear plastic bins into a white bookshelf. The little crates and plastic bins are found at The Dollar Tree. Then I have all manner of little metal ones and lucite ones that I place on top of the bookcases. Of course, I have several of the pressboard cases that you assemble. Whenever I am junk hunting, I look for CD storage solutions. There is a ton of old 1990s Laserline CD stuff out there that just needs a little dusting. I do not think that I will ever have as many CDs as you have, but my collection is more than just right for me and still growing all of the time. I remain so glad that I found your channel. Rock Always! - Heather

Hi Mr syder is it OK if I Buy a pre own CD OK to buy from Amazon Lori black

Bought SONY CD PLAYER for 22 USD. a quite good sterei digital out one. I really used the last 10 years to collect where no one wanted. I NEVER sold mine knowing exactly that this would be the worst to do. So I kept them and now they gain worth again. Great deal.

Thanks for doing vids like these, Brendon. I started collecting CDs in the 80's, and wonder just how long they'll last and be in playable condition. It seems folks have varying opinions on the continued durability of CDs after 40 and 50 yrs of life. If you have any definitive info on this, I'd be grateful for info. Enjoy your channel and have discovered many artists under the radar, thanks to you!

looks like you need more racks

Great video once again. I like the variety of topics in your videos. 👍

I would love to see everyone's opinion on if you should use the plastic baggies for jewel cases or the harder clear plastic protectors. I have been using the harder clear plastic ones for the cds on the shelf, but I realized they don't offer water protection - just slight fall protection. Should I switch to sealable baggies vs the hard clear guys? - Thanks in advance gang!

Where did you obtain the file boxes? Good idea. Thanks for the video.

How dare you put Metallica in your basement lol..jk!!

ULINE sells a great box 12x10x6 and fits two rows perfectly. 54 regular CD cases will fit. S-4130 is the product number.

Hi people!! I just saw a great deal on blank CDs and was wondering if it's okay that they're packaged without any sleeves, just all of them stacked and wrapped in plastic? The same guy sells paper sleeves for them, is it worthy?

I have a few hundred CDs and I store mine in a media cabinet. I have CDs on one side door that can store DVDs and VHSs as well.

I think you need a segment on recommended books about bands and musicians with so many on the bookshelf.

I cant find the 33250 boxes on Staples.. do they still have them?

I'll seen the plastic ones (with lid and spine up storage) in the same size as the 90 cd cardboard boxes...I tried to find them but have not yet. Need to check the container store I guess.

I have like 60cds why am I watching this 😂😂

Good information ❤

Is your tongue pierced?

very neat storage amazing

Storing CDs with left spine up, do you find more damage to booklet due to pressure on those right sided tabs on jewel case?

Very cool

best way, give it all to me 😁👍

Interesting. Thanks Brendon!

12000 you will never listen to. 🙂

Yah it’s the called the garbage can. Bro it’s 2023. Do you have a book shelf as well?