CD Organisation

[khaiyin]

Heya Guys,

I got my CDJ-400s about a month ago and have been buying single tracks off beatport to play, but what's got me in a conundrum atm is that I burn only 1 or 2 tracks to CD at a time. My CD wallet is organised by artist, alphabetically and it's starting to get full with my current single artist per CD system. For example; I've burnt 2 Gareth Emery songs... then I find another 2 gems a week later and burn them to their own CD, and it just keeps piling up. How do you guys manage to keep your CD collections in check without wasting too many CDs (and I'm not gonna start buying entire releases, I'm not that rich yet). Recently I've been chucking them on my USB sticks to play, but I find it a lot easier to find tracks on CDs. I was contemplating writing out a list of all my MP3s on USB, but I'd just prefer better CD organisation for sorting and playing out (as 98% of places won't have 400s).

Thanks in advance for the replies.

-Khaiyin

P.S. i'm not cosmocork

[ChewbaccaKongDSp]

PUT MORE THAN 2 TRACKS ON EACH CD

[synick]

Although this discussion has been done, many many times before.

I used to organise my music by key & style. ie: Progressive House in G Major. Then make two copies of the same CD with 5 tracks or something. The problem I was running into was when I would make my purchases I would get 1 extra track for that CD that could fit like 10 track. So I would re-burn.

A friend of mine just burns everything to one CD as he purchases them, so he might make a purchase 10 tracks that are Trance and burn them all to one CD and label it Trance CD3

I got a printer that prints on CD's for Christmas, I decided to change how I organise my music. I have now started burn 1 track per CD, then Printing the label on it. With the following information:

Artist
Track
Mix
Key/BPM
Label

If I am playing anywhere I generally know what I am going to be playing, So I just take that genre of music.

Hope that helps...

[khaiyin]

Thanks synick.

I have read through the other cd threads, but I haven't found a definitive way to do it. As you said, you and your friend have completely different ways of organising, so I'm guessing it's an each to their own thing.

I might start doing what your friend does; just hope it's as easy to remember where a track is in relation to when you buy it, rather than by name. That 1 track thing sounds like you'd pump through quite a few CDs.

thanks again.

P.S. oh, and the cd org thread i did read through was the cosmocork one... and that didn't get far

[synick]

Hey,

The way my mate does it is good, you tend to go through less CD's.

I use iTunes to organise my music, and how I was organising it before was through playlists. Then all I would do was print out that playlist and insert it into the CD sleeve, that way I knew was was on the CD.

Luke.

[edit]

Oh yeh, I do go through a lot of CD's but I never have to reburn.

[richcur]

As many as I can fit on a disc (between 9 and 11) ordered on the disc by key, discs collated in wallet in date order.

[RohanP]

i get my music from a variety of websites (beatport and djdownload to name a couple) i tend to organise the cd's by where i got the song from (i know it sounds farfetched) but ive learnt how all the songs go, what keys they are in etc. off by heart. And when i get new songs, burn them to a cd (usually 4-6 on a disc) and add them to the end of the website group.

hopefully that makes some sense but one of biggest rules in dj'ing ive learnt is to know your music collection. It makes DJ'ing so much easier..

[edit]

i keep doubles of everything so i can play any 2 songs that are on the same cd :)

[khaiyin]

Thanks for the input guys. Though the website one doesn't sound like it's for me, lol.

[synick]

Thats the biggest thing, it takes time for you to work out what exactly is for you, but eventually you find something that works 100% and thats what you stick with.

One person might think their way of organising music is the best, another will have a different opinion. It really depends on how your memory works. I also add a little comment down the bottom of my CD's with codes that work for me. Such as El-Mel, means to me thats its an electro type melody or Mel, Ep which means its melodic but has an epic feel to it. Sometimes, you just have that much music you cant remember exactly what each song sounds like. For me that works when I am playing, because I might be playing a very driving Trance track and want to either keep going with the Driving sound or bring it back down to a melodic vibe. Those little codes help me anyways...

Luke.

[dj nrgizer]

well i have the same decks as you and its easy having the ability to play mp3 discs. What i do since i am a mobile dj i have an electro/house section, nrg section, and an rnb section. Inside those categories i have e.g. electro december 1,2,3 electro january 1,2,3 each disc burnt twice and about 15-20 tracks on each. Then i have like klaas 1,2,3 etc so you have your big artists whose tracks you have alot of, all together which makes it easier to find tracks. This is the same for nrg and rnb ive just got rnb1,2,3,4 etc..

Hope this helps man

[Ben Royal]

PUT MORE THAN 2 TRACKS ON EACH CD

:-D :lol:

Thats the simple answer.

Its completely a personal choice.

I burn a new disc every week or so with tracks as I find them, and put 10 or so tracks ona disc. If you know your music well enough (and you should if you want to play in a club and be able to play requests) you will know where all your music is and be able to find it easily.

If you do make a disc and think 'wow, there are a lot of tracks on there I want to play this weekend' always make 2 copies - its very frustrating when you cant play 2 songs off the same disc one after the other!

[Ben Royal]

Thats the biggest thing, it takes time for you to work out what exactly is for you, but eventually you find something that works 100% and thats what you stick with.

One person might think their way of organising music is the best, another will have a different opinion. It really depends on how your memory works. I also add a little comment down the bottom of my CD's with codes that work for me. Such as El-Mel, means to me thats its an electro type melody or Mel, Ep which means its melodic but has an epic feel to it. Sometimes, you just have that much music you cant remember exactly what each song sounds like. For me that works when I am playing, because I might be playing a very driving Trance track and want to either keep going with the Driving sound or bring it back down to a melodic vibe. Those little codes help me anyways...

Luke.


I think its better to have 30 songs you know back-to-front than 300 songs you can barely remember..........

[khaiyin]

cheers for the responses. definitely has helped.

[ChewbaccaKongDSp]

i have over 9000 and i am flat out playing more than 30 in an hour and thats when i am really in the zone so just burn your favorite thirty in each genre on each cd and do it twice so you have doubles

[youngman]

As many as I can fit on a disc (between 9 and 11) ordered on the disc by key, discs collated in wallet in date order.


I've only just started buying music digitally (can't afford vinyl anymore) and this is exactly my system so far. I order my vinyl collection by key so that is how my brain is used to working. 2 copies of each disc.

I am concerned that the chronological component of this system is going to become a problem a year or so down the track when I have a mountain of tunes... Might start to order the discs by genre or mood as well...

[ChewbaccaKongDSp]

As many as I can fit on a disc (between 9 and 11) ordered on the disc by key, discs collated in wallet in date order.

do you mix prog or something?

[khaiyin]

do you mix prog or something?

Rich Curtis' website & demo mixes
www.myspace.com/rickterskale

{R}itual {E}vents

Playing prog/tech LIVE on Krankydigital, Fridays 7-9pm TUNE IN!!

[Eros le Tardfack]

i have over 9000 and i am flat out playing more than 30 in an hour and thats when i am really in the zone so just burn your favorite thirty in each genre on each cd and do it twice so you have doubles

<2 min per track?

care to upload a mix?

[angelbel]

Mine are organised...
First by genre
Then by release month
I print directly onto my CD's. Have a different colour for each genre so it's easier to identify.

I generally only burn 2-3 tracks per CD. It gets a bit bulky I know, but I find this the easiest way.

[Cosmo Cater]

I've only just started buying music digitally (can't afford vinyl anymore) and this is exactly my system so far. I order my vinyl collection by key so that is how my brain is used to working. 2 copies of each disc.

I am concerned that the chronological component of this system is going to become a problem a year or so down the track when I have a mountain of tunes... Might start to order the discs by genre or mood as well...

Yeah the chronological component of that system does tend to kill some of the creativity involved in DJing, especially if you don't just want to play the latest new release material, or want to play music from a variety of eras.

I'm yet to find a CD ordering system that really works, at the moment it's what synick does - one track per CD, all the info on the front of the disc, order them by key. It doesn't really take into account moods and tempo though. When I played with records it seemed much easier to arrange them.

Lately I have been keeping the last 8-16 spaces in the wallet free for sample CDs, acapellas, tools, ambient tunes and a couple of "classics" discs with about ten tracks on each. So the back of the wallet becomes a bit of an armoury, although I've thought about switching this "back of the wallet stash" to a separate nice thin 24 disc UDG wallet.

A mate of mine has a vinyl type ordering system - he uses a box, and every CD goes in a coloured case. He writes the info on the disc and the cover. That way at the end of the night the right discs find the right homes, and he can flick through them in a similar way to vinyl in sleeves.

[khaiyin]

Thanks for all the contributions guys and gals.
Hope this thread has helped others as well as myself (it's definitely helped me).

I've decided to go with 10 tracks per CD (max), sorted by genre and burnt whenever I feel it's appropriate (so chronological, most likely, though my current collection will be sorted differently as I have nfi when I got them) and printed paper labels in the sleeves. Sorting by artist (compilations) where possible as well.

[rileya]

Are you a dj or bedroom banger? I use a hdd and ipod and have a month by month listing of all my tracks sorted by bpm. Obviously no good if you are a dj though.

[khaiyin]

Are you a dj or bedroom banger? I use a hdd and ipod and have a month by month listing of all my tracks sorted by bpm. Obviously no good if you are a dj though.

bedroom and friends' parties (with my gear) atm, but hoping to get out into the scene soon, hence my preference to go WAV CDs over USB memory.

[The Good Doctor]

I'll be the odd one out but here goes anyway. I only have one track title per CD (which includes any of the remixes or acapella/tools). Each CD in it's own jewel case with artwork slick. Old school i know but it works for me in a flicking through vinyl covers or CD singles kinda way.

I often see DJ's struggling to find that one track they're after through of hundred of CD's in a wallet/folder, each with 10 or so tracks on them. Too much music with you can be a hinderance.

[Eros le Tardfack]

yeah on more than one (pissy) occasion i've flipped through the whole cd case without being able to find the track i wanted and given up and played something else.

sucks when youknow a certain tune is perfect for the moment.

[youngman]

I like the sound of sorting CDs like vinyl in a little box.

I don't like the idea of burning hundreds of CDs

:stroke:

[khaiyin]

Someone needs to invent a semi-computerised cd sorter wallet imo.
Mini keyboard on the front to locate by name/artist/genre/bpm/key/mood/notes/etc and eject the right CD for you. Or it could just tell you which CD it is.

[ChewbaccaKongDSp]

:lol:

you has one of them already, it is called a brain

[khaiyin]

my brain doesn't eject CDs... or does it?

[ChewbaccaKongDSp]

Or it could just tell you which CD it is.
:thumb:

[auzziehood]

Not that I've tried it.. But could you just leave the cd open. i.e. not finalize the disc and add to it as you need?

[Bumpy]

5 - 8 tracks per cd, track list printed off. First ever purchase is cd1.. latest purchase is the last cd in the wallet.. seems to work well for me as i can sometimes remember which purchase or what songs i also bought at the same time as a song im looking for and just search through those 4 - 6 cd's

easy peasy :)

[synick]

Not that I've tried it.. But could you just leave the cd open. i.e. not finalize the disc and add to it as you need?

Thats a good idea, but I dunno if the CDJ's will be able to handle it. I was also thinking of using CD-RW, then just add after. Would only need a couple dozen CD-RW's for what I need.

[Matty_neal]

Genre ---> Artist ---> Date.

Usually burn a few songs or fill the cd depending on the content I guess. I always burn two of each.

[annandin]

Someone needs to invent a semi-computerised cd sorter wallet imo.
Mini keyboard on the front to locate by name/artist/genre/bpm/key/mood/notes/etc and eject the right CD for you. Or it could just tell you which CD it is.

It has been made before: http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=345254

[seth111]

It has been made before: http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=345254

Lol, i can just imagine someone turning up to a gig with that and they're lappy and just scrolling through they're cd collection everytime they need a cd.

[J-radical]

guarantee'd you will change it down the line.

as you end up with stuff you just dont play anymore. especially with 10 or so tracks on each cd. I get abit overwhelmed with so much to choose from aswell. Im contemplating changing to just having single tracks with all the relevant info on each one so it is more like a record. It makes for more on the fly creative mixing then as at the moment i have to print a playlist of the tunes im thinking of playing otherwise i get a bit all over the shop.

But having the bulk tunes is also good for taking to parties etc also. so maybe both. bulky tho.

hmmmmmmmm

[khaiyin]

guarantee'd you will change it down the line.

as you end up with stuff you just dont play anymore. especially with 10 or so tracks on each cd. I get abit overwhelmed with so much to choose from aswell. Im contemplating changing to just having single tracks with all the relevant info on each one so it is more like a record. It makes for more on the fly creative mixing then as at the moment i have to print a playlist of the tunes im thinking of playing otherwise i get a bit all over the shop.

But having the bulk tunes is also good for taking to parties etc also. so maybe both. bulky tho.

hmmmmmmmm

lol, exactly my conundrum.
more is less and less is more : /

[synick]

I like the single track per CD for that exact reason, once I have had enough of a tune, I can just file it away somewhere safe.

For parties, I was thinking of just burning MP3 CD's, you can fit heaps more on a single CD. Burn 2 copies and there ya go. I think I burnt my entire House collection on 5 CD's, then just printed the tracklist.

[rancho]

someone please make me an iphone app which tells me which number cd a tune is on. thanks.

[youngman]

I was thinking of using my ipod to take to gigs as an illuminated tracklisting device, but I can't work out how to get the key displayed. I currently put the key in the "grouping" column in iTunes. Is there any other way of displaying key in iTunes?

[The Good Doctor]

One of the biggest problems of taking too much music with you and to a large degree laptop storage of files with you is you spend more time searching for tracks than feeling the music, interacting with the crowd and reading the floor cause your heads down trying to find "THAT" track.

I prefer to pack a fresh crate for each gig....sure there are some current staples in there but mixed in with some newies you're wanting to try out and classics you want to dust off.. all based on your set time, venue and mood your feeling/wanting to take it.

[rossredman]

i treat my cds like vinyl. one track per CD, with label logo at the top, artist - track - remix at the bottom and key / bpm on the right side.

I have 12 100cd spindles here, with a diff key on each (minor and major on the same spindle). I make a playlist in itunes of all the tracks in the style of the gig im playing, and i get all the cds from the spindles that are in the playlist, deleting them from the playlist as i go. Any left over are burned, labeled, an X put in the grouping part of the ID3 tag, and then deleted from the playlist.

then i pack the cd wallet in styles from softer to harder, and within each style, by key.

[seddar]

i think the main thing u shud be aware of is dont put a track on a cd unless you know u are going to play it a million times or else its a waste of space.. i put 10 songs on each cd and i always find songs and im like why the fu*k did i put this on a cd , cos either the song just doesnt get a crowd goin or whatever..

[rossredman]

Well, i see what you mean there, but i've also got ~750 vinyl sitting here and i don't own technics anymore....

For me, i dont want the hassle of going shit... was that track 7 or 9 when im in a club and i just changed cds because i decided not to play the other track next and there's only 3:00 left on the song playing.

If i want to find a song, i go to the section that the track is in (in the wallet) find the key and there's the track. into the cdj and ready to go. No chance of playing the wrong tune (unless the cd is mislabelled.)

[cloudface II]

This might be a repeat topic for some but as I've gotta get around to burning off all my shit too it's actually come in handy...

Anyone got a DNS 3500? That's the one with the keyboard interface yeah? That was the main sticking point making me consider it over the CDJ400...

I've come from the "hey that seems like it makes sense!" idea of using two protable DVD players to mix so that I could "go out and DJ with only 7 or so DVDs on me instead of hauling around so many CDs"....terrible idea in case you're somehow in my old delusional neighbourhood-get yourself one of those generic CDJ ripoffs from JB instead if you're el cheapo...

The one good thing about battling horrendous button response times on a portable DVD is you get used to remembering songs by Artist-Title really quickly and learn to scroll through lists of artists as quick as your device lets you..you also learn how to cope with deadair!....trying to suss a better system but I'll most probably go back to alphabetical on MP3 on CD as800s and 1000s play mp3 discs so should be okay...in fact since I run my own clubnite I might even be lazy and setup an external to one of the 400s (LOL-yeah get there early give her 10 minutes at least to warm up for a decent size drive!)...

At the moment/since abandoning DVDs to "bakup only for old school requests" I've been just burning off multiples of "comiplations" the week leading up to a gig ie get a good idea of some tunes that you wanna play in your set all compiled in WinAmp etc and then burn off a bunch of CDs from that tracklist, splitting "songs that go together" apart to different CDs so it's not like I'm just putting in a CD and standing back.....MSY sell 100 CDs for $25 but I wouldn't bank on them being longlife so I just burn off CDs without caring if I use em after a gig or not...sometimes I find old "accidental mixes" around and they're not too bad a mix..



Seperating into genre was never something I bothered with before but I can see the benefits now that I'm moving into liking different types of "dance music" (busting out Brisbane's first and only skweee club this year no doubt! LOLz)...again tho' it may be stress inducing to the max "having to" remember shit by Artist-Title can help you seem you "know a thing or two about music" to your mates etc cuz you'd be surprised how many people ask me "Who did that song that goes"...


Woah-didnt' mean to post so much!

[Funkedub]

this must be one of the most boring threads ever to grace the DJ Booth

[cloudface II]

I still like this method the best (stolen from some UK photogs blog)

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/38/l_6ca51fb6391b4e069857cf15320956e1.jpg

I do believe it's the

"Write rude words on all your CDs then get moistened bint to act as your off-sider"

method that cool cats like Funke employ...

(no offence was meant by the term "moistened" to all bints reading this...personally I just prefer them over the dry bint variety)

[richcur]

^^Gold!

[Random_Kiwi]

3 or 4 tracks per disc
Varied genres on each to try and avoid wanting to play a track next which is on that same CD
eg Prog, techno, minimal, house
Even make little inserts with Artist, Track name/remixer and notes on the track e.g 'deep grinding techno beast' or 'melodic haunting prog - male vox' etc etc

One I did this morning was 'boom-be-do whap whap whap whap' - anyone know tha track? :lol:

[Ben Royal]

i treat my cds like vinyl. one track per CD, with label logo at the top, artist - track - remix at the bottom and key / bpm on the right side.

I have 12 100cd spindles here, with a diff key on each (minor and major on the same spindle). I make a playlist in itunes of all the tracks in the style of the gig im playing, and i get all the cds from the spindles that are in the playlist, deleting them from the playlist as i go. Any left over are burned, labeled, an X put in the grouping part of the ID3 tag, and then deleted from the playlist.

then i pack the cd wallet in styles from softer to harder, and within each style, by key.

do you have a day job?

[powerstruggle]

Lol

i

pops.

[seanious]

3 or 4 tracks per disc
Varied genres on each to try and avoid wanting to play a track next which is on that same CD
eg Prog, techno, minimal, house
Even make little inserts with Artist, Track name/remixer and notes on the track e.g 'deep grinding techno beast' or 'melodic haunting prog - male vox' etc etc

One I did this morning was 'boom-be-do whap whap whap whap' - anyone know tha track? :lol:

Don't forget the smilly face to tell you what sort of mood the track is in:

8) :| :) :stroke: :zabiela: :boring: :mad:

[Random_Kiwi]

Generally remember enough from those name/description to gauge it's mood/intensity...was thinking about a 3 star system for that though, but didn't end up bothering.
* = mellow, warm up
** = bigger, towards peak/close
*** = mosnter choonage

[southern_dan]

awesome advice here guys, i think ill adopt the smiley face method in my next burn.

[seanious]

Generally remember enough from those name/description to gauge it's mood/intensity...was thinking about a 3 star system for that though, but didn't end up bothering.
* = mellow, warm up
** = bigger, towards peak/close
*** = mosnter choonage

Yeah agreed, its just helpful for those first couple of mixes where you are trying to remember what a track sounds like

[seth111]

Generally remember enough from those name/description to gauge it's mood/intensity...was thinking about a 3 star system for that though, but didn't end up bothering.
* = mellow, warm up
** = bigger, towards peak/close
*** = mosnter choonage

Lol, i do exactly that but with exclamation marks
! = mellow, warm up
!! = bigger, towards peak/close
!!! = mosnter choonage

[Random_Kiwi]

Digital age rocks for ease of access and price of tunes...pages and pages and pages of blank CDs with my god awful hand writing on them sucksballs for identifying and remembering tunes...Serato/Final Scratch must be even worse!

[southern_dan]

yeah a cd printing printer is next on my purchase list.

[rossredman]

do you have a day job?


Nope :)

[seddar]

buy a laptop so u dont need to burn cds every second day ?

[Bism]

Couldn't you just write the name of the track on the CD, and then using the powers of the human mind remember what the fuck they sound like?

[seanious]

Couldn't you just write the name of the track on the CD, and then using the powers of the human mind remember what the fuck they sound like?

RTFT :rainman:

http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=392438557&postcount=56

[Bism]

You're a bit daft.

[lowbass]

Another idea would be to take a laptop and burn any CDs as required, if you've say forgotten to burn a particular song or get a request. It should only take a minute or two and could be done a couple of songs in advance.
Obviously it wouldn't be practical to do this often and if you've got a laptop with you it's likely you're using Serato or something anyway.
I'd consider this approach only if you were a bit desperate though, really a decent CD wallet with 1-10 tracks per CD should be more than enough.

If using CDJ400s why not just use the Pioneer DJS software and a laptop anyway? No need for Serato/Final Scratch etc. And have some CDs for backup.

[ratticus]

400's come with native serato support, probably easier to use serato. i haven't used the pioneer djs stuff, but i got the feeling i'd prefer serato.

[Random_Kiwi]

Couldn't you just write the name of the track on the CD, and then using the powers of the human mind remember what the fuck they sound like?

Yeah, 360 CDs all locked into memory :rainman:

FYI - I don't own CDJs so I'm not playing my CDs that frequently, so no, remembering them all is physically impossible

That and kindly stfu you condescending twatface

[dan_essential77]

When i'm organising my CD's I usually colour code them. So if I'm burning Uplifting Trance tracks, I'd place 3 tracks max on one CD, Artist, Title, BPM all in Blue. If I'm burning Progressive Trance, like Emery-Moor like, I'll colour the Title, BPM etc in Green, or if it's Tech Trance, in Red.

And after the colouring, organise the CD wallat according to the colour, so front would be Uplifting, then Progressive, then Tech, or whatever you feel is best for you when you're flicking through at a gig.

[rossredman]

I thought about colour coding, but the first time i did it, i played in a club, and they all looked whatever colour the lights shining on them at the time were. Ive generally found that between Key, bpm, label, and artist, and some preparation before the gig, you have enough to know what each track is like.

[synick]

I tried that colour coding thing...didnt work to well, still do it for the sake of every CD looking alike in my collection.

[Oli-G]

nick?

what happened to your usual handle?

[synick]

You referring to me? Thats just a handle...names Luke.

[Richo_]

As i only really stick to one genre (or there abouts anyways) date order is fine....My tip is, print labels for all ur cds!! If u play enough you will remember where all your tracks are in your cd case. Maybe not exactly but ill be like "That FormatB track must be on the right side somewhere near the front of the case"...usually find it within 20 secs :)
Oh and definitely more than 1 track per cd, what a waste of money IMO, i would be so poor if that was the case for me :(

For those who were talking about printing the Key, do you use software such as Mixed in Key and then manually add the key to the label your self, or you have something more automated that does it all for u?

[Random_Kiwi]

As i only really stick to one genre (or there abouts anyways) date order is fine....My tip is, print labels for all ur cds!! If u play enough you will remember where all your tracks are in your cd case. Maybe not exactly but ill be like "That FormatB track must be on the right side somewhere near the front of the case"...usually find it within 20 secs :)


Labels which go ON the CDs or INTO the sleeve where that CD sits?

I go with the later, means all CDs go back into the case in the same spot everytime...and should you lose a CD, you have the label in the empty spot to know which tracks to re-burn.

[Richo_]

Labels which go ON the CDs or INTO the sleeve where that CD sits?

I go with the later, means all CDs go back into the case in the same spot everytime...and should you lose a CD, you have the label in the empty spot to know which tracks to re-burn.

EXACTLY the reason i put them into the sleeves! I also store the mp3s in numbered folders, with a date, i only started doing this recently but really helps with organisation! Without a doubt almost every after party i come back from, there is atleast one cd missing!

EDIT: Numbered folders on my computer :)

[youngman]

For those who were talking about printing the Key, do you use software such as Mixed in Key and then manually add the key to the label your self, or you have something more automated that does it all for u?

I do it manually - I play the record, sit next to a keyboard (or use a soft synth in Ableton) and then type it in to iTunes.

[Richo_]

I do it manually - I play the record, sit next to a keyboard (or use a soft synth in Ableton) and then type it in to iTunes.

Oh nice one! I been looking into bringing basic key changing into my mixing, trying to get that edge and flow during my set. Good learning curve too since i have not got the strongest musical background.

[skills]

At the moment im in the process of putting all my music on cd
i was having problems choosing how but i just decided to start doing it like this
organise by genre then artist and on the cds mark the key and bpm and if i have heaps of songs by the artist and they are split up in cds i try have similar keys on each cd.

As well as this the latest tunes atm which i play heaps i make an extra cd by genre and organised by key = ]

+ i have at absolute max 10 songs per cd

[blacksun24]

Couldn't you just write the name of the track on the CD, and then using the powers of the human mind remember what the fuck they sound like?
Pretty much my view. The only way I can divide my collection is by key (because it is the least subjective). Trying to organise by track energy is too difficult because there are too many variations between energy levels in tracks...

Often as well I find I will strip out all the tunes that I know will be too far away from the style I want to play / get told to play (if I'm playing at a venue) or playing parties just leave them all in there.

[pfalzon]

get traktor or serato. Burning/labeling CD's will be a thing of the past ;)