Over five years ago I wrote to you about an application that you could use to keep track of your books and DVDs. I had many of you write back to me and tell me how much you liked it. Over the past year or so I have had several of you write back saying that you could no longer find "Libra" or any updates for it. I searched the net for it and emailed all of you back telling you what I found, which was that it was no longer in production and I could not even find a forwarding address. I did find the last version made, but I personally do not like using applications that are no longer in production.
I also told the writers that I could not really find a free replacement anywhere as good and easy to use as Libra was. Well, now that has all changed…enter Data Crow.
I found this site from a friend who has been using it for the past several months. Data Crow’s site says, "Data Crow is the ultimate media cataloger and media organiser." (No, that isn’t a typo, the site is registered in the Netherlands and they spell properly.) I agree with their statement.
Say you have some DVDs or Blue-Ray discs you wish to inventory. Whether you want this cataloging for insurance, your own personal lists or you are just hyper-organized you should give this software a try. Data Crow is also free which makes it even easier to try. By-the-way, the friend who uses it told me that he has over 1,200 music CDs and over 800 DVD movies he has cataloged so it will handle a bunch of data.
Some of you may be thinking, "Well I can just type in my CDs on Word or a spreadsheet program to keep track of them." That is correct; however, Data Crow can do it much better and supply more information.
For instance, when you start it up you can use the Item Wizard and choose what you want to put in the database. For instance, I chose DVD then I typed in the movie title I wanted to add to the database. I entered a movie and in about 5-10 seconds it listed out several that I could choose from. The items are from different versions of the same movie. If you type (like I did) the TV show "Alias" it finds each season of that title. Next, you select the correct version and it enters it into Data Crow.
But not just the name is displayed. It adds the DVD’s case picture, all of the actors, the date of release, playing time, director, a full description of the title, and a lot more.
I haven’t tried CDs yet since I don’t have that many so I will leave that up to you to test. If you use this Libra replacement let me know what you think. If you have a bunch of movies to keep track of it may import them from other programs, but I wouldn’t depend on that. You may just have a lot of typing in titles ahead of you. But don’t worry, I’m sure it will snow again and you will need something to do after shoveling.
