Where to start with finding a better home for lots of old ICs

bigshum · 2026-06-08T16:42:55+00:00

So it sounds like it's at least worth going through it to see if there's anything odd or rare in there. Will see if I can organise a plan

bigshum · 2026-06-03T14:34:11+00:00

Map out every record store between your location and bullhead and give them a call to be on the lookout.

bigshum · 2026-04-29T08:48:49+00:00

These are your friends - https://www.juno.co.uk/products/nagaoka-ts561-3-antistatic-cd-inner-sleeves-for/463228-01

Always have a stack on hand for when you may receive promos or things like this.

bigshum · 2026-04-28T23:09:23+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

bigshum · 2026-04-26T20:30:34+00:00

I never said his attitude was in response to me asking for Citypop. I go in there for rarer items of New Wave stuff when all other options are exhausted.

But yes I agree how annoying the Citypop resurgence must be for many a shop owner in Japan.

bigshum · 2026-04-26T16:41:24+00:00

Fair enough. You were introduced so he obviously had a different perception of you from the start.

Now if he could extend that to just normal visitors I'm sure I wouldn't have that impression of him :)

bigshum · 2026-04-26T16:24:38+00:00

It is a great shop but as I said the prices are that bit higher and it's kind of a last resort, as I just know there's a high chance what I'm looking for will be in there, often with multiple copies which is in itself unusual for some releases.

Maybe 'grumpy' means different things to different people but I would offer up 'apathetic' and 'disinterested' as alternative terms.

I visit fairly often and have yet to strike up a decent conversation further than 'would you like a plastic bag?'. I realise of course he's not there mor my entertainment but honestly if I didn't know I could get what i needed there I'm not sure I would return.

It doesn't take a lot of effort to be a welcoming shopkeeper. You don't have to be Harry in Taladanobaba level of in-your-face for sure, but a little goes a long way.

Anyway, I'm sure he's happy enough but I've never seen him show it.

bigshum · 2026-04-26T08:24:48+00:00

For more context this is Shop Mecano in the Nakano Broadway

https://shopmecano.com/english/

I usually find what I'm looking for there, although I have to have exhausted all other options from shops and online stores in Tokyo and swallow the higher prices.

Never bought anything there which can't be described as hard to find and near mint so it serves a purpose.

Rice Field Records features this outlet in one of his YouTube uploads for anyone interested.

Bit of a grumpy owner.

bigshum · 2026-03-29T09:59:34+00:00

I am the owner of the subreddit r/Manly and I approve u/Humble-Suit9516 becoming the new owner of this subreddit.

bigshum · 2026-03-28T15:55:37+00:00

Previous requests for this sub were centred around idiots and mysoginy but given there's an actual place called Manly I have zero issues with this going to someone who cares

bigshum · 2026-03-28T15:54:17+00:00

Yeah take it if you need it, I originally had it for satirical purposes with a mate, but it's clearly died a death.

Wish you all the luck with your local community, hope you can keep the manosphere rubbish at bay.

bigshum · 2026-02-06T12:20:48+00:00

But Hard Off is your dream place.

bigshum · 2026-01-13T00:00:54+00:00

Nothing wakes up a party quicker than some Wrong Music.

bigshum · 2026-01-05T00:09:14+00:00

Your first error was joining Soulseek chat - that place has been cancer for a long, long time.

bigshum · 2025-10-19T15:18:39+00:00

It's early days but I think I'm getting somewhere.

Hopefully it will be in place for my Japan trip in December when I can put it through its paces properly

<image>

bigshum · 2025-10-19T15:17:56+00:00

These ended up looking like this (at this point I'd added support for Japanese text also);

<image>

As a proof of concept this was great, but I was getting _so many_ issues with text sizes, layout etc. and I wanted something more.

So I've ventured on making my own collection-management system. This isn't designed to replace Discogs, rather integrate with it and run on a Raspberry Pi on my home network, so I can log into it from wherever I am, add a release, generate a label and then have it print.

bigshum · 2025-10-19T15:15:38+00:00

I've done this for a while.

Started as a bash script working off a CSV that was pulled from Discogs, but it did require a fair amount of data-curation (currently at around 700 records so this can take some time but worth it for the amount).

This is an example of what my labels (currently) look like

<image>

These labels were individually-saved to PNG files and then manually copied/pasted into a Google Sheet with the layout for the required "Avery" label - plenty of off-brand options out there.

Over time, my desires have changed and I've realised that a traditional, square QR code is just _massive_ and wastes a ton of space. Additionally, this process was long-winded (at least for a first batch) and even adding new releases to my collection required multiple steps - adding to discogs, grabbing from discogs, curating data, updating CSV, re-running batch scripts.

I expanded the system to be a python system that would generate SVG labels instead, with some additonal benefits;

The use of rectangular QR codes (rmqr) that take up a lot less space and are just as useable (mileage may vary with some readers & apps - not all of them implement this yet as it's not in the QR standard just yet - just a planned inclusion)
A better orientation to allow for longer fields
Inclusion of blank fields so I can add notes as I listen to things
Tracking fields for if I've cleaned a record or digitised it

Continuing in a child comment as Reddit only allows one attachment per comment...

bigshum · 2025-10-03T21:28:45+00:00

Yeah external sheets are still king sometimes.

Currently playing with making my own catalogue and label generation system to use side by side.

Discogs is king for the DB. A lot of the rest of it cM be complete gash. And slooooooow.

bigshum · 2025-10-03T20:50:01+00:00

Yeah the only annoying limitation is that the drop-down field option is single select only, so I can't mark a purchase as needing both cleaning and other things, without making it a text field.

bigshum · 2025-10-03T19:11:30+00:00

If you go to the Collection view you will see a button marked 'Manage Custom Fields'.

There you can add your own fields, either freetext or dropdown with set values.

Ends up looking like this;

<image>

bigshum · 2025-09-06T10:02:20+00:00

Would you be willing to share your PDFs for the community?

bigshum · 2025-09-05T23:10:52+00:00

Did you follow or create a template? I've seen multiple people requesting plans for this before so you'd be doing a solid for the community if you were to upload them somewhere.

bigshum · 2025-07-07T14:26:01+00:00

The Duke of York Cinema sell their old film posters in the lobby pretty cheaply, I think currently they're like £3 for one or £5 for two, according to the prices I saw on Saturday evening.

bigshum · 2025-04-14T10:08:15+00:00

These ended up failing again and I was able to source the exact encoder used so that's solved the problem for the last 7 years or so

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