From Tracie: DVD Decisions-Part 2!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

DVD Decisions-Part 2!

On my Thursday Thirteen last week I talked about how we need to organize our DVDs better because we have them by genre and we can't decide what goes where.

Mr.Schprock gave me a suggestion in a comment:
"I think it's OK to organize your DVDs by genre. For any that cross over, such as action/thrillers or romantic/comedies, buy duplicates so they can exist in both places. Of course, if you're separating TV shows from movies, and you have a made-for-TV movie that's a horror/action/comedy/drama/whodunit, you'll probably have to buy about 10 copies."

Now there were good points to that idea....very organized in a twisted sort of way, but consider the amount of money I already spend on DVD's buying copies just doesn't seem feasible.

So, I told my husband that I really think we should alphabetize them. It is the only way. Otherwise we would just have to take this advice and start buying copies, because no matter what he says Beyond the Sea is a musical based on a true story and should be put in a place that reflects that!

Well, you aren't going to believe what just happened. My husband just called me and said that he has a great idea that will solve our problem. He wants us to think of our DVD case like it was a map and organize the movies by location. What does that mean? He wants to take the movies that we own that are "southern" (Fried Green Tomatoes, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Philadelphia Story, etc) and put them in the southern area of the shelf. "Northeastern" movies (School Ties, A Bronx Tale, Sleepers, etc) will go in the northeastern section. "Midwesten" movies (Grapes of Wrath, Twister, etc) will go in the center. Westerns will go in.....you guessed it-the western part.

Now I began to contemplate exactly how this would work and then I thought--wait-what about movies that aren't American.....like Just Married-that whole movie basically takes place in Europe, or French Kiss, or Three Coins in the Fountain--where would those go? (not to mention moveis that are actually from other countries) He said that we would create an "Abroad" section for all of those movies that -well- go abroad.

I think this idea still needs a lot of work.

7 comments:

  1. Alphabetise.
    It's the only way I can imagine.

    Then again, I don't keep DVD's, but if I did, I think i'd be more likely to say "Hey, lets watch "Strictly Ballroom", than, "hmm .. now what do we have in the Romantic Comedy genre ?"

    Michele sent me.

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  2. LOL Your husband is very creative! LOL I guess he has somthing against alphabatising?

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  3. Well, he's very creative and imaginative, but yes, I think his idea needs more work!

    Ours are alphabetized. Sorry. I know the titles to the movies we own, and it's easy to keep them organized that way. Also easy to find one, since I know where it should be. Picking one to watch is the hard part, made harder by the alphabetical approach. But the "Mr Monk" in me really needs them alphabetized!

    As an additional nosy comment, we also have a free program on the computer that we use to keep track of our DVD's. I downloaded it and try to keep it updated as we buy them, and it has a "loan out" feature that we use often - since we frequently loan out movies to family, friends and neighbors. Helps me keep track of where a movie is and who has it. Also, we have a record for insurance purposes, in case we ever need it. We have a lot of money tied up in our DVD collection!

    Have a great day :)

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  4. DH used to alphabetize them - before the little guy. Now they are arranged "if I get a chance to put them in a case and throw them back on the shelf for the 100th time until the little one gets them again in 2 seconds". As for myself, sans little helper, I'd just stuff them on the shelf ;).

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  5. I'm lucky if I can find half of our dvd's. The kiddo (or dh) carts it off to play on the computer cause the TV is occupied or load into their iPod -- or add it to the 360 -- so I have DVD's, CD's, video games and software in all the wrong places -- a big box makes the rounds once a month to collect and store whatever it finds -- I know -- not too helpful -- but I'd go with the alpha system if I knew where they were -- ;)

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  6. Back when we all watched VHS movies, my dad was a collector from hell. I still love it when I'm home, always something to watch :) He has over 800 movies.

    They're alphabatized, it works perfectly. Always easy to find anything at a glance.

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  7. Oh, my. I love all the thought that is going into this! But what if you have a movie that takes place cross-country, such as Thelma and Louise?

    I vote for alphabetizing. Or putting them in order of enjoyment/viewing frequency.

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