Cd storage..what's an audiophile to do?

Mezmo: I have been looking for a way to store CD's that will be burned from our old cassette collection (and isolate them from the rest of the CD's as well). I assume that these things look like books and can be placed on a bookshelf and will look into them. I don't plan on keeping the cassettes, so will have to make backup copies of the rare, popular (to us) and out of print ones and could use a smaller book to store these.

Didn't have room for hundreds of jewel cases, the patience for unsuccessfully keeping them organized and the frustration of seemingly never being able to find a desired disc. Eventually put all the CDs in quality binders and threw the jewel cases out. Upsides are much recovered space and having every disc at my fingertips. I keep them organized by band/artist's name and satisfying musical whims is so much easier than before. The biggest downside is accessing the liner notes. Right now they're in a box, but will be put in another set of binders when there's space in the schedule. I also refrain from taking the binders in the car, such as on long trips. This keeps dirt and grit out of the sleeves which have put minor scratches on a couple of discs. Haven't found a good solution for that yet.

They have some very nice free standing (floor) CD shelf units at IKEA if there is one in your area. Or get their catalog.

The Case Logic binders I got are pretty un-fancy, to be sure, but they do the trick just fine. (They seem to come in either that heavy-duty nylon webbing style fabric or a lovely faux leather). If you look around, you can probably find nicer ones, although possibly not as large. Pretty sure they can be had just about anywhere, got mine at Tower Records. They are the zippered book-style, four disks to a page (eight, double-sided) even complete with handles, as they can get a little unwieldy when fully stuffed.

The one concession that I've made is to stuff the liner notes in the same sleeve along with the disk (thus filling two binders, instead of four). However, it's still on a trial basis as I am not sure that I won't be scratching things unnecessarily in the long run by cramming them in against the paper. I may just have to get a couple more binders and give the disks and the notes their own sleeves, but I bought out Tower Records in the style I picked the first time, so I crammed (and I just can't bear to separate the CDs from the liner notes...). Anyone had any experience regarding whether I may someday become quite cross about the damage I've unwittingly done?

JT, I'm still in the anticipatory separation anxiety stages regarding my jewel boxes. If I decide to fully take the plunge and get rid of them, I’ll drop you a line.

I do what Mezmo does. I have about 8 case logic cd storage cases. I keep them in two draws. I take out the insert that comes with the jewel box and keep them all, in no order, in my bookcase. I through out the empty jewel cases. I have the case logic books arranged by music type, but within each one, I can't keep the cd's in order.