Recommend (Music) Collection Database Programs

[katnapz]

I don't know, maybe people are too cheap to pay for a decent program so I suppose my question should be, does anyone have any inputs on freeware programs out there for cataloging ones collections? I'm not sure if I can strictly say for audio as that wouldn't account for lossless (meaning data) as well.
It's not only frustrating for the tradee, but it's gotta be frustrating for the trader (and repeat) to answer questions over and over about setlists, venues, etc.... I'd think people would want to save themselves the hassle.

If not freeware, howabout crippleware that will at least allow a person to do the basics?

I'm bias towards the program I use which is called "WhereIsIt?" Great program....I don't know what happens after 30 days as I have a registered copy, but if I remember from a couple years back I think it only limits the size of each database or something like that.

Here's some points that I think are important for a program. Feel free to jump in:
-Saves manual data entry by pulling info from the CDDB/FreeDB for audio (I'd say about a 60-70% success rating with my silver boots)
-Imports your folder names for lossless shows so no double typing
-Will import the info files that come with lossless shows (text format)
-Will import graphics into thumbnails (and actually will show these pictures in larger format during browsing, depending on your configuration) This is great "eye candy" to show off when your friends come over and they browse through your collection...online
-Highly configurable on the info you want to import and export
-Exports to a bunch of formats such as Excel, Access, HTML, CSV, TXT.....
-Will export the thumbnails into HTML for viewing (see my DVD trade page)
-Has optional plug-ins...some of which will import details on FLAC (and APE) files such as compression, mono/stereo. Others allow you to see the specs on avi's and such
-Allows seperate catalogs to be combined into one "super" listing of all formats...this is nice if you want to keep a listing of your commercial audio/video, boot audio/video, but want to see "everything" in your collection at one time now and then.
-And as a bonus allows you to import details from the IMDB on commercial movies such as overview/artwork/reviews/etc. I wish it would grab more details about the vobs on a disc like it will with .avi's and such but maybe in the future...
-It also has a downloadable free view so others can see your collection the same way you do.
-I don't trust on line storage of my collection...I don't know who's going to pull the plug when (although STG wasn't a data collection site, it had a good backlog of useful info that sure disappeared fast... ) so I like having my info in my hands...just remember to back-up, back-up!
-Optional creation of crc check files (sorta, but not sorta like an MD5)

Obviously, LP's and tapes are still the old fashion way of by hand, but there's really no other way with them so it's a bit of a lost point. I do know there are specialized programs for LP's with fields for label, serial, year...but as long as you're consistant with your own inputs I think it works fine (I use artist_date_location_title (if there is one)_format)

It'll also create databases of your programs/videos (avi, mpg, yes mp3's)...just about anything on disc.

Anyways...sorry to toot the horn on the program I use...I really like it though.

I'd like to hear what else is out there that someone who doesn't want to spend much $$ or time can run with if it exists. Maybe this will help somebody out there get organized. Plus I'd like to see what else is available as I'm always looking for something new(er) and better(er)

Below is a shot I took of WhereIsIt for posting in a thread a couple weeks back that I still have on my computer....thought I'd just go ahead and put it up here to give an idea of what it looks like. The yellow box hovering over the top appears when you hold your mouse over a folder.

[RainDawg]

Katz,
I've been using something call Music Collector for many years now, and it does ALMOST everything I want it to. After quite a bit of massaging, the database has been configured to handle everything, including store-bought and lossless bootlegs. In the "format" field, I put FLAC, CD, 33LP, etc, and fill in the extra data from there.

It also has the ability to write custom XML output templates so that you can create lists from the information inside the database. My tradelist, at www.audiophilia.net, will show you a quick example of what I was able to do with a tradelist export, but you could do any number of different things were you inclined enough to struggle through the XML (these templates took me many hours to get right; it's not exactly easy).

I've plugged this software to many people here and on TTD before, and many of them have given it a try and given up. It's easy to do simple catalogging, but when you try to do very fine nit-picking modifications and work with the output templates like I've done, it can become somewhat time consuming. My only complaint is that they have a piss-poor selection of opetions for importing albums into the software, and the best you can do is to grab data from a cdplayer.ini file. This means that for each lossless album, there is going to be quite a bit of manual inputting of data.

Anyway, check out the demo at www.collectorz.com. The full price is around $30 (or it was when I bought it) and is well-worth the money. I can help you get started if you'd like, showing you some of my templates and whatnot.

I am sure that given a year or so of time, I could write a much better program than this. But for what's out there right now, this is as good as I've found.

I've plugged this software before here and on STG, and most of the people who tried it

[katnapz]

Oh yeah,...I remember this program from a couple years ago when I was sampling what's out there before. I'll have to check out the latest version and see how it works now days. Thanks for the link to it.

Also, I'm going to post a note in your thread from a couple weeks back where you were looking for a freeware computer, I did find some freeware programs out there on a site I used to go to all the time....forgot about it until last night.
Go to www.nonags.com for a bunch of free programs for about anything....from the front page go into the free programs section, then select the site closest to your geographical location and then on the left side choose "Software Menu". Under the catagory "Disc" is a link for "Disk Cataloging" and there's a couple listed in there. Haven't had a chance to try any of them yet but maybe this will help some of the cheapskates out there....how's that line go? The secret is to bang the rocks together everyone