What is a "victory spread"? It's a term I've coined myself for a certain collector's ritual of mine. Every so often, when I've accumulated an even number of say 30 CD's, and when I've replaced all the badly scratched or cracked cases with shiny new ones, I like to lay out say five rows of six CD's each on my bed and make a victory spread. I make sure that covers with artists looking to the left or turning left are placed on the right side of the spread so they look toward the center, and likewise artists looking to the right or turning right are placed on the left side. Covers with faces looking straight forward and other non-directional covers go in the middle. Also I like to alternate colors and dark and light covers for variety. Also artists and genres. Make a good mix for your spread and pull up a chair in front of the bed and sit and marvel at your score. Invite friends and family to take a look at the patchwork of covers laid out on your bed. Ask them which cover design they like best and which album they'd buy if they could only choose one. Have them guess your favorite designs and albums. Have them guess your least favorite while you're at it. Then sit and marvel some more. Then go to the bathroom and look in the mirror and make a "V" sign. "V" for "victory". "V" for "victory spread".

Of course the bigger the spread, the greater the victory. And artists looking down go to the top row and artists looking up go to the bottom row.

Could you post the cover images (in small sizes of course) in the order you laid them out on your bed? I'm very curious to see what one of your victory spreads look like.

I don't know how to reduce covers from the internet, but maybe Google images are small enough that I could make a five by six - sounds like a good idea! It would be great if people posted their victory spreads in this thread, it has a greater impact than merely writing a list of titles.

Somebody (AMW?) posted an image like this using various Britney Spears CDs...

Yeah, but it was an old pic--I didn't have any Blackout discs then. I'll probably do another one next year, after "Circus" has spawned a new batch of Britney crap.

I don't do "victory spreads" like that so much, if ever.Instead I like to stack all of my newly acquired cds in a pile and admire the colours of the spines (like a multi-coloured sandwich) and the quality of new music added to my collection.I'm not too bothered about the aesthetic of forming collages with them.
It's also about quantity-and the pleasure, or "feeling of prestige", that adding to my cd library does for me.

I too like to admire the spines in a "sandwich" of stacked CD's. That one I do all the time, as I've always got a pile of CD's on my desk that I am currently playing.

The 2009 version. This one's for you, Goog:

Wow! And your cases aren't even scratched! You are a true collector and a true icer, AMW!

Very cool!

AMW, is that a victory spread or a money shot?...

That much Britney Spears is the last thing I'd consider to be victory.

The obis compel me to ask: do you keep the discs sealed when you already have the same tracks or mixes on other discs?

Love it!

Hmm...the short answer is I keep them in resealable poly sleeves, for no better reason than I like the way they look with the obi visible. A couple of years ago I decided to put all my discs that came in digipacks, cardboard sleeves, or any other type of paper packaging in resealable poly sleeves.

The longer answer, however, is that the Japanese Britney discs I have were generally sought out because almost all of them do contain unique mixes or songs. Storing the obis on the outside also makes them easier to tell apart from their western (or Austrailian) counterparts with identical artwork but different tracklistings. I only have a couple of eastern Britney issues with completely redundant tracklistings, but they do have cool packaging, so I do like to get them out and play them and enjoy them as well. I buy discs to play them.