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Posted

I was curious if there was something that catered more to the needs of a jazz collector, who is often interested in the kinds of details that many pop/rock/mainstream collectors are not...

Such as...?

What can you not do with Music Collector? Just curious- I'm happy with my system (I enter my own data on the searchable/sortable Filemaker Pro software on my Mac).

Posted

I used to roll my own software, but I can do much more with music collector than I had time to implement on my own-- I wouldn't go back to doing my own thing, I don't think. But I find the interface a little clunky sometimes, particularly when dealing with large numbers of personnel and the instruments they play, composers and performers on songs, and various kinds of searches. For instance, one thing I would like to be able to do is search for all the albums in which, for instance, there are personnel playing Baritone Saxophone.

Music Collector gets more and more adept, particularly with stylesheets for onscreen and print listings, but there are some specialty interests in terms of searching and items like the above that it doesn't handle as well as I would like...

Then again, most people don't care about such things :)

Posted

Thanks chris. I wonder if the old saying applies here- "if you want something done right, do it yourself". Well, in way I think it might. The "do it yourself" part involves entering the types of data ("fields" is the term I use when referring to my software) that YOU want to include. That's what I like about Filemaker Pro. I can create any type of field I want. I created one called "instrument", which I basically use to identify the instrument played by the session leader or featured instrument (when applicable). When I started out, I only listed the names of the personnel, but in more recent years I've included the instrument played by each musician (should have done that from the beginning, but I can always correct that, if I want to take the time). Anyway, I understand your desire to be able to search for some data set such as all recordings that include a baritone sax. That's the sort of thing that makes having a database most worthwhile (besides the obvious one- trying to avoid buying things you already own! ;) ).

Posted

Database Development is actually part of my professional life, so while I understand the issues in creating one I am both cognizant of the fact that I don't have time to implement all the features that Music Collector gives me for one low price :) and definitely not inclined to want to spend personal time developing.

MC handles artists with instruments and many other things, but nothing is ever perfect. The particular instrument search (not just as a featured instrument, but at all) is just one of those little things.

Everyone has to do their own thing though, that's for sure-- I used to like playing around with databases, which was how I created my own (and I still play with the idea of using templates and importing from MC to a DB server and making a cool web app for my collection) in the first place, but I am so burned out that I don't even want to be in the same room as a computer when I am at home :)

What we need is a passionated developer who also loves jazz to create the ultimate catalog system!

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