News & updates (Newsletter) (page 3)
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ Newsletter for November 2020.
We’re in the middle of the Black Friday craziness here, which means that my wife Sytske and I are answering over 250 support tickets on a daily basis. Providing renewal advice, correcting wrong purchases, helping with problems, etc…
AJ is assisting us with the more complex 2nd line issues, even logging in to user’s computers with TeamViewer to fix problems for them.
Today’s newsletter topics:
Just like last month, this newsletter is all about our tools for video games and comic books. Good news for the comic and game collectors among us, but if you’re here for the music, movie or book news, you may be thinking… “hey, what gives?”.
Don’t worry, we’ll be swinging back to the other programs soon. Let me explain what’s going on:
In the past few years, we have been doing a lot of improvement to what we call our “framework”. Improvements that benefited all collection types, like faster cloud syncing, easier folder options, faster image downloads, better shelves view, etc… Super efficient work and resulting in updates for all our tools, so for movies, books, music, comics and video games.
However, since about 6 months ago, we have changed our focus to implementing dedicated collection specific features, finally responding to common requests and complaints from our 5 different audiences. Since most of these were about games and comics, we started with those.
Also, because of we’re all still working from home, it makes project management and communication a lot easier if the entire CLZ team is working on the same project. So that is why we all spent 3 months working on many video game specific features, then after that the entire team switched over to work on the most common comic book related requests.
Next up are our movie collecting solutions. Our web-developer Stijn is already preparing our back-end for the things to come. First up: audience ratings from IMDb. We are also looking at delivering movie ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, as a nice 2nd opinion next to the IMDb Ratings. Cool movie stuff coming up!
Now, let’s look at all November updates, plus a sneak preview at what’s coming up in December:
- Game Connect / CLZ Games 6.1: New “Updated Values” report
- CLZ Comics 6.0: Batch editing, Updated Values report, Add Issue, etc..
- Comic Connect: Add Issues / Updated Values report
- Coming up: Comic Collector 21 for Windows
- Coming up: CLZ Comics 6.1 with new Pre-Fill screen when adding comics.
- Coming up: Comic Connect Missing Comics tool
Time flies when you’re working from home! It’s the end of October already, so here’s your monthly dose of CLZ News.
After 3 months of work, we have finally released the promised huge updates for all our game database programs. Phew! A big and complex project, but we really enjoyed working on this multi-disciplined job together (desktop, web and mobile) with the entire team.
So we decided to do the same for comics: all team members have now switched to our comic tools, with Joe working on Comic Collector 21.0, Pim and Bernard on CLZ Comics 6.0, Joel and Sven on Comic Connect, AJ working on UI designs for them all and finally Rowdy, Stijn and Sytske on improvements to our Core for Comics.
Read on below for what will be new in these big comic related updates!
All topics for today:
- Improved PriceCharting value features for all game tools:
- Game Collector 21.0 for Windows
- CLZ Games 6.0 for iOS and Android
- Game Connect
- CLZ Games 6.0: better Edit features + crop/rotate images
- Coming up: big updates for all comic database tools
Here it is, the CLZ News for September 2020.
It’s a sad day today. Since late June, part of the team had been working at the office again, but in the Netherlands the 2nd wave of the virus has hit us full on. So to keep the team safe and healthy, we have decided that the entire team will be working from home again, starting today 🙁
But don’t worry, we have gotten quite good at this “work from home” situation, with the team communicating over Slack all day. So it’s all business as usual. The support team is still lightning fast in answering your questions. The content team is still keeping our Core up-to-date will all new releases. And finally, the dev team is still making excellent progress on updates for our software and services.
These are the topics of today’s newsletter:
- v6.0 now live for CLZ Books, CLZ Music and CLZ Movies apps!
- Coming up: Improved PriceCharting support for all game tools
This CLZ Newsletter for August 2020 is shorter than usual, because strangely enough, there were only 5 releases this month, for the 5 Windows versions.
The CLZ team has been very busy though, still partly working from home and partly from the CLZ office. But most of that work was spent preparing for upcoming big releases:
- Pim, Bernard and AJ are finalizing the upcoming v6.0 releases for the CLZ mobile apps. Coming up soon (sneak preview below!).
- Stijn, Martin, AJ and I (Alwin) have embarked on a huge project: taking the PriceCharting features of our game database tools to a new level. Linking in more PriceCharting entries (PAL games, special editions, etc..), better support for US vs EU vs JP pricing, multi-currency support, etc..
- Rowdy, Sytske and Joël are very busy with our Core online comic database, making sure we can keep bringing you all new releases each week, especially after the Diamond / DC Comics break-up.
So only two topics today:
- Windows: Easier access to Manage Pick Lists screen
- Coming up: v6.0 for all CLZ mobile apps
[CLZ News] Big updates for Windows and Connect, sneak preview of v6 for mobile
It’s the last day of July already, so here it is: your monthly dose of CLZ News!
Still making great progress, with half of the team still working from home, the other half present at the CLZ HQ in Amsterdam.
In July, we released 5 big updates for Windows and lots of small improvements to the Connect web-based software. Next to that, team mobile is preparing huge v6 updates for the CLZ mobile apps (sneak preview below!).
Here we go:
- Collector desktop software for Windows:
- Changing your folder field is now much easier
- Edit screen: Add multiple authors, actors, artists in one go
- Some examples of user feedback
- Renew your subscription and always keep it active!
- Connect web-based software:
- Improved “Edit Multiple” screen
- Configurable Date Format for Edit screens
- New “Year” options for folders, colums and sorting
- Improved Auto-Capitalization feature
- More Totals in Statistics screens
- Comic Connect: Auto-Fill Purchase Price with Cover Price
- Music Connect: Use Alphabet Bar for Composers
- Book Connect: AutoCap for Subtitles
- CLZ mobile apps, for iOS and Android:
- Sneak Preview: version 6.0 is coming up!
Here’s the CLZ Newsletter for June 2020, as always brought to you by CLZ Alwin.
First the big news: We’re back at the office! That is, not all of us, but just 5 members of the team: Sytske and Alwin, AJ, Martin and Joe. All five can get to the office safely by bike, so no need to use public transport.
And it’s so good to be back! So nice to see each other again, get into a normal day rhythm again, have face-to-face project conversations and to enjoy our excellent office coffee.
Of course, we are staying safe. We all keep our distance, wash our hands regularly, we keep cleaning common “touch points” (the coffee machine!), have lunch separately, etc..
Picture: Leading lady Sytske, back at her desk by the window:
Now, here’s all our releases for June 2020:
- Collector software for Windows:
- Faster Shelves View (+ 2 new Shelf Styles)
- Faster image downloads
- Faster Update from Core
- CLZ mobile apps:
- All: Re-designed “Select Folder Field” screen and faster Update from Core
- CLZ Music 5.5: Better support for multi-disc albums!
- Connect web-based software:
- Book Connect: Select your preferred Regions in Add Books screen
- All: Improved main menu, with better grouping of all features
CLZ Alwin here, with a slightly delayed CLZ Newsletter for May 2020.
I hope you and your family are still safe and healthy. In the Netherlands, we are slowly loosening the lockdown. With schools, bars and restaurants opening up again, normal life is returning, step by step.
However, for Collectorz.com we have decided to keep working from home for now. If only to prevent our team members from having to use public transport. Safety first!
This decision was made easier by the fact that we are fully operational in our “work from home” situation. Just look at last month’s releases:
- CLZ Comics 5.6 + Comic Connect: Better barcode recognition for older comics!
- CLZ mobile apps:
- CLZ Comics 5.5: New folder options for Creators and Characters
- CLZ Movies 5.5: New folder option for Actors
- Connect web-based software:
- Connect (all): New Crop and Rotate tool for cover images
- Comic Connect: Submit to Core
- Music Connect: Improved track list editing in Edit Album screen
- Comic Connect: Better barcode recognition for older comics!
- Coming up soon:
- Coming up for Windows: Faster Shelves View + 2 new Shelf Styles
- Coming up for iOS/Android: CLZ Music 5.5, with Add / Merge Multi-Disc Albums
This is the CLZ News for April 2020, as always brought to you by CLZ Alwin.
I hope you and your family are safe and healthy. Here in the Netherlands, all CLZ team members are staying safe by working from home.
In the meantime, this has become business as usual and we are making normal progress on all software and services. And of course, customer support is still here to help you with your questions, 7 days a week!
This month, we released 4 big updates for macOS, a huge 5.3 update for the CLZ Games mobile app and many improvements to the Connect web-based software. Here’s the full list:
- v20.1 for all macOS editions, with faster CLZ Cloud syncing!
- CLZ Games 5.3: Add Games by Platform and Add Hardware from Core
- Connect web-based software:
- Keyboard shortcuts!
- Movie/Book Connect: Submit to Core
- Music Connect: Merge multi-disc albums
- Choose all Collection Status options when adding
- Reminder: switch from desktop to Connect with our Trade-In Offer
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ News for a weird March 2020. Suddenly we’re living in a strange world, with most of us having to stay at home because of the virus. I sincerely hope you and your loved ones are safe.
Here in Amsterdam, all 11 CLZ Team members have been working from home since March 13, so going into our 3rd week now. We are all trying to stay in as much as possible and we’re all fit and healthy. The “distributed home office” situation took some getting used to, especially regarding the communication about projects, but we have settled in now.
(BTW: some pictures of our 11 home offices, and our CLZ Catz, Dogz and Birdz, can be found on our blog here and here, or on Facebook here and here.)
In any case, don’t worry, our online services (CLZ Core and CLZ Cloud) are up-and-running as normal and we’re still available 7 days a week to answer your questions. It’s quite busy at the CLZ Help Center even. As most users are at home at the moment, looking for something to do, we are seeing many of them getting back to cataloging their collections.
Also, even from our home offices, we’re still making great progress on the further development of our services and software.
Here’s the score for March 2020:
- Faster CLZ Cloud syncing!
- Easily add and report comics with “unrecognized barcodes”
- Connect web-based software:
- Server-side settings / Favorites for Columns & Sorting
- New Shelves View / Toolbar tweaks
- Many new customization settings
This is Alwin, with the CLZ News for Feb 2020.
With all the fuss about the Connect web-based software lately, you may think we had forgotten about desktop and mobile. But nothing could be further from the truth:
This month has been all about updates for the desktop programs and mobile apps, and LOTS of em! Two big “music/movie file cataloging” updates for Windows, a new Tag editing UI for all Windows programs, new folder list tools for all iOS and Android apps, and finally, updates for all Mac, Windows, iOS and Android versions to make them use our brand-new stand-alone Cloud-Sync server!
Here’s an overview of all Feb 2020 updates:
- Faster syncing through our brand-new Cloud-Sync server
- Collector desktop software:
- Movie Collector 20.1 for Windows: Improved movie file cataloging
- Music Collector 20.1 for Windows: Improved music file cataloging
- All Windows: improved interface for adding/editing Tags
- CLZ mobile apps:
- Search and sort your folder lists
- Improved barcode scanning
- CLZ Music: Filter by Format in Add Albums screen
- Connect web-based software:
- Re-assign index values
- Comic Connect: Quick Fill popup in Add Comics screen
Here’s the Jan 2020 edition of the Collectorz.com Newsletter, as always brought to you by CLZ Alwin. No rest for the wicked, as we started 2020 with five big v20 releases for all five Collector programs for Windows. Read on for an overview of what went live this month, plus some sneak preview “what’s cooking” items.
Let’s start with the coolest:
Collectorz.com on AMC NewsWatch TV!
Last Monday, AMC’s NewsWatch TV program had a short feature about Collectorz.com, giving an overview of our products and services, with a focus on the CLZ Books mobile app.
Watch the “CLZ on NewsWatch” video here:
What’s Live and what’s Cooking?
- Collector desktop software:
- Live: V20 for Windows: Folder panel improvements + new Statistics screen
- Cooking: Improved movie file cataloging for Movie Collector Windows
- CLZ mobile apps:
- Live: CLZ Comics 5.1: Better barcode scanning!
- Live: CLZ Music 5.2: New Statistics screen
- Cooking: Sort and search your folder list.
- Cooking: Report unrecognized barcodes, straight from the CLZ Comics app.
- Connect web-based software:
- Live: Improvements to Edit and Add screens
- Live: Faster loading of images through WebP image format
- Cooking: All settings stored server-side, no more cookies
The end of the year is approaching fast, so this is CLZ Alwin with the final CLZ Newsletter for 2019. It’s been a very busy year, in which we implemented important changes and improvements. But we’re not slowing down now, as we have big plans for “twenty twenty”!
For now: a Happy 2020 from the entire CLZ Team: Martin, Rowdy, Sven, Stijn, Joel, AJ, Pim, Joe, Bernard, Sytske and me, CLZ Alwin! Wanna see faces with the names? Here’s a picture of the team, all dressed up for our annual CLZ Christmas dinner!
So, what happened in December 2019? :
- Collector desktop software:
- V20 for macOS: Dark Mode and many new sync fields
- Coming up: V20 for Windows, Stats + Sort and Search the folder panel
- CLZ mobile apps:
- CLZ Movies / CLZ Books: new Statistics screen
- Connect web-based software:
- Sort your folder panel by the numbers
- Comic Connect: Add Comics now auto-searches for current series
- Comic Connect: New: Collection/Wish List summaries for series
Today is the CLZ Christmas Dinner, and the CLZ Team dressed up for the occasion!
From left to right top row: Alwin, Sytske, Rowdy, Martin, Sven, Joël, Stijn and Joe.
Then at the front, from left to right: Pim, Bernard and AJ.
This is CLZ Alwin, taking a quick break from answering Black Friday Sale related questions, to bring you the CLZ News for November 2019.
My wife Sytske and I are currently handling over 200 support tickets each day (!!), most of them about the sale, providing product info and buying advice, fixing wrong orders, helping with problems, etc…
No complaints though, the Black Friday Sale is a huge hit again, because up till now over 5 thousand users (!!) have already grabbed this opportunity to renew their subscriptions and to subscribe to more apps and software! If you haven’t yet, don’t miss out, there’s just 3 days left!
The CLZ Newsletter for November 2019
Okay, with that out of the way, back to the news. Busy times at the CLZ HQ with Team Desktop preparing for the upcoming Vee Twenty (v20), for both Windows and macOS (ETA: within a few weeks, at least before the end of the year). So that means no Windows or Mac updates this month 🙁
In the meantime, our 3-headed Team Web is making big steps on the Connect web-based software again (inc. track search for Music Connect!!), consolidating Connect’s status as the preferred solution for use on your computer or laptop.
Two big updates from Team Mobile too, with new fields for CLZ Music and CLZ Books.
So let’s go over the Connect and CLZ Mobile updates in November:
- Connect web-based software:
- Music Connect: Search box now searches your tracks too!
- Improved Statistics pages
- New Breadcrumb / Filter bar
- Create your own multi-level-folder favorites
- CLZ mobile apps::
- CLZ Books and CLZ Music: more editable and syncable fields
It’s the end of the month again, so this is CLZ Alwin with the October 2019 edition of the Collectorz.com Newsletter. An overview of an action-packed month with eighteen (18!!) big releases (and that even excludes maintenance builds). Here we go!
- Connect web-based software:
- Book and Music Connect: Many new fields, inc. Back Cover
- All Connect editions: folder panel now allows multiple levels
- Collector desktop software:
- All macOS editions: now fully Catalina compatible
- Book and Music Collector 19.3 Windows: Many new syncable fields, inc. Back Cover
- CLZ mobile apps::
- CLZ Games 5.0 for iOS/Android: multi-collections, stats, UI tweaks, etc..
- CLZ Movies 5.1 for iOS/Android: Many new edition-specific fields
- CLZ Music/Movies/Books/Comics: Many user interface improvements
CLZ Alwin here, with the Sept 2019 CLZ News for you!
Still a lot of comic and game releases going on, with v5 of the CLZ Comics mobile app now live and CLZ Games v5 currently being worked on. But don’t worry, we did not forget the movie, book and music collectors!
In the background, we have been “secretly” working on big updates for the CLZ Cloud and Connect software, adding a lot more fields and Back Cover images! This has already resulted in updates for Movie Connect and Movie Collector this month. Similar updates are coming up for the book and music editions in the upcoming months.
Also coming up, probably even next week: mobile app updates for CLZ Music, CLZ Movies, CLZ Books and CLZ Comics, with several user interface improvements to the Edit screen and Manage Pick Lists screen. The iOS versions will also be updated with some iOS 13 specific tweaks.
Now, let’s go over the September releases:
- CLZ Comics 5.0: automatic graded comic values and lots more!
- CLZ Comics 5.0.4: cool new Statistics screen
- Movie Connect: Many new fields, back covers and Update from Core tool
- Movie Collector 19.4 for Windows: New HDR field and many more sync fields
Chaotic days here at the CLZ HQ, as we are renovating our office. Broken down some walls, new wooden floor, all walls repainted, and a completely new kitchen! And all that while the work on our projects is continuing. Half of the team working at the office, so that they can help moving stuff around, the other half working from home.
All worth it though, because the result is going to beautiful! Keep an eye on our Facebook page for before, during and after pictures!
Even in the chaos, we’re getting some work done. Some big releases this month, with a lot of nice updates coming up:
- Comic Collector for macOS: Automatic comic values powered by GoCollect!
- Game Connect + Game Collector for Windows: Add Games by Platform
- Coming up: CLZ Comics 5.0 for iOS and Android
- Coming up: many music, movie and book related releases!
This is the CLZ News for July 2019, with several big updates that we have been working on for months, now finally arriving on your computer or mobile device:
- CLZ Movies 5.0 for iOS and Android
- Game Connect + Game Collector for Windows: Add Hardware from Core
- Comic Connect + Comic Collector for Windows: Automatic comic values
[CLZ News] Version 5.0 for all CLZ mobile apps + Coming up in Core: comic pricing and game hardware!
This is CLZ Alwin, with the CLZ Newsletter for June 2019.
Sytske and I just returned from a 7-day road trip to the south of France, so this newsletter is arriving in your inbox a few days later than normal. But we’re back at the CLZ HQ now and ready to roll!
These are exciting times, as we have finally started releasing the version 5 updates for the CLZ mobile apps (CLZ Music 5.0 and CLZ Books 5.0 are live, with the other 3 coming up soon!).
Next to that, we are close to the launch of two huge updates to our Core online databases for comics and games, which will enable us to finally release THE most often requested features for our comic and game database solutions. Read on for the big news!
Today’s topics:
- Version 5.0 for all CLZ mobile apps:
- Starting with v5, these are subscription apps, at $1.49 / month
- Now live: CLZ Books 5.0 and CLZ Music 5.0 for Android and iOS
- Coming up: v5.0 for CLZ Movies, CLZ Games and CLZ Comics
- Coming up: Get Comic Pricing from Core, powered by GoCollect.com
- Coming up: Add Hardware from Core & Add Games by Platform
Here’s the CLZ News for May 2019, as always brought to you by CLZ Alwin.
Judging from Facebook posts and support tickets, some users of the CLZ mobile apps are getting restless, asking us “when is there going to be an update for my CLZ app again?!?”… and understandably so. After all, the last updates were in December 2018… ouch!
As you know, we have been working on v5 updates for all apps. Which was a huge project by itself, but it has gotten bigger and bigger as we went along. Some parts of the project turned out to be more complex than they seemed at first. Next to that, more features got added to the v5 wish list.
I apologize for the long wait… but the wait will soon be over. We’re almost ready to release the first v5, which will be CLZ MUSIC. ETA within 2 weeks, maybe even next week!
So… with no Windows and Mac releases in May either, this turns out to be a fully cloud-based “Connect Only” newsletter! The topics today:
- Connect: New Duplicate Finder tool
- Connect / CLZ Cloud: Resizable columns in List View
- Connect / CLZ Cloud: More import tools
- Coming up for Connect and CLZ Cloud: multi-level folders!
This is CLZ Alwin and here’s my CLZ News for April 2019, with updates about the Windows, Mac and Connect editions.
No mobile app news yet, as the mobile team is still preparing for the huge v5 updates that are coming up. It’s slow going, but the wait will be worth it!
The topics for today:
- All Windows programs: New Duplicate Finder tool
- Movie Collector/Connect: Add Movies from IMDb / Official IMDb Cast & Crew lists
- Movie Collector for macOS / Movie Connect: Digital movie formats
- More features now available in the free CLZ Cloud viewer!
- Over 3,500 desktop users have already switched to Connect!
CLZ Alwin here, with a particularly “movie heavy” edition of the CLZ Newsletter.
But don’t worry, we also have some interesting comic, game and book related Core projects going on behind the scenes, which will all result in cool updates in the next few months!
The topics for today:
- All movie tools: 2 formats renamed, new 4K UHD icon, IMDb Cast/Crew
- Movie Collector v19.1 for Mac: Update your IMDb Ratings / Votes in one go
- Movie Connect: live IMDb Ratings and Votes (so always up-to-date!)
- Movie Collector 19.1.3 for Windows: Icons for digital movie formats
- All Windows programs: Three cool tweaks requested by our users
- New in the CLZ Shop: Pay Monthly by PayPal
- Reminder: Switch to Connect with my Trade-In offer
This is CLZ News, your monthly overview of everything CLZ.
While Team Mobile is still preparing for the upcoming v5 updates, Team Desktop was able to do four huge releases. Read all about those below.
Next to that, it’s been a while, another installment of “CLZ 101”!
The topics for today:
- v19 for macOS: Multiple collections, auto-sync images and a new Flex template!
- Movie Collector v19.1 for Windows: Update your IMDb Ratings / Votes in one go
- CLZ 101: the Manage Pick Lists screen
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ News for January 2019.
Most of the CLZ Team is working on long-term, big projects, which meant there were very few releases this month. So let’s go over these releases and then do a “What’s Cooking” overview!
- Several tweaks and fixes for all five v19’s for Windows
- Multiple collections in the Connect web-based software
- What’s Cooking??
- v19 for macOS
- v5 for all CLZ mobile apps
- CLZ Shop update
- Several “Core” projects
This is it, the last CLZ Newsletter for 2018, brought to you by CLZ Alwin.
We have a very busy month behind us, with most of the team members preparing the v19 for Windows releases and dealing with hundreds of customer support questions every day.
Luckily, things have quieted down a bit now and we’re already busy planning some great stuff for 2019!
For now: Happy 2019 from the entire CLZ Team: Martin, Rowdy, Sven, Robbert, Stijn, Joel, AJ, Pim, Joe, Bernard, Sytske and me, CLZ Alwin!
These are today’s newsletter topics:
- Version 19 is live for all 5 Windows editions!
- All mobile apps: Resizable panels in tablet versions
- 2 days left on our Year End Sale for Connect subscriptions