Newsletter April 2009
Hi there!
Sytske here, Alwin's better half.
Today I want to tell you something about our own collections. To be exact,
how Alwin and I organize our valuables on the shelves.
We happen to have five collections: DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, CDs, video
games, books and comics. That is a massive amount of stuff to store.
But there's more, here's an overview:
* Photo Collector version 2: Go Pro for Standard money
* The Grand Tour: Alwin's and Sytske's collections
* Picture request: you and your collection
* Meet The Collector: Timothy Winslow
Enjoy!
Photo Collector version 2: Go Pro for Standard money
======================================================
Did you know we also offer a cataloging tool for digital photos?
Well, we do. Check it out here:
http://collectorz.com/photo/features.php
And our Photo Collector program just received a major upgrade. I know, it
took quite a while but it was well worth the wait.
Version 2.0 now has all the new goodies that were introduced in our other
programs like the custom screen layouts, resizable fonts, improved print
screen, redesigned search and filter screen, new templates, etc...
To celebrate this release, I have a great offer you:
* Go PRO for Standard money (a $20 discount) *
http://collectorz.com/photogopro/ (valid till April 30, 23.59)
Wanna try before you buy? No problem, download the trial edition here:
http://collectorz.com/photo/download.php
The Grand Tour: Alwin's and Sytske's collections
==================================================
You can never have too many books, CDs or DVDs can you?
It's like buying a new pair of shoes, since you can't have enough shoes
either! (For the women: use Photo Collector to organize your shoes. Take a
picture of them, add extra info like purchase price, where the shoes took
you and how to best combine them with a trendy outfit. Just a thought).
Sorry guys, shoes distract me.
Back to the story.
Now what happens when you put two collectors together?
Then you are in dire need of extra room and shelves.
Alwin and I own 738 CDs, 502 DVDs/Blu-Rays, 321 video games, 483 books and
847 comics (and counting of course). The CD, DVD and book collections are
shared. The video games are Alwin's pride and joy, the comics mine.
We live in a loft and have taken advantage of its height. In our home we
have two huge 3-meters high bookcases. One holds all CDs, DVDs and video
games. The other stores all books and comics.
As they say, a picture's worth a 1,000 words, so take a look at these
shots of Alwin and me in front of our own collections:
http://www.collectorz.com/about/our-collections.php
The bookcases are made of metal and the one in the front room has extra
small shelves especially designed for CD and DVD cases. Saves you loads of
space. Normal bookcases are too deep so you always end up storing your CDs
in double rows in front and on top of each other.
This is just The Perfect Solution for it.
Now for the big question: how do you store it all? How do you physically
organize all your items on your shelves AND be able find them again?
The DVDs are divided into 3 sections: movies, TV-series and music DVDs.
And there's a separate shelf with our Blu-Ray movies, but this part of our
collection is growing fast, so we'll probably integrate it into the movie
shelves soon.
Within each section, the DVDs are ordered alphabetically by title.
Our CD collection is taking up the bottom four shelves. They are arranged
alphabetically by artist name and within each artist ordered by release
date. Of course, our latest acquisitions are either stacked around our
sound equipment ready to be played or next to our computers, waiting to get
ripped onto our iPods.
But sooner or later they are moved to their dedicated spot on the shelves.
Alwin's video games are grouped by platform, then from A to Z by title. The
older platforms Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, XBOX and PlayStation 1 are
obviously on the top shelves, out of reach. Recent platforms and games are
lower down, so Alwin doesn't need a ladder to pick a game.
Plus, in the center we have one shelf reserved for new un-watched DVDs and
un-played games: our Inbox :-)
Books and comics are a different story.
My comics are grouped by series and then sorted on issue number. But a
series can start with number 1 from left to right or the other way around.
I don't have a system for it. The series are sorted by album size, by
popularity and by color. Favorites are on the top shelf, the so-so ones on
the lowest. But the heavy collector boxes are on the lowest shelf too. See,
no system at all.
Books are in a haphazard mess too. Books are kinda grouped on author and on
genre. But some are combined on size and color. Or on hard and soft cover.
Fantasy and crime sit next to each other as are the Discworld series, the
travel guides and my Harry Potters.
I have yet to find some sort of organization for our books.
From A to Z by author makes no sense to me, then you end up with all kinds
of books next to each other: big ones, small ones, hard covers, soft
covers, don't like that at all. On genre makes more sense but then you
still end up with different book sizes on a shelf. Same goes for color.
Sorting your books on color is an interesting one but that can't be really
practical. You'd have to enter the book spine color into Book Collector to
find its location.
So if you have a suggestion for the books, I'm all ears.
Picture request: you and your collection
==========================================
Speaking of collections, I have a request.
We are working on a new website design and are looking for happy pictures
of you and your collection. We would love to see *you* in the pictures,
standing/sitting proudly in front of your collection. Or at your computer
happily adding new DVDs, CDs, books, games or comics. Surrounded by your
valuables.
You can post your photos on our forum:
http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12712
Or send us your photos by email to contact at collectorz dot com
Now, let's meet Timothy and his CD collection.
Meet The Collector: Timothy Winslow (Milwaukee, USA)
======================================================
"I started collecting music at a young age. My style of music? Comedy.
Comedy entails all genres of music, so I can listen to almost anything.
I became a fan of people like Allan Sherman and Tom Lehrer at a very young
age. Then I found George Carlin, "Weird Al" Yankovic, etc.
I am a fan of the music that has now been deemed Dementia after Dr.
Demento. There are many current artists who are trying to keep this
genre of music alive. Many can be found at http://www.thefump.com, for
The FUnny Music Project.
When my CD collection got near 1,000 CDs, I was looking for a better way
to keep track of them, besides a text file. I started looking for
software, and started asking my Dementia friends for a suggestion.
Several came in, including building my own database. I was not about to
do that, but one friend suggested to look at Music Collectorz. I
downloaded the trial, and saw a program that interested me. I started
putting in a few dozen discs to start looking for information and see
how well it worked. The version I started with was not exactly what I
wanted, but it did the job, and the price seemed good. After a few
months of deliberation and playing around, I bought it. I was impressed
by most of it, but it lacked a few things. The export on the version I
got was not exactly what I wanted, but it worked. I loved the printing
and other things of it.
Then V8 came out. I was weary at first, but then I started looking at
some of the improvements. I upgraded. WOW! The program turned into
almost exactly what I wanted. The new export was awesome. The printing
was even better. It really turned into the database program I wanted.
I now tell everyone I can about the Collectorz softwares.
A new surprise just hit this last update. Fonts that I can size. I
have the start of glaucoma, and am in need of increasing my font size,
now I can.
I have faith that the future versions will just enhance my experience.
Timothy Winslow "
** Remember the Photo Collector Pro Offer expires on April 30, 11:59pm **
http://collectorz.com/photogopro/
Happy Collecting,
Syts
Collectorz.com
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