Archiving: CD vs. DVD

So, after lurking around for the last little while, and reading how ya'll keep your collections organized, stored, and archived (this thread has been of particular help), I've noticed that a majority of you out there archive to DVDs. I considered doing this for quite awhile, but realized it was going to be a pain in the ass to keep track of where any certain boot may be, much less the nightmare of organizing DVDs full of random artists - My question here being, do you use CD or DVD archiving, and why? I currently use CDs stored in slim cases with custom made spine labels, all stored in GINORMOUS tupperware containers. The pros being they're easier to sort, easier to find, and the impact of 500 CDs in slim cases with spine labels full of AWeSOME tunes makes me feel all funny and warm inside. The cons are, that's a shit ton of CDs to move around.

So how the hell do you do it?

[The Wicker Man]

I fill a 250 gig hard drive, then I archive alphabetically

[AndreaSueEllen]

i use cd's because i don't have a dvd burner. and yeah, its a lot to store. i'd much rather be burning everything to dvd, and just try to keep the same artist on one disc, doing a run at a time, if possible so that they are concurrent shows. even with the cd's i've got piles of cd's that have 2 different shows by 2 different artists on them.

Originally Posted by AndreaSueEllen

i use cd's because i don't have a dvd burner. and yeah, its a lot to store. i'd much rather be burning everything to dvd, and just try to keep the same artist on one disc, doing a run at a time, if possible so that they are concurrent shows. even with the cd's i've got piles of cd's that have 2 different shows by 2 different artists on them.

I'm probably waaaay to crazy about it.. I will only archive one show per disc, whether it fills it up or not - Otherwise, it makes it a pain in the ass to decide where to put it.. Currently, my collection runs alphebetically by artist, then by date. Putting two artists or dates on one disc screws the system all up....

In other news, I just had the realization that I might possibly be incredibly OCD.... Just sayin'.

[starman714]

I number the dvd's data disc 1 , data disc 2 , etc.... then in my notebook where I'm recording the artists and dates I have for the eventual list I'll make , I annotate dd1 , dd2 etc. so I know where a show is...stuff that's already been saved to cd I keep by genre , more or less , like R.Thompson , Leo Kottke , Michael Hedges , say , all go in the same box as acoustic artists , primarily...prog. goes in another box , etc...blues...etc...

Originally Posted by starman714

I number the dvd's data disc 1 , data disc 2 , etc.... then in my notebook where i'm recording the artists and dates i have for the eventual list i'll make , I annotate dd1 , dd2 etc. so I know where a show is...

Yeah, I do a similar thing with my back'd up DiVX movies, seems to work fairly decently.
I still like the impact that 1CD per show has, though, and as my 'boots are much more dear to my heart, I give them my best.....

[JayDub]

I would go f'ing crazy if I had to go back to archiving on cdr. It's easy to keep up with what's where if you use an excel file for your list. I list my shows alphabetically, and have a column for "disc number" If I"m looking for something, it's usually an artist, not a disc number, so an alphabetical scan reveals where the show is. But if I want to find out what all is on one specific disc, a filter in excel would make that very easy.

I highly recommend switching to DVDr. I've been burning intermittently for the last two days, and have half cleared an 80 GB drive. It makes things SO much simpler. No more splitting shows, because the show is 850 MB or something.

I can't stress enough how much simpler things are since I switched to DVDr.

[Evan811]

whats the point of archiving?

[AndreaSueEllen]

Originally Posted by JayDub

No more splitting shows, because the show is 850 MB or something.

nothing irritates me more than having to split up a show because its like 710 MB and the disc only holds 703.something. i need to find a good cheap external dvd burner...soon.

[starman714]

sounds interesting , jdub , but i have no idea how to do what you described...lol
but yeah , the dvd is definitely best , i just don't have the hdd space like wicker described so i move stuff a lot and so discs are full of misc. artists unless there's a run in a certain artist being posted and i want 'em all....

[starman714]

Originally Posted by Evan811

whats the point of archiving?

what if you want to seed the show yourself someday ? plus you can make copies w/out adding a gen to it...

[shopkin]

Originally Posted by Evan811

whats the point of archiving?

i use DVD's now as well...they hold alot more shows,too many cdr's
as for keeping track... i print a directory for each dvd...duh

Originally Posted by AndreaSueEllen

i need to find a good cheap external dvd burner...soon.

got mine on ebay $100.00

Originally Posted by AndreaSueEllen

nothing irritates me more than having to split up a show because its like 710 MB and the disc only holds 703.something. i need to find a good cheap external dvd burner...soon.

If it's that close, and you use Nero to burn your discs, an overburn is a generally safe way to fit that extra little bit onto a disc - The newest Nero will automatically ask you if it's within the safe range if you'd like to overburn.

I will second that it's annoying as all hell to split a show onto two discs, especially when it's close.... If it's a HUGE 'boot (ie the 10 Disc Beatles BBC Sessions by Purple Chick, or Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead Rehersals 6 disc set) I just burn it off onto one DVD.

[lucasweb]

I archive to DVD-R and then on my etree list i make a note about which number dvd it went on, easy as that

[pigonthewing]

Originally Posted by Evan811

whats the point of archiving?

I don't think that's a crazy question. I don't archive either. Think about it, if the music is this easy to get now, do you really think it will become harder as computers shrink and speed increases? I'm pretty sure that in three to five years you're gonna laugh at bit torrent the same way you laugh at 5.25 floppy disks.