I have a small collection of vinyl records, but even with a small collection it's hard for me to keep track of what I have, and suffer the tyranny of choice when I'm trying to select something to play.
With electronic media it's easy to solve these problems, and at one time I started keeping a list of my records so I could at least remember what I have, but that doesn't help me find what I'm looking for.
This inconvenience is compounded by where I store my records, a very nice looking cabinet but low to the ground. Additionally, the spines of the sleeves are often in shadow and hard to read (if they can be read, some of my records are pretty old).
So in addition to some sort of searchable database of albums I need a way to find the one I'm looking for in the physical world.
The idea I came up with is pretty simple, and probably easy to implement but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I want to install a high-density LED strip in the record cabinet on the bottom of the shelf above the records. This strip is then connected to the database software, and when an album is selected in the software, the LED nearest the physical record illuminates.
I doubt there is an LED strip with sufficient "resolution" to illuminate each record on the shelf individually, but that's OK. Even getting close is sufficient to narrow the search enough to quickly select the title.
This of course depends on the physical records being in predictable locations. This is handled by the same mechanism. When a record is selected for play, its marked as "off the shelf", and when it is to be returned, "return it" is selected in the software and the LED indicating the correct position is illuminated. My records are sorted by genre, then alpha by artist and finally by release date. Again even though the LED can't precisely select the location I can place it precisely within the nearby records.
Aside from this basic mode of operation, this automation opens the door for additional modes. For example, a "shuffle" mode could randomly select a record to play (a clever shuffle could keep track of what was listened to any only suggest fresh albums). A "collection" mode could select titles based on various groupings (for example, showing other records by artists on a compilation). The possibilities are somewhat endless.
Implementation-wise there's may ways to actually build this, which is probably why I haven't started yet. The hardware side is pretty simple, although I want to make sure that the selection of the LED strip controller doesn't over-constrain software implementation options. The harder part to decide on is the software side, it could be nothing more than a REST API that other tools talk to, or something using parts of HomeAssistant, or maybe my primary digital media management software Jellyfin. I'm just not exactly sure which way I want to go with it yet.
Jason J. Gullickson, 2026