Hello from Austria. Some requests/suggestions (Macbook Pro)
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:35 pm
I am writing to you after having recently purchased Coollector. Working in the IT (project coordinator) and the Movie Industry (local here, not Hollywood) I think that this software is probably the best idea I've come across for my private use. Very well done! The price was perfect for what you offer.
I will tell you what makes it great.....and then I will offer some suggestions that me and two of my friends have come up with in the last 2-3 days. (we're all using v.3.26.7 and we're all on Macbook Pro's using Snow Leopard and Mavericks. I'm using Mavericks). I have heard that v.3.26.8 is out but I can't seem to get it updated. I can't seem to get an update off of the Apple App store which is where I purchased Coollector. Is it released and or how do I get an update. The update window says I'm up to date, but I have .7 not 8.
We are using your database for organizing/creating a library of our movies. Between the 3 of us we have over 25,000 movies. Me having the smallest collection of 1,200. All of us are using external drives and working with our digitized files. No DVD's. We are all primarily concerned with our own collections and searching them in various ways.
1) IMDB is by far the best source for movie data. So plugging into their Dbase was perfect if that is what you've done. (I'm not a programmer, just a manager )
2) The searching queries are for the most part quite well done ( We have a few suggestions)
3) The fact that the "owned" movies are automatically saved without having to save. ( I think they are)
4)Overall, the general appearance is quite nice and easy to use. We like it.
So. Here are the suggestions we have come up with. (I will add that I have skimmed the forum but if I have missed a subject or a question already asked, I apologize in advance for being lazy and new. )
1) When we click on "owned" and then attempt to do a search either by actor or title, it seems to go to the entire Dbase when in fact we only want to search our owned movies not the entire IMDB or coollector database.
a. Come to think of it; I don't think a person can search strictly their own OWNED movies by actor?
2) Which also brings another point. We most of the time can't tell which dbase is being queried because they don't appear to be highlighted during searches. Can you keep a box around whichever dbase is being searched like "owned" or "IMDB movies"?
3) When I had the software auto detect files it detected over 2,000. Almost 500 of these were from a language tutoring file/application I had installed. No problem so far. I just clicked to install files. (I didn't understand how to use the first prompt window that is automatic after the automatic file detection process completes which shows the "finds or matched files" so I didn't use it properly.
I thought that I would be able to delete the files by selecting and deleting the DVD covers in the left panel. (You know, mass select, hit delete key type stuff) No can do. I had to click on each DVD cover , go to the right panel, and some DVD's showed up as "40 owned for one DVD" in the right panel. So I clicked "del" and had to click to confirm and click again to delete etc. It is like 3-4 key strokes to delete one file. Can you make this simpler for those of us that mis-use your initial offering to not install files in the first place? Some sort of graphic based select then user hits delete on the keyboard, and then gets 1-2 windows asking for confirmation for safety. If I could select DVD covers with my mouse, then simply hit delete, the next 2-3 hours I have to spend deleting could be a matter of seconds! Of course maybe I'm just being paid back for being stupid. I don't know.
4) I could be wrong about this one but here it goes. Are the DVD covers of "owned" movies kept in my files or are they online and only stored in RAM? I haven't taken the time to test it out so I apologize.
5) In the owned pane on the left showing the DVD covers, I want to click on the blue/white play arrow but when I opt to choose the file path, it wants to use media player which I don't use for most of my files. I use VLC which is the most universal and plays all of my file types. Most of my friends also use VLC. Could you make VLC an option? Or add several options of media players? Perhaps in preferences you could make it a choice for the user so they don't have to choose each time?
6) Being on a Mac, Safari is of course the most logical choice for a browser to most. I'm not sure if it's Mavericks that has changed something but when I click on the IMDB logo/link of movies I want to learn more about the Safari browser either locks up or just shows a plain white page and locks all the buttons so we can't do anything but force close the window. Could you make the browser something the user can choose in preferences so a user only has to choose once but isn't forced to use Safari? All three of us use Opera or Firefox.
Either way, it's a great product so far and we look forward to hearing from you when you get time. I realize it's a lot of questions and comments and I do appreciate any feedback you could give. I've got to get back to work deleting about 300 more files.
I will tell you what makes it great.....and then I will offer some suggestions that me and two of my friends have come up with in the last 2-3 days. (we're all using v.3.26.7 and we're all on Macbook Pro's using Snow Leopard and Mavericks. I'm using Mavericks). I have heard that v.3.26.8 is out but I can't seem to get it updated. I can't seem to get an update off of the Apple App store which is where I purchased Coollector. Is it released and or how do I get an update. The update window says I'm up to date, but I have .7 not 8.
We are using your database for organizing/creating a library of our movies. Between the 3 of us we have over 25,000 movies. Me having the smallest collection of 1,200. All of us are using external drives and working with our digitized files. No DVD's. We are all primarily concerned with our own collections and searching them in various ways.
1) IMDB is by far the best source for movie data. So plugging into their Dbase was perfect if that is what you've done. (I'm not a programmer, just a manager )
2) The searching queries are for the most part quite well done ( We have a few suggestions)
3) The fact that the "owned" movies are automatically saved without having to save. ( I think they are)
4)Overall, the general appearance is quite nice and easy to use. We like it.
So. Here are the suggestions we have come up with. (I will add that I have skimmed the forum but if I have missed a subject or a question already asked, I apologize in advance for being lazy and new. )
1) When we click on "owned" and then attempt to do a search either by actor or title, it seems to go to the entire Dbase when in fact we only want to search our owned movies not the entire IMDB or coollector database.
a. Come to think of it; I don't think a person can search strictly their own OWNED movies by actor?
2) Which also brings another point. We most of the time can't tell which dbase is being queried because they don't appear to be highlighted during searches. Can you keep a box around whichever dbase is being searched like "owned" or "IMDB movies"?
3) When I had the software auto detect files it detected over 2,000. Almost 500 of these were from a language tutoring file/application I had installed. No problem so far. I just clicked to install files. (I didn't understand how to use the first prompt window that is automatic after the automatic file detection process completes which shows the "finds or matched files" so I didn't use it properly.
I thought that I would be able to delete the files by selecting and deleting the DVD covers in the left panel. (You know, mass select, hit delete key type stuff) No can do. I had to click on each DVD cover , go to the right panel, and some DVD's showed up as "40 owned for one DVD" in the right panel. So I clicked "del" and had to click to confirm and click again to delete etc. It is like 3-4 key strokes to delete one file. Can you make this simpler for those of us that mis-use your initial offering to not install files in the first place? Some sort of graphic based select then user hits delete on the keyboard, and then gets 1-2 windows asking for confirmation for safety. If I could select DVD covers with my mouse, then simply hit delete, the next 2-3 hours I have to spend deleting could be a matter of seconds! Of course maybe I'm just being paid back for being stupid. I don't know.
4) I could be wrong about this one but here it goes. Are the DVD covers of "owned" movies kept in my files or are they online and only stored in RAM? I haven't taken the time to test it out so I apologize.
5) In the owned pane on the left showing the DVD covers, I want to click on the blue/white play arrow but when I opt to choose the file path, it wants to use media player which I don't use for most of my files. I use VLC which is the most universal and plays all of my file types. Most of my friends also use VLC. Could you make VLC an option? Or add several options of media players? Perhaps in preferences you could make it a choice for the user so they don't have to choose each time?
6) Being on a Mac, Safari is of course the most logical choice for a browser to most. I'm not sure if it's Mavericks that has changed something but when I click on the IMDB logo/link of movies I want to learn more about the Safari browser either locks up or just shows a plain white page and locks all the buttons so we can't do anything but force close the window. Could you make the browser something the user can choose in preferences so a user only has to choose once but isn't forced to use Safari? All three of us use Opera or Firefox.
Either way, it's a great product so far and we look forward to hearing from you when you get time. I realize it's a lot of questions and comments and I do appreciate any feedback you could give. I've got to get back to work deleting about 300 more files.