A friend of mine stores his DVDs in binders and keeps the cases and inserts in boxes tucked away in the basement. That way, he can easily have his entire collection at his dorm without having to worry about space.

It's quite practical, and I wonder sometimes why I don't do it myself, but I guess I enjoy perusing through my DVDs, neatly lined up and organized in a bookcase. To me at least, it's a more engaging experience than simply flipping through the pages of a binder, even if it may not be the most practical.

It's funny that this thread appeared this week...I just made the decision last week to throw out hundreds of DVD cases due to space issues. All that I care about is the movie, anyway, not the plastic casing.

It's actually quite a liberating experience - I feel like I have tons of space again! You should try it, too!

Two years ago I would have called myself NUTS.

If Austin ever does this, he'll have to rent a dump truck!

I'd be even more concerned about access issues in a dormitory environment. I mean, I don't know what his arrangement are .. but when I hear dorm, I just think of my experiences back in the day. I had a couple of clothing items, CDs and a some loose paper currency (though I wasn't usually so carelss) stolen out my dorm room. There was a simple control issue having a room mate and I couldn't imagine ever having that sort of investment lying around waiting for the possibilities.

Nah .. I'd rather forgo the space issues and keep my little shiny babies just where they belong .. in the containers they arrived in. Besides, it's not as fun to display just a binder full of disks.

It depends on what it is. I regularly convert my snappers to keepcases and in the process, I cut the cover of the snapper for the chapter list to use as an insert. I throw away what is left. I also throw away the slipcovers that come on keepcases. I guess I am a bit anal retentive when it comes to having everything match.

I recently printed out the entire Ships of the Line collection for everything Star Trek. I am going to put my Trek stuff in there, but I will probably keep those cases.

what I do is buy those Staples white/circular sleeves so that I can see what the disc is and then put them in alphabetical order and put them in Container Store gray CD boxes - perfect for saving alot of wasted 'DVD case' space.

This is the first sleeve design that I really like:

http://discsox.com/dvd-storage-sleeves.htm#

Is anyone using these?

oooohhhh - nice! thanks for the tip/suggestion

Hey, that's kinda cool. VERY cool, in fact.

I've never had a case scratch my cd/dvd's. They've been scratched during usage, but never in one of the cases.

If someone stole the cases, well, that's what insurance is for. Steal away. I've got them listed on the internet. I'll just print out the list, and show my insurance company how much money I need for them.

Exactly!

but if I were ever to do this, which I'm sure I won't, those nifty little sleeves posted earlier would be the way I would go. They are very sweet.

not surprised... my friend has been doing this for 10 years, first to CDs, then VCDs, later DVDs.

If you keep your DVDs in a binder and don't think they're becoming scratched because of it, maybe you should take another look. I keep many of my audio CDs in a binder and almost all of them develop a lot of very light scratches over time from insertion and removal. I am assuming the scratches are caused by the fabric liner in the binder pages (and whatever tiny particles are stuck to it).

For CDs I am willing to live with this since the scratches don't even come close to affecting playback and are only visible from a certain angle. But for DVDs I am not as limited with regard to space and convenience (especially since I have a small collection), so I haven't resorted to keeping them in cases... yet.

I've moved my entire collection over to Case Logic binders. I just don't have the space for disc cases any longer. I know that they will inheret scratches, even if I can't see them, but as long as they will never affect play I don't mind.

I just ordered a pkg of 25. I'm eager to see how well they work.

I was at a local used bookstore where someone had dumped dozens and dozens of DVD cases in their 'free book' bin. I took about a dozen as my empty case stash was running low. I've also picked up 100's of blank CD cases there as I break those on occasion, of course that's not hard to do.

I'm about to leave for college, and I'm considering buying a big cd/dvd binder to put my collection. I love the artwork and stuff, but I won't have room for the cases, so it's either put them in a binder or leave them at home in their cases.

What would you do?

Yeah, I got the Planet of the Apes Collection in the mail...took out the 14 discs and threw that big 'ole ape head out. Took up too much room...

They're over $1 each and then you have to buy something to store them in. Cuts into the DVD buying budget too much. They are nice though so I guess the dollar is fair. Just not practical to store 500 - 1000 DVD's in unless your wealthy.

Does anybody use individual sleeves in a big case (not a binder). I'd like to know how that works out and what kind you use. And I'm talking >500 discs like this. Its $80 after the coupon. Anybody know of a better case than this.

Well, that was money down the toilet. Why didn't you asked some of your friends, or relative if they wanted it, before you tossed it out? You've paid for it, because that was included in the price of the DVD Set. Not only you paying for the discs, but your also paying for the packaging, which I've mentioned before... That wasn't a smart thing to do.

I was being sarcastic. Sorry...that was why I put the smiley at the end...

It's just not practical to own 500-1000 DVDs unless you're wealthy.

Are you storing your 500-1000 DVDs on stacks on the floor? Do you have homegrown shelving that looks like something picked out of a junkyard? Does your collection sit on pine planks separated by cinder blocks?

If you answered "NO" to all these questions, then you had to spend money on a storage solution. Any decent-looking storage solution that houses 500-1000 DVDs is going to cost a few $100's. Especially if you like to keep your DVD library hidden. If you're the type that prefers the "Hollywood Video warehouse" look, then some pine planks and cinderblocks and you're good to go.

Right now they're stored in a closet which I built shelves into. The closet is oddly shaped due to an angled ceiling and required custom measurements. So for a few boards of MDF, some paint and brackets (maybe a little over $100 for all), I have storage for 500-1000 DVDs. They are hidden since the closet door can be shut. I'm probably not much of a carpenter but they look pretty damn good to me. Sorry I don't feel that storage should cost a lot.

This thread is making me think that I should switch to storing my DVDs in a binder or some sleeve method. I already have one $300 cabinet full and I'm probably halfway to filling another one I don't even own yet . Using the sleeves linked above would certainly save some space.

You too?! I hadn't given it any serious thought until this thread. And then just for the heck of it, I did a quick search to see what the latest and greatest is for alternative storage options and ran across those sleeves. Depending upon how they work out, I may keep my boxsets intact and convert part or all of the remainder to those sleeves. Maybe store them in Sterilite, Rubbermaid, Tupperware, etc. bins would make it very convenient.

Hurry up with that shipment... stinkin' UPS!