Categorizing records

I suggest you rent and watch the movie called "High Fidelity" with John Cussack and Jack Black. It deals with this subject in a new and interesting perspective. You will enjoy it.

My 4,000 LP collection is 85% classical, and, with multiple composers and multiple works on a single LP, filing and seeking can be a bit challenging. My solution is a combination of (1) filing on the shelves largely alphabetically by composer (of the work I consider "primary" to me on the LP) or by period/genre for collections, and (2) an Access database that allows me to search by individual work, composer, artist (soloist, conductor, orchestra, venue, etc), record label, record number, or certain recording engineers. Yes, the database was all entered manually, but the initial build was done when the collection numbered only 1,500 and the rest has been done gradually as the collection has grown over the years since then.

Unlike Albert's system, I find the database almost a necessity for my classical music collection. It's really helpful when trying to find all the various performances of the same work across multiple LPs that may reasonably be filed elsewhere on the shelves (e.g., my 5 different performancea of Debussy's "Sonata for Cello and Piano" on 5 different LPs with additional music variously by Ravel, Busoni, Stavinsky, Foss, Rachmaninov, Barber and Ginastera; or Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" for orchestra and again as transcribed for cello and piano on an LP of various chamber works by other composers).

The database information drops into other software on a Palm for ready access when used record shopping or when visiting with a fellow music aficianado.
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My case is near identical to Rushton above. The only sad difference is, the d-base is NOT well updated and, so, I have to rely on (failing) memory as well as the incomplete palm when buying records!
There's a good difference, too: I have more than 5000 LPs (mostly classical).

Cataloging, what a typically male pursuit, may I add my recomendation to whatch "High Fidelity", a good film anyway. At one point John Cusack, impresses a friend by saying he is recataloging his records by when they were bought and the relationship he was in, thats obsessional, not to say anally retentive. I really do my best, but struggle even keeping them the same way up so I can read the spines. My real dilemma is what to do with compilations. What composer do you file them unde? I lose sleep over rhat one.

Yep! I know what you mean. Just finished going thru my 4000 records and I filled my classical compilations under orchestras, or in the case of my jazz collection (because it's small) just "Jazz Compilations" in random order.