Music Collector Manual
for Windows edition
Welcome to Music Collector Download and Install Navigating the Main Screen Cataloging CDs Cataloging Music Files How to search your Collection Adding Albums Automatically Adding Albums Manually Barcode Scanning Adding Multi-Disc Albums Adding Tracks Adding a Box Set Adding Music Files Import from iTunes Importing from text Adding Backdrops Managing your Wish List Search Settings Field Defaults Editing Albums Editing Multiple Albums List Items and more Changing the layout Adding Lyrics Files Find Cover Image Editing List Icons Update File Links Sorting your Collection Custom Field Names Custom Views Edit, Merge List Items Customizing Music Collector Activating Connect Sync & Share Synchronize with Connect Linking your albums for Connect CLZ Music for iPhone/iPod CLZ Music for Android CLZ Music HD for iPad Exporting your collection Managing Loans Printing a Simple List Using Folders Using the Filter screen Updating Music Collector The Options Screen Data Submission Guidelines Field Reference Transfer your collection Validating Music Collector Creating a Backup Keyboard Shortcuts Collection Statistics Print Screen Linking Albums
Find Cover Image
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How It Works
Music Collector 9 has a built-in Cover Finder which helps to fill missing gaps in your collection. This Google-powered image search makes it easy to find missing cover images, as well as fixing incorrect ones.
The Cover Finder takes the artist, title and barcode of the music from your database and uses it to find you the best possible match.
The new Find Cover Image tool can be opened up from multiple places in the program:
Find Cover Image Screen
The Find Cover Image screen is split into 2 sections. The search results on the left and a preview of the selected image on the right. Each section also has various options at the bottom.
On the left you have the search box, below that you have 3 check boxes which allow you to quickly add or remove data from the search field. The search will automatically include the artist, barcode and title of the album.
Tip: If you are looking for an alternative cover it can help to remove the barcode from the search results.
Figure 1: Find Cover Image Screen - Music Collector 9
Edit Search Criteria
When finding a cover for your album, Music Collector will add the barcode to the album title to provide better results. When no (or poor) results are found, you can edit the Search Criteria manually in the text field on the left.
Figure 2: Edit Search Criteria - Music Collector 9
Find Cover Image from Main Screen
When browsing your albums in the Main Screen and you want to add a missing cover image for one of your albums simply click on 'No Cover Image' in the detail view to open up the Find Cover Image Screen (see Figure 3 below), you can also right click anywhere on the template and click 'Find Cover Image'
Figure 3: Find Cover Image From Main Screen - Music Collector 9
Find Cover Image from the Cover Tab in the Edit Album Screen
When you're in the Edit Album Screen, you can add or change the Cover Image on the Covers tab. Click the Find Online button to open up the Find Cover Image Screen (see Figure 4: Find Cover Image Screen).
Figure 4: Find Cover Image Screen - Music Collector 9
Find Cover Image from the Add Musics Automatically Screen
If you search and find an album in our database but the cover doesn't match your own, or one isn't provided by our database, you can access the Cover Finder from the Add Automatically screen.
- Right click on an album from the main search results
- Click the No Cover Image template in the preview
Figure 5: Add Musics Automatically Screen - Music Collector 9
Cropping
When you find an image with both front and back cover, you can crop the image right here! Just point, click, then drag your cursor over the part of the image you want to keep and click Crop. When okay, click Use This Image.
Cropped off too much? Just select the image from the Search Results on the left and give it another go!
Find Cover Image
The demo video below shows the Cover Finder in action with our Book Collector software. Music Collector works in exactly the same way. Check out the demo to see the Cover Finder in action.
Alternative ways to add your own Images
When adding a new album to your collection, Music Collector will automatically retrieve a whole lot of information from our databases right to your computer. But sometimes you might want to add your own cover image to one of your albums. Or perhaps you've found a different image, that's more to your liking.
Updating a Cover Image from the Collectorz.com database
Our databases are constantly acquiring new images and up-to-date information. If an image isn't found when you first add an album we may add one at a later date, or perhaps you added your albums manually and don't want to spend time adding covers for each music individually. Updating will also download additional information such as cast and crew information.
You can update your albums and images in a variety of ways.
- Right click on an album and click 'Update Album'
- From the Edit Album > Cover screen, click Clear followed by Update
- By selecting the album, and clicking Edit > Update Album(s)
Adding an Image from your Hard Disk
When you want to replace a cover of one of your albums, you need to go to the Edit Album screen (select album and click Edit > Edit album) and go to the Covers tab. Click the Browse button and search for the image on your computer.
Figure 6: Browse for Image on your Computer
Note: Images you add manually are NOT transferred or copied to the Images folder of Music Collector. So, to keep things tidy and organized, save your images in the default Music Collector folder. This way you make sure, that when creating a Backup, all images are being copied.
Drag-and-Drop
Another very easy way to add/change images for your albums is to Drag-and-Drop them. You can Drag-and-Drop an image file from your computer or from a website.
Figure 7: Drag and Drop from your Desktop
Figure 8: Drag and Drop from the Internet
You'll notice that Music Collector will prompt you to make a choice. Choosing "Copy dropped file to default image folder, then link" will copy the image to the Music Collector Images folder. This is highly recommended. The video below shows how to drag/drop images in Movie Collector. The process in Music Collector is identical. Check out the video to see it in action.
Simply linking to the dropped file just creates a link to the location of the image. If you drag and drop an image from the Internet, you will loose your images, once the online image is removed so it's advisable to copy to your computer first. Also, renaming or moving a linked image on your computer will result in a broken image.
Please note: Different browsers may behave differently. If one browser does not allow you to drag and drop the image, please try a different browser, or drag the image to your desktop first, and drag it from there.
More Image Settings
You can tweak the default settings to fit your needs by clicking the Settings Button in the Edit album Screen. When not in Editing Mode, click: Tools > Options > Images.
Figure 9: Image Options Screen