Anyone use a database to keep collection info?
Kinetic
3,739 Posts
I saw that 'my record crate' pot in the announcement section and it reminded me: I've been wanting to find a good way to keep a comprehensive list of my collection for some time. I was gonna use excel but it just doesn't seem to work well.Any other suggestions / good on-line ways of keeping a database?
Comments
I keep mines on Excel.
just remember to e-mail yourself the file after several updates. When my computer crashed info on nearly 3,000 LP's dissapeared into nothingness
I would lose my brain if I lost 3,000 entris - that's like days of work!
I might just go with excel. What fields do you use?
Artist/Title/Format/Label/Year ?
There are some fairly cheap Collectors database softare around . I have used this one collectorz at the local community radio
and found it easy to use and works well. If you have stuff that has been released on CD as well and info is in the CDDB and you connect to the net with it it will automatically input track listing and times etc for the entry (pretty cool). Though mainly for Cd collections it would work well with a vinyl collection.
Another collectors databse software
$10,000 SQL server just to store your record info.
Not necessary.
Maybe a few nerdstrutters could come together and build something like del.icio.us for records. Interactive, taggable, and a great way to keep your collection organized. It wouldn't be too hard to design. That said, I don't personally have the time to design, but I'll donate the hosting and server space at least for round 1 if anyone is interested.
The previous thread is here
It's a breeze to use and I will be copping it for my shop at some point too.
i use it for dvds and apparently you can use it for anything: books, cds, records. it would almost be like your own virtual collection, but i'm too lazy to get started.
I would lend my programming expertise to such a project
discogs is quite useful for electronic dance music and Hip-Hop, but does not include a lot of raer stuff/Jazz/Funk aso. It??s very easy to use and you can get a lot of additional information there though.
On another forum dudes were bitching about records they submitted WHICH THEY ACTUALLY RELEASED getting deleted because the mods claimed they 'didn't exist'
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2rr5gh
I've been using filemarker pro for the last seven-eight years and rock excel for ebay hustle.
I (actually, my wife) just got off the phone with the insurance company, and they said that it helps, but it really only does you any good if you also get a formal appraisal of your records.
Most would be covered up to a certain point as 'daily property,'but after you run out of that, you have to pay for the extra insurance on a collection, artwork, etc.
Too busy at work to relay all of this, but long & short: keep a list, but if you really want to get serious, you're gonna need an appraisal.
I would think cataloging something as massive as one's library collection would make a lot of sense for any collector. The main reason most don't do it is b/c 1) it's time consuming and 2) it's time consuming.
I remember that, back in the '90s, Davey D paid a few people to catalog his entire collection (at the time). I've been tempted to do the same since then but I've been too lazy to put in the work to find someone to do this.
Okay, but why?
http://www.sqlite.org/
I once started an Excel file with my collection data, then I switched to Access because Excel only allows 65000 rows.
I don't think it's for everyone but for many, I think there'd be some practical value. The most obvious being: to keep track of what you have, especially in cases of buying/selling or needing to cross-reference for research purposes. I'm not saying a database is something you'd use every day, but if it were relatively affordable (either time or money-wise), why not? I own appx. 7000+ albums which is, by far, more than anything else I have. Having a catalog of what's actually in there can prove useful on variety of levels (maybe this is just the sociologist in me though) that may not be obvious in the present but may prove useful down the road (like when wifey divorces you and gets half).
Actually, for anyone who's using Microwave, in a sense, that cataloging is built into the digitizing/organizing process on some level already. Knowing what you have might also be useful in figuring out what you want to select down the road for digitizing.
I don't know--I hear "7000 albums" and think one's energy would be better spent on getting rid of 80% of them than on cataloging all of them.
Oh, if only.
But in any case, in order to get rid of them, I'd end up cataloging them anyway (in the case I decided to eBay).
I'm also a packrat, if that helps.
So I gather.
Do you still have copies of all of those late nineties Sandbox-type 12"s?