Does anyone know a good free online database for compiling one's music library? For comics, I use Comic Book DB. I want to simply add the albums I own and get access to tracklistings, production info, etc.

If you just wanted to catalogue which titles you own, try rateyourmusic.com . If you want to be able to view info on producers, etc. you're better off going on discogs.com (be warned, they started off as just an electronic music database; so unless most of your collection is electronic stuff you'll probably need to add 80% of your collection yourself as it won't be in there already.... also, due to guideline changes over the years the info included for some releases is a little inconsistent compared to others).

This may be one of those things where if you really want to invest the time into building a good database, you might want to fork over a little money for a non-free program. Most of the freebies that I've heard of were problems.

Thanks guys. I think you might be right Walter. Any suggestions on a good PAID database?

http://www.discogs.com is useful, but only as a starting point--I find that I need to cross-check all information on there with other websites. I find that the most complete (to me) discography/database is the one that I compile myself--even the best online discographies for a particular artist still seem to be lacking one or two items that annoy me. There's also the various philosophical variances--Springsteen lists invariably include bootlegs, while Rolling Stones lists always seem to omit dance remixes. http://www.discogs.com includes promo releases (including CD-R releases) but doesn't include downloads/I-tunes exclusives, etc.

As for compiling a database of one's own music library, I've found that the only way to do it was to sit down at my keyboard and start typing in the info myself, one track at a time, one disc at a time. While I don't include such info as songwriting credits and producer info, I have found that entering the running time for each track (using the times indicated by Windows Media Player, NOT the CD sleeve) has, although initially tedious, proven useful.

Then, when I go in to fill various holes in my collection for a particular artist, I then take my CD database info, sit down for a few hours at sites such as discogs, Amazon, ebay, GEMM, musicstack, wikipedia (and hopefully at least a webpage or two devoted to that particular artist) and explore from there. The trick is to crosscheck the information as much as possible, although occasionally the only way to be absolutely sure about what some of these releases contain is to cross my fingers, grit my teeth, order the damn disc and wait a few days (or weeks) to have the actual disc in hand to play for myself..

I'm not an expert on the subject, far from it, but I use the various packages from Collectorz.com. I've been happy with the CD and MP3 programs I've purchased from them.

Basically, I just figure that if a CD isn't on my shopping list, I have it already.

I've tried out CDPedia and CD Collector for Mac. Not overly thrilled with either of them.

If you're willing to consider non-free packages, I've been using CATraxx for a while now... you can import data for your CDs directly from CDDB, although I find that I usually have to do a bit of cleanup afterwards.

Download the demo for free and give it a spin:

http://www.fnprg.com/catraxx/index.html

Just finished "inventorying" CD number 1,000!

Geez, at the current rate, I'll finish this project... um, never.

Having gone through the process of loading a database like this, I know where you're coming from. Trust me though...once it's done, you'll be glad you did. The best time investment I ever made was cataloging compilations and soundtracks. Now when I'm looking for a track, I can actually find it!

I took a look at their website -- their cataloging program looks pretty good, and I like that they offer mobile apps. My problem is that I can't afford the time it would take to pop all 7K or so of my CDs into my CD-ROM drive to be logged in. Assuming I take advantage of the database search function, how many hours would you expect it to take me to catalog my whole collection? Or would I be much better off springing for one of the barcode scanners? Also, are all of the fields modifiable, so I can change artist/title names and generally arrange things the way I want them?

Wow Ven...I couldn't tell you for certain how much time it would take. Suffice it to say that it took me so long that it was done in bits and pieces over many months. The biggest obstacle I ran into when I was loading things was either online databases that didn't have some of the titles I was trying to input, necessitating a lot of typing on my part or situations where the anal retentive in me didn't like the way people had loaded those databases. (To include "The" or not, etc.) Everything is very easily modifiable (Is that a word?) though. I've had no problems with modifications. If it was just a matter of loading the 7K titles of which you speak, it would be time-consuming on its own. I've already loaded 9,887 into mine...with a few to catch up on...so I know the scope of which you speak.

What you might consider, if you get into something like this, is starting where I think you get the most bang, cataloging compilations and other various artists kinds of things. That will help you find those miscellaneous tracks. After that, you can take your time and work on things artist by artist.

Regarding the barcode scanner, that would work great for titles, but if I remember correctly, the program scans your CD for track times, something that you likely wouldn't have without popping that CD into the drive and letting it be read by the program. I use a scanner for my movie titles, something that I'm just getting started on with their DVD collecting software.

That's what I'm afraid of. We ICErs tend to own a lot of obscure titles that don't appear in most databases. If I had to manually input every other CD -- or even every 10th CD -- it would become more trouble than it's worth. And I'm with you when it comes to making sure album and song titles are precisely accurate.


That's good, 'cause I know there will be plenty of titles I'll want to modify. Modificatability is essential. I would also want to make sure there's plenty of flexibility in sorting. The last cataloging program I used (I can't even remember the name of it now, it's been so long) had fields like "artist sort name" so, for example, I could integrate Utopia titles chronologically into the Todd Rundgren section. Any program I use needs to have that kind of function.


Good idea. Maybe I'll download the trial version and start with my VA comps and soundtracks, then see how I like it.


I would think the whole point of being able to scan the barcode is that all of the album info, including track times, would be imported directly from the various databases the program accesses. If you use their search function and import a CD from their database that way, doesn't it include track times?

Just to add that Catraxx requires physical insertion of a CD to automatically download CD info, otherwise you have to do a manual query or try a workaround like Scanner Wedge to read barcodes.

Truthfully I've never gone that route, so I couldn't definitively say one way or the other. I don't think it used to work that way, but since Collectorz software now accesses their databases, it may be better/different.

I'll give it a shot and let you know. Many thanks for all the info! The idea of cataloging my collection with software still seems daunting to me, but maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Oh I don't know...it might be as bad as you think! Good luck and try to enjoy though!

OK, I downloaded the trial version and looked it over. It's a little more complicated than I had hoped, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I decided to start with my 25-volume Super Hits Of The '70s - Have A Nice Day series. Using the search function, I was able to find them all very quickly. The problem is, every volume is listed multiple times, with slight variations in the title (some use colons, some use dashes, some capitalize words differently, some spell out "volume" while others abbreviate, etc.), and not all of them include cover art. Finding the best matches was a little time consuming, and I'll still have to do a little tweaking of each listing to make them just right. Maybe other titles will have fewer entries, making things a lot easier. The good news is that all of the entries I've looked at so far include all of the track times, so inserting each disc isn't necessary. Whew!

I'll keep at it for a while and see if I can become a bit more efficient in navigating the search results.

My biggest issue with many of these database programs (aside from the fact that I am on Mac and many aren't) is that I want the ability to type in a song title and get a list of all albums I have that contain it. I want to see the song title, artist, album title and track length of each of those entries in simple list form.

None I've tried have that ability (though CDPedia came the closest, and I suggested adding that as a feature some time ago, though I don't think they've done so yet), except for an Excel spreadsheet I made for Various Artists comps and the Windoze only mdb2000.

While not free, I use an Excel spreadsheet. Open Office should have a free version of Excel.