What's new in Music Connect? (page 2)
A big update for Music Connect again, in which we introduce many new settings for further customizing your software to your own liking.
And while we were at it, we updated the Settings screen with clearer grouping and naming of settings.
Here’s what’s new:
Auto Capitalization
This is a completely new feature, for automatically capitalizing your album titles.
Auto capping can be done:
- when adding albums from Core. This is OFF by default as our Core delivers nicely capped album titles in general.
- as you type titles in the Edit and Add Manually screens, very useful when adding albums manually
- by clicking the AutoCap (aA) button above the Title box in the Edit screen
The Settings screen lets you choose between 4 Auto Cap methods:
- First Letter of Each Word with Exceptions
- First letter only with exceptions
- UPPER CASE
- lower case
The Auto Cap Exceptions list comes pre-filled with a sensible list of common exceptions, but is completely user configurable.
Date Format
Choose how date formats are displayed throughout Connect.
Timezone
Choose your own timezone and all Date Added and Date Modified fields will be displayed according to that timezone. (previously these all showed in UTC time)
BTW: also new today: new column options Date/Time Added and Date/Time Modified, for showing the full added and modified timestamps.
Sorting
Four new options that control the sorting and how names and titles are displayed.
- When sorting, ignore sort titles: check this if you prefer to ignore all sort title when sorting and just have the software sort on the regular Title field.
- When sorting, ignore sort names for Artists, Composers and Conductors: check this if you prefer to ignore all sort names when sorting and just have the software sort on the display name field.
- When displaying, show sort title: when sorting by title, showing the actual sort titles that it sorts on can make your list a bit “easier on the eye”.
- When displaying, show sort names Artists, Composers and Conductors: showing the actual sort names for persons can make your list a bit “easier on the eye”.
A very nice cosmetic update for your Connect software today: a new “Shelves View”!
Shelves View is a fourth view for your album list, similar to Cover View, but with your cover images standing on a nice shelves background. You can even choose between 6 different shelf styles using the Shelf Style selector:
- Wood Light
- Wood Dark
- Glass
- Metal
- Carbon
- White
Also new, for both Shelves View and Images View, as “Size Slider” to control the size of the images.
Toolbar tweaks
Because of the introduction of the new view, the Shelf Style selector and the Size Slider, we have also made several changes to the various Connect toolbars:
- A new “View” toolbar right above the list, with 4 buttons for switching between the 4 views (List, Card, Cover and Shelves), the Size Slider and the Style Selector (for Shelves) and finally the Sort Order button (on the far right).
- The new “View” toolbar replaces the “Filter” toolbar that was in that spot.
- The “Filter” toolbar now only appears when a filter is actually active, and now has a pale yellow background to make it super-clear that you are looking at a filtered list.
- The number of albums indicator has been moved (back) to the center of the top toolbar.
It’s been a bit quiet with Connect updates in the past 2 months, as we have been preparing a *huge* update. BUT it is live now!
All settings are now saved server-side, in your CLZ Cloud
We have taken the advantage of the Connect web-based software to the next level, by storing all your settings on the server side, your CLZ Cloud (instead of in local browser cookies).
So any computer or device you log in to will automatically have the same folder option selected, the same columns selected for the list view, the same sort order, the same layout, etc..
Connect now even stores your Add screen’s barcode queue on the server side, so you scan barcode into the queue on one computer and process the queue later, from any other device.
All your existing settings will be automatically transfered to the server, the first time you login.
BTW: this change finally resolves the problem of losing all settings for users who have their browser configured to remove all cookies on exit.
Create your own Favorites for Columns and Sort Orders
While we were working on the settings, we figured this was a good time to add some more customizability to the Columns and Sort Order features. You can now create and save your own Column and Sort Order settings as Favorites, then easily switch between them.
To create and manage your Favorites, click the Column or Sort Order button and choose Manage Favorites:
Manage Column Favorites:
Manage Sorting Favorites:
An old feature from the Windows and macOS editions, that somehow never made it to Connect: Re-Assigning Index Values. But now it’s available in Connect too!
What are index values?
Connect automatically assigns and increments index numbers to items that you add to your collection. The Index value is assigned when you add an item to the database. The next item you add to your collection will have an index number that is incremented by 1.
Index numbers are only used once. When an item is deleted, the next added item will still increment on the highest index number present in your collection.
New: Re-Assign Index Values:
With the new “Re-Assign Index Values” tool, you can automatically assign new and consecutive index values to all your items, according to a sort order you select, e.g. by Title, Release Year or your own Purchase Date.
To begin, click the menu top left and select “Re-Assign Index Values”. Now choose your desired Sort Order.
Please note that this action can not be undone!
Multiple small tweaks to your Connect software today, improving both the Edit Comic screen and the Add Comics screen.
Editing pick list fields: checkbox multiple values in one go
The Edit screen is where many users are spending most of their time, so we’re always trying to make your editing life faster and easier.
Today, we improved all multi-value pick lists fields (e.g. Artists, Genres, Studios) by letting you add multiple values in one go. In the Select Value screen we have introduced checkboxes now, that let you checkbox multiple values and add them instantly.
This is now available for the following fields:
- Artist
- Composer
- Genres
- Studios
- Extras
- Conductor
- Orchestras
- Tags
Adding Albums by Barcode: instant adding to queue
Previously, when you searched by barcode (either by typing or scanning), the barcode instantly disappeared from the search box, but only appeared in the queue when the search was complete. Also with no “loading” indicator showing in the meantime. Not a problem when searches are instant, but it could lead to confusion in situations where it took a bit longer for the search to complete.
So we got to work and made it better: after hitting search, the barcode now instantly appears in your queue, showing a “Searching” indicator. This gives you instant feedback the barcode was accepted and is searching. Then, when the search has completed, the queue entry is filled in with the album details and cover image.
The above tweak also applies to the opening of the screen while you still had some barcodes in the queue. This saved queue list will now populate faster.
A useful and fun new option in Music Connect software today!
By default, the folders in your folder panel are sorted alphabetically. But as of today, there is another option: sort your folder panel by the numbers, that is by the number of albums contained.
Sorting by the numbers is a nice way to find the most important Artist, Labels, Genres, etc.. in your collection.
Switch between the Alphabetical and Number sorting using the new toggle to the right of the search box:
Roughly a month ago we introduced the ability to use multiple levels of folders in the folder panel. At the time, limited to several built-in field sensible field combinations.
Today we’re giving you the next logical step: the ability to create and save your own multi- and single-level favorites for the folder panel.
The Favorites are shown at the top of the Folder menu, with the single-field options still available at the bottom.
Wait what? Track searching in Music Connect? Yes, it is finally here!
For many years, the most requested missing feature for Music Connect and CLZ Cloud has been the ability to search for track titles and track artists. The main reason for the lack of a track search has always been performance. Searching a cloud database with over 500 million (!!) songs is not an easy task 🙁
However, a few months ago we finally decided to start on this huge and challenging project.
And I am happy to announce that we found a solution that works! We have created a humongous new search index for the music cloud data, that now includes track titles and track artists. A new flexible search engine is now available behind your familiar search box that lets you search album details, track details or both.
As of today, the new search engine is live in your account, and it is FAST!
Choose between 3 Search Types
Use the new “search type” selector on the left of the search box to choose to search:
- Albums
- Tracks
- or both: Albums & Tracks
Track highlighting
After searching for tracks, click one of the resulting albums and the track that match will be highlighted in your album details panel.
Two updates for your Connect software today. An improved Statistics screen, with cool new charts and lists, plus a re-designed toolbar that clearly shows your currently selected folders and filters.
A very cool and useful addition to your Music Connect software today: the folder panel on the left now allows multiple levels of folders!
This is a powerful way to browse your music collection, e.g by Artist, then Release year.
A big step forward for the Music Connect software today, in which we add many new editable fields and Back Cover images.
Many new fields
Today we have added many fields to the software, all now editable in the Edit Album screen.
- Conductor
- Orchestra
- Studio
- Composer (you can now add multiple instead of just 1)
- Extras
- Recording Date
- Live: Yes/No
- Sound: Mono/Stereo/Hi-Res Stereo/Multi-channel
Of course, the pick list fields are immediately available as folder fields too, so that you can browse your collection in folders by Studio, Orchestra, Live, etc…
New: Add your own back covers
With this big update for Music Connect we have another surprise for you: Back Covers! That’s right, a brand new back cover field you can modify yourself.
Use the “Find Back cover” button to find one, or upload one yourself:
If you are always adding your albums by Artist and Title, you will certainly enjoy today’s little tweak to the Add Albums screen. A new All / CD / Vinyl selector lets filter the artist/title results by Format.
For example:
All Nirvana / Nevermind results on CD:
All Nirvana / Nevermind results on Vinyl:
Today, a subtle addition to your Music Connect software, but one that can save you a lot of time if you’re always adding your CDs by barcode:
A new “Add [..] to Collection” button under the add queue, that lets you add all scanned albums in one go. No more need to click the little “+” buttons for each entry.
Some other improvements:
At the same time, some other tweaks went live in your software:
- In the “fixed” area at the bottom of the Edit Album screen, we replaced the Owner field with the Location field.
Through user feedback we found that the Location field is used by many more users, compared to Owner. Also many new users were not finding the field. So we figured the Location field deserved a more prominent spot in the Edit Album screen.
BTW: the Owner field can now be found on the Personal tab. - The User Rating field has received a make-over and can now be set using a nice sliding star thingie.
Based on user feedback we found out users were looking for and expecting a tool to find duplicate entries in their collection. Some way to find out if you’ve accidentally added multiple versions of the same album, but perhaps with a different format or barcode.
After quite a few requests and discussions with users about this, to find out how they got duplicates and what they would expect from such a Duplicate Finder tool, it’s here today: Find Duplicate entries in your collection!
New: Find Duplicate Albums
Open the menu top left and select Find Duplicates to begin.
Then select which field to find duplicates on. You can find duplicates based on:
- Title
- Title & Artist
- UPC (Barcode)
- Index
Click “Find Duplicates” and see what it comes up with. Use the blue “Keep” button to keep a group of duplicates, or use the red “Remove” button to remove a duplicate!
If you click “Remove all duplicates automatically”, it will remove all duplicate entries and will only keep 1 single entry (the oldest one) in your collection.
Tip: use the columns button, top right, to set up the columns you’d like to see!
A new Import tool is now available in Music Connect, for importing databases created with our old competitor “OrangeCD”.
To import your list of albums from OrangeCD, you need to export an OXL file of your albums out of OrangeCD. Here’s what to do:
- Start OrangeCD on your computer.
- Click menu Database > Import and export
- Select the Export to OrangeCD XML option
- Press “next” and save the file somewhere you will be able to find it
- Upload your OrangeCD OXL file in the box on Connect.
Another big step forward for our cloud-based Connect software, making it even more customizable:
The columns in List View are now resizable. That is, you can now change the width of the columns by simply dragging the dividers between the column headers. Hover your mouse over the divider and it will turn blue, then drag it make the column wider or narrower.
TIP: double click the divider to make the column auto-size to its’ current content!
See it in action:
Do you prefer the automatic column widths, the way it was before? No problem, just go to the Settings screen and enable the “Size columns automatically” settings.
You can now manage multiple sub-collections within one account. The collections will appear as little tabs at the bottom (e.g. like in Excel), so that you can easily switch between them.
Create and manage collections
Open the menu top left and click “Manage Collections” to:
- Create new collections
- Rename existing collections
- Remove collections
- Change their order (drag and drop)
Note: the CLZ mobile app currently does not support multiple collections yet (coming soon!). For now, you CAN sync multiple collections to the mobile app, but they will appear mixed together, as ONE database.
New: Notes as a column
The Notes field can now be added as a column in List View:
(example screenshot from Movie Connect)
New: quick search box in the Folder Panel!
Another useful addition to your software today, as we added a Quick Search box in your folder panel.
Especially useful for those long folder lists, e.g. when using Artists as the folder field. Just type a few letters of the artist’s name and the folder list will instantly “filter down” to the matching artists, while you type!
See it in action:
A nice time-saving feature was added to your Music Connect software today:
Next / Previous buttons in the Edit Album screen
These buttons let you go through your album list to make changes, while staying in the Edit Album screen. Just use the Next or Previous button on the bottom left.
While doing so, the screen will keep you on the same tab and same field, making it super-easy to make changes to same field(s) for multiple albums.
A small UI tweak today, made necessary because of the growing number of field options for the folder panel: the folder field menu is now grouped into 3 categories.
This should make it easier to find the field you are looking for.
By default, the Alphabet Bars for Music Connect uses the first letter of the Artist. You can now switch it to use the first letter of the album title, just click the little “gears icon” on the right of the Alphabet Bar:
Do you like to customize your software to suit your needs or just your personal taste? Then we have big news for you today, as we have just introduced four “Skin” choices in your Music Connect software:
- Default (the standard look, as it was before, so dark toolbars, light content)
- Dark (dark toolbars, dark content)
- Light (light toolbars, light content)
- Blue (shades of blue, with yellow highlights)
On top of that, we have given you 3 template style choices for the Album Details area: Dark, Light and Blue. Either to match your Skin choice, or to mix to up, it’s up to you.
Both the Skin and Template selectors can be found in the Settings screen, under Customization.
Screen shots:
Default Skin:
Dark Skin:
Light Skin:
Blue Skin:
A new grouping option is now available in your Connect!
Click the folder icon top left and select Release / Publication Year to see all your items neatly grouped in a year folder. Click on a year to see all items that were released/published in that year!
This week, we added several new settings and improvements, all based on your feedback:
New setting for the List View: Wrap column content
This new “Wrap column content” setting can be found in the Settings screen. It lets you choose if text in the List View columns should wrap to multiple lines or not.
The default is YES / Checked. Uncheck this setting to keep your List View row as single rows, resulting in a cleaner list and more rows in view.
New Date Format setting
Also found in the Settings screen, this new selector lets you choose how dates are displayed, anywhere in the program where date are shown.
Choose from:
- 7 January 2018
- 07 Jan 2018
- 7 Jan 2018
- January 07, 2018
- January 7, 2018
- Jan 07, 2018
- Jan 7, 2018
- 07/01/2018
- 7/1/2018
- 07/01/18
- 7/1/18
- 01/07/2018
- 1/7/2018
- 01/07/18
- 1/7/18
- 2018-01-07
Core IDs can now be added as columns in the List View
Now available in the Column Selection screen for the List View: The Core ID fields.
E.g. for movies, add the Core Movie ID and Core Media ID fields to your lists, to quickly find movies that are not linked to our Core entry yet.
Previously, setting up for the usage of the CLZ Barry as a barcode scanner required going to your Connect Profile page and back. Not anymore.
You can now get started with CLZ Barry straight from the By Barcode/ISBN tab of your Add screen. Just click the blue text “Set your Barry ID” on the far right of the barcode box and all the setting up can be done right then and there:
