THE MAROON BOOK MEETS ORGANIZED LIVING: No, Ticky, you're not a bad person for not alphabetizing your CDs. However, if you want to avoid those awkward moments -- dissipating that first-kiss excitement by accidentally queueing up the Reverend Horton Heat instead of the Reverend Al Green; turning a group buzz harsh as you hunt for King Curtis's mellow, melodic Live at Fillmore West only to grab King Crimson's difficult Live at Fillmore East -- then you need some filing system. You may find it easier to remember that the U2 and Bob Marley albums have a cartoon island on the spine and the Pavement, Cibo Matto, and good Liz Phair discs have a little pennant, and file them by label. You may remember that you bought London Calling in 1989 because a friend told you it was cool and that you bought ELO's Greatest Hits in 2004 because you knew it was not cool, and file them by date of purchase. As Nick Hornby suggests, you may file them by genre, quality, or importance to your love life. But you must file them.
If you do choose to alphabetize, some simple guidelines: (1) As Jenn says, keep soundtracks in a separate section. You should also keep separate sections for compilations, foreign-language discs (particularly if they are foreign languages where you can't read the writing, e.g. Hebrew and Russian), and children's music. (2) As Jenn and Elwood Blues (this list's resident musicologist) agree, file by common name -- meaning that you likely think of a "Ben Folds" (F) or "Polly Harvey" (H) song, not a "Ben Folds Five" (B) or "PJ Harvey" (P) song, and that as much as you think of Dino Jr. and Bright Eyes as solo projects, they are "D" and "B," not "M" and "O," respectively. (3) Under no circumstances should you try to avoid intermixing your CDs with your spouse or SO's discs. If this means that an entire two shelves are devoted to Natalie Merchant solo product, so be it.
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