Mike Shields makes his way through a stack of CDs, trying to figure out what genre they fall under.

He comes to one with a woman banging on the door on the cover. It’s by a band called Aloud, and the CD is titled “Leave Your Light On.”

A few measures into the song, an electric guitar kicks in.

“Rock,” Shields says.

And so he puts a sticker saying “Rock” on the front.

Shields has gone through hundreds of CDs in the past few weeks, preparing for “For Your Ears Only,” the fourth annual sale of anything musical to benefit the Kansas Audio-Reader Network. The sale runs Friday and Saturday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St.

In all, the sale will feature more than 10,000 records, thousands of CDs and a lot of other miscellaneous collectibles and equipment.

From left, Kansas Audio-Reader volunteers Mike Shields and Mary Ann Saunders sort CDs as Peg Sampson, outreach coordinator, and Diana Frederick, development director, hold records at the studio. Volunteers and staff at Kansas Audio Reader were busy organizing music on Friday preparing for their upcoming fundraiser For

“It’s fun just to see what people are getting rid of,” says Shields, who has volunteered at Audio-Reader for three years. “A lot of people are in their early 60s, and they’re purging their furniture and collectibles and so forth. There’s some good stuff you can find.”

Last year’s sale netted $8,000 for Audio-Reader, a Kansas University service that has volunteers read books, newspapers and other printed materials to the visually impaired.

That total was down from $11,000 in 2004 and $10,000 in 2003. Diana Frederick, development director for Audio-Reader, says this year could help determine whether the sale will continue in future years.

It’s been a challenge, though. Audio-Reader lost the free storage space it had used in previous years, so items for the sale are in storage units across the city.

But Frederick has seen enough to offer up these top (and sometimes unusual) picks for the year, in addition to all the CDs and records:

From Barbra Streisand to KISS, there's a variety of music to suit tastes at the Kansas Audio-Reader For

¢ Spiral notebooks made from album covers.

¢ Several musical instruments, which will be sold during a silent auction Friday night.

¢ Clocks made at the sale out of records.

¢ A children’s LP called “The Lion and the Princess,” with a jigsaw puzzle on the album cover.

¢ Speakers, stereos, turntables, reel-to-reel recorders and 8-track tape players.

¢ A homemade collection of 1960s and 1970s shows – complete with commercials – copied onto 100 VHS tapes.

Most albums sell for $1, and CDs go for $3.

Frederick says Friday night’s opening, which has a $7 admission fee, will include food and live music. She’s hoping this year’s sale will raise at least as much as the event did its first two years.

“We were looking for a signature event for the community,” she says. “We wanted an event that would be identified with Audio-Reader, and be appropriate for people with visual impairments.”