Comic Collector Software

comicman66 · Post by **comicman66** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:24 pm

From back issue spotlight 11, I believe John said that you guys might have an episode on comic software. I highly recommend ‘Collectorz.com’ “Comic Collector” as one of the programs to use. I’ve been using it for about 1.5 years and its great. Not only is it cheap, but it’s so easy to use and you can save your entire collection on your PC. If you have any questions let me know.
Thanks David

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:59 pm

If we did one, it would have to be a round table with users of various software packages.

I'd want people who actually use each one being able to talk about them, and not us just reading off from press releases or just based on a demo copy or something.

My wife uses ComicBase and likes it a lot (esp. since I got her the bar code scanner). I can't say that I personally have experience using anything. Me pulling up ComicBase to do a search on something to find out what box a book is in hardly counts as "using the software".

One observation I have, though, is that different programs are going to have varying degrees of usefulness based on how many comics you need to catalog. What works for a "normal" (not sure what that is) collection may not be able to handle my 50,000 book collection, for instance. One of the reasons we ended up on ComicBase is it's robust nature when handling a large collection.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:42 am

I use and love ComicBase. It is probably the most expensive but I need it and love the bar code scanner. It's photo library and mouse over feature is awesome. I use it everyday and is totally worth the money especially for large collections. I have 35,000 + comic books. The other thing I love is every Weds I can download updates and with the new version you will be able to download the pictures as well.

It is also hooked up to Atomic Avenue if you ever want to sell portions of your collections. I have used it to buy books before and have had really good experiences to date.

Just Bill · Post by **Just Bill** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:59 am

I use Comic Collectorz Comic Collector as well... and if you've ever listened to my podcast, you know I talk about how I use it all the time... the good and the bad. For me personally, I think it is the best software out there right now... and easily the best value.

Having said that though, there's a lot to be said for a free website like comicbookdb.com as well.

As far as ComicBase... I tried it out before deciding on Comic Collector, and then tried it out again a few years ago. I dislike quite a bit of it. The fact that the database is everything in the world instead of just what is in my collection... the way it displays, the inability to fully control and customize the fields and the way they are dispalyed... overall I found it to be extremely over-priced, over-bloated, and it just didn't fill my needs at all.

Post by **JohnMayo** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:13 am

JLAFan wrote: If we did one, it would have to be a round table with users of various software packages.

I'd want people who actually use each one being able to talk about them, and not us just reading off from press releases or just based on a demo copy or something.

My wife uses ComicBase and likes it a lot (esp. since I got her the bar code scanner). I can't say that I personally have experience using anything. Me pulling up ComicBase to do a search on something to find out what box a book is in hardly counts as "using the software".

Exactly. If we do this sort of episode, I want someone that uses each product and knows it well to represent them. Each of these programs have their strengths and weaknesses and discussing where each one shines and where they need improvement could be very helpful to people considering picking up a comic book inventory program.

JLAFan wrote: One observation I have, though, is that different programs are going to have varying degrees of usefulness based on how many comics you need to catalog. What works for a "normal" (not sure what that is) collection may not be able to handle my 50,000 book collection, for instance. One of the reasons we ended up on ComicBase is it's robust nature when handling a large collection.

Yeah, I think the needs change drastically between people with smaller collections and those with larger ones. I also think that some of it comes down to how you want to use the program versus how it wants to be used.

For instance, I have no real desire to take the large stack of new comics I get each week over to the computer and scan the bar codes on all of them. While that is faster than keying in the data, I'd much rather check items off a list of what shipped that week.

The comic book inventory options that I think are worth discussions are:
-ComicBase
-Comic Collectorz
-Comic Collector Live
-ComicBookDB

Are there any other programs out there worth discussing if we do this sort of Round Table Discussion episode?

Post by **JohnMayo** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:17 am

Just Bill wrote:I use Comic Collectorz Comic Collector as well... and if you've ever listened to my podcast, you know I talk about how I use it all the time... the good and the bad. For me personally, I think it is the best software out there right now... and easily the best value.

Having said that though, there's a lot to be said for a free website like comicbookdb.com as well.

As far as ComicBase... I tried it out before deciding on Comic Collector, and then tried it out again a few years ago. I dislike quite a bit of it. The fact that the database is everything in the world instead of just what is in my collection... the way it displays, the inability to fully control and customize the fields and the way they are dispalyed... overall I found it to be extremely over-priced, over-bloated, and it just didn't fill my needs at all.

I liked that episode a lot. It is part of what made me think of doing sort of a head to head comparison of the various options out there at some point.

Just Bill · Post by **Just Bill** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:04 am

johnmayo wrote: I'd much rather check items off a list of what shipped that week.

Comic Collector uses the Comic List from each week to allow you to do just that. I'm not 100% sure on how well it works though, as I have only just started playing around with the "New Release" feature, and I get my comics monthly. I think you get a basic thumbnail of information initially, and need to come back and update your comics to get full details after a user has submitted them to the online db... so at first you may not have a cover scan or complete list of character appearances. That being said though, the community seems be be pretty good at getting the bulk of the big two's releases in there pretty quick.

johnmayo wrote:The comic book inventory options that I think are worth discussions are:
-ComicBase
-Comic Collectorz
-Comic Collector Live
-ComicBookDB

Are there any other programs out there worth discussing if we do this sort of Round Table Discussion episode?

I would nominate VinceB for representing ComicBase, as he's used it for years... although in full disclosure, if you've been listening to 11 O'Clock comics recently, he's not very happy with it as of late.

I'd be down to represent Comic Collectorz if I could get the time to get it done. I don't know when you guys record, but I'm pretty much locked in to Friday nights if/when the wife decides to let me go down into the basement...

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:20 pm

If you guys decide to do that episode, count me in!

I've been using comicbase for about 3 years and I went through a few evaluations before I chose comicbase (collectorz or 'roll your own', mostly).

comicbase has it's flaws, but I generally like it. There are definitely a lot of buying criteria to consider. Most of my suggestions for features to be added to comicbase have been implemented eventually. And some features I loved were cut due to marketing decisions at comicbase.

The one thing I would LOVE would be a web front end for Comicbase so I could access it wherever I am.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:41 pm

I would like to be part of the round table if possible. I have been using Comicbase for years and love it.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:43 pm

Trev wrote:
The one thing I would LOVE would be a web front end for Comicbase so I could access it wherever I am.

I believe that is one of the new features that is in beta right now.

Fnord Serious · Post by **Fnord Serious** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:11 pm

comicbookdb works great for my purposes. Of course, I am a bit biased

Skyhawke · Post by **Skyhawke** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:45 am

Ditto.

Darth Kramer · Post by **Darth Kramer** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:29 am

I third the ComicBookDB thing and being a bit biased!

I know lately that VinceB, a long time user of ComicBase, has grown frustrated with the software and is now in the process of switching over to ComicBookDB.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:15 pm

is there a way to import your comicbase data into your comicbookdb.com collection?

I might be interested in playing with it.

Darth Kramer · Post by **Darth Kramer** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:03 am

Unfortunately, no. The only way to add data to ComicBookDB is to manually import it, but that's the nature of the database. That being said, with the changes that Chris has just made to the "add a run" feature in that you can add non-sequential issues at the same time (like 1, 4-5, 7-10, 12) adding books to your collection has never been easier.

www.ComicBookPage.com

Comic Collector Software

Comic Collector Software

count me in

Re: count me in