Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

Like the title of the thread says. I'm trying to organize my comic book collection and need a good software to keep track of what I have. Any recommendations will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Have you tried these guys? Collectorz.com Comic Database Software

That's what I use. It's good enough for me.

Has anyone used www.comiccollectorlive.com ? I saw them advertised in the Captain America 25 issue, so I was wondering how good the cataloguing is.

I downloaded that today. I'm checking it out. Its a little weird. You have to add the series to your catalogue and then add the individual issues. Its pretty good for viewing the collection, but not the easiest to add collections. But comics can be a little hard to organize.

I use www.comicbookdb.com. The site is relatively easy to use and have some cool features that make it easy to add issues. There is a pull feature that automatically adds the next issue of a title, w/o having to add it manually. This comes in handy w/ titles that you collect religiously. Plus it's free!!!

god , i dont even want to think about trying to catalog all my books.

i have about 50 longs.
what fits in them 250-275?

Do any of these allow you to:
1) Scan barcodes to enter
2) Offer offline saving

I took a quick look at the site, it seems pretty good.

Question, though - let's say I'm going to a convention where George Perez is appearing. Once I have my comics in their database, can I search my collection for anything done by Perez, or do I just have to pull up a list of his complete work and find the issues I have?

Unfortunately it appears that you would have to pull his complete work. However, there is a request in the forums for the feature that would pull missing titles based upon different criterias. Although I am not certain if this is being worked on or not.

If you type in the name george perez and click the checkbox that says in my collection only, it should give you what you are looking for. This is, however, only as accurate as the users that have contributed the issue information.

Yeah, I noticed that after I registered and started entering my collection. Gonna take a long-ass time to do this (I have 14 long boxes at the moment), but things like the report where you can see what issues of a title you are missing will come in handy when I go to conventions and want to fill holes.

Don't forget, you can enter runs of a title. I'm still fearing the process, though.

Thank the gods for being able to enter runs. Made 52 a hell of a lot easier.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to add new info to their database. I can add the basic issue information, but the artist I'm entering isn't in their dropdown menu and I can't see how to request that his name be added.

So I sign up at comicbookdb.com, and now I get this message when I try to access the site:

Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: User comicboo_admin has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections in /home/comicboo/include/config.php on line 22
Could not connect

Is this a common problem for the site?

I'm getting that, too. I guess all the comic geeks are online tonight. I was about to put someof my collection in it.

Looks like the site's back up for now...

You can actually add the information yourself. At the top of the page, there is an option for add new content. There you can add titles, creators, characters, storylines and so forth.

Ah, ok, thanks! I'm used to the way DVDSpot's system works, where when you're adding a new DVD and you have a cast / crew member that isn't present in their database, you just type the name in and the name gets added when the ticket is approved.

Site is back down again.

God dammit! I just got home from work and was going to sit down and get another longbox out of the way.

I think I'm going to look for another database... I want a site that will always be available, not one that goes down every other day.

Working fine for me right now. They must get hit really hard and past their load capacity at night.

Yeah, I tried again about 15 minutes after that post and it's up again. I'll probably make a post in their forums asking about these outages and how frequent they are.

Sorry guys, I usually have no problems w/ the site. I feel bad as I had recommended them. I've checked their forums and there is no mention of any issue. However, there was a server upgrade at the beginning of the month, but I am not sure if that is the problem.

It is. I checked the forum yesterday and someone was asking about it.

http://comicbookdb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=395

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.

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).

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

Any free software catalog for comics?

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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!)

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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!

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

^ 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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...pse3119825.png

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps07e77330.jpg

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.

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

Nothing close to what Travis posted up there but here is my amateurish Google spreadsheet.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...pshk3xc7wx.png

Re: Need recommendation for comic book cataloguing software
 

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.