collectorz.com

Hi Paul,

I haven't tried the Collectorz Music Collector software yet, but I'm planning to do so in a distant future when I start ripping for good, to test it against other solutions for the Mac, including Delicious Library and CDPedia for instance.

For what I've read it seems that Music Collector Pro is the most comprehensive, so certainely worth a try.

I've not yet build up a list of features that are important to me, but I certainely would test the accuracy of the data (regarding exotic releases -- you know, these that are not in english... -- and mastering information), the vendor lock-in risk (i.e. in what format are the data stored and is it easily exportable) and the possibility to bring a copy of the data on my mobile phone of choice (to have with me when rummaging sales bins).

Sorry, can't help you more, but I'll read your findings with great interest !

ATB

Maurice

thanks mOomoO,

    i am only interested int he catalogue info not the ripping piece, as said, the HDX has done that.

I understand the collectorz software does have an ipad/iphone/android app version as part of their package

Hi Paul -

About a year ago, I looked at both of these packages, but gave up on them because of their lack of support for vinyl records (e.g., being able to quickly catalog a record by its label number).

So instead, I now just use discogs dot com.  It's easy to use, and works well for both silver and black. It also has the advantage of being accessible from anywhere you can get an internet connection. I like the fact that it is very wiki-like, and constantly growing larger and more comprehensive.  Initially, I got a lot of misses, but more recently, and thanks to the growing number of discogs contributors, I almost always get a match.  But when I don't, it is pretty easy to modify a similar release, and then submit it.

On several occasions, I have accessed discogs from a record store, and it has saved me from buying a duplicate album or CD (which is probably not important to you younger guys with fully functioning gray cells)!    Lastly, discogs might even someday become my route to market for selling...but no plans to do that anytime soon.

ATB.

Hook

If you want a simple list you can export to a csv file from Media Monkey

I do this and copy to Dropbox so I can access from my phone.  

The list is not pretty but it has saved a few duplicate purchases.

Richard

I use collectorz software on iMac and iPhone. It seems to do all I want, although the latest Mac incarnation has made it a little more difficult to search, or at least I haven't yet found the best way.

As regards vinyl it works fine artist / title search or bar code usually do it OK. Maybe some editting, if like me you want to have both sides or multi disc info.

It's not perfect but what is. iPhone/pad app allows me to at last check before buying when out and about.   

thanks guys.

hook, you are certainly correct about the little grey cells. Wouldn't mind but i can't even blame alcohol or drug abuse, just ageing years, and yes, i have a regular problem when buying cd's and then finding i already have them !

But most local purchases are from HMV, so that wont be an issue in future !!

I used Music Collector for years. It was a great little application although it wasn't unique.

Things went down hill a couple of years ago. The application became relatively useless and the on line version turned out to be a poorly implemented lash up. Things may well have moved on since then but I've long since vanished over the horizon and am not interested.. I've gone to Orange and I'm very happy with it.

Sorry. A bit obscure of me. Orange CD  Calatog. The functionality of Music Collector (when I was using it) was a bit better for my brain lay out but the Orange app just works - which is all I need. Offerings from Collectorz could be comparatively slick and usable nowadays. Having spent a long time setting up Music Collector, then being obliged to migrate to Orange and having to get that all configured, I'm not going through all that again.

I use CollectorZ Music Collector on my Mac for my vinyl collection. 

It is very buggy and flakey and the user interface is like a bad Windows 95 application. However, it's the only cataloger I know of for the Mac that has a data model that is useful/workable for classical music and jazz, so it is what I use.

I often send them bug reports, and they often reply saying they can't promise it will ever get fixed. Other things they say will get fixed, but one major usability problem that they admit to is still broken since it was released last spring.

I cannot recommend this app unless you really need to use it and nothing else will do. It is the worst app I have ever used on a Mac. If I ever find a Mac app that can handle classical music, I will jump to it.

This has caught my interest and have been looking around, I'm easily distracted when working from home!

Has anyone tried the service Racks and Tags?  Looks quite interesting.

Richard

Seems they are still down in the rut. Shame really. The PC versions were good for a few years but they seem to be struggling downwards now.

Delicious Library is very good 

+1

It's pretty useless for classical music, other than basic details. Ditto for jazz.

CDPedia come closer to being a viable option, but still lacks necessary features (like listing hierarchies for multi-movenet works, etc). For jazz a minimum requirement is to support many-many relationships for album/artist. Most catalogers are many-one.