I have a rather large music CD collection, probably more than 2500--I
lost count a long time ago. They are now too numerous to fit in
the storage I bought for them seven years ago, lining one wall in one
room in my house. So they have overflowed onto other bookcases, and
there's a pile here and a pile there all throughout the house.
I want to set up permanent archival storage for my collection, and
that's where you and Google Answers come in. I want your advice on how
to create my own miniature archive facility. I want something that
preserves the CDs as long as possible while in storage. I would also
prefer to spend as little money as possible. The best possible solution
would be a cheap system where I could leave the CDs totally unattended
for possibly years at a time.
These days I mostly listen to MP3s and FLACs of my collection anyway,
so it's rare that I actually want a physical CD for something. But I
am a sentimental old fool, so I still want to keep the physical CDs,
and be able to refer to them (particularly the liner notes) at a
moment's notice. In addition, I don't want to ditch the original
packaging and just keep the artwork and the CD; I want to preserve
the CDs in their current state.
Most of the collection are storebought mass-produced CDs in jewel cases.
However, not the entire collection is like this. Examples of exceptions:
* Some are CD-Rs. (Legit, honest. Some artists I like are *well* off
the beaten path.)
* Some are in "enviro-pak" packaging using only plastic and cardboard.
* Some are in special "collectable" packaging. Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000033TA/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004SDD8/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000007RU1/
I live in Sunnyvale, CA (zip is 94085), so it is neither overly damp nor
cold in the winter, rarely getting below freezing. Nor is it overly hot
in the summer, rarely reaching into the 90s (F). I have two candidates
for storage at my house: my garage, and my partial basement. Both have
plenty of room for such a collection. I assume that the basement would
be better, as long as I kept the dehumidifier happy, as it is warmer in
winter and cooler in summer. However, I would prefer the garage, as
currently I have no way to lock the basement.
My original idea was to buy a Gorilla Rack or two (www.gorillarack.com)
and store on it as many Costco translucent plastic attached-top "storage
bins" (akin to these:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=99&product%5Fid=12970)
as I need, filling each bin with CDs two-deep. This is slightly
inconvenient, as I might need to remove one row of CDs to get to one
underneath. However, the Costco storage bins work well with the Gorilla
rack, and both are cheap. The storage bins aren't totally air-tight, but
they are nearly so when properly closed, and seem to go a long ways towards
keeping moisture out. I have stored some old Playstation video games in
such a container in the garage for years with no apparent ill effect.
Specific questions I want answered:
* Is the garage fine, or would the partial basement be a much better
choice?
* Do I need totally air-tight bins, or is this style of bin appropriate?
* Is there some form of dessicant that I should store in each bin? If so,
what kind, and how often would I need to change it?
* What would I need to worry about when leaving the CDs unattended for
long periods of time?
* Would the system you propose also be appropriate for my smaller
collections of video tapes, audio tapes (digital and analog), vinyl
record albums, video games, and laserdiscs? |
Clarification of Question by
larryhastings-ga
on
30 Nov 2005 22:49 PST
I've done some more research. According to this:
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/
you want to store CDs between 39 and 68 degrees Farenheit
(4 and 20 degrees Celsius). Also, you should protect
them from moisture.
Therefore, the basement is preferable to the garage,
as it stays much cooler in summer. But the containers
must be air-tight, as it is much damper in the basement,
year-round.
I have not found any suitable large air-tight containers
for my CDs. So I'm likely to store the CDs in air-tight
bags, like gallon-size Ziplocs (or the new gigantic Ziplocs
here http://www.ziploc.com/big-bags/ ), with some form of
dessicant. Probably small "sachets" of indicator silica gel.
These bags of CDs would then be stored in the 12-gallon "Tuff
Crates".
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