Best Ways to Organize a Classical Record LP Collection ?


Need advice and recommendations from AudioGon Classical LP Aficionados.

I recently acquired a large 30+ box Classical LP collection.
Feeling a little overwhelmed. :^( 
Organizing Classical music is different from other genres.

Do you organize by Composer, their Work, the Performer, the Label, other .... ?

Can you please share your experiences, ideas, the pros and cons you found with each method. 

I am hoping your information will help me to decide which method will work best for me. 

Thanks 

128x128ct0517
Ooh ct, Trevor Pinnock is one of my favorite performers. I have a bunch by him; if you ever see any of his CRD LP's (UK label), get 'em. Lots of solo harpsichord of Bach, Scarlatti, etc. in incredibly high sound quality recordings.
Is anyone using one of these websites/software to catalog organize their LP collection ?

Collectorz.com

http://www.collectorz.com/music/?from=google&keyword=music%20collector%20pro&gclid=CO3c4MuX-...

KIX

http://www.kixsoftware.com/

Any other sites that you have used ?
thanks for any info. 

Discogs

https://www.discogs.com/

I have looked up album info on Discogs a lot. But have always just entered album info manually. I could just do this in an Excel spreadsheet. Is there any software that would allow me to scan the album label with my phone, it grabs the info and puts it into a database direct ?

Also, outside of those records that you keep in special areas i.e. frequent plays, the Chronological Idea that a few have mentioned here is sounding good to me.


I organize by composer's birthday. That way I have a progression that goes by music period *and* composer simultaneously--renaissance, baroque, rococo, classical, romantic, impressionist, 20th century, and contemporary.
The only problem is the collections that might have multiple composers or even artists as well. For those I have a separate block of albums generally organized alphabetically by primary artist.
Yes, definitely organize by birth year of the composer. That way you can get a visual feel of the progression of centuries of music, and understand which composers wrote during the same period, and which ones influenced those who were born later. Here is the way classical.net broadly divides things:

Medieval - 11th though 14th Centuries
Early Renaissance - 15th Century
High Renaissance - 16th Century
Early Baroque - Late 16th and 17th Centuries
High Baroque - Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries
Classical/Romantic - Late 18th Century
Romantic - Early 19th Century
Romantic/Modern - Late 19th Century
Modern - 20th Century


In each composer section, I subdivide by opus numbers, chronologically. When that is not feasible, I keep all the symphonies of that composer together, all his string quartets together, and so on.

If you have a violin record with four composers on it, what do you do then? You can either put it in with your favorite composer on the LP, or you can have a section of records at the end or beginning of your shelving devoted to particular instruments. Piano, clarinet, guitar, what have you.

Operas you can have in a separate section or not.

Filing alphabetically is the lazy man's way, essentially pointless except for convenience. Is there really any sense in having Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner next to each other, when what they primarily have in common is the letter B?

Filing by label is valid if you collect by label and when music is not your main concern. But why have to go to dozens of different sections to find all your Beethoven?

Enjoy your new collection!
I had my CDs organized by birth of composer and my son (when he was around 10) reorganized them by the color of the spine of the jewel case, which essentially means they were organized by label regardless of period, performers, or composer. It was a daunting task but I eventually got them reorganized by composer date of birth.