MovieExchange

I've entered about 1300 books (about half-way through my collection) into comicdb.com, and here's my pros and cons so far:

Pros:
Ease of entering in a run of titles. Do you have 60, 70, 100 issues in a row of a particular title? Just use the "Add a run of issues" feature and enter the beginning and end of your run, and all the issues will be added. Much easier than clicking on every single issue number.

Depth of information. Are you looking for every issue from a certain story arc? Each "DC 1,000,000" issue, or every Civil War crossover, or every chapter of Cataclysm? Just enter the storyline you're looking for in the search engine and all catalogued issues will be displayed. Maybe you're looking for every time your favorite character appeared in someone else's book? You can search for that also.

Reports. Some of them don't work very well (I think the overall missing issues report gets overloaded easily), but the "Missing Issues By Title" report is a godsend if you're trying to complete a run of a series. Select the series name from the list, and you're given a summary of every issue you don't have on hand. Much easier than digging through boxes.

Ease of updating entries. Found a comic that's not listed? Is your comic listed, but important info isn't there? You can update the entry and it will be immediately added to the database. No waiting for someone to get around to looking at your entry and approving it.



Cons:
Ease of updating entries. It's a pro and a con. Not having editors there to check over every new submission means that any idiot can change the information. If someone decides they want to go on a spree and start deleting John Byrne's name from every comic in the database, there's nothing stopping them from doing it. This can suck if Byrne is coming to a convention near you and you're trying to pull up a list of everything in your collection that he's worked on.

Lack of completion. Many people are entering half-assed information into the database, so many of the great search functions end up being not so great because people are lazy and don't take the time to enter in all the info.

The server. The site is painfully slow at times, and can tend to go down every few days. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.


Verdict so far
Great if you just want to track what issues you own. Not so great if you want to track anything else. Probably the best free catalogue I've seen, though.

Trevor

Great review ME.

I hope to get around to cataloging my collection this year or next, and when I do it, I don't want to ever have to re-do it. It would be a huge pain to input 40 or so long boxes and then have the website go down or the database to be hacked up.

I'll be doing more research when I get close to my task.

I'd prefer one of these free online options, especially if they have easy to use import features (to excel or something).

dx23

Well, I was using www.comiccollectorlive.com , but they decided to charge for the software now. I'm looking for one similar to that since I already use comicbookdb.com but have always liked something more reliable that an online site that can go down without notice.

dx23

Any free software catalog for comics?

theflicker

I started using comicbookdb.com last night. I'm really liking it. The reports feature will come in handy once I get my entire collection in. I'm looking to finish of a few runs.

Travis McClain

I started my comicbookdb.com account a few months ago, and I enjoyed actually digging out old issues that had lain dormant, boarded in their polybags for months (even years, in many cases). Most of what I had to add was already in there, but I've added a handful of issues. (First Graphic Novels #9? That was me!)

dx23

Anyone used this software before?

http://www.comicbase.com/mycb/default.aspx

I'm still looking for a DVDProfiler type of comic book cataloging software and haven't found anything close to it.

Trevor

Bump to get current thoughts on this subject. What do you all use?

I haven't used anything since ~2001 when I put everything into one of those CBG Checklist books. I love it, and may just keep using an updated version of that book; but prefer an app or software solution.

I'm worried about another DVDSpot disaster of course.

Jacoby Ellsbury

I just use a google docs excel type sheet, but I only own/collect one title currently.

Comicbookrealm.com seems too big to fail. Not sure if there are any restrictions or not on the amount you can catalog

I will probably eventually use CBR but I like having access to my spreadsheet and can just pull it all up on one page on my phone as I go through long boxes looking for missing issues. But CBR is a lot prettier

Travis McClain

I still maintain my Comicbookdb.com profile, but last year I got tired of using several different programs to keep up with my media libraries so I created a Google Docs spreadsheet. Here's a screen cap of my Comics tab page (spoiler'd for size):


I sort the sheet by column D, which I then hide. I also normally hide columns F-K unless I'm adding a new entry or for some reason want to refer back to that information. I'm still working on my Music sheet. I've added all my CDs and vinyl albums, but digital content is much more time consuming in large part because I have so many instances of incomplete albums - often just one song from an album - and I haven't yet figured out what I want to do with those things. I've also been meaning to create a Video Games sheet. I think it'll take me longer to set up that one than to add what I own!

Trevor

^ That looks great Travis! I'd love something like that for all of my various collections, but I just have/buy too much to manually enter even the titles, let alone all of the data that I want to track.

I've been looking at comicbookrealm (thanks Jcob!) and a couple of other online databases. I'll definitely post here if I make a choice or get some firm opinions that may help others. I just know I need to do something quick. I've discovered ebay again. Uh oh.

The Valeyard

From the 80s to the mid-90s, I had a physical card catalog system that I barely kept up with. During the summer of 1997, I sat down and created a catalogue system in File Maker that I've been using ever since.



I use the NOTE section to keep track of alternate types of numbering (like #0, -1, ∞ and one million) and any other information. It's not pretty but it was the best I had back in the 90s. I've been thinking about switching over to Collectorz but I have way too many comics at this point to go back and start over.

Trevor

From another thread, I'm still sitting on this decision.

I should have started this in our cataloging thread, but I really really need to do something. Humor me just this one rant.

I love my physical Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide.


I ignore the prices but it has almost every comic from 1961 to 2000 listed, with easy to use check marks next to each issue number. I'd carry that book with me to shops, or the computer, and easily know exactly what I have and 'need'. My few comics owned that weren't in the book (older titles and a few obscure series) I would just write in the appropriate area margins. Well, even though I now own the updated 2010 book (that was the last one they made) I'm pretty sure that I need to move on to something digital. There just isn't a font small enough to list every issue number of every book published in a book small enough to carry around. So I guess I'm retiring my fond Checklist, and never even used the 2010 one, I just wrote in newer books in my 2000.

It would be great to use a full featured website database or program like CollectorZ, for the simpler entry of my 12,000 or so books, but I'm worried about another DVDSpot scenario.

So I think I want a simple system like your's, but with an easy to note way of differentiating between floppies, digital, and collected-in-trade issues. I'm so darn lazy though. I need a clone willing to stay home and work while I work to pay the bills.

I'm thinking of a google doc spreadsheet with a few columns (title, publisher, issue numbers, digital vs single vs trade, and notes for special storyline or guest stars). But wow, that would take at least a few hours per long box I'm sure, and I have 40 or 50.

Rant off. I think I'll cut and paste this to the more appropriate thread and mine it for ideas again.

whotony

Nothing close to what Travis posted up there but here is my amateurish Google spreadsheet.

The Valeyard

When I travel around town looking for books I need, I keep a pdf Want List on my iPhone. For random stuff off the list, I've been pretty good about remembering what I have or don't have. I've only accidently bought something I already owned a couple of times. I use Word to update the list and pdf it out for travel.

The database above is what I still use to keep track of what I own. I've found a couple of freebie iPhone apps that aren't very good. I'm not 100% sure about spending the money to get CollectorZ. 1) I'm lazy and don't want to re-input my entire collection and 2) Same as you, I'm worried if they fold. For now, my wanna-be database is fine.

It took me over a month to input my entire collection back in the 90s. I'd sit at my computer for hours on end during my days off logging everything. Now it's a habit to add to the collection whenever I buy anything new.

reverie

It'd be great if there were something that you could use off line. Forever now I've just had a text document with what I've got that looks something like this:

Amazing Spider-Man: 255, 257-298, 302, 305-340
Astonishing X-Men: 1-8

etc. It may be old fashioned, but it gets the job done. I just have a print out that I'll write on and eventually update it in the computer and print a new copy periodically.

Trevor

I'm leaning towards using your system Vale. I'm thinking that in that large note section I can remark which issues are digital and which are in trades; and important (to my OCD) guest appearances or story arcs.

I see that FileMaker Pro is free on iOS, but I haven't messed with it yet. Not sure how cross compatible a PC document and iOS would be... If it truly is free and works, maybe I'll just do it all in iOS since my iPhone or iPad are with me 24/7.

Any chance you'd share a blank template/file of your system? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to creating databases or spreadsheets or anything beyond a text note.

The Valeyard

Sure. PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy.

I do use the notes to keep track of Final Issues, comics that changed publishers, FCBD releases and whatever other tidbits that strike me.

PhantomStranger

I lost any will to catalog my collection after Wizard's site for that purpose went up in smoke. They had a fairly robust website for this purpose and I must have wasted months entering my entire collection into it. This was years ago. It was something like 8,000 separate issues but I don't check it for three months this one time, only to find that Wizard had decided to permanently pull it offline.

Trevor

Yeah, that's why I'll never consider any speciality program that doesn't at least have some sort of export feature.

I played around with comicbookrealm.com again a bit last night. It's sort of nice, if clunky. They apparently do have an export to excel feature, but you need to accumulate points to use it, and I have no idea how those work. The forum there is a bit sparse, but still active at least. I don't know, it'd be nice because it at least has what appears to be a somewhat complete database; but it's probably best just to have a personal system.

rw2516

It's not free, but if you are really serious about cataloging collections you should just break down and buy the collectorz software for whatever you collect. You download it, you own it, it's installed on as many computers/devices you want. Don't have to be online(except to download info when adding). You can edit the info, change cover pics, do whatever you want and it stays the way you set it up. Nobody else can fool with it. It's your personal database and you will have it forever.

Trevor

Yeah, it appears to be the favored pay version right now. But for me, iOS is a must, so I'd need the Pro version and app for full functionality, so that's $65 total. And it's hard to pay $15 for an app that was once briefly free.

It does export to excel at least, so it's a possibility.

reverie

That looks tempting... for music and movies as well!

rw2516

I have three of their products. Movie, music and comics. It's an application program. It installs in programs and documents. Puts icon on your desktop. Just click icon to open database. Under Comic Collector in Documents are the folders that have all the info, Image folder has all the covers, templates folder, etc. I back up to flash drive once a month. Should something happen I just redownload, reinstall, and copy all data from flash drive back into the empty folders of fresh install. You need to be online to add. Can add with bar code scanner or by just typing what you want to search for. Choose from results and add. Then you can edit info anyway you want, including pics.
Manual adding is great for adding your cd compilations which don't exist anywhere else. Since movie collector includes imdb in it's search it's easy to add movies never released on dvd or other home video.
They have free trial, check them out.
Limitations would be if you run both Windows and Mac on different devices. I think they are sold separately. Eventually the version you purchased may not be supported, say when they get to Windows 10/11/12 or whatever. My old desktop with Windows XP has 10 year old versions of the software that don't work with Windows 7 or 8, vice verse with the software versions for 7 and 8. When I got a laptop with Windows 7, I had to rebuy programs and import my data.

The Valeyard

While running around SDCC yesterday, I found ComicBase shilling on the floor. After getting the spiel and playing with the software, it looked like a product I would actually shell out for... if they offered an Apple option. I'd have to set my MacBook with Boot Camp if I wanted to run it and that's something I'm not interested in.

BUT if anyone here wants to check them out, they're here - Comic Base. And no, I don't work for them. I just think they have a decent product.