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Collectorz' bold new subscription-based update plans - brilliant? or suicidal?

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nosh:
I wish IMDB would come up with their own apps for personal databases. I already use the site's watchlist and ratings features, and I'm way more particular about updating ratings there (effectively marking the movie as 'watched', for future reference) than I am in the Collectorz app.

I think Collectorz left IMDB to avoid paying royalties? Currently, they have a system whereby a user requests a missing movie (by specifying the IMDB ID) and they guarantee they'll add it to their database within 24 hours. I am almost certain they have an in-house version of the program which lets them tap into the IMDB database and import. It's hard to imagine someone on their staff entering the data for every requested movie manually. I'm satisfied with what Collectorz offer at the moment but at the end of the day IMDB is the holy grail and they're just middle-men.

Carol Haynes:
Doesn't really address the issue - if you have to send a manual request for every missing film and wait 24 hours - it is supposed to be a convnient and quick way to catalogue your collection. With that level of interaction with developers it would probably be more convenient to use Excel.

I gave up using the film software because in the UK there were practically no films actually in the database once they removed IMDB/Amazon and other sources of information as they have different bar codes to the US versions. I didn't see why I should provide massive amounts of data so they can sell it!

40hz:
^I think a lot of the motivation for Collectorz to start developing its own film database was paranoia that IMDB and Amazon etc. were going to start restricting the ability to scrape info from theirs. Which might have had some merit. Especially with the MPAA making crazy copyright claims on everything - including things (i.e. film titles) that are specifically not protected under copyright law.

But it was an annoying move. I gave up on Collectorz products after that.

superboyac:
I'm still peeved that the two best mp3 catalging programs are both now discontinued...MP3Rat and Mp3 Collector.

michaelkenward:
Another UK user here, with mostly the same complaints. Crap database, especially for classical music, and not even a user friendly interface.

But my biggest beef is the way in which they introduced the new model. I paid for an upgrade a couple of months back, I am supposed to have access to the new model for six months. But apart from the fact that they didn't warn me that within months of one new version they would they would move the goalposts a few miles, they have hidden the access to this new versions so well that I can't find it, even after I was told where to look. A simple screen grab with an arrow to the button I am supposed to see would help.

There was also this puzzling invitation – almost an order – to sign up for some on-line service thingy. There was no clue as to what this was about, certainly no explanation that it was a prelude to imposing a new business model on the world. Maybe there is a confusion with my access because, not knowing what the heck was going on, I used a different email address from the one I use to make purchases.

Worse than this is the contempt with which they seem to hold customers. It really isn't a good idea to insult people who have paid for your product and then come along and ask simple questions. (Not me, other people.)

If a customer doesn't understand something, don't blame them, ask yourself if you might just have got things wrong and explained stuff poorly.

I am now looking for an alternative, but I need one that can import my large database of recordings, not something that has ever been easy with Collectorz software.

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