Should I re-alphabetize my CD’s?

April 29, 2006

I’ve been collecting CD’s for a very long time, I’d say about 20 years now. Though I’ve now largely switched to iTunes for my new music, for many years I was a regular buyer of CD’s and I still occasionally will pick up a copy. Basically I have accumulated quite a few CD’s–haven’t reached the 1,000 mark but I am past the 500 mark.

I’ve been keeping them all alphabetized but it’s a different key than how iTunes does it–whenever the CD is by a solo artist I sort it by the artist’s last name. And because iTunes sorts blindly by first name, regardless of whether it’s a band name or an individual’s name, the two music libraries are completely out of sync with each other. For example if I’m scrolling thru iTunes and realize I haven’t ripped that Kelly Clarkson CD, I can’t go to the “K” section in my CD collection to find her. I have to look under “C” for Clarkson.

I know it’s a stupid thing but I’m beginning to think that I should re-arrange my CD collection to match the way iTunes would sort them. That way scrolling thru iTunes or flipping thru the CD shelf would both be in the same sequence.

But then, that seems weird to let a computer program’s ordering override centuries of accepted alphabetizing practice. It’s probably even weirder that I’m even considering this at all. Clearly I’m not busy enough, that I have time to contemplate this.