storing dvds? (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm going to be moving soon into an apartment, and I was wondering if anyone here had some suggestions for DVD storage. I'm a college student so I have a small budget, but with over 200 DVDs and another 200 CDs, I need something to put them on.

Any suggests?

Doesn't have to be pretty, just has to get the job done.

 

[JustinCleveland]

Josh,

I'm like you... I was a poor college student in a small apartment. I spent about 100 dollars on book shelves and DVD racks, and stored them like that. It wasn't pretty, but it did the job I needed it too.

 

[Dmitry]

I bought one similar to this (just bigger size). It's a bit flimsy but it gets the job done and it's certainly cheap. They have different sizes.

 

[ChrisBEA]

I have a big problem of storage.
almost 1200 CDs
almost 700 DVDs
and I have a small room, there all getting piled on and in front of each other....

 

[Ted Ehlers]

Hmmm.

You could always get a couple of 500 disk changers and link them up... throw your cases out, and uses the booklets for wallpaper in your den... I mean Home Theater.

 

[ChrisBEA]

Sadly, I don't have my own place and am pretty much confined to a relatively small room. I have a 250 dvd rack, and a couple of 3 drawer rolling carts I'm using. But it's nowhere near enough to hold my addiction.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Wow... not only is that unit expensive ($100+), but I'd need to get two of them to hold everything! Last semester, I had some of those cheap wire racks that I grew to hate very quickly - because each DVD had to go into it's own slot, if I ever bought a new DVD I'd have to take them all out to realphabetize, so I ended up leaving half of my collection in order on the shelf and half on the floor. What a nightmare.

If I had the tools up in Boston that I have access to here at home, I'd just build shelves myself. Might not be the prettiest thing ever, but I can guarantee it would hold everything.

Keep the suggestions coming, please, I still have a month or so to figure this out. I'm not opposed to buying two or three lower cost, smaller units if they're the most efficient ways to store things. Anything that requires me to throw out cases is not an option.

 

[Rob Lutter]

I have one of these:
http://www.sauder.com/productpage.as...=A%2FV+Storage

Cost me $100 at Lowes and holds all my DVDs/games barring anime (which is on display in 2 open shelves [I figure the robbers will just say "what the fuck?!" and move on ]). Holds about 250 DVD cases in a very small area (although you need room on each side to open the doors, of course).

 

[Dan Lindley]

For cheap in Boston, try the unfinished store (Maverick Designs) near EMS where Brighton Ave and (I think) Comm Ave intersect. Way Western BU area. Great stuff.

Otherwise, try racksandstands.com and sim places (jungles.com hipporacks, etc.). Lots to choose from.

dl

 

[MarkHarrison]

I have one of these:
http://www.sauder.com/productpage.a...b=A%2FV+Storage

Cost me $100 at Lowes...

If you go this route, search all the local Lowes. I have somewhere around 6-8 in a 50 mile radius. Half of them didn't have it. The rest had it for around $100. And one of them had it for about $60! It works great so far and keeps the 10 month old out of the movies.

The only downside is that the doors don't hold DVDs so well. A normal keepcase will just barely fit in there. Anything other than keepcases won't fit (snappers, digipaks, etc). I have some thoughts on how to modify it, but haven't bothered yet.

On the plus side, I've noticed a substantial decrease in the number of visitors browsing my collection looking for something to borrow. And my mother-in-law can no longer see how much money I'm "wasting" on my collection. (Cause her cigarettes are a much wiser investment)

 

[CraigF]

Well, I use Boltz racks, which I can't recommend because they aren't cheap. But eventually you learn to never get racks that require an item to be a specific size i.e. with dividers. For cheap, and using minimal space, probably the best thing is CD binders. Each (removable, for re-ordering) page holds 2 discs, has a soft padded backing for the playing surface. Can even just buy the pages and store in plastic file boxes, or a shoebox. Then store all your DVD cases at your parents. If you have a database/spreadsheet of disc features, you can live without all the DVD paper for most stuff. This won't look impressive to visitors, but it's functional. May even help if somebody breaks in, discs aren't obvious. [Of course, if they know where the discs are, makes it even easier to swipe them all.]

 

[Rob Lutter]

Mark... yours must be different because mine have a good 1.5 inches of dead space above the DVDs in the doors. I can even fit those over-sized Anchor Bay tins in the door.

 

[Kyle Tippett]

Ted - Throw the cases out??? How dare you say such a thing??
the spines are the key, my tea. I would never throw out my tins, or other LE boxes, you do that to any of them, even crappy kung fu dvds that you buy iun the 5 pack, and they become worthless on the sale market. nobody would ever buy a dvd (if you were to sell) that has no case, theyll think its a dvd-r!

 

[Jeff D Han]

My 2 cents-

check out www.atlantic-inc.com

I have the 440 CD, 228 DVD or 120 VHS model in
black. BestBuy sells these for $80 each. They are
easy to assemble, look nice and they seem to be
strong.

Happy hunting!

 

[Eric Stuckey]

I just orderd this one ( http://www.storeyourmedia.com/details.shtml?VS-0205 )
and I love it.
Eric

 

[Sarah S]

I'm another person who opted for tossing/storing the cases. I got a bunch of metal stands that are usually made to hold paper references...you see them now and again at conventions at the dealors who sell stills and head shots of actors. I also got a whole bunch of the 8-disc pages from caseit.com and have the entire collection of 500+ in less than 8 feet of space. I do keep the cases and artwork in case I need to look at something or give it away. Not attractive to thieves and not really portable as they are really heavy loaded up. Works for me, anyway.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm still checking out my options (thankfully I do have time to decide), but this has all been very helpful.

It just occured to me that I used to have a great custon made shelving unit for VHS that my mom's (soon to be) ex-husband made me for a birthday almost ten years ago. Still in pristine condition, but I forgot about it as I haven't lived with my mother in ages and it's still there. I might investigate going back to claim that - it might not be perfect, but it should be close, and it's already mine.

If there are any more suggestions or recommendations, I would be thrilled to keep reading them. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[Matt Stone]

I use two of these:

http://shop.suncoast.com/site/catalo...odid=002200209

They hold about 280 DVDs and have adjustable shelves so you can fit those over-sized Anchor Bay Tins, or what-have-you. I'm a poor college student as well, and at 50 bucks a pop...they aren't too cost prohibitive.

They're very sturdy, and they look good as well.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I've done a slight variant on what some of the other folks here have done. I put all my DVDs and CDs in large files with insert sleeves with CD-shaped pockets in them (I tend to use 'Case Logic' ones, but I don't know if you have this make in the USA), with 8 to the sleeve. The result is that I can store circa 600 DVDs and 800 CDs in a surprisingly compact space. I've also found that I'm far less likely to damage my discs taking them in and out of these pockets than prising them out of the cases in which they came.

A couple of observations:

(a) If you move over to a file system like the one I've mentioned, then make sure you put the discs in some sort of methodical order where you can easily find them (I know this sounds obvious, but there's always someone ...). Also, leave room for expansion of your collection. If you use file sleeves that can be easily taken in and out, then this isn't too much of a problem. However, if you use files with fixed sleeves (which are generally more robust) then you should leave sufficient spaces.

(b) We didn't fancy having the files sitting in the corner of the room looking rather messy, so we put ours in a small wooden chest (bought for next to nothing in the UK, so I can't believe in the USA it'll be an expensive item). The advantage of this is not only do you have somewhere to hide away your files, but you also have an extra seat (provided the chest is robust enough, of course).

 

[Adam_S]

I've had trouble with this myself, college dorm, 150 dvds and no space to store them.

I went with a pair of 96 ct binders last year and stored them in a rented safe (so noone could stick my entire collection into a backpack and leave). However they get scratches from the friction of the in/out of the binders sleeves and I've filled them up and I loath rearranging them--more friction.

What I'm going to be doing this year is this. The sleeves described here are specially engineered to minimize dust and grit, and you can get special archival sleeves that will protect both sides of a double sided discs (or you could slip both discs of a two disc set in). The boxes are about the same as my cases so I'll be able to fit three in a safe no problem. Storing them this way is better for the discs, minimizes space, and is easy to keep in order. The downside is you don't have the impressive weight and book like flipping through of a collection that seems to put some people in awe. I keep my empty boxes on display in my room at home while I'm at school.

Adam