(Originally ran April 11, 2008)

I would like to think that I am a reasonable man. There is, however, evidence to the contrary, mostly concerning music.

For a millisecond somewhere in the not-too-distant past, I thought that digital music would relieve me of some of my more compulsive music collecting habits.

You know, no album jackets to house in plastic sleeves, no broken jewel boxes to replace, that sort of thing.

And my ongoing shelving crisis is getting worse at a much slower rate.

But once a compulsive music organizer, always a compulsive music organizer it seems.

As with so many other things, I blame iTunes, which now displays album art, making my virtual collection so much more tempting to fuss over.

If iTunes can’t find the album’s cover, I search Amazon’s or All Music’s sites. If it’s not there, I go to Google. If I can’t find it there, I’m stuck with a generic sleeve.

I loathe those generic sleeves. Every time I flip through my virtual album stack I come across one or two, each one screaming FAILURE at the top of its lungs.

And then there’s iTunes’ endless multitude of cataloging quirks. Why does every hip-hop album with multiple guest stars get credited to “various artists”?

How did “Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers” wind up in the Compilations folder and why was it credited to Petty alone? Why are “Safe as Milk” and “Ice Cream for Crow” credited to Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band while “Trout Mask Replica” and “Lick My Decals Off, Baby” claim to be by Captain Beefheart AND the Magic Band?

Why do I need to - not want to, need to - fix all of this?

The sad fact of the matter is I enjoy it. It’s embarrassing, a little, that I get such peace of mind knowing my digital files are all housed in their proper folders, accompanied by the highest-resolution cover I could find.

I’m amazed I ever leave the house.