# Database or app for cataloguing your collection?



## schk

Hi,
I'm considering an app or a database for cataloguing the music I own. Could be something like "Music Collector" or "OrangeCD Catalog". Since it is quite a task to accomplish, I will be very grateful for pro/con viewpoints or other suggestions. 
Currently I rip my CDs to FLAC-files using EAC for listening home, and to MP3s using fre:ac for the car. Tagging is done with Mp3tag.
Thanks in advance.
/Hans


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## Headphone Hermit

The reviews for the software that you name are variable for classical music - one says it slows down with large collections (which it suggests is over 500 discs - many of us have far larger collections than that), another says putting on operas (or other works that are on 2 or more discs) is tricky, another that listing multiple versions of the same work by different performers is clunky etc etc. I don't use one - one of the reasons being that automatic download of information from CDs can be problematic - for some discs, the composer, performer and/or work can be wrong and on some of the Callas remastered set, the info is presented in what might be Japanese for some discs.

I use an excel sheet that I created myself - but entering the data can be very time-consuming and there are all kinds of traps regarding separating out the fields (where there are multiple singers in opera) or in combining them (eg main performer could be an orchestra, a choir, a soloist etc) or in deciding how to deal with discs with more than one composer (into 'various' or into the first in alphabetical order, or precedence given to length of work or ... ?) and then there is the issue of Liszt's Schubert transcriptions - does it go in 'Schubert' or in 'Liszt' (the EMI disc is labelled one way, the Naxos disc is labelled the other way)

Sorry - that probably isn't much help


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## Stavrogin

Headphone Hermit said:


> The reviews for the software that you name are variable for classical music - one says it slows down with large collections (which it suggests is over 500 discs - many of us have far larger collections than that), another says putting on operas (or other works that are on 2 or more discs) is tricky, another that listing multiple versions of the same work by different performers is clunky etc etc. I don't use one - one of the reasons being that automatic download of information from CDs can be problematic - for some discs, the composer, performer and/or work can be wrong and on some of the Callas remastered set, the info is presented in what might be Japanese for some discs.
> 
> I use an excel sheet that I created myself - but entering the data can be very time-consuming and there are all kinds of traps regarding separating out the fields (where there are multiple singers in opera) or in combining them (eg main performer could be an orchestra, a choir, a soloist etc) or in deciding how to deal with discs with more than one composer (into 'various' or into the first in alphabetical order, or precedence given to length of work or ... ?) and then there is the issue of Liszt's Schubert transcriptions - does it go in 'Schubert' or in 'Liszt' (the EMI disc is labelled one way, the Naxos disc is labelled the other way)
> 
> Sorry - that probably isn't much help


Would it be possible somehow to have your excel sheet?
You can "unpopulate" it if you want - I am just interested in the structure (with some examples of course).
You can use wetransfer or other online sharing tools if you don't want to use email.

If you don't mind sharing it, that is


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## schk

Thank you for your reply, Headphone Hermit.

Oh yes, Excel could be a solution, and definitely not the worst.

As for the tagging errors: That's why I use Mp3tag, which lets you edit the tags and format them exactly the way you want. As I read in another thread: Fixing the tags is the most time-consuming process in the project. I surely agree... 

Still I would hope for a well-proven solution. Starting from scratch, entering a lot of music, and then (repetitively) getting new ideas, that you have to implement on all the stuff, already on-file - would also eat up a lot of time, I fear.

Some of the solutions let you choose a 'classical' layout, allowing for columns like composer, movement, conductor etc.

However, I hope to learn what is actually being used, and hence more replies are very welcome.


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## Krummhorn

Over the summer months last year I cataloged my entire set of printed music using an Excel spreadsheet. My personal collection of sheet music and collections is contained in 3 legal sized 4 drawer filing cabinets which I keep stored in my music office at the church where I am employed. 

I set up the Excel sheet listing piece name, composer, arranger, and indicated whether it was sheet music or in a collection. 

I placed sort arrows at the top of all the headings so that I can sort by composer, arranger, book or piece name. When searching within that Excel sheet I can use the CTRL + F (find) feature. My Excel workbook has over 4,100 entries. The remainder of my collection is in digital form (PDF) and was mostly acquired downloading from IMSLP.


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## schk

So you also use Excel... Think I should go for this solution in the first place. If or rather when the amount af data becomes too large, it is not that difficult to move the data to a real database. Mp3tag provides you with 23 different columns, so this is a good start for the Excelfile, I think.


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## Headphone Hermit

Stavrogin said:


> Would it be possible somehow to have your excel sheet?
> You can "unpopulate" it if you want - I am just interested in the structure (with some examples of course).
> You can use wetransfer or other online sharing tools if you don't want to use email.
> 
> If you don't mind sharing it, that is


sure - PM me with an email address and I send it over to you :tiphat:


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## Wood

Is there a way to transfer the metadata to a spreadsheet?

I have too big a collection to make data input feasible, but my metadata is excellent because I edit the track information of all the CDs I rip or music that I download.

It would be nice to store the data on a libreoffice spreadsheet for easier access and greater permanence.


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## Centropolis

I recently started using OrangeCD to catalog my CDs but I am not looking for 100% accuracy in terms of tags and naming. I am merely going through this exercise to document what I have. For this purpose, I only need the title and cover art to match what I have. I am not looking for accuracy in other areas. For this, OrangeCD is okay. 

Tracks information is often wrong using it. Year and label often doesn't match, although you can manually change them.


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## Becca

For those of you who, like me, are allergic to Windows, there is a very good package called Tellico which can be used to document any sort of collection, not just music.

View attachment 82038


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## MrTortoise

Becca said:


> For those of you who, like me, are allergic to Windows, there is a very good package called Tellico which can be used to document any sort of collection, not just music.
> 
> View attachment 82038


Ah, pretty awesome to see a screenshot of xfce outside of a Linux forum. My Windows dependency is mainly due to my frustration ripping CD's with anything other than dbPoweramp. Tellico looks like a nice app.


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## Steatopygous

I use Excel. 
I am about 300 CDs behind, alas, in cataloguing, but the last item right now is entry number 26,639. I have never had any problems with Excel, despite this clearly being a large file, but it is certainly time consuming to enter the data (which is why I am a long way behind).


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## Guest

Do any of these software programs use a barcode reader? I have about 3,000 CDs, and I can't imagine how tedious and time-consuming it would be to enter the disc info by hand!


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## Centropolis

Kontrapunctus said:


> Do any of these software programs use a barcode reader? I have about 3,000 CDs, and I can't imagine how tedious and time-consuming it would be to enter the disc info by hand!


I think both OrangeCD and Collectorz have the ability to use UPC codes. Using a barcode reader is not a function of the cataloging software (as long as you can use UPC codes to find albums with the software) but an implementation of a barcode scanner software with your OS. I think there are free software that uses webcam as barcode scanners.


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## schk

I also edit the metadata after ripping, and hence my metadata is in very good shape too. So this seems to be a good way to proceed. Apparently, there is a lot of tools, allowing you to export the metadata in e.g. .csv format for import in Excel et al. Some free, some to be paid for. I tried TagScanner, it works; but I found it only includes a subset of the columns available, so this is a nogo. 
Will continue to look for better solutions...


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## schk

Ha! Once again it turned out that my good old friend Mp3tag came up with the solution. It is highly customisable, so you just specify which columns (there are so many available) you want in your .csv-file. This is a one-time operation, and then you do a File - Export. This provides a .csv file for import into Excel et al. During the import, you may have to change the way some fields are formatted, but that's easy. Now you have all your data in your spreadsheet, and after merging this spredsheet with your 'master spreadsheet' you're done. I think this will be the solution for me.


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## haydnguy

About 10 years ago (on another forum) I had a long discussion about what would be an ideal software database program for classical music. Some of the people in the discussion were knowledgeable about music and gave me some excellent suggestions as to what they would like to see. After searching, I have lost my notes on those conversations unfortunately.

I am in need of a side project to work on and I thought that I might get back to the music database idea. At that time there were several problems with the software currently available. First, the software at that time was designed for popular music where you have one song per track. Each song is independent of the others. In classical music, of course, that isn't true. A symphony may have 4 movements that are treated as a whole. The other thing was that classical music doesn't just have a name. It has opus numbers and things such as that. Then you have composers who have written symphonies and operas. Operas might want to be captured slightly differently. 

The people that were giving suggestions wanted to have various ways to search on these things and they wanted "classical specific" things stored in the database. Of course you want to be able to search by composer but also search by composer with a certain conductor or perhaps including an orchestra. There were all kinds of scenarios that they felt would be very helpful. 

When I look at the software that is mentioned in this thread, things have come a long way since that time. The problem when I look at their screenshots on their websites is that they all show popular music which doesn't tell me exactly what their capabilities are as far as classical music is concerned. 

I was just curious about what the querying capability of these programs are and what type of things, and combinations of things that you can search on. Also, what types of "classical specific" items are stored.

I actually had a long conversation with a support person on Amazon about this problem because I got all my albums on Amazon (mostly). They have an online player that you can play the music you have bought. Again, however, it assumes one song per track. It also doesn't show all the tracks of a CD so that you might only get the 2nd movement of a symphony which does you no good. When I finally got the person to understand the problem he admitted there was nothing they could do.


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## Judith

I use excel. Sheet for each composer. My columns have the composition, soloist, orchestra, conductor, cd label etc. Then print and keep sheet in a folder, save on computer and flash drive.


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## haydnguy

Judith said:


> I use excel. Sheet for each composer. My columns have the composition, soloist, orchestra, conductor, cd label etc. Then print and keep sheet in a folder, save on computer and flash drive.


Thanks Judith, I'll wait for awhile and see if anyone else has anything to add. I've just got my brain spinning around this at the moment.


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## Merl

Just the headache of re-tagging my stuff to suit me is enough stress for me. I wouldn't even dare to catalogue all my stuff unless I could just speak it in. Even then I couldn't be bothered.


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## Triplets

Anyone here using Roon?


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## Adamus

Triplets said:


> Anyone here using Roon?


No. Metadata classical music is as aweful Spotify, Apple, Tidal etc.


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