I'm Xiomara Blanco and if you have a collection of vinyl records, I'm going to show you how to catalog your collection online using discogs.com.
Now Discogs doesn't let you stream your vinyl collection or magically turn your records into MP3s.
It's a site where people can show their collection and even if you don't care about records, if you have any hanging and you're wondering what their worth, this is a great way to find out.
First, head over to discogs.com and create a free account.
Next take a record you want to add to your collection and try searching for by the title.
Because the Discogs database is maintained by excess music geeks, you're bound to find your record unless it's something very new or very obscure.
Once you found the record, there are various pressings of it, you need to select the correct one for adding it to your collection.
Look for the record label, catalog number and year of pressing somewhere on the sleeve or the center label of the record then click through to that specific version and select to add to your collection.
For example, when I search with this album, I get results for 2 different LP pressings that has the same catalog number and record label but one came out in 2006 and the other one was in 2011.
So check the label.
I see this one is made in 2006 so select that version and add it to my collection.
If you have a bunch of records from the same artist, clicking through to the artist page will give you a list of their releases and a search option that's limited to their discography.
It's easy to find what you have, add it and move on.
Once you're done, you can fill it through your virtual collection, add ratings, note the condition of each record and even export all of your information to a download (??).
Now, if you want to sell a record and just get an estimate of it's value, click on the release and then hit the sell your vinyl link on the right.
You'll see a suggested price and if you like what you see, you can list the item for sale.
So there you go.
That's my favorite free message for cataloging your record collection online.
If it's a (??) collection, don't forget to support your favorite independent music stores.
For more in depth walkthrough at Discogs.com, check out my post on CNET How to Blogs.
I'm Xiomara Blanco for CNET.
