h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This can be linked to the Chronological method but can also be applied to existing collections.

Using a fine tipped indelible marker pen (or two - dark colured spines may need a contrasting light colour), randomly number your entire collection.

(Here's the time consuming bit - as you number them - use a spreadsheet to list the CD against the allocated number. And now you can sort your collection by any detail that you put into the spreadsheet. Artist and Album titles are useful baselines but you can add columns at will to give alternative categorisations - genre, era, star rating etc.)

Store them numerically and use the spreadsheet to locate the required CD.

And here's the benefit of this storage system - when you want to listen to something, Google "Random Number Generator" (RNG) go into the site and set the number of CDs that you have in your collection. Run the RNG and it will dictate what you listen to next.

Remember - when playing the selection- you bought it (possibly it was a gift - naff or otherwise - you didn't throw it away or put it into a car boot sale !)

So what are you listening to right now ?

Me - I've just picked up a copy of SPLIT by the Groundhogs. If you want to know where some of today's heavy Metal rifts come from - try it. It may be from 1972 but well worth a visit.