Collection Software 1 1

[mlovest]

Do any of you use store-bought software products to track you collections, like Comic Collector?  I have been making my own spreadsheets for years.  I would love to have software which includes the issues of regular titles, variants, etc., plus price updates, etc.  Also, love to be able to add in my own cover scans.

V/R,

Mike

[01TheDude]

I haven't had my own software since the early 1990s -- when I had this version of Comic Collector version 1.0 (sold it on ebay as a collectible -- it has neat Batman art):

 

This was useful stuff-- back before the internet. I did use this for several years-- never needing to update it because I was not actively collecting. It was "good enough" and by now I would bet it is incredible by comparison. I mean-- this version was 4 grades - Poor, Good, Fine, and Mint. But it was a usable way to print stuff out etc. It was well worth the dough I paid all those years ago. I still have my printouts - though in the 1970s I made my own collection sheets in a 3 ring binder (awesome resource when you are trying to remember what you have sold at certain points).

Cut to 2013-- prepping to move and possibly sell my books-- kind of how I found this forum.

But the last round of organizing/(rebag/board etc) my collection-- I decided to invest a little more time into learning how to grade under the current environment. I also went through my entire collection (only ~1500 books at the time) and using a website to manage them. I picked a free one called Comic Book Realm-- eventually buying a Lifetime membership ($45 at the time- though they said no ads and there are still ads). The prices quoted there for grades is not super accurate but it is decent enough. You might want to search around for other options. But I think the days of using software on a PC don't make much sense. I mean-- I can view my information using my smart phone. It isn't perfect--- and I would suggest you try a few of them out to see if you like how it works. But the one I use and find workable enough is ComicBookRealm.com

My guess is that the makers of software like Comic Collector probably improved the product and made it available on line as well. Not sure-- once all your books are entered-- it is pretty hard to change your game plan. That is why my biggest thing to add here is to evaluate the your options fully before you pull the trigger.

 

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

I also used Comic Collector back in the day, before it started having trouble with handling the number of comics (7,000+).

I've since started using the Comic Collectorz software (I bought it before it went subscription) and I use it.  While it is nice, I miss some of the features that Comic Collector had (like printing out a want list), Collectorz will do that, but you have to manual add the issues you want as a want item and then tell it to print out those.  Comic Collector would ask you for a title and an issue range and would print out a list of any that you were missing in that range.  

I don't use Collectorz for keeping track of pricing, though my understanding is that the newer version do have a pricing service that they use to update pricing, but to me, pricing/value is subjective enough to where I wouldn't trust a pricing service.  Collectorz will allow you to add your own scans, and a lot of other user defined fields.

Psy

[Morganmi]

 

10 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

I haven't had my own software since the early 1990s -- when I had this version of Comic Collector version 1.0 (sold it on ebay as a collectible -- it has neat Batman art):

 

This was useful stuff-- back before the internet. I did use this for several years-- never needing to update it because I was not actively collecting. It was "good enough" and by now I would bet it is incredible by comparison. I mean-- this version was 4 grades - Poor, Good, Fine, and Mint. But it was a usable way to print stuff out etc. It was well worth the dough I paid all those years ago. I still have my printouts - though in the 1970s I made my own collection sheets in a 3 ring binder (awesome resource when you are trying to remember what you have sold at certain points).

Cut to 2013-- prepping to move and possibly sell my books-- kind of how I found this forum.

But the last round of organizing/(rebag/board etc) my collection-- I decided to invest a little more time into learning how to grade under the current environment. I also went through my entire collection (only ~1500 books at the time) and using a website to manage them. I picked a free one called Comic Book Realm-- eventually buying a Lifetime membership ($45 at the time- though they said no ads and there are still ads). The prices quoted there for grades is not super accurate but it is decent enough. You might want to search around for other options. But I think the days of using software on a PC don't make much sense. I mean-- I can view my information using my smart phone. It isn't perfect--- and I would suggest you try a few of them out to see if you like how it works. But the one I use and find workable enough is ComicBookRealm.com

My guess is that the makers of software like Comic Collector probably improved the product and made it available on line as well. Not sure-- once all your books are entered-- it is pretty hard to change your game plan. That is why my biggest thing to add here is to evaluate the your options fully before you pull the trigger.

 

 

Very cool! I found this 2.0 in a box recently also. I remember it being fun for keeping up on prices but not as reliable or versitile as a good old notebook.  Now a days I use CLZ app on my phone to keep track of what I have and what grade its in etc.. Very handy for when your in the LCS while searching through the bins. Also with the subscription it's connected to Gocollect for pricing so bonus there also.

[markavis]

I have been using ComicBase for the last 20 years. I like it a lot, but it is not cheep. I do use CLZ on my phone to track my personal collection thought. My personal collection is about a dozen short boxes. My other collection is around 250 short boxes.

[mlovest]

Thank you all for the feedback.  The software and the technology keeps moving so fast now...scanners for barcodes for newer books, etc.  Crazy stuff.  I think I'll look more closely at CLZ and CB.

V/R,

Mike

[01TheDude]

10 hours ago, Morganmi said:

 

Very cool! I found this 2.0 in a box recently also. I remember it being fun for keeping up on prices but not as reliable or versitile as a good old notebook.  Now a days I use CLZ app on my phone to keep track of what I have and what grade its in etc.. Very handy for when your in the LCS while searching through the bins. Also with the subscription it's connected to Gocollect for pricing so bonus there also.

more pictures of my older version for comparison (not helpful to the original question but might be interesting to some folks).

interesting that I kept a copy of the survey included with the Overstreet update form

According to the survey, I paid $35 for this software in 1993 -  sold it for $19 (less 6.50 shipping) in 2017 on ebay

[Morganmi]

10 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

more pictures of my older version for comparison (not helpful to the original question but might be interesting to some folks).

interesting that I kept a copy of the survey included with the Overstreet update form

According to the survey, I paid $35 for this software in 1993 -  sold it for $19 (less 6.50 shipping) in 2017 on ebay

Ha! Very cool your 1.0 has actual old floppy floppys and you had a top of the line 486 system with over 4mb of ram! Mine only came with the 3.5 floppys. 

[01TheDude]

10 hours ago, Morganmi said:

Ha! Very cool your 1.0 has actual old floppy floppys and you had a top of the line 486 system with over 4mb of ram! Mine only came with the 3.5 floppys. 

By the time your version was released, most people had moved to the 3.5 floppy drive. I happened to own a machine at the time that had both 3.5 and 5 1/4 because I was into computers as early as 1984 (when 5 1/4 was the standard). I have also used 8' floppy drives in some industrial customer service apps (TRP device that read and encoded checks for example) and even the old magnetic tape drives on old Scanoptics Scanners. Don't get me started talking about old tech though

 

[Morganmi]

1 hour ago, 01TheDude said:

By the time your version was released, most people had moved to the 3.5 floppy drive. I happened to own a machine at the time that had both 3.5 and 5 1/4 because I was into computers as early as 1984 (when 5 1/4 was the standard). I have also used 8' floppy drives in some industrial customer service apps (TRP device that read and encoded checks for example) and even the old magnetic tape drives on old Scanoptics Scanners. Don't get me started talking about old tech though

 

Oh believe me, I know all about it. My stepfather was in early computer programming. I remember using tape recorders to write store basic programs and making D&D type stuff for fun as a kid.  X's and O`s  moving through self created dash and backslash dungeons etc. etc. Anyone remember Hunt the Wumpus?

[HighRadArt]

I used CLZ years ago and after using Excel and not being happy with my spreadsheet, I recently started using CLZ again.  Finding books is really easy, which is nice because there are soooo many variants these days.  The bar code scanner and statistics screen are really nice as well.  The statistics screen breaks down the collection by publisher, title, character, artist and current value.  I signed up for the online version so I can access the collection from any computer including my cell phone.  I still have more to learn about the program and I haven't figured out how much customization you can do when printing out your collection.

[Juno Beach]

On 12/3/2020 at 8:30 AM, PsylockeSmythe said:

I also used Comic Collector back in the day, before it started having trouble with handling the number of comics (7,000+).

I've since started using the Comic Collectorz software (I bought it before it went subscription) and I use it.  While it is nice, I miss some of the features that Comic Collector had (like printing out a want list), Collectorz will do that, but you have to manual add the issues you want as a want item and then tell it to print out those.  Comic Collector would ask you for a title and an issue range and would print out a list of any that you were missing in that range.  

I don't use Collectorz for keeping track of pricing, though my understanding is that the newer version do have a pricing service that they use to update pricing, but to me, pricing/value is subjective enough to where I wouldn't trust a pricing service.  Collectorz will allow you to add your own scans, and a lot of other user defined fields.

Psy

The last update to CLZ added one button automatic want lists now in PDF.  Also it's linked to GoCollect for slab pricing. I have 20 000+ books in my database with zero problems. 

I also use comicbookrealm. It's free but their prices are for raw books. 

[Juno Beach]

39 minutes ago, HighRadArt said:

I used CLZ years ago and after using Excel and not being happy with my spreadsheet, I recently started using CLZ again.  Finding books is really easy, which is nice because there are soooo many variants these days.  The bar code scanner and statistics screen are really nice as well.  The statistics screen breaks down the collection by publisher, title, character, artist and current value.  I signed up for the online version so I can access the collection from any computer including my cell phone.  I still have more to learn about the program and I haven't figured out how much customization you can do when printing out your collection.

I love the statistics screen EXCEPT for creators. They include editors, letterers and colourists which means Axel Alonso, Joe Quesada, Richard Starkings, Joe Caramagna, Cory Petit, Tom Brevoort, Tom Defalco, and Nick Lowe are my top eight 'creators'. In fact, I only have two writer/artists (three including Quesada) out of 25 in my stats. Not to diminish these jobs but I don't think people are collecting books because Comicraft digital colouring was involved. I've talked to them about it but I don't think they understand the issue. They also don't include cover artists in the stats, which is a huge thing not to include.

[HighRadArt]

23 minutes ago, Juno Beach said:

I love the statistics screen EXCEPT for creators. They include editors, letterers and colourists which means Axel Alonso, Joe Quesada, Richard Starkings, Joe Caramagna, Cory Petit, Tom Brevoort, Tom Defalco, and Nick Lowe are my top eight 'creators'. In fact, I only have two writer/artists (three including Quesada) out of 25 in my stats. Not to diminish these jobs but I don't think people are collecting books because Comicraft digital colouring was involved. I've talked to them about it but I don't think they understand the issue. They also don't include cover artists in the stats, which is a huge thing not to include.

Separating the creators would be nice and I agree, including the cover artists in the stats would be really nice as well.

[sagekilz]

I use CLZ and love it.  The in depth look into issue specifics is hit or miss and the information isn't as thorough as you might think but all-in-all, worth every penny.