49 Comments for Collectorz.com à la carte!

• Jan 26 2010 12:24pm
  Jay Jani (Rising Star)
  Does the Collectorz.com book collector allow for e-Books, Audiobooks (links to PDFs, CHMs, Folders containing MP3s) etc. ? Is the barcode scanner also available on discount of 75% on the day ?
• Jan 27 2010 5:04am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @J Jani, Book Collector is designed for cataloging physical books but is also perfectly fit to organize your audio and ebooks.
  There is an eBook File data field for linking to ebooks on your harddrive. For audio books you can use the Links tab to link to the files. The barcode scanner is not on sale, only the Pro editions of our software.
• Jan 27 2010 2:12pm
  Steve Newport (Visitor)
  Hello,
  
  it seems that you don't plan to upgrade MP3 Collector anymore and put all the functionallity in Music Collector. Are there any major differences or features that are only in MP3 Collector (and will not added to Music Collector)?
  
  I'm also upgraded to Book Collector Pro almost a year ago. Do you plan to release a new major version in the next 12 month (or what is your upgrade policy) so it would make sence to use the discount for as kind of upgrade protection? Thanks for making these great products.
• Jan 27 2010 10:01pm
  Stefan Hauber (Visitor)
  Just visited your website...
  
  This offer is not ONE tool containing all these Collectorz.com subtools for administrating all the books, games, for one price, but different tools, with EACH one ist $12,50. Correct?
  
  I'm not so sure, because on your webpage each separate program cost's about 25$ for the standard and 39$ for the pro version...
  
  So perhaps there is a bundle of all these collectorz-tools in one for 49.95$ regular price (as noted as list-price in this offer here). But I did can't detect it on the your website...
• Jan 27 2010 10:26pm
  Stefan Hauber (Visitor)
  My special interest is the book-version:
  
  (1)
  I already have a list of books entered in another program, with which I can export the ISBN-Number: one number at each line.
  Can I import these numbers into your application?
  
  Would be great, if this would be possible.
  
  With that it would also be possible to use a dictaphone to speak the ISBN-Numbers to, retype it afterwards with an editor (without the need to stop it every time a number is typed into your program (because waiting of a result would probably need some secs)) and afterwards let your program import these numbers and get all the information for itself....
  
  (2)
  Most books I have are not in english. So: Does CollectorZ also get Non-English book information?
  
  (3)
  When buying a barcode-scanner: Is there something it needs to be able to work with your program? E.g. a certain protocol?
  
  Thank you...
• Jan 28 2010 2:49am
  Mica D. (Visitor)
  I have just tried your software an I'm quite impressed.
  
  I entered some books as try, but not all were found. My question: Do you check only one internet-site pro language? For Germany, I suppose this is only Amazon.de. So when I entered a ISBN, e.g. 9783460319455 I got no hit, same as in Amazon.de. Other sites, e.g. www.BOL.de instead have this book.
  
  Do you plan to do more website-checks than just this one.
  
  Perhaps it would even be possible to allow a custom PlugIn for additional sites?
  
  ~~~~~~~~~
  
  In Amazon it is possible to offer books for selling. Some books are very cheap - I've seen some for 1 cent! - but some are quite rare and so high-priced. I think it could be interesting to get additional info about the lowest 2nd hand price. (E.g. the lowest lowest price ever, the highest lowest price ever and the current lowest price (including the dates)). This would quickly help to find out, if a book, just capturing dust, would be interesting to be offered...
• Jan 28 2010 3:55am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Steve. We have just released a major upgrade of Music Collector version 9. This version introduces the catalog and tag music files (MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, OGG, etc..) on album level. For an overview of features I would advice to install the trial version of both Music and MP3 Collector to see which product suits your collection best.
  For now we have no plans to work on MP3 Collector, our other software titles are first on the project list.
  
  We do plan to release version 7 upgrades for Movie and Book Collector later this year. Unfortunately you can't use the current Bits special for a future upgrade purchase. Of course we always email our customers a discounted upgrade link once a new major upgrade gets releasaed.
  You can find our upgrade policy on our Support pages and included in the license agreement of our software.
• Jan 28 2010 4:05am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Stefan. The offer is for ONE tool, each Pro software title can be purchased with 75% discount for $12,50.
  The full prices are $29.95 for a Standard lcense, $49.95 for a Pro. You quoted the prices after Mail-in Rebate, that is another promotion we have running now.
  
  If you want more then 1 Collectorz.com title, you have to place a second order, or third :-) That is why we called it à la carte!
  
  As for your Book Collector questions.
  Yes you can import an existing collection into our software but it has its limitations. More info can be found on the Book Collector support pages.
  It is also possible to import an ISBN list from a text file.
  When entering non-English books make sure to select the corresponding Region in the Add Books Automatically screen. For example, for French books, set your primary Region to France. Please test this in the trial version, that way you know how it works before you decide to order on Feb First or not.
  
  Most scanners will work but need additional wedge software.
  Wedge software is scanner specific. If you have not received this kind of software with your scanner, ask the manufacturer of the scanner for it.
  When using a different scanner, there is no need to initialize it in our software. The menu option Tools/Find scanner is for our supported scanners only. When scanning just make sure you're cursor is in the barcode box when scanning the code.
• Jan 28 2010 4:15am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Mica. See my reply above to Stefan.
  When entering non-English books make sure to select the corresponding Region in the Add Books Automatically screen. For example, for German books, set your primary Region to Germany. Please test this in the trial version, that way you know how it works before you decide to order on Feb First or not.
  Several libraries are included in the Collectorz.com book database and we are contineously improving the book searches by adding new online sources.
• Jan 28 2010 12:37pm
  Mica D. (Visitor)
  @Sytske
  Yes, I had set my primary region to Germany.
  
  ....we are contineously improving the book searches by adding new online sources
  Good to know. I would (beside Amazon.de) recommend Bol.de and Libri.de. It would be nice to be able to see from insdide the program which web-sources are checked.
  
  I'm quite sure, i'll buy, because it has quite a lot nice things inside. And my annotations were more a proposal, than a critisisme.
• Jan 29 2010 5:14am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  hey Mica, only with your help can we improve our software!
• Jan 30 2010 2:41am
  Stefan Hauber (Visitor)
  Thanks for the former answers.
  
  In the meantime some additional questions arises:
  
  Are your programs (quite) completely in a proprietarial format or do they allow interactivity with other programs?
  
  (1) Do your database is a standard-one (e.g. dBase, Paradox, ...), i.e. can it be accessed directly from outside? Or is it in a completely proprietary format?
  
  (2) Is it possible to import all of a single book's data from a file, e.g. a text, HTML, XML-file?
  Checking the trial-version I found an export of the database in the XML-format.
  But no import of it. I just found an import of a very rudimentary way (only ISBN, Author, Title). Will this still come in this major version?
  
  (3) Can the database-storage-directory be customized?
  
  In my system I keep the datas and the programs on different partitons, so it is possible to backup/restore them separetely. So to return to a secure system-state I just have to restore complete partition C: without destroying my current user-data. With your database on C:\... this won't be possible (without inconvenience)
  
  (4) On your help-pages I found out, your program does access not access directly to the sources (any more), but exclusively to your Collectorz.com database for getting information about the books, movies, etc.
  
  So does this way of access keep older versions (i.e. the current one) up to date with a perhaps changing page-format of the sources like Amazon when a new upgrade appears? That would be a big plus... Please confirm...
  
  On the other hand, if your firm does no longer exist - might occur nowadays... - there is no way to get data from online sources.
  
  (5) You said for Collectorz Books and Movies a new upgrade is about to come this year.
  And today's buyers are NOT entitled to get it for free. That's not so nice. I've read former buyers were entitled to get your software with lifetime free upgrades.
  I think you should reconsider this... One year free upgrades is common habit.
  What upgrade-price do you have in mind? (50% off to 49$ would result in nearly the same current (discounted?) full price it is offered on your website (39$)
  
  Thank you...
• Jan 30 2010 1:09pm
  Mary Wilson (Superstar)
  I collect Teddy Bears. Would this work with this?
• Jan 31 2010 4:51am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Mary. We don't offer a specific teddy bear collector but I know from other customers that they use Photo Collector for other collections.
  Just install the trial version and see if this works for you:
  http://www.collectorz.com/photo/
  The trial is limited to 500 photos so you can really try before you decide to buy.
• Jan 31 2010 5:02am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Stefan.
  The answers to your questions.
  
  1. You can export your database to text, HTML, XML or to your iPhone/iTouch or classic iPod. And of course print lists any way you want. For Book Collector you can also print labels, using one of the included Avery templates.
  
  2. Our software offers a limited import feature. For more info, visit our Support pages and search on 'import'. You can test it in the trial version by importing say 25 books.
  
  3. Yes you can overrule the standard file locations.
  
  4. The Collectorz.com databases for movies, music, books, games and comics are the core of our business. As you can imagine our database admins work on them full time.
  We have no plans to stop with Collectorz.com.
  
  5. We offer a 50% discount on upgrades to new major versions. Minor upgrades are of course free of charge.
• Feb 1 2010 1:52am
  Thomas Duntze (Visitor)
  Hello Sytske,
  on your webpage there is no mentioning (at first glance) of your scanner working with comic book collector. I assume it does. Does it?
  Is the scanner shipped from US or from your European location if ordered in Europe?
  I assume, all products ordered via bitsdujour will be eligible for updates within the current main version number and then are granted the same upgrade options to the next version as "normally" purchased versions.
  Thanks for a great product (tested it already a few years back).
  Thomas from Berlin, Germany
• Feb 1 2010 2:24am
  Thomas Duntze (Visitor)
  Three more questions:
  Is the Flic Barcode Scanner still available or is it replaced by the new scanner on your webpage?
  Most important: on how many PCs may I install the software. I use a regular PC for everything and a netbook for tasks that require mobility. So could I use the notebook to aquire and check data say in the library room and then transfer the database (i.e. the changes) to the PC?
  Can I synchronize two databases or can I create a new database on the netbook each time and import the data into the main database?
  Thanks for reading
  Thomas from Berlin, Germany
• Feb 1 2010 3:42am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Thomas.
  Comic Collector does not support the use of barcode scanners. There are two reasons for this.
  Adding comics from our online Comic database can be done by series, which makes adding comics a lot faster than scanning each comic.
  Just use the menu Edit | Add Comics Automatically.
  Secondly, publishers tend to re-use barcodes, so that a barcode no longer is unique. This makes finding a comic by barcode more difficult.
  
  The scanners are shipped from our warehouse in Portland OR, USA only.
  
  Our standard license policy applies to today's Bits du Jour special too. Minor upgrades for free, major upgrades are for a fee but existing customers always get a personal discount of 50% on the full price.
  
  The Flic scanner is replaced by the Opticon scanner. This is a more robust scanner, a native USB device and can hold 10,000 codes per session.
  
  You can use 1 license on 2 PCs for personal use only, that is no problem. For transferring data or sharing the database, please visit our Support pages online for full instructions.
• Feb 1 2010 3:44am
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  I do not understand the difference between Music Collector and MP3 Collector.
  
  is Music Collector a superset of MP3 Collector (i.e. does it contain all the functionality of MP3 Collector program within it)??
• Feb 1 2010 4:18am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @JK, thanks for your question.
  Music and MP3 Collector are 2 different things.
  Music Collector is about cataloging your physical albums. With the new version 9 you can also catalog and tag music files (MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, OGG, etc..) on album level.
  MP3 Collector is about organizing a huge digital music collection by scanning your PC.
  
  Just look at your personal music collection and decide for yourself. Install the trial version of Music and MP3 Collector and see what works best for your music.
• Feb 1 2010 6:08am
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  I have installed the trial versions.
  
  In the interest of saving time, and not requiring us to re-invent the wheel here, could you just please explain what if any capabilities are in the MP3 Collector which are not in the Music Collector program?
  
  I have a large number of physical albums and also a large number of digital music files, some but not all of which are from the physical discs. Does Music Collector fail to accomplish anything that MP3 collector can do?
• Feb 1 2010 6:17am
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  I had Music Collector scan a folder and it found 5,900 music files. Now it asks me if I want to add them "as an album."
  
  ??
  
  Obviously, 5,900 tracks cannot be from one album. There are over 500 albums in that collection. What sense does this make? If I have to go through 5900 tracks and select 10-15 at a time to add as a single album, this will take many hours to do. The track names (plus ID3 info) already identifies the albums from which the tracks came. Why can the program not be smart enough to use that information to add them as 500+ albums, instead of a single album?
• Feb 1 2010 6:24am
  Michael R (Visitor)
  On the buy-screen there is the possbility to get a scanner (cue-cat) for about 30$ (including sending): I did not find a description of this scanner. Is there a webpage describing it?
  
  My most important questions:
  
  Does it have a USB-Port? Does it simulate keyboard-entries? Is it possible to make it simulate the ENTER-key after it sends the barcode itself? Is it restricted to some kind of barcodes?
  
  What is the advantage of the much more expensive other scanner you offer?
• Feb 1 2010 6:52am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Michael. We offer 2 scanners, the CueCat (simple swiping scanner) and the Opticon OPN-2001 laser scanner (on the shelf scanning).
  The specs for each scanner can be found here:
  http://www.collectorz.com/barcode-scanner.php
  We offer scanner support in Movie, Music, Book and Game Collector.
  Each scanner has a USB connection. The CueCat is plug & play, the Opticon needs drivers. Install instructions for both scanners can be found on our support pages. You can also view the scanners in action on the home pages, for example for Movie Collector:
  http://www.collectorz.com/movie/
  Scroll down and click on movie 2 and 3.
• Feb 1 2010 6:55am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @JK, and that is exactly the difference between Music and MP3 Collector :-)
  As said, Music Collector is album based, MP3 Collector is file based. If you have loads of separate tracks, MP3 Collector is better suited for your music. However, if you have all your music on CD then Music Collector is a better solution.
  
  You have now scanned your PC and found 5900 tracks. I would say stick to MP3 Collector.
• Feb 1 2010 8:44am
  Howard Beard (Visitor)
  Long-time user of both the Book Collector and Movie Collect products and couldn't be happier with the software. I do not see the MP3 collector listed as one of the discounted products, is it possible to purchase it at the listed discount with this promotion?
• Feb 1 2010 9:00am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Howard. Sorry, MP3 Collector is not available for today's Bits promotion. But if you contact me at contact at collectorz dot com I will send you instructions for a custom deal.
• Feb 1 2010 10:00am
  Frank Nicodem (Visitor)
  2 questions. First, I had a trial of book collector so I was curious in order to keep the work I have done in there, is it better to "upgrade" from inside the program or to get the discount do I need to buy through here (and will that save my work?). Secondly, part of the reason I want this (and why i was hesitant to pay full price) was because i mainly just wanted the ipod book collectorz app...which of course is not currently available. Is that coming back?
• Feb 1 2010 10:20am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Frank. Just buy a Book Collector license through Bits and enter it in your trial. You'll see your already entered books directly available, there is no need to start all over again.
  Make sure to upgrade to the latest version though, Book Collector is now at version 6.4.2. You can check it in menu HelpCheck for Update.
  
  Clz Books, the iPhone add on will be back yes! Our aim is for 5 to 6 weeks from now.
• Feb 1 2010 10:42am
  Frank Nicodem (Visitor)
  Thanks, Sytske. I assume the upgrade from what I have to 6.4.2 will be included in this price or free after paying it? (whereas, if I understand correctly, version 7 would NOT be included but would be additional, later). So if everything I want is available, no reason to wait until version 7? As far as the ipod app, I know the issue was due to amazon data, etc. but that's all on the back end, correct? when the app is back up, it should function 100% the same as before as basically an extension of the desktop application that you can take with you?
• Feb 1 2010 10:50am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Frank. There is no need to wait, just purchase your license and enter it in your copy of Book Collector.
  
  Clz Books will work like a charm again once it returns to the App Store.
• Feb 1 2010 12:52pm
  Ash Goyal (Visitor)
  I have a huge collection of foreign DVD's (Indian, Bollywood), many of which are not recognized when I enter the barcode or the title in the search. These movies are available in the IMDB database so somewhere there is a disconnect in your software and IMDB. Are there plans to fix this so I do not have to maintain a separate IMDB login account just for my Hindi movies collection? Thanks
• Feb 1 2010 1:06pm
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Ash: Movie Collector uses our own Collectorz.com movie database for movie database and barcode lookups. It does not use IMDb (IMDb cannot be searched by barcode anyway :-) ).
  I recommend searching by Title instead.
  
  Even if our online database does not have your movie, you can still add it manually. In that case, you can submit your manually entered data back to Collectorz.com, so that other owners of that movie can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
• Feb 1 2010 8:38pm
  Howard Beard (Visitor)
  Thanks for the response, Systke. I didn't really need the MP3 Collector but I figured for the price I couldn't go wrong. Went ahead and picked up the Music Collector anyway.
• Feb 1 2010 9:16pm
  Good Guy (Visitor)
  I wanted to ask if Movie Collector can catalog VHS video tapes as well as DVDs and Blu-Rays?
• Feb 1 2010 10:21pm
  Howard Beard (Visitor)
  Yes, it will catalog VHS, CDi, DAT, VideoCD, LaserDisc and a number of other formats.
• Feb 1 2010 10:26pm
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  How to reach you for that "deal" on MP3 Collector?
• Feb 1 2010 10:28pm
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  Thanks for reply, but to "stick to MP3 Collector" would not meet my needs: I have far more than 5900 digital music tracks; that was only one folder branch. As I said, many of those digitized tracks are rips from physical albums that I own. So I need to be able to catalog my physical albums as well as my MP3s.
  
  So, sorry, but I have more questions about Music vs MP3 Collector.
  
  1. Again, I cannot understand why Music Collector cannot use the album info which is embedded in my MP3 files (in filenames and/or in ID3 tags) to parse the scanned tracks into separate albums. It is obviously incorrect for it to treat 5900 tracks as belonging to a single album, and it is a huge amount of unnecessary work to manually enter each album's tracks separately.
  1a. What is your rationale for this?
  1b. Do you plan to change this and give Music Collector the same functionality as MP3 Collector? (Particularly since you have ceased development of MP3 Collector.)
  
  2. Users have collections of MUSIC, and that is what they need to catalog - not FORMATS. My music collection consists of thousands of music tracks that are in various formats -- some exist only in compressed digital formats (MP3, FLAC, WMV, etc.) compressed formats), others exist only as analog waveforms on vinyl discs or cassette tapes, others exist only as uncompressed digital tracks on CDs or DVDs, others only on minidiscs, and still others that exist in multiple formats (e.g., tracks which I've ripped from physical discs to compressed formats).
  
  Pardon me for belaboring this point, because I'd like to buy your software *IF* it will enable me to create a catalog of my music collection. I need to have a catalog of my entire MUSIC COLLECTION, not separate catalogs -- one for only physical discs, another for only MP3s. We don't build separate libraries for different document FORMATS - one for physical books, one for periodicals, another for braille books, one for audiobooks, another for e-books, etc. - we build a single library with a single catalog to make it possible to find documents of any format -- one catalog for the entire document COLLECTION.
  
  So my questions are:
  2a. Do your programs not allow me to create a single catalog containing my entire collection?
  2b. If not, then is there some way to take the separate Music Collector and MP3 Collector databases and merge them into one, or to link them together in such a way that a user can access the entire collection through a single user interface?
  
  3. Feature Comparison:
  3a. What other capabilities does MP3 Collector have which are NOT in Music Collector? (In addition to the capability of parsing album information.)
  3b. What other capabilities does Music Collector have which are NOT in MP3 Collector? (In addition to being able to enter information from/about physical albums.)
  3c. Is there a "feature comparison" chart or table that shows these differences clearly? (if so, I've been unable to find it on your website.)
• Feb 1 2010 10:35pm
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  What about Windows 7 compatibility/support by these programs?
  
  The website pages only state Vista compatibility. They won't work under Win7?
  
  What about 64-bit Windows 7???
• Feb 1 2010 10:42pm
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  You told Ash that he can manually enter movie info that you do not have in your Collectorz.com database, and then submit it to you for inclusion in the database, for the benefit of future users.
  
  Well, what do we get in return for enhancing your database?
  
  I have a vast collection of unpopular music - "old time" Appalachian string band music that's not in your music database, so your database does not help me. If I do all the work of entering tons of information, why should I just give it to you?
  
  Why aren't you going to allow Movie Collector to work with IMDB?
• Feb 1 2010 11:49pm
  Ash Goyal (Visitor)
  @sytske, thanks for promptly replying my post.
  @JK, thats exactly what I was going to ask. Perhaps we should get a lifetime upgrade for uploading a reasonable number of missing movie data ;)
  
  As JK also mentioned, why aren't you also linking to IMDB for missing movies? IMDB has thousands of International movies and a whole lot of detailed information on each which I would hate to type manually.
• Feb 1 2010 11:53pm
  Wilson Piriz (Visitor)
  Google Books is what I use to catalog my home books library. It has good social interface, is free, and accessible online from any place! Just enter an ISBN or title to search any books and add them to your collection.
• Feb 2 2010 12:18am
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  I was forced to go ahead and purchase the 3 Collectorz databasesI was interested in, despite not getting answers to my questions, because it was almost midnight and I did not want to miss out on the discounted price. The Vendor has not responded to any posts here since 1:06PM today, though there have been 9 comments posted since then.
  
  The question about Windows 7 compatibility is important. I hope to be able to get a refund if it turns out that these programs are not going to be Win7 compatible.
• Feb 2 2010 12:29am
  Jon Koerner (Superstar)
  @Ash - that's no "smiley" joking matter -- users who contribute a large amount of data entry to enhance Collectorz.com's databases, which they use for commercial benefit, should definitely be compensated by some means. But in the first place it seems ridiculous to me to be creating a new online database, when they should instead come up with a way to pull data off of IMDB.
• Feb 2 2010 3:33am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  hi all, thanks for your comments on our products. This sure was a very successful promotion!
  
  Please notice that we are based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We are in a completely different time zone. That is why I did no reply to the latest posts here, it was late evening in Amsterdam.
  Our software is Win 7 proof.
  For all other specific questions please contact us using the Contact form on our Support pages.
• Feb 5 2010 11:47pm
  John Beam (Visitor)
  I only discovered bits when seaching for info on Collectoz software - but unfortunatly it was after your promotion ended!
  
  Please run another one soon - it sounds like exactly what I have been looking for!
• Feb 10 2010 9:57am
  Joe K (Visitor)
  Wow! This was a great deal
  I wish they would have told their existing customers about it!
  JK
• Feb 11 2010 4:56am
  Sytske Hermans (Collectorz.com Vendor)
  @Joe K, we did inform our customers about this 24 hour deal through our Twitter account. Follow us on Twitter: Collectorz.
• Mar 4 2010 2:29pm
  John B (Visitor)
  I do follow the twitter feed - but guess I missed this deal...
  
  :-(

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