What's new?
Earlier this year, we updated our Connect software to make it fully localizable / translatable. Shortly after, we went live with Dutch and German version of Connect.
Today, after the hard work of three loyal CLZ users, three more language options went live on the site:
- French
- Spanish
- Hungarian
Thank you, Philippe, Rafael and Pető!!
New:
- Added in-app getting started tips for new users (tap “dismiss” to dismiss)
New:
- Added in-app getting started tips for new users (tap “dismiss” to dismiss)
Fixed:
- Fixed: adding items did not work for users that were not logged in
In this update, we try to tackle a problem that we often see in our support system:
Users changing phones without updating their CLZ Cloud first. Or even worse, without even having a CLZ Account yet.
Which of course cause data loss (and a lot of sadness).
So in this version, we are trying to create more awareness of:
- The importance of creating a CLZ Account, so that you can Sync with CLZ Cloud.
- The importance of keeping your CLZ Cloud up-to-date by actually Syncing with CLZ Cloud.
New Sync button in main screen
When not in sync with CLZ Cloud, a new Sync button will appear on the main screen, above the Add button. This way you will always know if there are still items to sync up to CLZ Cloud or down from CLZ Cloud (even when you use auto-sync).
(Don’t like this button? In the Settings screen, switch OFF the setting that says “Show on-screen sync button”)
New “Sync with Cloud!” bar when not logged in
When using the app while not logged in to a CLZ Account, a new bar will appear at the bottom of the main screen that says “Sync to CLZ Cloud for an online backup”.
Hopefully that will help prevent future data loss.
(Don’t like this bar? In the Settings screen, switch OFF the setting that says “Show backup suggestion bar”)
New 5-album “Demo Mode” for new users
For new users who just downloaded the app, we introduced a new “Demo Mode” that lets you add 5 albums before committing to the actual 7-day free trial subscription.
Fixed on Android:
- Edit Comic: When you’ve edited something, and you tapped “Next”, it would skip an item.
v23.1: Simplified Sort Name editing for all pick list entries
Today, a nice update for the Music Collector software, that will make your cataloging life a bit easier again.
In this version, we simplified the editing of Artist Sort Names (and other person entries).
In the past an Artist entry had editable sub-fields First Name, Last Name and “The”, which worked together to automatically generate a SortName.
Now it is much simpler and easier. The First, Last and The fields are gone and have been replaced with a simple directly editable Sort Name.
Continuing with our quest to revamp and re-design features and screen of the Connect web-based software. Today we took on the Import from CSV/TXT screen.
Connect and CLZ Cloud users often ask us about printing or exporting only a part of their collection, e.g. “how do I print just my wish list?” or “how do I export a list of just one artist?”.
Now, this was possible, but it took a few steps that were not intuitive for many users. You had to:
- Make the selection in the main screen first, e.g. by using folders, the collection status filter or the search box
- Checkbox all albums in the selection, using the checkboxes in the list
- Then use the Print or Export button on the special blue action toolbar above the list
With today’s update, we are making this a lot easier. And while we were at it, we also freshened up the user interface of the Print to PDF and Export to CSV screens.
Great news for all our German-speaking customers: starting today the Connect web software is also available in German!
Our programmers have been working for months to make the Connect software available in other languages (other than English). This meant:
- Make the Connect software translatable, to ensure that all interface texts come from a translation database.
- Making a nice and easy translation tool for our translators, so that they can translate all texts efficiently and also maintain the translation when new functionality is added.
- And of course, to do the actual translation.
And today we can take the next step: Connect is now available in German!
Improved:
- Adding by Barcode: the last barcode you scanned is now automatically selected in the queue
- Adding by CDID: the last CD you scanned with your CD-Drive is now automatically selected in the queue (and at the top of the list)
- Further improvements for sorting text with numbers in it (especially with – symbols)
- Faster sorting, resulting in overall performance improvements especially for large databases
Fixed:
- Adding: the app could crash while adding an album
Fixed:
- When using multi-level folders, the folder panel search text would sometimes copy over to the next folder (and not be remembered when going back)
- After syncing, the main screen did not always refresh
- A crash could occur when entering Selection Mode in Card View if no cards were available
- A crash could occur when selecting folders
- When switching between collection statuses while in multi-level folders, the app could show a wrong selection of items
- The app crashed on devices with iOS13
- iPad: The folder panel search did not have an “X” to clear the search
Improved:
- Add Screen: Loading details panel of a result feels a bit faster now
Fixed:
- Shake to Shuffle could cause a crash in some cases
- Opening an item, swiping to the next, then edit “in-details-panel” would reset the details to the first item
- Backdrops could still show behind the list when switched off in Settings
- Add Screen: Scanning a barcode: When the device was rotated, the barcode scanner could stop working
- Multi-level folders: When using the “Show sort names” feature, the breadcrumb at the top could show strange sort names for certain folders
Fixed:
- Card View: titles were sometimes displayed wrong.
- Folders: The search filter in “Create new favorite” wasn’t working correctly.
- Fixed a couple of folder labels that were displayed wrongly at the top.
- iPad: The folder panel could jump to the top if a folder was selected from the bottom.
- iPad: made the switching between folders appear more smooth.
- iPad: breadcrumb wasn’t always displayed correctly when backing out of a folder.
A huge update for your CLZ Music mobile app today, which introduces a powerful feature for browsing and filtering your music collection: using multiple levels of folders.
Previously, it was only possible to use one level, so either Artist folders OR Format folders OR Genre folders OR Location folders, etc… But starting with this version, you can use nested folders, so for instance, use Genre folders, then within each genre folder have Artist folders.
A nice update for all Connect users who use multiple collections, especially for those who have a LOT of collections.
New in this re-design:
- Single row tab-bar. No more lost screen estate caused by multiple rows of tabs.
- Got more tabs than fit on screen? Scroll the bar horizontally.
- Or use the next/prev buttons on the right to jump page by page.
- Alternatively, click the menu icon on the bottom left to pick a collection from a menu.
- The menu also provides quick access to the Manage Collections screen.
- Drag tabs to change their order.
- Double click a tab to rename a collection.
A big project our web-dev team has been focused on the past few months is making our Connect web-based software available into other languages. A huge project that consists of:
- Making the software translatable, basically ensuring that ALL UI text is retrieved from a translation database.
- Creating a nice and easy web-based CMS tool that translators can log in to and translate text, preview in Connect, etc…
- Doing the actual translations of all UI texts.
And today we can finally show the first results: Connect is now available in Dutch!
v23.0.3: Improved Add Screen stability and Sorting / Details Panel fixes
Fixed:
- Several small Add Screen stability issues
- Sorting problems for certain fields
- Details panel would not show Chorus in specific cases
Fixed:
- Adding Albums by CDID didn’t allow you to select multiple results and add them “as multi-disc album” anymore.
- The alphabet bar wasn’t working correctly for albums with multiple artists where the name started with a number.
- Dark Skin: In the Folder panel, we’ve made the barchart color a bit brighter.
- In the Pre-fill popup you could not select an “empty” item for pick lists.
- Sorting your list by date wasn’t always working properly.
- The program will now ask you if you’re sure you want to overwrite an existing file when using “Export to XML” or “Save Database As” (this was already working for other export/save options).
v23: Now supports our new CLZ Scanner barcode scanner app
As announced last weekend, here it is, Music Collector version 23 for Windows, with full support for our new CLZ Scanner barcode scanner app!
And as indicated earlier, support for the old CLZ Barry scanner app has now been removed.
Also new in this version: Improved support for barcodes that were used over multiple series.
What is CLZ Scanner?
The aptly-named “CLZ Scanner” is a barcode scanner app, nothing more, nothing less. It is an app that you use on your phone to scan barcodes and then instantly send those scanned barcodes to the Add Music screen of the Music Collector software running on your computer. From there, you can then easily and comfortably add the scanned albums to your computer software.
CLZ Scanner replaces the old CLZ Barry app.
New:
- Menu now shows last “Sync with CLZ Cloud” date
- Improved messaging for subscription status
Fixed:
- After searching in your own collection by scanning a barcode, the result will now show instantly
- Add Album: when scanning a barcode or adding by Cat. No., and then add manually, the barcode or Cat. No. is now filled in
- Details page of album wasn’t always updating correctly when editing “in template”
Changed:
- Improved messaging for subscription status
Fixed:
- Edit tracks: the “Add” button to add an artist to a track wasn’t visible
v7.4.3: Fixed barcode scanner / Collection Status colors in Card View
Fixed and improved:
- Barcode scanning on iPhone 14 Pro is now FIXED (by using macro lens)
- Barcode scanning on iPhone 13 Pro now also uses macro lens
- Collection Status colors now also visible in Card View
Recently introduced in the CLZ mobile apps and instantly very popular, so now available in all five Connect flavors too: the Card View.
(And… because Connect already had a view called “Card View”, we renamed the old view to “Horizontal Cards” and named the new one “Vertical Cards” here.)
Here’s how to switch to new “Vertical Cards” view: on the toolbar above your collection list, click the 2nd button from the left, called “Vertical Cards”.
Check out the screenshots below: