14 DAY TRIAL // Every computer user has a collection of optical discs. The numbers may vary from just a few pieces up to thousands. Even if every CD and DVD from your collection has printed covers, you will still lose a lot of time to find a certain disc.
This is the main reason for the development of a new family of programs, the file/CD/DVD cataloging tools. Their task is to help you manage your media collections, keep track of lent disks and more.
Today I have three great applications for you, with prices ranging from 29.95 to 59.95$, easy to use and, of course, extremely useful. Let's check them on the list as usual, one by one.
WhereIsIt? 3.73 build 702
"Where is THAT disk???" I am sure we all have this problem once in a while, but the solution may be even closer than you think!
WhereIsIt is my favorite application when talking about disk management, and not only disks. How's that? Well, with it you can get into your catalog even the contents of entire partitions from your hard drive, if needed!
There's so much to say about WhereIsIt, and for me it's like describing happiness.
Every operation that you perform on a regular basis, such as adding disks to a catalog, searching files, saving catalogs and more, has an associated keyboard shortcut.
The items from your catalogs can be grouped into different categories, data can be compared with the original media, and the search operation is incredibly quick even for huge catalogs.
Do you have your DVD movies inside your catalog and no information added for them? Don't worry; WhereIsIt can import the description of your movies straight from IMDB in a flash!
There are two browsing modes in WhereIsIt: by catalogs or by categories, and in order to make them work properly, you have to be careful when scanning new disks to place them into the right categories.
Depending on the way you choose the program settings, you can have thumbnails and advanced details for movies and pictures or tag information for music files, but you have to be careful. Detailed catalogs are always larger and heavier, and here it's the same. When scanning archive contents, importing thumbnails and file descriptions, your catalogs can reach Gigabyte sizes really fast, so be careful with those!
Since I mentioned the options, let's see what we have in that area...
General Settings allow you to choose which catalogs to load at startup, to create or not file backups, choose the file viewer and more. Customization options of this program are unlimited, starting with the language editor, the customizable toolbar, fonts, colors and ending with the disk image, plugins and modules setup.
Did I forget something? As usual, I'll leave some goodies for you to discover, and believe me, there are enough for a full scale safari into the WhereIsIt realm!
What don't I like? The trial version is like a "smell for free" giveaway in a fast food! You can only have one catalog opened at a time, the maximum size of the files in it is 2GB, reports include a message saying they were generated with an unregistered version, and even more!
What do I like? WhereIsIt comes with a lot of features, is easy enough for everybody to handle and has a fair price. If you think you're lost, you can always check the excellent help file. To extend the existing features you can use additional plugins.
Why use it? The main reasons are speed, ease of use, reliability and price. Check it and you'll see for yourselves!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
I'll leave WhereIsIt behind and climb up to the next target, called CD Storage Master. Today is the first time I see it, and I must say that I am really impressed.
This program has a different approach to the disc catalogs problem. The catalogs are called storage files, and the categories available are no less than 85 in number. Of course you can add your own categories as needed.
The disc catalogs can be exported as Excel CSV or HTML files.
The Cover Generator will generate automatically covers for your disc, the back and front of your case and also a full DVD cover. You only have to customize them as you want, check the ones you want to print, and it's done!
DVD-Video properties parse is also supported, allowing you to get extra info from the discs, such as program, chapter, video and audio format to save into your catalog database.
There are two wizards available here; the first one can help you with the storage and management tasks, while the second one can perform express searches. You can start them using the F9 and F3 keys.
The options available here are a bit under my expectations, but they can still help you unleash the program to its full potential. You can make the program extract information from most popular archives and even SFX files, enable or disable information gathering from file formats such as PDF, PSD, MP3, Ms Office files and others, define file groups, storage locations for your discs and many more.
What don't I like? The only thing that I don't like with this application (apart from the drastic limitations of the evaluation version, just like with WhereIsIt, but with much more nag screens) is that it doesn't scan hard drive contents or other additional devices such as USB drives. The price sounds a bit high, but its tools may compensate for this drawback.
What I like? The CD Cover Generator, Duplicate File Finder and the advanced management features make this program an interesting choice.
Why use it? Maybe this is your first program of this type, and you fell in love with it. I wouldn't switch from WhereIsIt to this, but I admit that CD Storage Master has its strong points and is a very good program.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
Last program today has also some special features, and its price places it on the first position, being the cheapest one, with only 29.95$.
I'll start with its unique network database synchronization feature. Who needs such a thing? Well, let's suppose you have three workstations and a server. You keep catalogs on each workstation and the server, with new discs being added on each of them. From time to time, the server database can be synchronized with the ones from each workstation in order to have updated information on each of them.
CD Bank Cataloguer has a well done loans section, allowing you to manage loaned disks easily. Borrowers can also be managed, but I would like to see the ability to have additional information for them, like phone number or email address. For example, you can receive a warning that a one month loan to John Smith has expired, but you can't remember which John Smith is that, because you know four of them.
The program comes with empty groups, only a Common disk group being present after installing it, but you can add as many new groups as you need.
The search function is also very good, with the seek operation being able to scan your computer, apart from the currently open catalog. Queries can be saved and loaded as needed.
The current catalog information can be saved to XLS format for further analyzes.
CD Bank Cataloguer has modest options, but its existing features and low price make it a worthy choice.
What don't I like? The Options area has only a few settings available, and the interface falls behind its competitors.
What do I like? CD Bank Cataloguer is fast, easy to use, has a unique network database synchronization feature and can manage disc loans and borrowers well. The evaluation version is user friendly and doesn't bother the user with nags or limitations during the 30 days trial period.
Why use it? Price, ease of use and features should be enough to use this program. Those who need strong loans management and catalog synchronization over a network more than file thumbnails and tons of plugins for each file extension available will like this a lot, the other maybe yes, maybe not...
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
Today I think we have a podium! Of course, as always, I have to warn you that my opinions can be different from yours, since everything that's around us depends on the point of view of each and every one of us.
WhereIsIt leads, followed by CD Storage Professional and CD Bank Cataloguer. Try them all and see which one better suits your needs, because we don't have any losers today!
