What's new in CLZ Music? (page 10)
Our web-team has been working on this for a long time: a new search engine for Artist/Title searches in our Core online music database and Discogs.
What’s new?
- Faster searches: Artist/Title searches will now give you results instantly, much much faster than before.
- Improved stability: The new search engine is running on a dedicated server that is only doing these searches, resulting in a more stable experience. (in the past few months, there have been performance issues, especially on Saturday and Sunday)
- Better search results: The results are now more focussed, less fuzzy, as it will only show albums containing ALL your search term words (as opposed to the old search that gave you albums that matched ANY or your search term words).
- Single Search Box: Just one box for search (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 above with “metallica justice” results”).
Now live in your Music Connect software, a complete re-design of the Add Albums screen, with a new look, easier interface and new features.
Adding Albums by Artist & Title
Search by artist and title to see a list of matching album results:
Not the right cover image? Use the built-in Find Cover tool to pick the correct one.
Adding Albums by barcode
Scanned barcodes will be automatically added to your queue, with the album information populating instantly. Use the big blue Add to Collection button at the bottom right to add the selected album to your database, OR use the little blue “+” buttons to add straight from the queue.
Adding Albums by Catalog Number
Search by catalog number to see a list of matching album results from Discogs:
New: Adding Multi-Disc Albums
New in the add screen: 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 a Multi-Disc Album by Artist and Title:
Adding a Multi-Disc Album by barcode:
Fixed:
- Secondary artist could not be found in the quick search.
- Album cover thumbnail dimensions were wrong in the search-as-you-type popup
- App shortcut not working in the Android launcher.
You may need to re-add your app shortcut to your launcher screen by tapping/holding the app in your list of apps!
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 album you were looking for, tap it to bring up its detail page
- TIP: Tap the search button on the keyboard or tap “View All Results” to perform the normal search.
Quick Search now searches more fields
Now also searches in:
- Notes
- Tags
Full list of fields that are now searched:
- Title
- Barcode
- Album Artist
- Album Composer
- Track Title
- Track Artist
- Notes
- Tags
A new v4.8.1 update for your app is available now, with:
Automatic CLZ Cloud syncing
Add or edit albums and your changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly.
Made changes on the desktop or Connect side? Just start the app and changes will download automatically.
Note: Auto-Syncing is switched OFF by default. Switch it ON in the “Sync with CLZ Cloud” screen.
The CLZ Cloud syncing will let you:
- Sync your data between devices, e.g. between your phone and your tablet. Or from your old phone to your new phone.
- View your database online using the free CLZ Cloud viewer website.
- Make an online backup of your data. Better safe than sorry!
New: ‘None’ folder entries
- Added ‘None’ entries to list of folders: The [None] folder groups the books you have not set the field for on which you’re currently folder grouping.
Fixed:
- Search cleared when the X button was pushed in the search bar of the main screen.
We have just updated both the Connect web-application and the free CLZ Cloud viewers to make them a lot faster.
- The folder panel now uses “lazy-loading” which makes it load (a lot) faster.
- When selecting a folder, only the list panel is re-loaded, where previously the entire page was refreshed.
The above changes will make browsing your CLZ Cloud or Connect app a lot snappier and will prevent server performance problems (two birds with one stone!).
The performance improvements are especially noticeable for large book, music and comic collections, as these generally have loooonnnngggg lists of author, artist and series folders.
In this “between Christmas and New Year” week, a huge update to the look and feel of our Connect web-based software.
- We removed the tabs at the top that let you switch between the programs, to give you more screen space for the software you are in. (you can still switch using the app-switcher button top right).
- Dark toolbars with white text and buttons everywhere, while keeping your list and details pages light and clear.
- All tools and feature are now accessible from the “hamburger” menu on the top left.
- Your account settings and log out options in a “user menu” on the right.
- TIP: the new look is also available in your free CLZ Cloud viewer!
A new v4.8 update for your app is available now, with:
Automatic CLZ Cloud syncing
Add or edit albums and your changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly.
Made changes on the desktop or Connect side? Just start the app and changes will download automatically.
Note: Auto-Syncing is switched OFF by default. Switch it ON in the “Sync with CLZ Cloud” screen.
Don’t have a CLZ Cloud account yet?
If you don’t have a CLZ Cloud account yet, We strongly recommend to signup up for one from the app. Using the CLZ Cloud is completely free!
The CLZ Cloud syncing will let you:
- Sync your data between devices, e.g. between your phone and your tablet. Or from your old phone to your new phone.
- View your database online using the free CLZ Cloud viewer website.
- Make an online backup of your data. Better safe than sorry!
In today’s update for the CLZ Music app, we have made further tweaks to the Add Albums from CLZ Core screen, to make it clearer than previous versions:
- Color high-lighting: Albums already ‘on wish list’ now have an orange title, albums already “in collection” show up with a blue title.
- Slightly smaller font for the album title, so that longer titles fit better.
Fixes in this update:
- Crash when adding an artist to an album when the add manually screen was opened by tapping the “Not Found?”-cell in one of the the add auto screens.
- After changing the sort order the list could sometimes scroll to a random position.
- Small CLZ Cloud Sync tweaks.
- After restarting the app it would sometimes repeatedly scroll to the last added album.
- After manually typing a barcode in the add by barcode screen you weren’t able to search another one.
In today’s update for the CLZ Music app, we have made further tweaks to the Add Albums from CLZ Core screen, to make it clearer and (hopefully) more stable than previous versions:
- Slightly smaller font for the album title, so that longer titles fit better.
- Color high-lighting: Albums already ‘on wish list’ now have an orange title, albums already “in collection” show up with a blue title.
- Improved scroll behaviour.
Fixes in this update:
- Full screen cover scroller on iPhone/iPod devices was not properly updating its title bar
A nice upgrade for the search feature today, in both Music Connect and the free CLZ Cloud viewer for music collections!
We have completely replaced the search engine, making the searches much faster and giving you better, more focussed, less “fuzzy” search results.
On top of that, we have now added our popular “Search-As-You-Type” mechanism to the search box for quick finding and selecting a particular album in your database:
- In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the title or artist you are looking for.
- While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching album, with small cover images.
(for most series, 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.
- This will instantly take you the album you selected.
New
- Optimized layout of main screen on 10.5 and 12.9 inch iPads
- Optimized the performance of the main screen thumbnail view
- Fresh placeholder cover images
Fixed
- Black bars showing on 10.5 and 12.9 inch iPads
- Add screen: Catalog No. button wasn’t working correctly
- Disappearing floating add button when switching from list to thumbnail view
Now live, a new design and layout for the album detail page in both Music Connect and the free CLZ Cloud viewer.
Some highlights of the new look:
- bigger cover image
- backdrop (can be switched off in your settings)
- more logical layout and placement of all fields
Screen shot:
Fixed:
- Crash in add screen on devices running iOS10 or lower
New:
- Redesigned Selection Mode
- Tap and hold on an album to select it, select as many albums as you like (or select all, using the “Select All” top right).
- Then use the blue action button to perform an action on the selected albums (Remove / Update from CLZ Core).
Fixed:
- Crash when saving a cover image to the camera roll
- Odd scrolling behavior when scanning music album barcodes in the barcode scanning screen
- Barcode search results sometimes not added to the collection
- Stuck keyboard after searching in main list
- Autocorrect was enabled for the main list search bar
All Connect apps: Manage Pick Lists, edit, merge and remove pick list entries.
A Manage Pick Lists screen is now available in Connect!
Finally, you can easily manage your pick lists for Artists, Authors, Series, Genres, Formats, etc… To edit your sort names, merge duplicate entries or remove entries.
The new Manage Pick Lists screen can be found in the Tools menu top right (the wrench icon).
Fixed:
- Missing app icons for 12.9 inch iPad
Fixed:
- Autocorrect/complete was disabled on the note field in the edit/add manually screens
- The on-screen keyboard was covering the lower input fields in the edit/add manually screens
New:
- New fields you can now sort your albums on:
- Country
- Format
- Label
New fields for Edit Multiple
We’ve expanded the amount of fields you can edit in the Edit Multiple screen.
Improved interface
We’ve made it more clear how you can clear information from specific fields for all selected items you’re editing. Use the X button to clear a field for all selected items.
Using “Edit Multiple”
Quick reminder how to use Edit Multiple: Click the “Select” button at the top of your Connect page, select a couple of items, and click “Edit” (again, at the top).
Be advised that changes you make here affect all selected items, and can not be reverted once done!
Add by Barcode improvements
- Highly improved success rate on barcode searches:
- Many more CDs are now recognized by barcode.
- NEW: Now also find vinyl records by barcode!
CLZ Core improvement:
- We’ve calculated track times for CDs that didn’t have any in the CLZ Core online music database.
New:
- Added a new “All Albums” folder with a back button to go back to your folders
Fixed:
- Barcode queue was lost when a crash occurred in the Add from CLZ Core screen.
- The “move to wish list” functionality in the Add from CLZ Core screen was not working.
New:
- Added a new “All Albums” folder with a back button to go back to your folders
Highly improved success rate on barcode searches:
- Many more CDs are now recognized by barcode, by using a Discogs search
- NEW: Now also find vinyl records by barcode!
User interface tweaks:
- After adding/editing an album, the app will now always find and show your last added album in your main screen.
- Main screen will now always remember navigation state, even after device reboot.
Fixed:
- Automatically select the first result on a barcode search with multiple results.
- Swapped artist and title in results cells in the search by artist/title screen.
Highly improved success rate on barcode searches:
- Many more CDs are now recognized by barcode.
- NEW: Now also find vinyl records on Discogs by barcode!
User interface tweaks:
- After adding/editing an album, the app will now always find and show your last added album in your main screen.
- Main screen will now always remember navigation state, even after device reboot.
Fixed:
- Add auto screen not obeying the device’s rotation lock.