Regaining Space from Your Music Collection

If you find yourself running out of space due to an expansive CD collection (for those of you that still consume music this way) there are a couple of things you can do to regain some valuable space and organize your collection.

My CD collection is well into the thousands and I expect it to continue to grow for the next 15-20 years, or until CDs are no longer made and I have all the titles I am looking for. My life revolves around my family and my music, so I can’t see me not loving either for the rest of my days.

Here are a few products and strategies you can implement to regain some space taken by your collection:

1. Space Saving Sleeves – www.spacesavingsleeves.com

These sleeves are much like the clear vinyl/record sleeves that are used to protect records and their jackets. However, you replace the bulky jewel cases with the slim, clear sleeve that preserves the integrity of the CD and booklets and take up 75% less space. They are a really slick solution to regain space and protect the CD, booklets, and other content. Recycle those plastic jewel cases and regain some space.

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2. Snap-N-Go CD Storage Container – shorturl.at/bANSV

These containers are similar to a shoebox, but are a little more durable and visibly appealing. They can hold between 125 – 150 CDs that were placed in the Space Saving Sleeves above or 30 CDs in jewel cases. A nice solution if you don’t have a shelving solution for holding CDs.

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And, if you are really strapped for space and need your music collection physically out of your way you can always…

3. Rent a Climate Controlled Storage Unit

All localities have multiple options available to self-store your possessions. The cost of these units will not be as pricey as it might be to ship your music collection to another state where you can’t get immediate physical access to your property. Check the availability and prices in your area before you do anything with your property that you will, no doubt, regret. If you don’t want to shell out the money for a storage until, a friend probably has rented one already and you can store your collection there. CDs should not be stored for long periods of time where they are exposed to high heat and/or moisture, so a climate controlled unit would be best.

As a cautionary tale…

NEVER EVER ship your music collection to a place where you cannot get immediate access to it.

NEVER EVER LET ANOTHER PARTY STORE YOUR PROPERTY WHERE YOU CANNOT GET IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO IT.

For other ways to manage you music, see my post on DIY – Streaming Your Music Collection.

DIY – Streaming Your Music Collection

I had been looking for a way to get to all of my digital music collection on all of my devices. Due to the size of my collection, I also didn’t want the constant chase of increasing storage on my devices to hold all of my music on each.

Seven or so years ago I found what I thought was a great solution, but it required having a third-party digitize/rip and store my collection. As you might imagine, this solution wasn’t perfect because the control of my music collection (my property) was out of my physical control, but it did allow me to have my collection available on all of my devices via streaming. If you are under space restrictions there are space saving solutions for larger music collections (CDs, albums, cassettes, etc) that are a much better solution than giving up physical access to a cherished collection. When you give up your possession to a bailee, you may be giving up best storage practices for your sensitive music collection.

As I sought a solution where the control of my property was under my control and in a climate controlled secure environment I came across Apple’s iTunes Match service. I have been using it to stream my entire collection for awhile and it works like a charm….and I didn’t have to ship my property to or have my property held by a third party.

I have 4000+ CDs, which is over 250GB, and I can get to all of that music that I ripped on my iMac on all of my Apple and iTunes devices…anywhere. I stream all of that music for $24.99 per year and the music remains in my possession and under my control. Also, I have an unlimited plan with my cellphone/iPhone carrier, so I don’t pay any additional bandwidth/usage costs to listen to my music.

iTunes Match is separate and apart from Apple Music and its purpose is to allow you to stream your digitized music as a DIY. It can be also integrated with Apple Music to gain access to your owned collection along side the music streaming service, but I didn’t have a need for a music streaming service, so iTunes Match can be used as a standalone service.

I bit the bullet and subscribed annually and within a day I had access to over 4,000 titles on all of my devices. The service uploaded my collection to the cloud and made that collection available on all of my devices (it allows access for up to 10 devices). I didn’t have to buy increased storage space, trust that a third-party would care for my collection as I did, or have my property under someone else’s control. For $24.99 per month, I am able to store and stream up to 100,000 songs…I am currently approaching 40,000. I did uncover that the service will not upload a single file that exceeds 200MB. I had a couple of concerts that were contained in one large file that exceeded 200MB, so I had to cut the file in half and re-import for iTunes Match to make available in the cloud….easy solution. Generally, most songs are between 5MB – 10MB in size, so the limit of a 200MB “song” shouldn’t be a common occurrence in most collections. iTunes Match also allows me to “download” whatever files/songs locally to play off-line if I don’t want to use or can’t reach the Internet to stream.

I have been running iTunes Match for months now and it has lived up to my expectations and I am able to get to my entire collection of music…anywhere, anytime.

Currently, I store my music collection at home. It is climate controlled and I can get to it with no barriers. I use http://www.spacesavingsleeves.com and Snap-N-Store CD Storage Boxes to reduce my CD collection foot-print. Using these solutions I have been able to reduce my physical music collection footprint by almost 75%. Using these storage solutions along with iTunes Match is a much better solution than a giving up direct access to your property and to manage your media. If you are really confined to space, you could rent a small local climate controlled storage locker/facility after you have digitized your collection to store your property. Sure, it may be a little more expensive than having a third-party hold your property in a warehouse somewhere, BUT it will save you time and grief down the road (trust me on this).

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I will never let a third-party hold my property/cherished music collection ever again. I suggest that you stay as far away from that option, as well, but that topic is for a separate forthcoming discussion.

iTunes Match is the perfect solution for me to get access to my entire digitized music collection on my devices. It is certainly worth looking at before you make other, possibly regrettable, decisions.

For an article on iTunes Match, please visit:

https://www.imore.com/itunes-match

If you have any questions, please contact me at David.kearney@comcast.net