SW for tracking CD collection? (1 Viewer)

[Greg_R]

Any suggestions for PC software for tracking my CD collection? Requirements include:

- Each disc must have a unique number

- Track information and album covers need to be downloaded (CDDB, Amazon, etc.)

- Ease of entry a big plus

- Ability to link to existing mp3 files a big plus

- Additional downloads a plus (liner notes, song lyrics, etc.)

 

[Paul McElligott]

Music Collector.

 

[nolesrule]

OrangeCD is another good one.

 

[Julian Reville]

That Music Collector bundle (with scanner, book collector, movie collector) looks interesting.

Any idea how long this company has been around and how long it is likely to last? Just my luck to buy something that will be out of business in 6 months.

 

[Paul McElligott]

They've been around for a quite a while. I remember hearing of them several years ago.

 

[Greg_R]

I downloaded the CD collector software. So far, adding albums has been semi-easy. Unfortunately I do not have a barcode scanner so I have to stick each disc in the drive for it to be recognized. Then the computer downloads info from the internet. I usually have to download twice (once for the title and a 2nd time for Amazon / album covers). They have a good user support forum so maybe there are additional tricks that I'm not aware of.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Maybe, it's just me but both of those programs don't begin to serve my purposes.

I have closing in on 2500 CDs and the idea of inserting each one in to my drive is absolutely assanine. Music Collectorz is OK, but you can't add more than one disc at a time (AHHHHHH).

I looked at CATtraxx, but that one is also an insert the disc or completely enter everything manually. Doesn't a system exist that is similar to DVD Profiler? Their method for adding titles works quite well.

 

[Greg_R]

Eric,
Music Collector allows you to add multiple albums at the same time. You bring up the non-wizard interface and then you can scan bar codes or have a CD drive scan the CD (their changer can scan multiple CDs at once). You then search various DBs for matches. Up to this point, it's all automated. Now you have to find the appropriate match (sometimes you need to tweak the titles to match in Amazon so you can find the cover art). In general, it's similar to DVD profiler but not quite as easy due to the multiple database issue. They are building up their own database (which has very good info / art) but that just started a few months ago.
I'm in the same boat as you (~1k titles) and have been adding 50-75 CDs a night. I'm thinking about getting a barcode reader to speed things up...

 

[Greg_R]

UPDATE:
I've been using Music Collectorz for 1-2 weeks and have entered most of my CDs. I purchased a Cue Cat scanner for $5 online and that has helped quite a bit. Here's how a typical scan session works:
- Click on add discs and then add by scanning. You must place the CD in the drive if you want track length information. You can scan multiple CDs before "searching" for them.
- "Search" for the titles. You can look in the Collectorz database, CD.ini or various Amazon search engines. About 1/2 my albums were found on both the Collectorz and Amazon sites (giving me all the info and album covers).
- For each questionable entry, you can click on each entry and it will give you "close matches" which you can select. This matches another 25% of the entries (leaving you with 1 in 4 mismatches). Most of those entries are found in the collectorz database but are not found in the Amazon database.
- At this point I add the titles. The program grabs all the info (very similar to DVD profiler at this point).
- Now I go back and tweak each entry (artist name spellings / full name, orchestra names, etc.). I also try and "update" the album and change the name to see if Amazon can find the cover art. I'll add the barcode (via scanner or manual entry) and see if Amazon can find it then. If not, I use Google images to find the cover art (manual download and add). I have 5-6 albums out of 300 that didn't have cover art _anywhere_ (i.e. I have to scan the covers).
I spent a good 1.5 days and got 300 albums added (with all entries, categories and names tweaked to my liking). It would be great if I could import all the information from my MP3 ID3 tags.
In general, I think the Collectorz SW is pretty good. Once more entries are added to their database it will become more DVDProfiler-ish. The DB is fairly new so it will take a few more months to get up to speed. I wonder what Kaliedoscape and other high-end programs use to get cover art...

 

[Johnny Angell]

Greg, do you still like Collectorz for your CDs? I'm considering getting the Book version and I wonder if anyone is using it? I know I've got a Cuecat hanging around. I wonder how easy it is to get up and running the the Collectorz software?

 

[Johnny Angell]

I've downloaded the trial version of the Books program. I'm just adding with the isbn number, which is pretty easy to do. I'm leaning towards liking this program though I've noticed a few shortcomings things.

One, books default to having been read. It is necessary to uncheck that for books not read.

Two, for all the information it downloads, it apparently can't determine genre, that you have to do your self. This despite the fact there is something called Subject which has been prefilled for at least a couple of books. I.E. Murder - Investigation (a non-fiction crime book) or Indian Mythology - Fiction (one of those horror occult books).

Three, there is apparently no built-in category to indicate whether the book is to be kept after reading. There are some user defined fields for which this could be used, but this seems an obvious category to build into the system.

Still, I kinda like it.

 

[Greg_R]

Overall I liked the SW. The auto-search for CDs is a bit rough (some ISBNs didn't exist, title names were very finicky, etc.). However, they are slowly building up their database and things are improving. I recently completely rebuilt my machine and lost my DB... ouch! Some sort of web backup (ala DVD profiler) would have been VERY nice. I am debating whether I should still use this or use iTunes or Windows media player (in Vista)... both have album art views and I can use an empty tag field for my database number (comments field, etc.). Foobar2k will then allow me to build any display / front end I want.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I like the Book Collector so far. Will test it out a little more.

johnny

 

[Johnny Angell]

The Book Collector looks better and better. It can import the isbn's from a text file. I've ordered a modified usb cuecat, which should simplify imputting the isbn's.

 

[Will_C]

I was wondering if anyone had anything new to add regarding the Collectorz software. I have been considering buying a bundle including the Pro versions of the Movie, Book and Comic Book collctions. Considering the proportions to which each collection has grown, I thought it might be more convenient to also get a bar code scanner. If anyone has an opinion on the latest version of Collectorz, please let me know. Thanks.