A large media collection will keep you entertained for years to come. But is there anything more fun than watching DVDs and Blu-rays, playing games or reading books? Organize them, of course!
Like everything marie condo Fans know that getting your things in order is a great way to spend a weekend and maybe even impose a comforting sense of order on your corner of this crazy world. During the Covid pandemic, sorting my thousands of comics, from Avengers to X-Men, from 2000 AD to Preacher, not only gave me the satisfaction of putting them in an easily accessible order, but also helped me reconnect with many books. . d completely forgotten. And I removed a pleasantly thick stack of unwanted books to sell or give away to other comics fans.
This is more than just sorting your media collection in alphabetical order – this is the time for hobbyists. I’ll show you how to inventory your DVDs, Blu-rays, box sets, console games, books, comics, CDs, records, and digital albums so you have an up-to-date, easy-to-search list of your stuff. Access lots of nerdy stats about your collection and a wish list ready to fill in the gaps the next time you hit the store.
Which app to use?
There are several options for ordering and cataloging your physical media. You can list your books at good reads or track movies on mailbox Y IMDB. You can write the names of your CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays in a spreadsheet. But it’s much faster if you use an app with a barcode scanner so you can quickly scan your articles instead of laboriously typing each title. Some applications, like libib Y delicious library 3, have a barcode scanner and work with movies and TV set-top boxes, music, books and games. But I chose Collectorz Connect because they also do comics.
Collectorz offers online, desktop and mobile apps for Mac, PC, iPhone ($500 at Best Buy) and android. The app automatically loads the cover art and metadata of your articles, so you can search and sort by various details. You can share your inventory, create a wish list, and even give each item a personal rating.
A free trial allows you to test the software with a limited number of items. After that, you have to pay a variable amount for storage depending on how many comics, movies, albums, games or books you own.
How to catalog your things
Find Collectorz in the Apple iOS Store either Collectorz on Google Play and choose the corresponding app: CLZ Movies, CLZ Music, CLZ Games, CLZ Books or CLZ Comics. Open the app and create an account so you can back up your collection to the cloud and sync between mobile and desktop apps.
Grab your phone and get comfortable with your collection. To scan each item, press the plus sign on the app home page, tap “Add by Barcode”. The screen will change to a barcode scanner (your phone’s camera with a white box on the screen).
Pick up a book, comic or other item and find the barcode on the box or cover. Hold your camera so that the white box on the screen encloses the black lines in the barcode, then wait for the app to recognize the item. If the camera is having trouble focusing, open Settings and check Manual focus, which lets you tap the screen to focus. If you want, you can also turn off the beep and vibration of the barcode scanner in Settings.
When the app recognizes an item, its barcode number and title appear at the top of the screen. That item is now scanned.
Take the next item and scan the barcode. Repeat this process for each item in your collection.
Use the barcode scanner in the CLZ app to scan each book, DVD, or other item in your collection.
Richard Trenholm/CNET
Important: The items you have scanned are not saved yet, they are only temporarily stored in the application’s queue. Next, you need to add them to the full catalog. To do this, tap Continue on the scanning screen and you will see a list of items you just scanned. Hit Add to: Collection at the bottom right and they will be saved to your inventory.
It’s a good idea to scan a few items at a time and regularly add them to your collection in case the app crashes.
Sometimes the app will ask you to verify the item if it has variant covers or if the app is unsure of the barcode. If you see an entry in the queue that says Multiple Results, tap on it and choose the correct item. Then press Add to: Collection.
Back up and back up again
When you have registered some items in the catalog on the mobile app, press sync to back up your catalog to the cloud. To view and manage your collection on your computer, log in online at collectorz.com or download the corresponding desktop app for your Mac or PC. Tap sync to update your list.
In addition to syncing online, you can also save your collection as a file on your computer – just hit save on the desktop software.
look at your collection
Your collection begins to take shape. Once you’ve captured your stuff in the app, you can display the list in different ways on your phone or on your computer.
Richard Trenholm/CNET
When you’ve added a few items, you’ll see your collection take shape. In the mobile app, you can switch between a list of titles or a grid of thumbnails. In the desktop app, you can see a simple list with no thumbnails or an iTunes-style cover flow view to scroll through covers.
Your items can be arranged alphabetically or grouped by categories. For example, I can sort my comics by publisher, so I can choose to only see Marvel comics. You can also search the metadata. So if I want to find all the comics that feature, say, the Punisher, search for his name and the results will include not only issues from the Punisher and Punisher: War Journal, but also issues from any other comics the character appears in, such as Daredevil. . and Spider-Man.
Add items manually
CLZ has a comprehensive article database with cover images and metadata, but sometimes you’ll come across an article you don’t recognise. For example, it’s not always good at recognizing comics from outside the US. Happily, all you have to do is open the scan screen and type in the title to see if it’s in the Collectorz database.
If you still can’t find your item, please switch to “Scan Manually” and add the title yourself. To add your own cover image, tap the pencil at the top and choose “Use Camera.” If you want, you can also add metadata, including the editor.
Keep your collection up to date
When you buy new things, scan them with the barcode scanner, save them to your collection, and sync them with your apps to keep your collection up to date. (And don’t forget to delete anything you throw away or sell.)
Here is the thumbnail view. Keep adding more items and the screen will fill.
Richard Trenholm/CNET
Organize your movie and TV collection
Movie Connect lists your Blu-ray movies and TV set-top boxes, DVDs, or even VHS tapes. It automatically includes cast and crew details, IMDB rating, TV show episode listings, and even YouTube trailers.
Organize your music collection
Music Connect takes inventory of your records and CDs or digital albums, including track listings, record label, number of discs, and more metadata.
Organize your game collection
Game Connect lists the games you own by console, publisher, or other metadata.
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Organize your book collection
Book Connect lists your books and they can be searched by author, publisher, or even page count.
Organize your comic collection
Comic Connect categorizes your comics and also allows you to create a pull list for the next time you head to your local comic book store. Other options for cataloging your collection include the traditional ComicBase for Windows PC, which has a mobile web app but not available for Mac. Note that CLZ is not an app that can read comics on your phone; To read comics, try a digital comic reader like Comixology.
Additional characteristics
Now that you have successfully cataloged your collection, you can also use several additional features. Here are some things they can do:
- Keep track of the items you have loaned to your friends.
- Take notes on your articles.
- Track the date you purchased each item.
- Give each item a star rating.
- Record the condition and value.
- Publicly share a list of items you want to sell.
- Nerd with statistics. For example, you can find out how many items you own by clicking Database Totals and Tools. (I have 1,576 comics, totaling 46,873 pages.) Or you can click Stats in the bottom right to see detailed graphs and pie charts that break down your collection stats. (I have 336 comics with Judge Dredd in them, but only 18 with Superman.)
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