Since my LPs are all snug in their respective storage racks, I’d have to add about 50% more new storage space if I were to adopt that system, but there is no danger of that ever happening. As most probably know, most purveyors of high quality used LPs do sell you the album cover and sleeved LP as a sandwich inside a polyurethane envelope. I don’t keep them that way.
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90% of my 12,000 records have outer sleeves. i just prefer to remove the actual pressing from outside the jacket. so the record sits inside the outer sleeve, but outside the actual original jacket. this allows me to easily navigate my collection in dim light and not fight the process of re-inserting the pressing. and mostly for new records i will keep the original outer jacket if it’s in proper condition. mostly i will add an outer jacket to new 33rpm records where it’s shrink wrap. the exception is my 45rpm collection.....which is around 1500+ so significant. for those i do place the pressing inside the original jacket. they are almost 100% thicker pressing and two or more per title. so it’s just more practical. of these almost 75% still have the original outer sleeve they came with. after 30 years my muscle memory for record handling is very dialed in so this is just ’MY WAY’ now. and i am no longer in the acquisition mode so not really even thinking about this stuff any more. i do think my way is the optimal way for ease of use. but if you don’t have the space then one needs to do what’s best for you. i do have 600-700 or so ’B’ records (mostly left-overs from an early collection i bought) where mostly they don’t have the outer jacket. i have a large collection of box sets; most of those have no outer jacket and i don’t worry about it. yes; it takes more shelf space to use the outer sleeve, but then there is an advantage in finding particular pressings too as the individual pressings don’t stick together. the jackets are not harmed taking them in and out. |
@mikelavigne Good enough for me!
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One thing I have found helpful in freeing up shelf space is to remove duplicate copies of albums. Sometimes these have come from an inherited collection, and sometimes from forgetfulness. Then there are those where I have bought a "spare" or a replacement when a disk has become noisy, and finally there are a few for which I have mono and stereo versions of the same recording. Surplus copies can go on shelves in the basement, and leave more room on the ready-use shelves. |
@noromance thanks. i think i’m past the point where i will be buying more sleeves. in 2021 i bought a 3000 record classical pressing collection. but i had no time or room to sort it out. then in 2023 i retired and had the time but needed additional shelf space to be able to get it properly curated. those shelves arrived last summer and then i spent 6 weeks cleaning, adding the inner and outer jackets, and listening to brief snippets of each one. cleaning and sorting my 3000 record classical collection i used these outer sleeves from Bags Unlimited which worked great. they were heavy duty enough and very clear. i had used them before over the years. i used 1800 of them over those 6 weeks. i bought them in lots of 500. |
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