Newsletter December 2008

Hi... It's Sytske here, Alwin's wife.

I know Alwin usually writes the newsletters, but I gave him the day off.
He needed it.

And, as they say, when opportunity knocks, go for it! So here I am,
writing the newsletter.

Now then, sit back and enjoy this very long newsletter. But, long as it may
be, don't stop reading halfway because there's a great story at the end!

You may recognize my name from a reply to a Support request...
I'm one of the faces behind Collectorz.com Support.

Well, that's one of my many job titles. I also make sure our team gets
fed and we have enough coffee at the office.

And that's in addition to all the marketing stuff I am doing.

I'll talk about Support later on, but first things first:

Movie Collector SIX for Windows
===============================
On December 9, we've released a major upgrade of the Windows edition of
Movie Collector.

Version 6 is a major step forward for our movie cataloging software.

Like Book Collector 6, it includes a completely new Add Automatically
screen that only uses the Collectorz.com movie database for movie
information, DVD details and cover images.

The new screen makes it easier and quicker to add movies to your database,
plus it adds a cool new New Releases tab and a Most Popular tab.

To discover more about v6 (if you're not one of the thousands that already
have it), lookie-lookie here:

http://www.collectorz.com/movie/upgrade.php

About Customer Support
========================
Now, let's talk Support.

As you can imagine, with so many customers, we get a lot of requests
for assistance: lost licenses, transferring databases, changing
from PC to Mac, how to merge author entries, print custom lists...

Whatever your support question is, we've got an answer for you
Heck, we should! After all, we created the darn thing.

To better assist you with all your questions, we've redesigned and upgraded
the Support Page... including some serious enhancements to the Knowledge
base. Check it out:

http://www.collectorz.com/support.php

As you'll see, each program has its own support page home, filled to the
brim with useful tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your
Collectorz.com program.

So...

If you happen to have a question about your software, check out the Support
pages first. Of course you can always contact us, but you might find your
answer quicker online.

Why the wait, right?

You're probably in a different time zone than we are, so before we even read
your mail, you may have found the solution on your own.

No need to scroll up and down the pages, just type your question
into the nifty Search box and...
... BAM!
There's your answer.

If you can't find your answer, don't hesitate to contact us using the
contact forms. We're here, all of us, to help with your question.

24/7, including Saturdays and Sundays.

Now,
I want to share a common question with you.
This one is in our mailbox on a daily basis.

"I use your Book Collector program. When are you going to develop a
Wine Collector?"

I say "Wine" but we get requests for Action Figures, Software licenses,
Disney collections, Baseball cards, Magic cards, Home Inventory,
My Little Pony and 50 years of Playboy magazines.

And that is just the top of a long wishlist for other collecting
tools.

Well, sorry to say, I have to disappoint all of these happy collectors...
we have no plans for any new programs soon. Fact is, we've got our
hands full with the current seven!

BUT...
I'm trying to convince Alwin and our programmers to create a kinda
"General Collector". You can add any collection to it, using templates.

Sure, it's a bit of a wild idea and to be honest I have no followers yet.

Rest assured that I'll keep nagging them about this topic. No promises,
no guarantees, but it's on my list.

Talking about happy collectors (some would dare call us hoarders!)...

As you know, November's newsletter didn't have a Meet The Collector topic.
But I think this story makes up for it BIG TIME.

Meet The Collector: Michael Wooddell (Fairmont, USA)
=======================================================
"I'm not sure where my obsession with collecting started at but it's been
with me a long time. I cut my teeth on comics as a kid. My mom would read them to me when I was
younger and always buy me new ones on grocery store trips.
Once I got older of course I was forced to use the old allowance to get
them. At that point my dad and I would run to the comic shop once a week so
I could pick up my stuff and then head out for dinner.

I've always been a gamer so I've always got games stock piled.
Most I'll trade in but a select few are kept forever and those get a place
in Game Collector.

I've always been a reader but I didn't really start collecting books until
I read Timothy Zahn's first Star Wars trilogy. Would you believe I got the
books before I had ever seen the movies? Well, needless to say, I'm
hooked.

Keeping track of everything was a real nightmare.
Then a friend directed me to the Collectorz.com website.

I've been using the Collectorz software for a few years now. Their
products have made my life so much easier. I first purchased Book, Movie
and Comic Collector in one shot with a barcode reader.

I quickly got going on the Book and Movie databases but I was disappointed
with the Comic software. I was not interested in adding all of that comic
info by hand. So I shelfed it and kept working with the other two.

About a year later I went back and looked into Comic collector again.
I was amazed.

The online database had grown so much in it now. I immediately started
adding my comics in. So far I'm about half way through adding my
collection with almost 5,000 comics in the software. It's been taking
longer because I'm trying to add helpful info whenever I can.

After all of this I also decided to buy Game collector and start using a
free trial of Music collector. Two more great products. I've just recently
finished adding games to the Game collector and CDs to Music collector.

With so much progress done I tried using the software for some of my other
collections. Turns out Comic collector is perfect for magazines, there are
even quite a few in the Collectorz.com database.
And Game collector can be retrofitted to accommodate action figures very well.

All in all I have to say I am in no way disappointed with the
Collectorz.com products. The software works great, the online databases are
amazing, the support is fast and reliable and the community forum is a
great place to visit.

So far my collection stats are:

Movie: 220 DVDs (plus 34 VHS tapes that still need added)
Music: 72 CDs
Games: 70 Games from multiple platforms
Comics: 4,988 (plus another 4,789 to go)
Books: 498
Magazines: 120 (plus loads of Star Wars magazines that have yet to be added)
Action Figures: 58 (plus many more that I haven't began to start on yet)

Without the Collectorz.com software I have no idea how I would keep all of
this straight. I would never be able to keep track of so many comics and
Star Wars books if I couldn't use the software to quickly see what I have
and find out what box it is stored in.

Soon I hope to be able to use the html export from the products to create a
web page showcasing my obsessions, err collections.

Truly a great product I would recommend to anyone!"

Come January, Alwin will be back with your monthly newsletter.

On behalf of all of us at Collectorz.com, I wish you and your loved ones a
very Merry Xmas and a Happy & Healthy 2009!

Sytske Hermans
Marketing Manager