Believe it or not, you don’t need to keep every single CD/DVD jewel case, a shoebox filled with photos, or your dad’s LP collection to still enjoy them—especially if you live in an NYC apartment that’s already short on space. With a little imagination and innovation and some elbow grease, you can preserve your collection and keep a tidy living space. Here are three steps to get you started.
Digitize them
Transferring unwieldy vinyls and pictures in your collection to disc will also save you a great deal of space. All you need is a scanner and a disc drive. If your Mac or PC does not have an internal disc drive (and current models don’t), you can purchase a standalone drive for around $80. Then simply connect that drive to your computer with a USB cable and you’re ready to start scanning. Though time-consuming, scanning hard copies to disc is a simple process that gets easier with a little practice.
Decisions, decisions
Once you’ve burned all your other content to discs, it’s time to decide whether to hold on to the jewel cases for your CDs and DVDs or store them another way. Consider:
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- How many discs you have, how often you use them, and how much space you have for them. If you treasure the notes, song lists and lyrics, and graphically designed cover of the classics you love, you may want to hold onto some. Just remember storing them with jewel cases takes up extra space—perhaps more than you have.
- Using a binder instead. Many online stores carry specialty binders that store three to four CDs or DVDs on each page. Binders allow you to store a greater number of discs, label their contents to keep them organized and take them with you wherever you go. You can then either donate, sell, or place their hard copies in storage.
- How many discs you have, how often you use them, and how much space you have for them. If you treasure the notes, song lists and lyrics, and graphically designed cover of the classics you love, you may want to hold onto some. Just remember storing them with jewel cases takes up extra space—perhaps more than you have.
Sorting and organizing
Depending on how you often you watch/listen to your DVDs/CDs, you can sort your collections by genre or alphabetically. If you have more than one recording from a particular favorite artist, you can use the CD’s release date to categorize. You can also organize DVDs the same way: First by category, then alphabetized by name.
Now you’ve whipped your multimedia collection into shape, but where will you store the originals you can’t bear to part with? Contact Gotham Mini Storage, the most convenient Manhattan mini storage location, where you’ll find a variety of units from 64 to 400-cubic feet and more that are perfect for storing these types of collections.