Software to catalogue classical music collection
Wed, Jul 6 2011, 3:11PM
#2
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Unfortunately none of commercial databases for music collections that I'm aware of are made for classical music - which means no dedicated field for "composer", "conductor", "soloist" etc.
I use two things -
- For mp3's I use Media Monkey. This is similar to iTunes but it's much better at handling large collections, it has more fields (including, for example, "composer", "conductor" and "lyricist"), it has user-definable fields and you can do proper database searches (e.g., "all symphonies composed between 1900 and 1950 and conducted by Leonard Bernstein"). There's a free version but the paid for version (very modestly priced) is more powerful.
- For other things I use FileMaker Pro. This is very easy to use, powerful and of course if you build it yourself you can get it just as you want. It will import files from other databases including Excel - I tried this import recently with some files from Lotus Approach, a long-dead database, and it worked splendidly.
I hope this helps.
Fri, Sep 2 2011, 4:26PM
#3
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I've stumbled across this discussion (and site) and found them both interesting.
I have in the past wanted to catalogue both my CDs and my sheet music and agree with creativeoneuk that filemaker is probably one of the most manageable and flexible tools (more sophisticated than Excel and once you have set it up, easier to enter stuff and have it automatically sorted).
I gave up cataloguing my CDs when I switched from listening to the CDs to listening to the music stored on my computer. (The CDs are my treasured archive, though increasingly I buy on the internet and have no CD).
The main problem about my strategy is that I have to use iTunes. I'm surprised that nobody so far has ranted about how absolutely awful it is. Fancy having to rely on software whose basic currency is a song. There is absolutely no way to make the software work efficiently for classical music, where (for me at least), the starting point is composer. And the lack of hierarchical classification means that finding something under Bach is a nightmare.
I've sort of overcome all this by having a folder for each composer, subfolders of categories of music (e.g. chamber) under the busier composers, and then playlists for individual works or groups of works.
It is far from satisfactory and gets even worse when I put my iPod in the car. The car music software is even cruder!
Yet, yet... my CD database was always out of date (a 'tomorrow' task after buying a new CD) and I can usually find what I want to play (or whether I have a particular work) relatively fast with my tacky iTunes database.
Sat, Sep 3 2011, 3:51AM
#4
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
A lot of great suggestions, but I still haven't found one that is practical for a large collections [6K+]:
unfortunately Orange, CATtraxx & musicnizer are Windows only
Collectorz seems easy to use [and the support folks are very nice], but it's not really classical-friendly, i.e., it lists every track of every CD - not good if you have multiple recordings of Vivaldi concerti
Readerware has a horrible user interface
Delicious is very cool and easy to use - you merely hold the CD's barcode up to the built-in iSight camera, and it quickly reads it and enters it into the database; unfortunately, it lists only by album, not composer or work -- again, not classical-friendly.
(Sigh...)
Hopefully someone out there knows of another option.
Thanks in advance.
Thu, Oct 6 2011, 1:06PM
#5
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
You can try a program that i made initially for myself to catalog my music collection. You can find it at: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/File-CD-DVD-Catalog/GSoft4U-Music-Co...
I hope it would be useful to any music collector.
Comments are also welcomed in my site.
Fri, Oct 14 2011, 3:28PM
#6
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I run Classifile which was sold in the back pages of Gramophone years ago. It is wonderfl to use. The creator has since retired and I am looking now to transfer the database to another computer, but have no instructions on how to do so. Does anyone remember getting instructions on how transfers might be done? The Help file says to reload from the Classifile website but that is now closed
Sat, Oct 15 2011, 9:22AM
#7
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Just copy the c:\classifile data folder from the old computer to the new one (must be identically named, and in the c: drive). When you first run it, from Tools > add/change collection your collections will be listed there for you to choose from. Totally agree it is wonderful to use.
Sat, Oct 15 2011, 4:42PM
#8
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Thanks but it fails to work with an error message that a uFeed component is missing. I have a nagging memory that the creator of this issued transfer instructions before he retired but I cannot find them.
Sun, Oct 16 2011, 1:45PM
#9
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
You just reminded me - that on my Windows 7 system, Classifile didn't run at first - came up with error message about some objects missing. I now remember I had to Google to find how to solve that. I did succeed. Unfortunately I cannot find the instructions to share with you. My (vague) recollection it that it involves having to download those dll files from the internet, and then having to issue a command to add some entries to the registry. It wasn't too complicated and it did work for me.
Sun, Apr 8 2012, 2:23PM
#10
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I have a collection that includes about 400 cassettes, 200 Classical LPs, 100 Blues (mainly Chess) LPs, 50 jazz LPs, 100 jazz cds, and about 3000 Classical cds. I'd like to organize this heap, and was thinking of trying to get software to do so. That's what lead me to this post.
I am a bit daunted by the work ahead of me and so am trying to make a good choice of what software to use.
Are there any more testaments of experience with the MusiChi Suite? It seems appealing to me to have the same platform for ripping, organizing, and playback.
I welcome advice.
Sun, Apr 8 2012, 6:10PM
#11
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Are you planning to digitise the whole lot? Indeed, the work is daunting. If you are - you probably know this already - you would need one of those USB turntable/tape decks to digitise the LPs and tapes and software to clean up the resulting files (usually bundled with the device).
Wed, Oct 17 2012, 3:18PM
#12
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I was wondering whether or not anyone here has tried the most recent version of Collectorz? I was thinking of purchasing their "Pro" program. I was wondering how easy it is to add things like the names of multiple performers on an album or track and also how well one can sort including multiple fields or things like time periods or country, etc.?
Best wishes,
Petra
p.s. I noted some of the earlier comments here about it and didn't know how much their program has changed--hopefully improved since then.
p.p.s. I own a fairly recent Mac.
Fri, Oct 19 2012, 7:00PM
#13
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
A lot of great suggestions, but I still haven't found one that is practical for a large collections [6K+]:
unfortunately Orange, CATtraxx & musicnizer are Windows only
Collectorz seems easy to use [and the support folks are very nice], but it's not really classical-friendly, i.e., it lists every track of every CD - not good if you have multiple recordings of Vivaldi concerti
Readerware has a horrible user interface
Delicious is very cool and easy to use - you merely hold the CD's barcode up to the built-in iSight camera, and it quickly reads it and enters it into the database; unfortunately, it lists only by album, not composer or work -- again, not classical-friendly.
(Sigh...)
Hopefully someone out there knows of another option.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Nazlo! I was just going to ask all here whether or not anyone has tried Delicious Monster (I also have a Mac). At the moment, it appears that Version 2 is the latest. Do they provide regular updates BTW? Which version do you have if I might ask? I sent them an email recently with some questions as to available fields for classical music and as to how well one can sort (and also with some thoughts as to fields that I would like to see--if they don't already have them).
Also, I just wanted to clarify that you can't sort by composer? As in to see which CDs you have with which works? I know that you can do that in iTunes, so that seems rather surprising that they wouldn't have at least that basic option.
Best wishes,
Petra
Sat, Nov 17 2012, 6:32PM
#14
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I am wondering if anyone has experience with finding software for 'very large' collections?
I realize it has a free trial. ...I'm attracted to the fact that it includes a player, ripper, tagger, and library manager.
My caution, is that there don't seem to be many reviews posted and would expect there to be if it was really good.
Sat, Nov 17 2012, 10:57PM
#15
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I am wondering if anyone has experience with finding software for 'very large' collections?
I realize it has a free trial. ...I'm attracted to the fact that it includes a player, ripper, tagger, and library manager.
My caution, is that there don't seem to be many reviews posted and would expect there to be if it was really good.
Hello! I haven't tried that one before. I have a Mac, so am somewhat limited by the programs that I can use. After looking into some different programs, I decided to use Apple's Numbers program (their version of Excel). Works pretty well (I'm self-teaching). Am probably doing some things wrong, but have come up with a pretty workable spreadsheet. Though I might give in and just get a scanner and do it that way and pass on some of the "refinements" as it's rather time consuming.
Do you have a PC or a Mac? And does this progam have versions for both?
And good luck!
Best wishes,
Petra
I’d recommend a program that I use for myself, Musicnizer.
It’s a collection organizer for music libraries of any size. All processes of
adding and operating with albums are automated so this software saves a lot of
my time. The interface is pretty simple too. It’s a useful tool that downloads
all necessary information from various online databases and saves it, forming a
music collection catalogue. It has all sorting and searching capabilities that
I need and can even add albums by the barcode on their boxes, using a webcam.
I’m using this software with a great pleasure and recommend
it to others.
PS: I’ve downloaded it here http://www.musicnizer.com