Collectorz.com News
25 July, 2008
At long last: Game Collector 3
The long awaited major upgrade of Game Collector has been released: version 3.A short summary of the new features.
- Improved Add Automatically screen
- The softwre now uses only one source (the Collectorz.com info source) which makes adding games much quicker and easier and makes it possible to add multiple games in one go.
- The Collectorz.com soure has been improved a lot, with images and descriptions for all games for the current platforms (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, DS and PSP), better barcode coverage, cleaned-up game lists, etc...
- New Most Popular and New Releases tab pages for adding lots of games quickly.
- Improved Search features: New Filter screen allowing brackets, AND/OR/NOT, equal, contains, greater, less, wildcards. Save filters and use them at any time.
- Improved look: New toolbar icons, new templates with several new styles, improved layout of Edit Game screen.
- And much more: new layout settings, save column and sort settings, network support, auto-capitalization, carousel support, etc...
For a quick overview of version 3 please visit the What's New page, including screenshots. Or toy with the software itself, just Download the trial and see for yourself.
14 July, 2008
Attending SIC in Boston
The software industry is constantly changing; new technologies, new insights and new developer and marketing tools become available. To stay in tune with the latest developments we are attending one of the largest software conferences: the SIC in Boston.It’s a three day conference from July 17 till 19 2008, filled with informative sessions and networking events.
If you want to meet us and discuss software or business opportunities, please look for us; you can recognize us by our Collectorz.com shirts.
20 June, 2008
Comic Collector 4.1
We have just released another cool update for Comic Collector 4: version 4.1.
Comic Collector 4.1 brings you a new and improved Add/Update Comics Automatically feature:
- Completely redesigned and rewritten screen
- Use one screen to Add new issues and Update existing ones
- New "New Releases" tab page that shows recently released issues, mostly based on ComicList.com data (thanks Charles!)
- New "Daily Updates" tab page that automatically lists recent online updates for issues in your database
- Series Lists can now be sorted on any column, ascending or descending (just click column headers)
- Issue Lists can now be sorted on any column, ascending or descending (just click column headers)
- Improved overall performance
- New: Update issues right from the main screen: just right click an issue and choose Update Automatically
And of course the New Screen Layout setting, offering six different layout configurations of tree, list and details panel, is included in this version as well.
Download Comic Collector and get those comics organized today!
10 June, 2008
Coming soon...
It comes as no surprise that after all the new releases for Music, Movie and Book Collector it’s now update time for Comic and Game Collector.Our development team is steadily working on these new versions, the Comic Collector update will be released on a short notice.
Game Collector is a different story. Next to new features in the software itself we have also improved our online game database. We have partnered up with ToTheGame; this site offers daily updated release lists and info for PC, PlayStation 2 & 3, Xbox & 360, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, DS and PSP.
Our online game database has improved considerably offering the newest games with covers, release date and a game description.
Rowdy, our content manager for games, is working like a maniac to update all existing information for the most popular platforms and working his way back to the oldies like Nes, Dreamcast and Sega.
Game Collector 3.0 will be a major upgrade, filled to the brim with new features and making a better use of our online game database.
We will keep you posted of course and if you’re not on the newsletter list already, sign up to be notified as soon as Game Collector 3.0 is out there.
15 May, 2008
New Windows versions
The new Screen Layout settings we have introduced in Movie Collector 5.5 are now also available in Music Collector 8.2 and Book Collector 5.3.
New Screen Layout setting, offering six different layout configurations of Tree, List and Details panel
* Horizontal Split
* Vertical Split
* Full Width Details
* Full Height Tree
* Full Height Details
* Simple Layout (automatically hiding tree panel)
You can download the new versions on our Download page or use the Check for Update option in your current version.
06 May, 2008
Movie Collector 5.5
We have just released another update for Movie Collector for Windows, version 5.5.Movie Collector 5.5 brings a new Screen Layout setting, offering six different layout configurations of Tree, List and Details panel. Also check the improvements to the multi-disc and TV series/Episodes support.
Brand new to 5.5 is the Movie Collector MCE Viewer for Windows Media Center, created by Brian Baskerville of MCE Zone.
The MCE Viewer offers:
- Cool new look and feel in several different views (Large Covers, Thumbnails and Titles)
- Search by Title, Genre or Rating right from the MCE Viewer
- Use the on screen keyboard to find movies starting with a specific letter
- Order your movie list by Title, Year or a Custom order (defined in Movie Collector in Tools | Options | Media Center)
- Define a Filter for MCE data in Tools | Options | Media Center
- No exporting to MCE necessary, the MCE viewer always uses an up-to-date data set.
Check out the full What’s New list including screenshots here, or download Movie Collector on our Download page.
02 May, 2008
New employee: Rowdy Peetam
Our search for a new content manager for music and movies resulted in us hiring not one but two of these; Martin started in April and Rowdy on May 1st.
Rowdy Peetam is our new content manager for games and movies. He is The One who rules the game database and processes your submissions. As you already guessed, he is a gamer himself and owns several consoles including some relics like NES, SNES, the MegaDrive 32x but also new ones like Wii and Xbox 360. His taste in movies is ‘everything’, which is a big asset for us.
Rowdy will also contribute to our game blog and write his opinions on recent games he has played. He has already done review writing for one of the major game sites in the Netherlands GameZ.nl.
We’re very happy with Rowdy joining us!
24 April, 2008
AJ has left the building
We have people come and go lately and now AJ has decided to move on and follow his dream.AJ started working here in February 2006 and he has been a very useful, thorough and inventive worker. His movie knowledge is just awesome, not to mention his up to date game expertise. With his help we have brought the online movie and game databases to a higher level.
AJ always wanted to work in the movie industry and has found THE job. We can only applaud that and wish him all the best in his new career.
Martin and Alain have taken over AJ’s work; we’ve also hired a new colleague who will start working next month.
To be continued!
18 April, 2008
We're ®
It took quite some time and lots of documentation going back and forth, but at long last the Collectorz.com brand is R. This means we are now a registered trademark and are allowed to use the R in all our communication: Collectorz.com®.Cool.
16 April, 2008
New Mac OS X editions
We have released updates for the Mac OS X editions of Music Collector, Movie Collector and Book Collector. Version 2.1.2 has great new features like the Collectorz.com templates, new toolbar icons, improved support for the CueCat scanner and much more.Download the new Mac versions on our Download page.
Enjoy!
15 April, 2008
Going High-Tech
We’re always delighted when we receive e-mail from our customers, telling us how managing their collection is not a chore but fun to do with our software.You can read an overview of these reactions here. Our favorite is "The idiom ‘best thing since sliced bread’ should be rewritten. Sliced bread is the next best thing to the Flic Barcode Scanner used with your programs."
Some customers even post a review on their blog about managing their CDs, DVDs, books or comics. Today we were really surprised when we read Martha Stewart’s blog: she uses Book Collector for her library of 7.000 volumes!
Visit her site and read more about her library and how she organizes all her books: “You might wonder how one would organize and keep track of such a collection. Enter computer technology and a very practical yet inexpensive computer program called Book Collector, with which anyone can become a librarian.”
Thank you Martha for purchasing our software and show us a glimpse into your library.
03 April, 2008
New employee: Martin Keur
At long last we have found our content manager for music. Martin Keur joined us on April 1st. Martin used to work at one of Amsterdam’s biggest music stores Boudisque. Alas, they had to close down after almost 40 years being the best music shop in town, maybe even in The Netherlands. Luckily Martin sent his resume to us.
With his in depth music knowledge he will bring our database to a higher level.
Visit our forum and discuss music and our database with Martin. His forum name is MetalMartin, which explains his taste in music. He is a huge collector himself, owning at least 6.000 CDs. At his home he has a special room filled with CDs and DVDs. His movie knowledge will also come in handy when he works on our online movie database.
We’re very happy with Martin joining our team.
13 March, 2008
Website redesign
Our website has a new look! And about time too, we really had to dig deep into our news archives to find the release date of the "old" look: October 2001!In this redesign, we aimed for a clean look and a clear navigation structure. The new site is easier on the eye and focuses more on what's important: telling you everything there is to know about our software.
To achieve this, we removed the quite colorful menu on the left, replacing it with a simple horizontal menu at the top. This created more room for feature descriptions and lots of large screenshots.
We are very happy with the new design and hope you like it too.
04 March, 2008
Press release
Digistore Solutions announced today that Collectorz.com’s Music Collector and Movie Collector software now provide fully integrated support for Digistore’s Centurion CD disc storage system. Read the complete press release here.Visit our Movie Collector and Music Collector pages for detailed information about the integration with the Centurion CD, including screenshots.
03 March, 2008
Hello and Goodbye
Our lunch table is really getting crowded: we’ve hired two new colleagues. At the same time we had to say goodbye to our movie database admin Vincent Tempelaar.Vinnie only worked part time at our office next to his study at the Aviation Academy. Today is his first day at his course at Air Traffic Control in Brussels, Belgium. Obviously, this can’t be combined with his work at our office so our ways parted but not without a huge farewell drink at the local Irish Pub.
To replace Vinnie, we’ve hired Alain Vleesch du Bois. Alain is a 3rd year student at the School of Economics Amsterdam. He is knee-deep into movies, which is a big plus if you’re processing them all day.
Patrick Machielse is our second new colleague, although he is no stranger. He has been working freelance at our office since August 2007, to further develop and maintain our Mac software.
We’re delighted that we could persuade Patrick to come and join our programming team!
06 February, 2008
Book Collector 5.2
It comes a no surprise after the 8.1 and 5.4 versions of Music Collector and Movie Collector; we've also released a new version of Book Collector for Windows, version 5.2.
Book Collector 5.2 brings you:
- Improved support for the CueCat barcode scanner
- New "Compact" templates for previewing results in Add Automatically screens
- New "Full Cover" templates, in Blue and Black styles
- New "On Order" value for In Collection Status
- And more...
Check the full list of new version 5 features here. The 5.2 specific new features can be viewed on the What's New page.
04 February, 2008
New versions
New versions are available for Music Collector and Movie Collector (Windows).Check out the What’s New pages for the new features of Music Collector 8.1 and Movie Collector 5.4.
Next to product specific features both titles bring you:
- Support for Centurion CD carousel devices
- Improved support for the CueCat barcode scanner
- New "Compact Preview" and "Full Cover" templates
- New "On Order" value for In Collection Status
- And more!
For a quick overview of Music Collector 8.1 and Movie Collector 5.4, visit the features pages including screenshots.
29 January, 2008
Job opening: Content Manager
Wanted: Content Manager (for movies, music & games)
We have a job opening for a Content Manager, someone who can help us maintain and further develop our online databases for CDs, DVDs and video games.
If you are interested, please read the complete job description here.
22 January, 2008
Barcode scanning with the CueCat
In November 2005 we have introduced the Collectorz.com laser barcode scanner. With the scanner it’s quicker to add books, CDs, DVDs and games to your database.We now also offer a less expensive alternative: the CueCat barcode scanner.
The CueCat gets its name from its cat-like appearance. It’s a 13 centimeter off-white handheld device with a nose, paws and a tail. Press the nose to the barcode and swipe it neatly, using its front paws to steer in a direct line over the barcode.
The CueCat is a simple but effective CCD scanner and is fully supported in Music, Movie, Book and Game Collector. You don’t have to download and install extra software or drivers. It connects to any PC or Mac with a USB port, it’s plug & play.
You can purchase the CueCat in a bundle with 3 programs or just the scanner itself. Visit our webshop for the details or check out our special CueCat bundle offer.
03 January, 2008
Major upgrade: Comic Collector 4
2008 has only just begun and we’re already on full programming speed! We have just released a major upgrade of Comic Collector: version 4.
A short summary of the new features:
- New fields: Crossover, Story-Arc and Imprint, all three automatically downloaded from our online database. New creator role Cover Painter, new "On Order" value for In Collection Status. Add Interior Art images using the new Links tab page.
- Add Automatically screen: Improved layout, plus new Favorites tab for bookmarking your favorite series.
- Improved look: New toolbar icons, new templates for main screen, Add Automatically, printing and exporting, improved layout of Edit Comic screen.
- And much more: Better search features, save filters/columns/sort orders, new Help file, etc..
You can find a full What's New page here, including screenshots.
We’re quite proud of our new version 4 and we enjoyed creating it; we hope you like it as much as we do.