How do you keep track of your collection?

[bfinan11]

I'm seeing Columbia used repeatedly as examples.
Does this mean that they are typically collected more than other labels?
Do they have a bigger or generally more desirable catalog?

In my case, neither. Just a particularly spreadsheet-resistant series of catalog numbers

1901-1908 (and somewhat later for one-sided classical releases): numbers, starting with 1 for popular and five digits for symphony series and operatic
1908-1921: A1 to A5000+ for popular music, E1001 to E9000+ for European ethnic records, possibly a few other international series
1921-1936: 1-D to 1500-D for popular music, 14000-D and 15000-D series for country and blues, five-digit 00000-M series for classical. five-digit 10000-F ethnic
1936-1960: 35200 to 42000+ for popular music, 20000 to 21000+ for country, five-digit 00000-M series continues for classical, 54000-S series for gospel

Compare this to, for example, Victor/RCA Victor/Victrola
1900-1901: Victor A-1 to A-800+ for 7-inch records, 3000-3553 for 10-inch records, 30000-30041 for 12-inch records
1901-1908: 1 to 6000 for popular black label, various five-digit series starting for 12-inch and classical
1908-1941: 16000-28000 for popular black label (with some blocks inserted for jazz, blues, race), 35000-37000 for 12-inch, higher 5-digit numbers for classical, blue/purple label, and international; Victrola 500-5000 series of two-sided classical releases
1942-1960 (and beyond on 45s): 20-0000 for popular, 21-0000 for country, 10-0000 and 11-0000 for classical, 23-0000 for international, etc
In this situation, the numbers are generally unambiguous, with few overlaps, and the RCA Victor series can just be treated as numbers, 203845 in place of 20-3845 for example.

[CMcPherson]

...and perhaps most important, LOCATION...

Oh my gosh... I didn't even consider that. I guess none of it matters if you can't find the record huh?

...I can sort on any field (performer, song title, label, matrix number, location)...

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the difference between matrix number and catalog number.
I have only seen one number on the records (Victor so far) that I have. I think that's the catalog number. Do some labels not include a matrix number?

[WDC]

I also once started with a spreadsheet of my cylinders, but after a couple of years I stopped. It was too much of a hassle for me.

Instead, I just keep only the digitized cylinders archived by their file names only. This lets me search for them on practically any platform, including my smearphone.

The syntax I use is:
(Archive no.) (Artist) - (Title)_(Cylinder Type)-(Catalog no. when avail.)_(year when avail.)_(speed if not 160rpm)

With my discs, I also prefer to have an inner map for dance number, classical and so on. Certainly, there are much better methods to do that, but with less than 1000 discs, there isn't much need for anything more sophisticated.

Vince Giordano, bandleader of the Nighthawks, is a professional collector of sheet music. He has over 30,000 pieces in his archive (or was is even more?). A new orchestration set of a song is given an archival identifier number and then he makes an entry in his database, which he can access from all his computers. It is very professional implementation but does also require a certain amount of regular maintenance.