What's new?
A small update to the Music Collector for Mac software today, just to help you make the switch to the Music Connect web-based software.
We have received feedback from Music Collector users that they were missing some fields in Music Connect / Cloud, so 2 weeks ago we updated Connect to add many of those requested fields.
Instead of adding more new features, we decided to take a few weeks to work on the look and feel of the app.
In this 6.3 update, we improved the look and layout of the album list and of the album details pages, in both the main screen and the Add screen preview.
On top of that, we finally acted upon a common request from our users: you can now change the size of the thumbnails in the Images View!
Instead of adding more new features, we decided to take a few weeks to work on the look and feel of the app.
In this 6.3 update, we improved the look and layout of the album list and of the album details pages, in both the main screen and the Add screen preview.
On top of that, we finally acted upon a common request from our users: you can now change the size of the thumbnails in the Images View!
Last week, we added many new fields to the CLZ Cloud storage and the web-based Music Connect software, all based on feedback from our users.
Of course, new fields in the CLZ Cloud won’t help you much if you can’t sync them from Music Collector 🙂 So in today’s v21.2 update, we enhanced the CLZ Cloud syncing system to support all the new fields.
After a few months of hard work by web-developer Stijn and UI designer / tester AJ, we can finally release this major upgrade of the Music Connect software, with many new fields and features.
Musicians, Credits, Headers in track lists, Composition, Chorus, etc..!
It is important to have your album entries linked to the corresponding disc entries in our Core online music database, especially when syncing to the CLZ Cloud and/or the CLZ Music mobile app. Because a correct Core link is what gives you all automatic album details, like cover images, tracks, labels, genres, formats, etc..
All album entries you added through the Add Albums from Core screen, will of course be linked with a Core entry automatically. However, if you added an album manually, or if you imported a list of albums, e.g. from a CSV file or by adding music files, some of your entries may arrive “unlinked”. In which case you would need to do the linking afterwards.
Previously, linking discs with Core was done in an old and clunky screen, based on a very old version of the Add from Core screen. But not anymore!
As of today, Music Collector has a completely new Link Discs with Core screen.
Fixed
- Downsyncing would set the artist display name as the artist sort name.
New in your Music Connect software: add web-site links to your album entries, using the new “Links” tab of the Edit Album screen.
Tip: paste a website link in the URL box and the description will be filled in automatically.
Fixed:
- Downsyncing would turn an ampersand in the artist name into ‘& amp;’
v21.0.3 Extra Collection Status dropdown button in Add Screen
Add Screen: Select Collection Status with the extra dropdown button
We’ve added an extra Collection Status dropdown button to the left hand panel in the Add Screen:
Fixed:
- Options: “Use Field Default” option for Collection Status didn’t work
- Export to HTML was broken
Fixed:
- Issue where the sort name of an artist was not synchronised correctly with the cloud.
Instead of jumping on the next big feature update, we decided to take a couple of weeks to work on various small improvements and fixes. Here’s what’s new and fixed in today’s update:
New: Clear your CLZ Cloud right from the Sync screen
No more need to login to the CLZ Cloud site and use “Clear Database” there. It is now possible to clear/reset your CLZ Cloud straight from the Sync screen, using the Clear CLZ Cloud button at the bottom.
BTW: please only use this when strictly necessary, in case of problems. Clearing the cloud and re-syncing all items is a heavy operation and causes seriously load on our servers. Thank you!
New: Find Duplicates results can now be exported to a TEXT file
By popular demand: you can now export the results of the Find Duplicates screen, either to take with you as a text file, or for printing.
New: Use the Statistics screen on a selection
Something that “got lost” when we replaced the old Database Totals screen with the fancy new Statistics screen: being able to see totals for the selected items in the main screen.
So… now that feature is back! Just select items in the main screen, using the checkboxes or Select All, then open Tools / Statistics to see totals and charts for just those items.
New: Filter area in status bar now highlights when a filter is active
A common question in support: “Why don’t I see all my items anymore”. Always turns out that a filter is active, either in the Quick Filter Panel, the Alphabet Bar or the search box.
To make this clearer, the Filter area in the status bar at the bottom now highlights in yellow when a filter is active.
Improved right-mouse click context menus, with sub-headers
Through the years, new commands kept being added to the right click context menus, and to be honest, they became a bit messy. So about time we cleaned them up.
All main screen context menu’s have now been cleaned up, re-ordered and re-grouped with nice sub-headers.
Fixed:
- Update from Core on multiple albums was not working
- Add from Core: in some situations album covers were not downloading
- Import XML: several fixes to importing of credits, musicians and purchase prices
- Printing, when printing track lists, the Box Set field did not work
- Card View: mouse wheel scrolling was broken
- After Select All in list, some action bar button did not show up
- After editing, the list did not scroll to the edited item anymore
- Statistics: rare Access Violation while loading the screen
- Picklist item images are now automatically resolved when folder changes
- Update File Links: manual mode missing trailing slash by default
Fixed:
- Opening Statistics could crash the app
- Main Screen: Collection status filter: Could default to “For Sale” when it was previously set to “On Wish List”
- Main screen: Some controls were missing from the top bar on iOS 9/10 devices
- “Want” summary at the top disappeared from the list of comics
A big update for your CLZ app today. Instead of bringing one big new feature, we decided to work on multiple areas that could be improved, all of them based on the feedback we received from you all. Thanks for that!
Collection Status filter
The 2nd button from the top right (next to the search button) is the Collection Status filter. Previously, it allowed you to filter by All, Collection or Wish List, but with this update, we added all collection status option there as filters, including On order and For Sale.
Also, the button will now be highlighted in yellow when a filter is active, that is, when it is set to anything other than “All”.
Re-designed toolbars at the top
The toolbars at the top have been re-designed, mainly to make the interactive elements stand out more as actual “buttons”.
(Especially the folder icon on the left was something that was often overlooked as something you could tap on. Hopefully this re-design will help to let more users find the most powerful feature of the app 🙂 )
New sort and display options in Settings
For Artists and Composers:
- Ignore Sort Names when sorting by Artists and Composers.
- Show Sort Names instead of display names for Artists and Composers
For Titles:
- Ignore Sort Titles when sorting by Title
- Show Sort Titles instead of Titles
Improved Statistics screen
The Statistics screen has been updated with:
- More database totals at the top (nr of discs, purchase price, current value)
- An extra chart that shows Albums by Year
- A new: “tap to show all” option to enlarge charts and see ALL entries
A big update for your CLZ app today. Instead of bringing one big new feature, we decided to work on multiple areas that could be improved, all of them based on the feedback we received from you all. Thanks for that!
Collection Status filter
The 2nd button from the top right (next to the search button) is the Collection Status filter. Previously, it allowed you to filter by All, Collection or Wish List, but with this update, we added all collection status option there as filters, including On order and For Sale.
Also, the button will now be highlighted in yellow when a filter is active, that is, when it is set to anything other than “All”.
Re-designed toolbars at the top
The toolbars at the top have been re-designed, mainly to make the interactive elements stand out more as actual “buttons”.
(Especially the folder icon on the left was something that was often overlooked as something you could tap on. Hopefully this re-design will help to let more users find the most powerful feature of the app 🙂 )
New sort and display options in Settings
For Artists and Composers:
- Ignore Sort Names when sorting by Artists and Composers.
- Show Sort Names instead of display names for Artists and Composers
For Titles:
- Ignore Sort Titles when sorting by Title
- Show Sort Titles instead of Titles
Improved Statistics screen
The Statistics screen has been updated with:
- More database totals at the top (nr of discs, purchase price, current value)
- An extra chart that shows Albums by Year
- A new: “tap to show all” option to enlarge charts and see ALL entries
With so many users switching from the desktop software to the Connect web-based software, we are getting a lot of useful feedback about the things they are missing, or would like to see in Connect.
Today, a small update with 3 new settings to save screen space in the main screen:
- Show Filter Bar: uncheck this setting to hide the bar at the top with the Collection Status filter and the Alphabet Bar, giving you quite a bit more vertical screen space for your list.
- Show Collection Status indicators: uncheck this to remove the column with the status icons from your List View, giving you more horizontal room for your columns.
- Show pencil icons (for editing): uncheck this to remove the column with the pencil (edit) icons from your List View, again giving you more horizontal list space.
Oh and BTW: we also took this opportunity to complete re-think the layout of the Settings screen, to make the grouping of settings more logical. I recommend to take a good look again, maybe you will find some useful settings you never knew existed 🙂
Long overdue, but it is finally here: you can now select your own currency for all value and price fields in Music Connect.
Find the new currency settings in your Settings screen. Under Currency, choose your desired currency.
Choose from USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD, CHF, NOK, SEK or DKK. Then use the Currency display setting to customize how prices and values will be displayed.
We’re well into 2021, so it’s time for Music Collector 21.
In this update we bring you a great new time-saving tool in the Add Albums screen.
New Pre-fill screen that pops up when adding albums
When adding an album to your database using the Add Album screen, it will now pop-up a new screen called “Pre-fill album details, letting you set various fields right then and there.
Fields available in the Pre-fill screen:
- Location
- Owner
- Purchase Date
- Purchase Store
- Purchase Price
- Quantity
- Tags
No more need to edit your added albums afterwards!
(BTW: of course, using the new Pre-fill screen is optional. If you don’t want to use it, just uncheck the “Show Pre-fill screen” toggle at the bottom. You can always re-enable it through the program’s Options screen.)
Fixed:
- Add Screen: Genres weren’t downloading
- Add Screen: By Barcode: Multi-disc albums could sometimes be added as single entries
- Add Screen: Scrolling through results could be slow
- Edit Multiple: Fixed a rare crash
- Manage Pick List: a pick list item could appear twice when merging
Fixed:
- Find Cover: the crop button was missing
- The “Field Names” screen was empty
Fixed:
- After adding an album the app could crash or return to the main screen without adding the album
A big update for your CLZ Music app!
This time we added a new feature, that will save you lots of time:
New Pre-fill screen that pops up when adding albums
When adding an album to your database using the Add Albums screen, it will now pop-up a new screen called “Pre-fill album details, letting you set various fields right then and there.
Fields available in the Pre-fill screen:
- Location
- Owner
- Purchase Date
- Purchase Store
- Purchase Price
- Quantity
- Tags
No more need to edit your added albums afterwards!
(BTW: of course, using the new Pre-fill screen is optional. If you don’t want to use it, just uncheck the “Show Pre-fill screen” toggle at thet bottom. You can always re-enable it through the app’s Settings screen.)
Also new:
- All Collection Status options are now available under the Add button in the Add Screen.
- New look and layout of Field Defaults screen.
A big update for your CLZ Music app!
This time we added a new feature, that will save you lots of time:
New Pre-fill screen that pops up when adding albums
When adding an album to your database using the Add Albums screen, it will now pop-up a new screen called “Pre-fill album details, letting you set various fields right then and there.
Fields available in the Pre-fill screen:
- Location
- Owner
- Purchase Date
- Purchase Store
- Purchase Price
- Quantity
- Tags
No more need to edit your added albums afterwards!
(BTW: of course, using the new Pre-fill screen is optional. If you don’t want to use it, just uncheck the “Show Pre-fill screen” toggle at thet bottom. You can always re-enable it through the app’s Settings screen.)
Also new:
- All Collection Status options are now available under the Add button in the Add Screen.
- New look and layout of Field Defaults screen.
Another big update for your Music Connect software.
This time we added a new feature, that will save you lots of time:
New Pre-fill screen that pops up when adding albums
When adding an album to your database using the Add Albums screen, it will now pop-up a new screen called “Pre-fill album details, letting you set various fields right then and there.
Fields available in the Pre-fill screen:
- Location
- Owner
- Purchase Date
- Purchase Store
- Purchase Price
- Quantity
- Tags
No more need to edit your added albums afterwards!
We had tested our software on Big Sur betas before the actual Big Sur release and did not find any problems. However, as soon as Big Sur went live, users started reporting crashes in various areas of the program, mainly when syncing and after adding or editing entries.
With the help of these users, and after trying several test builds with them, we have finally resolved all known crashes, which has resulted in today’s v20.2 Big Sur compatible release.
If you are using Big Sur, we strongly recommend updating to this v20.2 version.
Finally, if you still see problems on Big Sur with this new version, please us know, so that we can fix any remaining bugs.