News: all updates for our software and apps (page 56)

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11, CLZ Books now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Books app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

Changes:

• The buttons to switch folders, sorting and view options have been moved to more logical places to make them more accessible.
• The skins and templates options have been moved to the settings screen.
• The selection mode button has been removed, just tap and hold on an item to start selecting items.

Fixed:

• Last update made some settings disappear in the settings screen. They are back now.
• Added bottom margin to the add auto screen on iPhone X to make the add button more reachable
• The sync screen wasn’t logging local deletes.

Sharper images in Cover View and Card View

This week, we have implemented several changes to the cover images that are shown in Cover View and Card View, making them much sharper/crisper, less blurry.

Also, on computers with a 4k / Ultra HD screen, both the Cover View and the Card will automatically switch to even higher quality images, with twice the resolution!

The difference is huge, check out the screen shots below. But the best way to experience the sharper images is to log in to your own account and look at your own collection!

Other improvements to Cover and Card View

At the same time, we made other improvements to the Cover and Card views, to make them look nicer and to make the scrolling experience smoother and faster:

• While scrolling, the images now load faster.
• Scrolling the view while images are loading is now smoother, less “choppy”.
• The Images view now has black background for a more classy look.
• In both Images and Card View, while scrolling, it does not first load a placeholder image anymore, it just show the background color until the actual image is loaded, also resulting in a less choppy scrolling experience.

New:

• “Original release year” folder option

Fixed:

• Albums added by barcode could sometimes appear without any detail information

It is important to have your album entries linked to the corresponding entries in our Core online music database, because that is what gives you all automatic album details, like song lists, label, cover art, etc..

All album entries you add through the Add Albums screen, by searching our Core, will of course automatically be linked to Core.

However, if you imported a list of albums, e.g. from a CSV file or from a competitor product, some/most of your entries may arrive “unlinked”, especially if you did not import barcodes.

Previously, linking those unlinked entries to Core was a one-by-one job, slow and cumbersome. But we fixed that once and for all, with the new smart Link Albums tool!

This new Link Albums tool automatically finds best matches in our Core online movie database, based on artist, album title and amount of tracks (if you have them) in your list. Then, it lets you auto-link all “high match score” albums, saving you loads and loads of time and clicks!

It is important to have your book entries linked to the corresponding entries in our Core online book database, because that is what gives you all automatic book details, like subjects, genres, Dewey, plot description, cover art, etc..

All book entries you add through the Add Books screen, by searching our Core, will of course automatically be linked to Core.

However, if you imported a list of books, e.g. from a CSV file or from a competitor product, some/most of your entries may arrive “unlinked”, especially if you did not import ISBNs.

Previously, linking those unlinked entries to Core was a one-by-one job, slow and cumbersome. But we fixed that once and for all, with the new smart Link Books tool!

This new Link Books tool automatically finds best matches in our Core online book database, based on author, title and publisher in your list. Then, it lets you auto-link all “high match score” books, saving you loads and loads of time and clicks!

Box Set covers now also sync down to your Windows computer should you have added them with Movie Connect or your mobile device. Update from Core will also download a box set cover if the box set was originally added from our online database.

Fixes:

• Edit Screen: Year dropdown for dates would scroll all the way to the top, now uses current year.
• Edit Screen: Date Pickers would sometimes not be able to pick today’s date if next/previous was used.
• Edit Screen: User Defined Fields: Date Picker button was in the wrong place
• Some cosmetic improvements in various screens.

Fixed:

• Crash in edit screen when adding or removing a track.
• Crash when an album is removed.

On older macOS versions (10.7, 10.8 and 10.9) the Manage Pick Lists screen weren’t working. We fixed that in this maintenance build (but if you can, we do recommend updating to the latest macOS 🙂 ).

On older macOS versions (10.7, 10.8 and 10.9) the Add Movies screen popup and the Manage Pick Lists screen weren’t working. We fixed that in this maintenance build (but if you can, we do recommend updating to the latest macOS 🙂 ).

It is important to have your game entries linked to the corresponding entries in our Core online game database, because that is what gives you all automatic game details, like developer, publisher, description, cover art, backdrop art, trailer videos, etc..

All game entries you add through the Add Games screen, by searching our Core, will of course automatically be linked to Core.

However, if you imported a list of games, e.g. from a CSV file or from a competitor product, some/most of your entries may arrive “unlinked”, especially if you did not import barcodes.

Previously, linking those unlinked entries to Core was a one-by-one job, slow and cumbersome. But we fixed that once and for all, with the new smart Link Games tool!

This new Link Games tool automatically finds best matches in our Core online game database, based on title and platform in your list. Then, it lets you auto-link all “high match score” games, saving you loads and loads of time and clicks!

Small maintenance build for Movie Collector today, the price fields in the Edit Movie screen weren’t working correctly and clicking through to another movie in a box set was broken in some cases. All fixed now!

Fixed:

• Price fields weren’t working correctly
• Clicking through to another movie inside a box set wasn’t working in images, coverflow and cards view

It is important to have your movie entries linked to the corresponding entries in our Core online movie database, because that is what gives you all automatic movie details, like cast, crew, plot description, cover art, backdrop art, trailer videos, etc..

All movie entries you add through the Add Movies screen, by searching our Core, will of course automatically be linked to Core.

However, if you imported a list of movies, e.g. from a CSV file or from a competitor product, some/most of your entries may arrive “unlinked”, especially if you did not import IMDb numbers or barcodes.

Previously, linking those unlinked entries to Core was a one-by-one job, slow and cumbersome. But we fixed that once and for all, with the new smart Link Movies tool!

This new Link Movies tool automatically finds best matches in our Core online movie database, based on title and release year in your list. Then, it lets you auto-link all “high match score” movies, saving you loads and loads of time and clicks!

A couple of weeks ago, our CLZ Cloud (and Music Connect) has been updated with 8 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.3 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to the CLZ Cloud and your CLZ Music mobile app!

Added for syncing:

• Sortname for composers
• Original Release Date
• Packaging
• Media Condition
• Vinyl Color
• Vinyl Weight
• Vinyl RPM
• Disc Titles

Heads up: after updating to version 18.3, the software will automatically mark most of your albums as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.

New versions of CLZ Music for iOS and Android will be available in the coming days to allow the new fields to be synced there too!

By popular demand, we have added more editable fields to CLZ Music:

Fields that are now fully editable:

• Sortnames for composers
• Original Release Date (exists next to regular release date)
• Packaging
• Media Condition (the old Condition field is now “Package/Sleeve Condition”)
• Vinyl Color
• Vinyl Weight
• Vinyl RPM
• Disc Title

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Music now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Music app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

Fixed:

• Last update made some settings disappear in the settings screen. They are back now.
• Added bottom margin to the add auto screen on iPhone X to make the add button more reachable
• The sync screen wasn’t logging local deletes.

By popular demand, we have added more editable fields to CLZ Music:

Fields that are now fully editable:

• Sortnames for composers
• Original Release Date (exists next to regular release date)
• Packaging
• Media Condition (the old Condition field is now “Package/Sleeve Condition”)
• Vinyl Color
• Vinyl Weight
• Vinyl RPM
• Disc Title

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Music now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Music app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

A new sort option:

A couple of months ago we introduced new sort orders, including “Artist, then Year (Asc)” where it would sort the year ascending. By request, we’ve now added “Artist, then Year (Desc)” so you can also have your years in descending order. The regular “Asc.” and “Desc.” toggles for those two sort options will only affect the Artist sort order.

A couple of weeks ago, our CLZ Cloud (and Music Connect) has been updated with 8 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.4 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to the CLZ Cloud and your CLZ Music mobile app!

Added for syncing:

• Sortname for composers
• Original Release Date
• Packaging
• Media Condition
• Vinyl Color
• Vinyl Weight
• Vinyl RPM
• Disc Titles

Heads up: after updating to version 18.4, the software will automatically mark most of your albums as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.

CLZ Music for iOS and Android will be updated in the coming days to allow the new fields to be synced there too!

Fixes:

• Drag and drop of discs to other albums now works
• Fixed a problem with freezing columns in 2 panel mode
• Fixed a problem with dragging columns in list view around

New: Automatically add multi-movie box sets:

During 2017, our content managers worked for months to enhance our Core online movie database with movie list information for thousands of multi-movie box sets.

As of today, Movie Collector for macOS can use this new Core data: Just use the enhanced Add Movies screen to find a box set, either by title or by barcode, and our Core “knows” which movies are in the box.

See it in action:

Find and add box sets by barcode

Scan a box-set barcode and Core will show you which movies it contains. Click “Add movie” at the bottom right and all contained movies will be added to your database, automatically linked by a box set entry.

Find and add box sets by title

Alternatively, use the Title tab and enable the new Box Set search to find box sets by their title.

Note: the new Movies, TV Series and Box Sets switches now let you search each of these three Core section separately OR combined.
AND: The switches also operate on the Search-As-You-Type suggestions, for even quicker searching and adding!

New box set panel on movie details page, with movie list!

A nice new box set panel at the top of the movie details for each of the contained movies. Now showing the list of the contained movies, in the correct order, AND with clickable links to go straight to the other movies in the set!

Change the order of movies in a box set

At the bottom of the list of movies you will find a link to “change order of movies…” to modify the order in which the movies are displayed in the details page.

New in the Add Movies from CLZ Core screen:

The Add Movies Automatically screen is now called “Add Movies from CLZ Core” and it includes quite a few improvements to make it both easier-to-use and easier-on-the-eye:

• Big blue buttons for the main actions, Searching and Adding, can’t miss ’em 🙂
• Checkboxes to turn on Movies, TV Series and/or Box Set searching
• Automatic Preview, just select a result (no more need for double clicking)
• Use the popup in the “Add” button to change it to add to “Collection” or “Wish List”

New: Movies vs TV Series

You can find a new “Is TV Series” checkbox in your Edit Movie screen. If you folder on this field you will get a “Yes” and “No” folder, so you can quickly split your collection into TV Series and Movies!

Click the folder dropdown to select or create your “Is TV Series” setting:

Great news for all users of our book database solutions, on any version (old or new), on any platform (Connect, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android):

Our Core online book database now recognizes 97% of all ISBNs searched!

In the past few weeks, our web-developers have been working on several improvements to our Core online book database system, which has increased the success rate for ISBN searches to 97 percent!

Basically, this means that on average, for every 100 ISBNs you scan into the Add Books screen, our Core online book database will recognize 97, leaving only 3 as “unrecognized”.
(in the past, the success rate has always been around 89% to 90%.)

Note that this 97% is a world-wide average, over all users from all countries.

For US and UK books, the results are even better, at 99%. In other countries, the hit-rate will be slightly below 97%. But for everyone, it will definitely be better than before!

How can you start enjoying the improved ISBN searches?

The above is a “server-side” change, so you don’t need to do anything 🙂

You can now instantly experience the benefits, in the Book Connect web-based software, the Book Collector desktop software (Windows or Mac) and the CLZ Books mobile app (iOS or Android).

Whatever version you have! No update needed, no payment needed!

Barcode searches on single movies weren’t working in the build we did yesterday. Fixed in this build!

In 2017, our content managers worked for months to enhance our Core online movie database with movie list information for thousands of multi-movie box sets.

As of today, CLZ Movies can use this new Core data: Just use the enhanced Add Movies screen to find a box set, either by title or by barcode, and our Core “knows” which movies are in the box.

See it in action:

Find and add box sets by barcode

Scan a box-set barcode and Core will show you which movies it contains. Click Add to Collection at the bottom right and all contained movies will be added to your database, automatically linked by a box set entry.

Find and add box sets by title

Alternatively, use the Title tab and enable the new Box Set search to find box sets by their title.

Note: the new Movies, TV Series and Box Sets switches now let you search each of these three Core section separately OR combined.
AND: The switches also operate on the Search-As-You-Type suggestions, for even quicker searching and adding!

New box set panel on movie details page, with movie list!

A nice new box set panel at the top of the movie details for each of the contained movies. Now showing the list of the contained movies, in the correct order, AND with clickable links to go straight to the other movies in the set!

Change the order of movies in a box set

At the bottom of the list of movies you will find a link to “change order of movies…” to modify the order in which the movies are displayed in the details page.

July was the hottest month ever here in Amsterdam, and the heat wave is continuing this week. Despite the heat, and vacations for several people, the CLZ team is still getting some work done. Here’s this month’s results:

• CLZ Movies 4.12 : Automatically add multi-movie box-sets
• Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy
• Updates to the Connect web-based editions:
  • Details panel now integrated in main collection view!
  • Improved Cover View and Card View
  • Movie/Comic Connect: search box now searches more fields
  • Add Movies using the new Most Popular and New Releases tabs

Read more

A BIG update for your Music Collector software today, with an important change:

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email from a couple of weeks ago, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 18.3, Music Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Music Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.3.

A BIG update for your Book Collector software today, with an important change:

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email from a couple of weeks ago, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 18.4, Book Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Book Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.4.

A BIG update for your Comic Collector software today, with an important change:

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email from a couple of weeks ago, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 18.4, Comic Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Comic Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.4.

A BIG update for your Game Collector software today, with an important change:

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our GDPR email from a couple of weeks ago, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 18.3, Game Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Game Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.3.