What's new in Music Collector? (page 2)
We already worked on this area in the previous update, but we were still not completely satisfied. So more tweaks to the Add button in the Add Games from Core screen today:
Tweaks to the Add button:
- All Collection Status values are now available, including “For Sale” and “On Order”!
- The little popup menu now indicates the selected value with a checkmark.
- The Add button itself now says “Add to Collection” or “Add to Wishlist”.
Screenshot from the Add button in Movie Collector:
Fixed:
- Flashing starting the program (especially visible on very big screens)
- Selected x from x items in the status bar and the total items at the top now have a bit more space
- Clicking the add button twice didn’t give an “Already in collection” warning
- Opening the program in full screen on a secondary screen didn’t work
- Add Screen: On high DPI screens, search results could take up too much space
With the big feature updates behind us (multi-collections, image syncing, 64-bit support, Flex template, etc…), it is time for some smaller tweaks that were requested by our loyal users:
- More compact toolbar layout, to save screen space
- No more annoying Add to Collection / Wish List popup in Add Albums screen
- New “Transparent” styles for the Flex template, to show off your backdrops
v19.0: Multiple collections, auto-sync images and a new Flex template!
Music Collector version 19 has arrived! Here’s what’s new:
- Manage multiple “collections” within one database file
- Automatic Cloud-syncing of your own “custom” images
- A new super-adaptive “Flex” template for the Details Panel
Read on for the full details:
v19.0: multiple collections, auto-sync images, 64-bit and a new Flex template!
Music Collector version 19 has arrived! Here’s what’s new:
- Manage multiple “collections” within one database file
- Automatic Cloud-syncing of your own “custom” images
- A new super-adaptive “Flex” template for the Details Panel
- 64-bit version for 64-bit Windows versions
Read on for the full details:
The Add Albums Automatically screen is now called “Add Albums from CLZ Core” and includes improvements to make it both easier-to-use and easier-on-the-eye.
- Single Search Box: Just one box for searching (e.g. like Google or Amazon). No more separate Artist and Title boxes. Just enter (part of) the artist’s name and (part of) the title and you will get the best matching results. (see the screen shot below with “metallica justice” results”)
- Big blue buttons for the main actions, Searching and Adding, can’t miss ’em 🙂
- Automatic Preview, just select a result (no more need for double clicking)
- Use the popup in the “Add” button to change it to add to “Collection” or “Wish List”
- Easier way of adding multi-disc albums: Add multi-disc albums by selecting multiple results from your search. Just check the boxes next to the results to compile a multi-disc album and add it to your collection straight away:
Adding Multi-Disc Albums by Artist and Title:
Adding Multi-Disc Albums by Barcode:
Adding Multi-Disc Albums by Barcode:
A couple of weeks ago, our CLZ Cloud (and Music Connect) has been updated with 8 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.3 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to the CLZ Cloud and your CLZ Music mobile app!
Added for syncing:
- Sortname for composers
- Original Release Date
- Packaging
- Media Condition
- Vinyl Color
- Vinyl Weight
- Vinyl RPM
- Disc Titles
Heads up: after updating to version 18.3, the software will automatically mark most of your albums as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.
New versions of CLZ Music for iOS and Android will be available in the coming days to allow the new fields to be synced there too!
A couple of weeks ago, our CLZ Cloud (and Music Connect) has been updated with 8 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.4 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to the CLZ Cloud and your CLZ Music mobile app!
Added for syncing:
- Sortname for composers
- Original Release Date
- Packaging
- Media Condition
- Vinyl Color
- Vinyl Weight
- Vinyl RPM
- Disc Titles
Heads up: after updating to version 18.4, the software will automatically mark most of your albums as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.
CLZ Music for iOS and Android will be updated in the coming days to allow the new fields to be synced there too!
Fixes:
- Drag and drop of discs to other albums now works
- Fixed a problem with freezing columns in 2 panel mode
- Fixed a problem with dragging columns in list view around
A BIG update for your Music Collector software today, with an important change:
Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy
As indicated in our GDPR email from a couple of weeks ago, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.
Starting with version 18.3, Music Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:
- for logging in with your username and password
- for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
- for sending your searches to Core.
To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Music Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.
For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.3.
As indicated in last week’s GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.
Starting with version 18.2, Music Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:
- for logging in with your username and password
- for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
- for sending your searches to Core.
To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Music Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.
For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.2.
Music Collector offers powerful batch commands, for performing actions on multiple albums in one go, e.g. editing, removing or updating from Core.
However, we are finding that many users have never use these these batch actions, either because they are not aware of their existence or because they don’t know how to actually select multiple albums (by Shift or Ctrl-clicking).
In today’s update we addressed these issues:
New Selection Checkboxes in the List View, for easy selection of multiple albums
The List View now features checkboxes on the left. Use the checkboxes to easily select multiple albums, no Shift or Ctrl-clicking needed. Of course the classic Shift/Ctrl-clicking still works too, this is just an extra method.
Don’t need the checkboxes? You can hide them using Tools / Options / Customization.
A new Action Bar with batch actions
As soon as multiple albums are selected (that is, more than 1), a new Action Bar appears above the list. It shows how many are selected, plus offers buttons for the most popular batch actions.
Also new: Action Bar above Details Panel
At the same time, we also added a new Action Bar above the details panel, for quick access to commands operating on the selected album.
TIP: The commands in this new Action Bar have been removed from the main toolbar, to make that one a bit cleaner. However, if you are upgrading from an older version, it will remember your toolbar. To get the new clean main toolbar, choose View / Toolbars / Reset.
Don’t need or want this new bar? You can hide it using Tools / Options / Customization.
Fixed:
- Find Cover: images weren’t scaling correctly
- Edit Screen: Grid Icons weren’t scaling correctly
- Improved loading speed for Cover Flow view
- Edit Track: title bar wasn’t wide enough
Never a dull moment at the CLZ HQ… Here we were, working on nice improvements for our software, when suddenly… the guys at Apple had a brainwave: In their ultimate wisdom, they decided to start phasing out 32-bit applications.
Since April 12, users of macOS High Sierra are getting a “not optimized for your Mac” warning when they start a 32-bit application. Which includes the Music Collector software for macOS 🙁
On top of that, Apple have already stopped allowing 32-bit applications in their App Store and rumours are that they may even stop supporting 32-bit applications in a future version of macOS, requiring every application to be 64-bit!
Of course, we were already aware that Apple would be going this route some day; the rumours have been around for quite a while. So we had already been working on a 64-bit version of our software, as a “back-burner project”.
But the introduction of last week’s “not optimized” warnings suddenly made this a high-priority project. So… we dropped everything we were doing and finalized our 64-bit project. And I am happy to report:
A fully 64-bit v18.1 version of Music Collector is available now!
Not exactly what we were planning to do this month, but hey, this is what the Update Plans are for: your guarantee that we deal with everything the world throws at us 🙂
v18.1: Full support for larger text size / Several Add screen tweaks
Full support for larger text sizes (Full DPI Awareness)
With super hi-res 4K (or even 5K) screens becoming quite common, more and more people are running Windows with the Font Size (DPI scaling) set to 125% or 150%, to keep text readable. So earlier this year, we released maintenance builds for all Windows editions to fix various layout problems when running Windows with “large fonts”.
Today, with version 18.1 we’re taking the next step: Music Collector is now fully “DPI Aware”. Starting with this version, if you have increased your font size in Windows, the program will actually follow that setting and use bigger text fonts in all screens!
On top of that, texts now look sharper, less fuzzy, making full use of your hi-res screen.
Old version:
New version:
Improvements to the Add Albums from Core screen
- Single Search Box: Just one box for searching (e.g. like Google or Amazon). No more separate Artist and Title boxes. Just enter (part of) the artist’s name and (part of) the title and you will get the best matching results. (see the screen shot below with “metallica justice” results”)
- Changed timing of “Report missing barcode” popup: The missing barcode popup now pops up when you click on a “not found” result instead of interfering while you’re still scanning barcodes.
- Easier way of adding multi-disc albums: Add multi-disc albums by selecting multiple results from your search. Just check the boxes next to the results to compile a multi-disc album and add it to your collection straight away:
Adding Multi-Disc Albums by Artist and Title:
Adding Multi-Disc Albums by Barcode:
Fixed:
- Edit Album:
- Index field had a typo
- Clicking next or previous could create a second + button in the User Defined Fields tab
- Edit Multiple: Enabled acquire button in edit multiple
- Quick Search: We’ve fixed normalization for quick searches so words with umlauts/accents etc. are now easier to be found.
- Fixed a problem with folder paths for users that have their Documents folder rooted to an external drive (program wouldn’t install properly).
- Link Screen could show “Link Selected” button even if there were no matches.
- Template: Fixed an issue where the template could become “white” if arrow keys were used on the keyboard
- Light Skin: Better visibility for selected items in your lists.
- User Defined Fields: It was possible to create invisible User Defined Fields which would then never show up in the edit screen.
Version 18 is finally here! And it not only bring the promised Auto-Cloud-Syncing, but also many improvements to the main screen, making it both faster and more stable.
NEW: Fully Automatic CLZ Cloud Syncing!
The free CLZ Cloud service is at the center of all our cataloging solutions (desktop, mobile and web), the glue that binds them all together.
Tens of thousands of users are using the CLZ Cloud syncing every day, to transfer data between their desktop, Connect and mobile software, to update their online collection list, or simply for keeping an online backup of their precious database.
Now, it is time to take the CLZ Cloud to the next level, with automatic syncing:
Add or edit albums in Music Collector and these changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly. Did you make changes using the CLZ Music mobile app or directly in Music Connect? Just start your software and changes will download automatically.
No more need to go to the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen, ever.
With “Sync Automatically” switched on…
- Your online cloud backup is always up-to-date.
- Your cloud viewer always shows the current state of your collection.
- All your CLZ tools (desktop, mobile and Connect) will always be in-sync.
Automatic Cloud Syncing is an optional feature, switched OFF by default. If you don’t want to auto-sync, or don’t want to sync with the CLZ Cloud at all, just leave it switched OFF.
Main screen now faster and more stable
In the past few months, we have spent a lot of time rewriting important parts of the main screen. For instance, the code that refreshes the folder panel (which was slow, especially with the “counters” switched on) and also the part that restores your selection in the list after editing. At the same time, we reduced the program’s “memory footprint”, making it more stable overall.
The result is that the program is now a lot more enjoyable to use. It starts quicker, it refreshes much faster (after adding or editing) and switching between folder types is quicker.
The speed-up will be most noticeable on large collections, with thousands of albums. Especially when having LOTS of folders in the folder panel (e.g. Artist folders).
Fixes
- Cloud syncing:
- After duplicating an album, the duplicate would not be marked for syncing to cloud.
- In some situations, a down-sync could update empty fields with data from Core.
- In some situations, cover images would not upload automatically.
- Main screen:
- For startup performance, the program now always starts in album view.
- After editing, the edited items would not be selected after refresh.
Our web-team has been working on this for a long time, but it is now LIVE: a new search engine for Artist/Title searches in our Core online music database and Discogs. An engine that is both better and much, much faster!
And the good news is: these are all “server-side” changes, which means you don’t need to update your Music Collector software, CLZ Music app or Music Connect web-app. Everyone can now instantly enjoy the benefits, no matter which version of the software you have :-).
v18: Auto-Cloud-Syncing, revamped Edit screen, new “Clean” template and more!
NEW: Fully Automatic CLZ Cloud Syncing!
The free CLZ Cloud service is at the center of all our cataloging solutions (desktop, mobile and web), the glue that binds them all together.
Tens of thousands of users are using the CLZ Cloud syncing every day, to transfer data between their desktop, Connect and mobile software, to update their online collection list, or simply for keeping an online backup of their precious database.
Now, it is time to take the CLZ Cloud to the next level, with automatic syncing:
Add or edit albums in Music Collector and these changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly. Did you make changes using the CLZ Music mobile app or directly in Music Connect? Just start your software and changes will download automatically.
No more need to go to the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen, ever.
With “Sync Automatically” switched on…
- Your online cloud backup is always up-to-date.
- Your cloud viewer always shows the current state of your collection.
- All your CLZ tools (desktop, mobile and Connect) will always be in-sync.
Automatic Cloud Syncing is an optional feature, switched OFF by default. If you don’t want to auto-sync, or don’t want to sync with the CLZ Cloud at all, just leave it switched OFF.
Revamped Edit Album and Edit Disc/Track screens
A huge refresh of the Edit screens, bringing the look and feel more in line with the recent Add Albums from Core screen.
- Button bar is now at the bottom of the screen
With OK button high-lighted in blue, nice Next/Prev arrow buttons, etc… - Clearer blue “+” buttons for checkbox list fields (like Sound, Extras)
- Same blue + buttons for dropdown fields (like Format, Label, Packaging)
- Revamped Edit screen for pick list items
Button bar at the bottom with blue OK button, smaller generate buttons, etc..
But it’s not all just cosmetic changes:
Improved interface for adding Artists, Musicians, Credits
The new interface helps you make better use of your existing person pick lists:
- Cleaner lists, showing just Display Name and Instrument/Role.
- Right-click to Modify the name and sort name of a person in the list.
- Drag the icon in the first column to change the order.
- Click the “x” in the last column to remove entries.
- 1. click the “+ Add Artist” button, or hit Insert on your keyboard
- 2. A new screen appears, showing your existing Person pick list.
- 4. Type a few letters in the search box to find the artist you want to add, e.g. enter “spri” to find Bruce Springsteen.
- 5. Hit the down arrow on your keyboard a few times to select the person from the search results
- 6. Hit Enter to return to the Edit Album screen with the artist added to the list.
ONLY when the artist is not in your pick list yet, there’s 3 extra steps:
- 4a: click the New Artist button top right
- 4b. enter/paste the display name
- 4c. click OK
A similar interface is now also used for the Genre and Studio fields.
No more endless scrolling in a small check-box list to find the Genre or Studio you’d like to add. Instead, just click the Add button and making your pick from your pick list, using the convenient search feature if necessary.
Improved: Edit Multiple screens
- Now use checkboxes to explicitly indicate which field(s) you want set.
Safer and clearer, no more unexpected changes. - To clear a field, just click the checkbox and leave the box empty.
The box will highlight in red to indicate the CLEAR action. No more hidden F8 keys.
New screens for selecting Column, Sort and Folder fields.
The ability to select your own Columns for the List View is an important customization feature of our Music Collector software. The same holds for selecting the sort order and the folder fields for the folder panel.
However, the “field selection” screens for doing these customizations have always been an area of confusion. So for v18 we decided to re-imagine both the field selection screens and the system for creating/managing your own presets.
- New Field Selection screen:
- Available fields are now grouped, like the tabs in the Edit Album screen.
- Easily find the field you want with the search box top left.
- Use checkboxes on the left to select fields.
- Use the “x” button on the right to remove fields.
- Drag and drop fields on the right side to change the order.
- Rename the field set at the top right.
- New interface for selecting and managing your field presets:
- Just click the Columns or Sort Order button to EDIT the current preset.
- Click the little arrow to the right of the Columns or Sort Order button to open the preset menu and switch to a different preset.
- Choose Manage Presets from the preset menu to edit your presets and create new ones.
NEW: “Clean” template for the details panel, in Light and Dark styles
A complete refresh, based on the recent Connect/Cloud details page updates. Clean, clear and modern, with some fresh layout ideas:
- Cleaner look, in both Light and Dark styles.
- Larger cover image.
- New look of the track list.
No more Standard edition: Pro-only features now available for everyone!
Since last week, we stopped selling the Standard edition of Music Collector. From now on, the Pro edition is the only edition we sell, and will just be called “Music Collector” now.
Our gift to all users on the Standard edition who have a valid Update Plan:
Starting with v18, you now get access to all Pro-only features:
- Batch editing with the Edit Multiple feature:
Save time by editing multiple items in batch, e.g. to fill in a field value for many items in one go. - Customizable pre-sets for sorting, columns and folders:
Create your own pre-set field combination for sorting and columns. Define your own folder options, even multi-level folder combinations. - User Defined Fields:
Create your own fields (text, number, pick list, checkbox or date) and rename pre-defined fields. - Export features:
Export your database to a CSV or XML file.
Next week, Apple will release the new macOS 10.13 “High Sierra”.
If you are planning to update your Mac to this new OS, then we strongly recommend to update your Music Collector software to today’s version 17.0.4!
Music Collector problems on High Sierra:
We have been testing our software on beta versions of High Sierra for quite a while, to make sure we were ready for it’s release. We found that most of the software seems to be working as normal.
Unfortunately, we found a big problem in the Preferences screen, it does not open at all anymore, making it impossible to make any changes to program settings.
Luckily, our Mac developer Ronald was able to fix the Preferences screen to make it work on the new macOS. A fix was released today, in version 17.0.4.
Fixed
- Preferences screen didn’t load properly on macOS 10.13 “High Sierra”.
- Upload Cover to CLZ Core: Images were not always uploaded properly even if they were within the 500KB file size limit.
- Main Screen: Quick Search: Occasional crashes in the quick search when using the “Search-as-you-type” suggestions.
- Sync with CLZ Cloud: Sometimes crashed during the upload of covers.
Big changes today! The Add Albums Automatically screen has been completely re-designed, to make it both easier-to-use and easier-on-the-eye (and it’s now called “Add Albums from CLZ Core”):
- A clear two-panel design: Search Results on the left, Preview on the right.
- The Search Results now show cover images for every album.
- Automatic Preview of selected result (no more double clicking).
- Improved success rate on barcode searches for both CDs and vinyl!
See it in action:
Here’s the full list of improvements:
We’ve expanded the quick search box to now also allow “search-as-you-type” with suggestions for pick list fields.
How does it work?
In the quick search box top right of your screen you should see a “dropdown” button. Use this to select which field you wish to perform a search on. If “search-as-you-type” is available for that field, it will instantly work once you start typing in the box.
Example
You can now select the field “Artist” in the quick search box, start typing an artist name, and instantly see suggestions (based on what you typed) of artists you have in your database. Click on an artist to see all his/her albums!
Fixes in this version
We also fixed some issues with the program in this version:
- Images Popup:
- “size window to picture” showed image slightly smaller
- .tiff images were not showing
Great news for vinyl collectors: our web-developers Joe and Robbert have revised and improved our Discogs search mechanisms, to give you more up-to-date Discogs data and more images.
Great news for vinyl collectors: our web-developers Joe and Robbert have revised and improved our Discogs search mechanisms, to give you more up-to-date Discogs data and more images.
V17.0.1: Major updates to the Quick Search and Image Viewer popup!
Quick Search: Search-As-You-Type suggestions
Instantly find and select a particular album in your local database:
- In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the artist or title you are looking for.
- While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching albums.
(for most albums, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up.) - Once you see the one you were looking for, use the up/down keys to select it, then hit Enter.
- The album will now be selected in your list, with the details showing in the Details Panel.
NOTE: this Search-As-You-Type feature replaces the old “filter-as-you-type” behaviour of the Quick Search box. If you want to go back to the old behaviour, you can do so in the Preferences screen, on the Behaviour page using the setting called “When typing in Quick Search box”.
V17.0.1: Major updates to the Quick Search and Image Viewer popup!
Quick Search: Search-As-You-Type suggestions
Instantly find and select a particular album in your local database:
- In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the artist or title you are looking for.
- While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching albums.
(for most albums, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up.) - Once you see the one you were looking for, use the up/down keys to select it, then hit Enter.
- The album will now be selected in your list, with the details showing in the Details Panel.
v16.4.1: CLZ Cloud: Your track lists and artist sort names now sync
CLZ Cloud: Now stores and syncs *your* track lists
- The CLZ Cloud system now supports the storing and syncing of track lists.
(previously, track lists were always shared from Core) - For each track, the CLZ Cloud now stores Title, Artist and Length.
- Now store and sync your own customized track titles and artists.
- Now store and sync track lists for unlinked albums (e.g. manually entered or imported).
- NOTE: after updating your Music Collector software, ALL your albums will be flagged as CHANGED,
so that they will be re-uploaded to the CLZ Cloud!
BTW: To sync track lists to the CLZ Music app, you need
version 4.2.4 for iOS or version 4.3.6 for Android! (both released today)
CLZ Cloud: Improved syncing of Artist Sort Names
- Improved storing of Album Artists in the CLZ Cloud.
- Now correctly sync Artist Sort Names to/from the mobile apps.
- Fixed: difference in sorting between folder panel and album panel in the CLZ Cloud viewer.
CLZ Cloud: Now stores and syncs *your* track lists
- The CLZ Cloud system now supports the storing and syncing of track lists.
(previously, track lists were always shared from Core) - For each track, the CLZ Cloud now stores Title, Artist and Length.
- Now store and sync your own customized track titles and artists.
- Now store and sync track lists for unlinked albums (e.g. manually entered or imported).
- NOTE: after updating your Music Collector software, ALL your albums will be flagged as CHANGED,
so that they will be re-uploaded to the CLZ Cloud!
BTW: To sync track lists to the CLZ Music app, you need
version 4.2.4 for iOS or version 4.3.6 for Android! (both released today)
CLZ Cloud: Improved syncing of Artist Sort Names
- Improved storing of Album Artists in the CLZ Cloud.
- Now correctly sync Artist Sort Names to/from the mobile apps.
- Fixed: difference in sorting between folder panel and album panel in the CLZ Cloud viewer.
v16.3.1: New: Light, Dark and System skins and Quick Filter panel
NEW: Choose between Light, Dark or System skins
Yes, We’re getting rid of the gray!
Music Collector now comes with a skin system, which affects the look of all screens in the program,
main screen, edit screens, add auto-screen, sync screen etc.. even the settings screens.
We have designed two different skins for you to choose from: Light and Dark.
The third option “System” is basically the old pre-v16.3 look.