What's the best software for organizing/cataloging my comic collection?

[mschmidt]

One of the nice things about ComicBase is the weekly update they give you with all the new comics released for that week. If you are into variants, it lets you track what is out there and what you may have missed at the LCS. You can get a bar code scanner to record your books, too. (I don't have one so I don't really know how well that works.

 

The Comic Collector software does that as well - and, unlike ComicBase, it doesn't require a yearly subsciption (you pay once & that's that).

[Fireboy]

One of the nice things about ComicBase is the weekly update they give you with all the new comics released for that week. If you are into variants, it lets you track what is out there and what you may have missed at the LCS. You can get a bar code scanner to record your books, too. (I don't have one so I don't really know how well that works.

 

The Comic Collector software does that as well - and, unlike ComicBase, it doesn't require a yearly subsciption (you pay once & that's that).

Comicbookrealm does it too and requires no payment ever.

[asr0462]

I love comic collector. I've had no issues with it. However, I do wish it had a built-in price guide so you could determine the total value of your collection. However, it is excellent if you're just cataloging. I highly recommend it.

[mschmidt]

One of the nice things about ComicBase is the weekly update they give you with all the new comics released for that week. If you are into variants, it lets you track what is out there and what you may have missed at the LCS. You can get a bar code scanner to record your books, too. (I don't have one so I don't really know how well that works.

 

The Comic Collector software does that as well - and, unlike ComicBase, it doesn't require a yearly subsciption (you pay once & that's that).

Comicbookrealm does it too and requires no payment ever.

 

Sure, but Comicbookrealm is slow, buggy, and requires an internet connection to work.

[mica]

CollectorZ

[John A III]

I use the comic collectorz program and enjoy it since I can designated books as for sale, in collection, or wanted and can then view only those comics. It helps me to create a list for things I need to look for, and then I can take that list to Cons or comic books stores and my wife will help me look for them.

[MightyBeanComics]

Has anyone tried the Intelliscanner?

 

http://www.intelliscanner.com/products/comics/

 

 

[bounty_coder]

I'm going to put a +1 here for Excel (or the openoffice.org equivalent). If you just need no glitz accounting for your books, it's the best way to go IMHO. You can sort and filter by multiple columns. It really gives you a nice view into your collection. Also if you ever want to "upgrade" to an actual comic management suite then you would already have an excellent representation of your collection in spreadsheet format and the migration to the new system would be much quicker. I say start with the spreadsheet. At the very least it is backup for if the software crashes or the data file becomes corrupt and your stuff goes bye bye.

 

-bounty

[mister_not_so_nice]

I use the comic collectorz program and enjoy it since I can designated books as for sale, in collection, or wanted and can then view only those comics. It helps me to create a list for things I need to look for, and then I can take that list to Cons or comic books stores and my wife will help me look for them.

 

I'm a COLLECTORZ user as well (thumbs u

 

- 1 time purchase price

- Free upgrades whneever mods are made

- Weekly updates of new books

- ever increasing online database

- Great forums which allow you to interact directly with the programmers about any bugs/requests

- works great for track OA too

[John A III]

I also like the collecterz allows you to update to their datebase to correct issues or add covers. Not sure if all the other programs do that, sure there are many that do, but the only other one I've tried is comic collecter live. That was good but since i already paid for collectorz didn't see the point in paying for CCL when they went to a required payment for using their program

[Dark Knight]

Excel for me too especially since I have a short collection of books. Works fine for me

[drewincanada]

I use Apple iMac with OS 10.4. I did a quick search on the boards, but didn't come up with anything. I have tried to download comiccollectorlive's product, but it doesn't seem to work on my system.

JB

 

Upgrade your OS to 10.5 (Leopard). Boot Camp comes with Leopard. Then you can partition a section of your hard drive (or use an external drive), install Windows, and when you start up your Mac you'll have a choice of launching in either Mac or Windows environment.

 

It's 100% solid. Because Macs now use Intel processors, it's as fast and dependable as a dedicated Windows machine.

 

Then you can install and run any Windows software. I use it to run software like DVD Profiler, which only comes in Windows flavour.

[dough_boy]

Sure, but Comicbookrealm is slow, buggy...

Please do not make statements that are unfounded and untrue.

 

ComicBookRealm.com is not slow, and if there are bugs, no one has mentioned them (not even you after you spent little to no time on the site).

 

You haven't even added a book to your collection.

 

And yes, you do have to have an Internet connection, but seeing as how you are on here pretty frequently I guess it wouldn't matter that much in the long run. Also all of the other programs that allow you to get weekly updates also REQUIRE the use of an Internet connection.

 

For those that are not aware, you can fully export your collection to whatever format you want as often as you want for use offline (i.e. CSV, TAB, XML, etc).

 

One of my favorite little quips is "We already spend too much on comics, why spend to keep track of them".

 

I apologize for responding to this topic but nothing makes me more upset than to see someone who knows nothing about my site to spout off about it like it is the Gospel.

 

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

[mschmidt]

Sure, but Comicbookrealm is slow, buggy...

Please do not make statements that are unfounded and untrue.

 

ComicBookRealm.com is not slow, and if there are bugs, no one has mentioned them (not even you after you spent little to no time on the site).

 

You haven't even added a book to your collection.

 

And yes, you do have to have an Internet connection, but seeing as how you are on here pretty frequently I guess it wouldn't matter that much in the long run. Also all of the other programs that allow you to get weekly updates also REQUIRE the use of an Internet connection.

 

For those that are not aware, you can fully export your collection to whatever format you want as often as you want for use offline (i.e. CSV, TAB, XML, etc).

 

One of my favorite little quips is "We already spend too much on comics, why spend to keep track of them".

 

I apologize for responding to this topic but nothing makes me more upset than to see someone who knows nothing about my site to spout off about it like it is the Gospel.

 

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

 

No, you don't get off that easily.

 

Compared to adding comic books through a dedicated program (like Comicbase or Comic Collector), ComicBookRealm.com is slow. Comicspriceguide.com is slow as well, but we weren't discussing that particular site (yet).

 

I've checked out your site in the past, played around with it for a couple of days, didn't like the UI, the usability nor the functionality, and deleted my account.

 

Last night I signed up again because I saw a book that was for sale that I was interested in - but I still have no intention whatsoever of using your site to record my collection, because all the stuff that annoyed me the last time around is still there.

 

And, btw, here are a couple of messages your supposedly bug-free site threw at me as I was typing this:

 

 

 

 

[Count]

Sure, but Comicbookrealm is slow, buggy...

Please do not make statements that are unfounded and untrue.

 

ComicBookRealm.com is not slow, and if there are bugs, no one has mentioned them (not even you after you spent little to no time on the site).

 

You haven't even added a book to your collection.

 

And yes, you do have to have an Internet connection, but seeing as how you are on here pretty frequently I guess it wouldn't matter that much in the long run. Also all of the other programs that allow you to get weekly updates also REQUIRE the use of an Internet connection.

 

For those that are not aware, you can fully export your collection to whatever format you want as often as you want for use offline (i.e. CSV, TAB, XML, etc).

 

One of my favorite little quips is "We already spend too much on comics, why spend to keep track of them".

 

I apologize for responding to this topic but nothing makes me more upset than to see someone who knows nothing about my site to spout off about it like it is the Gospel.

 

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

 

The biggest drawback for me is not having the ability to import books. For people that have 100 or so books it's no big deal to enter each book in but most of us have many more which are already cataloged in some way. Perhaps if there was a template that could be downloaded that defines the fields requirements? To ask users that have large collections to start re-entering from scratch in not realistic. :shrug:

 

 

[Shadow]

I just revamped my comic spreadsheet for Excel. I've used it since 1993 but I wanted an easier way to zoom right to a title and a way for the title's overall value to land on one page. So, over Winter Break I redid it. It works for me and I enjoyed adding some graphs for a few titles.

[Count]

This one is the best

 

 

[dough_boy]

No, you don't get off that easily.

 

Compared to adding comic books through a dedicated program (like Comicbase or Comic Collector), ComicBookRealm.com is slow. Comicspriceguide.com is slow as well, but we weren't discussing that particular site (yet).

 

I've checked out your site in the past, played around with it for a couple of days, didn't like the UI, the usability nor the functionality, and deleted my account.

 

Last night I signed up again because I saw a book that was for sale that I was interested in - but I still have no intention whatsoever of using your site to record my collection, because all the stuff that annoyed me the last time around is still there.

 

And, btw, here are a couple of messages your supposedly bug-free site threw at me as I was typing this:

 

 

 

Bug #1:

You are not logged in and that is why you are getting the error message. Thanks for pointing it out and it has been corrected.

 

Bug #2:

Because this is your first time the site has to generate your graphs on the fly (as opposed to the auto generating process) and sometimes it isn't able to generate them in time for the browser to display them. 99.9% of the time if you refresh the page it goes away. If it doesn't you might need to clear your cache.

 

As far as comparing to other programs, I can only compare to ones that I have used. I do not know how they are faster for adding books (unless you can add all 600 ASM's at one time instead of 100 at a time on ComicBookRealm.com).

 

For future reference I would appreciate you notifying me on my site with problems you encounter just like you would with one of these other programs without "bashing" them in another forum.

 

Thanks.

[dough_boy]

The biggest drawback for me is not having the ability to import books. For people that have 100 or so books it's no big deal to enter each book in but most of us have many more which are already cataloged in some way. Perhaps if there was a template that could be downloaded that defines the fields requirements? To ask users that have large collection to start re-entering from scratch in not realistic. :shrug:

 

Yeah, I have heard that from a lot of people on EVERY tracking solution that is available.

 

The problem we have in the comic industry is there are no 100% standard tracking numbers. For instance some call it ASM, some call it Amazing Spider-man Vol 1, etc.

 

The only way to "map" would be to manually map each issue from one program to another. I was provided with a users Collectorz file and I looked at it, but programatically I would only be able to auto map maybe 40-50%.

 

Some export files don't even provide all info, i.e. ISBN, etc. And when you get into custom made/home grown Excel files it is even more complicated. That is why all solutions (not home grown) must try to account for ease of entry for the masses.

 

Ultimately the sign of a good program is one that outputs "compliant" and valid data. This data could then be imported into other systems, or massage with other sources, i.e. Excel with a CSV file.

[mschmidt]

For future reference I would appreciate you notifying me on my site with problems you encounter just like you would with one of these other programs without "bashing" them in another forum.

 

Thanks.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't frequent your site - I frequent this site.

 

You think your site is the bees knees - fair enough, that's your opinion. I'm sure the makers of Comicbase feel the same way about their software. But I feel differently, and I assume that this is exactly why the OP created this thread - to hear from people who've used different kinds of comic book collecting software/platforms.

 

So, no, I'm going to continue to express my opinion here in any way I see fit.

 

You're welcome.