What's new?

This one is for the music file catalogers among you! In this version 20.1, we have enhanced the music file cataloging features of Music Collector and added support for more file formats.

What’s new?

• Better reading/writing of file tags:
  • Support for FLAC file tags (READ/WRITE) + covers and disc indexes.
  • Support for DSF file tags (READ ONLY).
  • Support for AIF file tags (READ ONLY).
  • Support for ID3v2 tags (READING) (ID3v3 was already supported).
  • If the tags for number of discs for your music files is off, the program will recognise the issue, and won’t create empty discs.
• Better parsing of folders and file structure:
• Improved album parsing based on folder structure (also looks at disc indexes or disc numbers in folder titles).
• The program now tries to look for CD1/CD2 or Disc 1/Disc 2 folders and use that information accordingly.
• New Parse Settings button that takes you to the Options screen to add “parse formats”.
• Creating a new parse format: You can now click a parse item to add it.
• Edit Screen: you can now browse and select multiple files in one go to add to the file links tab of an album.

Now recognises multiple file tags better and groups multi-disc albums better:

Now finds the cover inside FLAC files:

Fixed:

• Submitting an album to Core could generate a wrong error.

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!

A small update for your CLZ Music app today: When adding albums by Artist/Title, you can now filter the search results to only show a specific format.

After searching for artist/title, tap the new “All Formats” button at the top right and switch it to “Vinyl” to see vinyl results only, or set to “CD” to list CDs only.

In this update we introduce a new quick-search for your folders, sorting your folders by the counters, and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.

Quick-search your folders

Grouping in folders is a powerful way to browse and filter your collection. Just group by Artist, or Label, etc… tap a folder and the list will give you all albums for the selected Artist or Label.

However, if your collection spans thousands of albums, that “tap a folder” part is sometimes easier said than done. It may require lots of scrolling in the folder list.

But not anymore! This version introduces a new search box right above the folder list, that lets you instantly search/filter the folder list as you type! Just typing a few letters is often enough to bring the folder you are looking for into view:

Sort folders by count

By default, the folders are sorted alphabetically. But as of today, there is another option: sort your folders by the counter, that is by the number of albums contained.

Sorting by the counters is a nice way to find the most popular Artists, Labels, Genres, etc..

Switch between the Alphabetical and By Count sorting using the sort toggle at the top:

Improved barcode scanning

We have improved the scan engine and gave it a larger “scan area”. This should help scan barcodes faster and easier.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, CLZ Music has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

In this update we introduce a new quick-search for your folders, sorting your folders by the counters, and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.

Quick-search your folders

Grouping in folders is a powerful way to browse and filter your collection. Just group by Artist, or Label, etc… tap a folder and the list will give you all albums for the selected Artist or Label.

However, if your collection spans thousands of albums, that “tap a folder” part is sometimes easier said than done. It may require lots of scrolling in the folder list.

But not anymore! This version introduces a new search box right above the folder list, that lets you instantly search/filter the folder list as you type! Just typing a few letters is often enough to bring the folder you are looking for into view:

Sort folders by count

By default, the folders are sorted alphabetically. But as of today, there is another option: sort your folders by the counter, that is by the number of albums contained.

Sorting by the counters is a nice way to find the most popular Artists, Labels, Genres, etc..

Switch between the Alphabetical and By Count sorting using the sort toggle at the top:

Filter search results on format

When searching by Artist/Title you can now filter the results to only show a specific format. After searching for artist/title, tap the new “All Formats” button to switch the results to “Vinyl” to see all vinyl results!

Improved barcode scanning

We have improved the scan engine and gave it a larger “scan area”. This should help scan barcodes faster and easier.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, CLZ Music has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

Fixed:

• Field Defaults: It wasn’t possible to set the rating field back to zero.
• Manage Pick Lists: Merging list items caused too many sync changes.

Fixed:

• Some statistics weren’t shown correctly on screens with higher DPI settings.

In this update a re-design of the Tag editing interface and faster and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.

Edit Album: improved interface for adding/editing Tags

In version 20, we changed the user interface for adding/editing Tags to a checkbox list. Of course, we did so thinking we were improving this, making it easier for you all. Instead of having to type in the box, just checkbox from your existing tag list, quick and easy 🙂

Boy, were we wrong here. After the v20 release, we received complaint after complaint about this change. Most users were very upset about not being able to copy/paste tags in anymore, others criticized having to scroll through long tag lists to find the ones they want, yet others, found it way too difficult to add new tags (some even missing the possibility) and finally some even reported it as a serious database corruption that they now suddenly saw all tags in all their albums (which was of course not the case).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we made a big boo-boo there :-).
Our sincerest apologies!

So in today’s v20.0.2, we have again re-designed the tag adding/editing interface, to take away all complaints, to resolve all problems. We are convinced that with the new design, we are giving you the best of both worlds:

• Clear overview of which tags are currently set.
• Easy adding of existing tags, using the Add Tags popup screen, which lets you:
  • Find existing tags using a search box,
  • Checkbox tags to add them.
  • Even lets you checkbox multiple tags in one go.
• The big “paste-box” is back for easily adding multiple tags by copy/pasting.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, Music Collector has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

Fixed:

• Solved several different “Access Violation” errors.
• Statistics:
  • Added runtime to albums in the various top lists.
  • Added number of discs to the top.
  • Changed colors of statistics screen for Light Skin.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, Music Collector has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

Fixed:

• For some users, the database conversion of version 20.0.3 caused the loss of data in their User Defined Fields. This problem has been resolved now.
  
  If you lost UDF data, please contact us so that we can help you get the data back.

• Add screen results: you couldn’t filter on a format (such as vinyl/cd etc.)

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.

We are 2 weeks into 2020, so it’s time for Music Collector 20! Today in v20, we’re bringing you 2 super useful and time-saving improvements for the folder panel, plus a brand new Statistics screen.

Read more

Fixed:

• Creating a new database wasn’t possible anymore.

This update fixes an issue with the sync where it would always re-upload the custom front/back covers if such an album had any change at all. This resulted in many unneeded re-uploads of custom front/back covers.

Important: After updating to this version:

• the program will run a process to index your custom covers
• all albums with custom front/back covers will re-upload

Both processes might take a while!

Fixed:

• Custom front/back covers were re-uploaded too often
• After merging albums the disc index number would not update correctly
• Quick Search: using arrow buttons and clicking results wasn’t working correctly

A big update for the CLZ Music app, introducing a new Statistics screen, a cool “infographic” style screen, showing totals and statistics about your music collection.
To open it, just choose “Statistics” from the menu.

In this new screen, you can find:

• The number of albums in your collection, and how many artists.
• How many tracks, and the total runtime.
• A top 5 list of your most recent additions.
• A nice pie chart showing the distribution of your albums over formats (CD, Vinyl, etc.)
• A bar chart of your albums by artist.
• A bar chart of your albums by genre.

A big update for the CLZ Music app, introducing a new Statistics screen, a cool “infographic” style screen, showing totals and statistics about your music collection.
To open it, just choose “Statistics” from the menu.

In this new screen, you can find:

• The number of albums in your collection, and how many artists.
• How many tracks, and the total runtime.
• A top 5 list of your most recent additions.
• A nice pie chart showing the distribution of your albums over formats (CD, Vinyl, etc.)
• A bar chart of your albums by artist.
• A bar chart of your albums by genre.

A couple of fixes today for Music Collector macOS:

Fixed:

• Changing the collection status of an album didn’t work
• Manage Pick List screen could crash on the box set field
• Index field would not increment correctly sometimes
• Printing a list while in dark mode would print a black page

The year “twenty-twenty” is coming up, so here’s Music Collector v20 for macOS!

In this release we added support for the macOS Dark/Light Mode and enhanced the CLZ Cloud syncing system with many new fields and back cover images.

Read more

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:

The app could crash during syncing of certain items. Shouldn’t happen anymore now!

Fixed:

• App could crash while syncing with CLZ Cloud

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.

Read more

Fixed:

• Edit Multiple could change Collection Status of selected albums to “Not in Collection”
• “Added Date” field could be entered wrong when syncing

A big step forward for the CLZ Music app today, in which we add more new editable fields:

• Recording Date
• Studios
• Live (yes/no)
• Extras
• Conductors
• Orchestras

Of course, all the new fields sync to/from the CLZ Cloud too.

A big step forward for the CLZ Music app today, in which we add more new editable fields:

• Recording Date
• Studios
• Live (yes/no)
• Extras
• Conductors
• Orchestras

Of course, all the new fields sync to/from the CLZ Cloud too.

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.

Read more

Dragging/dropping of discs onto another album (to create a multi-disc from existing album entries) was broken in macOS Catalina. We’ve now added a new way to do this.

Updated: Merging discs into 1 multi-disc album

1. Select the albums by holding COMMAND and clicking them
2. Right click the selection and click “Merge albums”

This will move all discs to the first selected album.

Fixed:

• Import from XML didn’t import everything in certain situations