My Collection

by Android Tapp Feb 10, 2009 5:00 AM – 40 Comments

Install

This program allow you to managing a collection of Movies, Games, Books, and CD’s and who you loan them out to. New items can be scanned in, entered manually, or entered through a CSV import process. Users can maintain custom categories and export their collection for import into other applications.

AndroidTapp.com Review:

Features:

My Collection Android App’s main feature allows you to store, manage and keep track of your collection of Movies, Games, Books, and CD’s. There are several ways to input your items; manually typing, Import a CSV file, or scan items with the help of the Bar Code Scanner Android App checking products in Amazon.com.

With several ways to input your items, you can manage categories associated with the 5 main tabs: Books, CD’s, Games, Movies, and Loans.

Loan is a great feature to allow you to track who you loaned your items to. Gripe Alert: though convenient, you can only select people in your Contacts List to Loan to. But on the other hand, shouldn’t you have the person you’re loaning to in your contacts already? It would be nice to be able to add new.

: My Collection Books

: My Collection Movies

: My Collection Loan to Contacts

: My Collection Main Menu

: My Collection Search Results

: My Collection Edit

: My Collection Categories

: My Collection Bar Code Searching

: My Collection Preferences

Usefulness:

My Collection Android App is useful in keeping a track on your Movies, Games, Books, and CD’s… especially if you loan them out often.

Ease of Use:

My Collection Android App is pretty easy to use, add, edit and search for items.

Frequently Used:

Frequency of use is dependant on how organized you are… or want to be.

Interface:

The user interface is simple, easy and optimized for thumb/finger navigation.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapps.com Rating! (3.9 out of 5)

Should you Download My Collection? Yes, get organized! Check out our interview with My Collection Android App Creator Timothy DeWees.

Developer: Timothy A. DeWees

Tags: Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, Bar Code Scanning, Books, CDs, Games, Movies, My Collection, Organization with Android, Timothy DeWees

Categorised in: Tools

40 Comments

By Jeff Harb on February 10, 2009 at 11:53 am:

This rocks!

Reply
By Lady Di on July 15, 2009 at 7:54 pm:

I’m going to think on this one. Looks kinda nifty. Thank you for the review.

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By Hmm on August 31, 2009 at 10:23 pm:

Can it be used to keep track of stuff you WANT? I have a Movie list.html, Book list.html, Music list.html which are things that people have recommended to me or whatever, in case I’m in the video store or see a bunch of used books for sale.

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By Wil on November 9, 2009 at 10:47 am:

Needs an updated version for 2.0 and Droid owners. Kept force closing on me. I really want this app. Look forward to an updated version.

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- By Android Tapp on November 9, 2009 at 11:37 am:
  
  Crud… I’ll contact the developer to see if/when an update will be available
  
  Reply
By tomi2gun on November 18, 2009 at 12:01 pm:

I would really like this app.. i have an extensive DVD collection and this would be a great way to keep track of what I have and what I don’t…
Any update as to when this is going to be available on the Droid?

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By Mark Parker on November 20, 2009 at 8:51 am:

My Collection disappeared from the marketplace. Anyone know what happened to it? Sounded most useful, the author’s interview related the same use case we have, tracking the media to avoid duplicate purchases.

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By Rufty on November 22, 2009 at 4:28 pm:

I would also love to get the app. Don’t give up on android, with the Droid out there, demand for your product should really pick up! Please, do a Droid 2.0 version. I currently use Collectorz Movie on my desktop and this would be a great interface for my phone. Thanks, Russ

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By cody b on November 22, 2009 at 11:42 pm:

I too am looking for a program like this, and can’t find it anymore it seems? I’d love to be able to find this again!

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By csaba on December 2, 2009 at 9:56 pm:

I am also looking for this application, and I can’t find it in the Android Market. Any info/help would be appreciated!
Best regards,
Csaba

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- By Android Tapp on December 2, 2009 at 10:08 pm:
  
  Hi all, I spoke to the developer and he said he’ll be working on an updated release shortly!
  
  Reply
  - By Russ on December 3, 2009 at 1:17 pm:
    
    Android Tapp, Thanks for checking. Will be looking forward to updated app!
    
    Reply
By Chris H. on December 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm:

I understand that an update may be in the offing, but why pull the app from the market? I had to get my phone replaced and now I can’t install it, but I had gobs of data in there…

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By Paul B on December 20, 2009 at 5:35 pm:

I’ve bought the app, however I STILL cannot get the app to import my CSV file. Based on the fact the author uses export.csv as the output file, I presumed (since there’s no documentation) that the input file on the SD card would be IMPORT.CSV… anyway, ANY help here would me much appreciated.

thanks, Paul

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- By Paul B on December 20, 2009 at 7:05 pm:
  
  Oh, and i’m using a verizon eris with android 1.16 software and 1.5 firmware.
  
  tks/pab
  
  Reply
  - By Paul B on January 31, 2010 at 9:47 am:
    
    I figured out the export/import process… more to come.
    
    Reply
By chrisdooley on January 1, 2010 at 6:17 pm:

I have been using DVD Profiler on my PC. Is there a way to transfer my collection over? I don’t really want to sit down and scan them all if there is an easier way.

Thanks

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- By chrisdooley on January 1, 2010 at 6:18 pm:
  
  Sorry, using a Motorola Droid.
  
  Reply
  - By Paul B on February 1, 2010 at 4:27 pm:
    
    Exporting of the database is the ENTIRE database, in alphabetic order 1,2, a-z, etc regardless of the tab from which it resides. The nice thing about the exported database is that if you lose your database, or uninstall and reinstall the application, you can point to the export.csv file in /sdcard/my_collection/export.csv and import it – which becomes your new ENTIRE db.
    
    The author said,… “Unfortunately, the CSV File format had to change because of the new columns. There are now seven columns:
    Title,Rating,Category,Status,Type,Rank,UPC”
    
    What’s not noted is that there are 2 other columns which need to be in the IMPORT record for the IMPORT to work: RECORD_TYPE (my name for it) and RELEASE_DATE (yyyy-dd-mm format).
    
    So, the import record in the .csv file has the fields Title, Rating, Category, Status, RECORD_TYPE, Type, Rank, UPC, RELEASE_DATE.
    
    The term RELEASE_DATE is the date the movie was released by the studio, or when the book was published, etc.
    
    If you don’t know the UPC code, or RELEASE_DATE, you need a blank field (e.g. “”).
    
    The term Status refers to New, Old, Loaned, etc; in my interpretation of all of this, I auto-filled the Status field with “New” since they’re all New to my database.
    
    The term RECORD_TYPE refers to BOOK, CD, GAME, MOVIE, and MUST contain one of the these data types, else the record will NOT import (since the program wouldn’t know how to present it under a TAB.
    
    The IMPORT record looks like this (e.g. movie)…
    “movie title”,”PG-13″,”Sci-Fi”,”New”,”Movie”,”DVD”,3,” “,” ”
    
    Title, Rating, Category, Status, RECORD_TYPE, Type, Rank (1-5), UPC (empty), RELEASE_DATE (empty).
    
    If you have all of your .csv records in this format, it’ll load just fine. Note in my example I left UPC and RELEASE_DATE blank – the columns must be there, and a blank entry works fine.
    
    Apparently, the IMPORT.csv file, can be anywhere on the SDCARD; for simplicity I put mine in the my_collection directory, since that’s where the program stores the export file and the database (you can also name the import file whatever you want, I just chose IMPORT.CSV).
    
    Now, for the process… I have an HTC (Verizon) Eris, firmware 1.5, O/S 1.6. After launching the app, tap the MENU icon, tap the MORE icon, and tap the IMPORT icon. At this point, on my Eris, the system displays the /SDCARD directories. Using the trackball, I scrolled down to MY_COLLECTION and selected it (on mine by pressing the trackball). The system then displays the contents of that directory. Using the trackball, I selected the file I previously named as IMPORT.CSV… the program then gave me a notice box that the import was in progress. After it’s done, it takes you back to the primary app screen.
    
    AND THAT’s IT! (yeah, sounds like a mess, but only took a little while – and certainly LESS time than re-entering all my data.
    
    So, have fun… I now have my CD and MOVIE database with me all the time (handy when we’re in a store and wife says: Do we own that movie?)…
    
    Finally and MOST IMPORTANT, if what I’ve shared here doesn’t work for you, please contact the app author – I’m just another app owner who figured this out for my database.
    Paul
    
    Reply
By Mike on January 14, 2010 at 8:24 pm:

Keeps force closing. Why?

On an HTC Hero. Firmware 1.5.

Reply
By Paul B on January 31, 2010 at 10:51 am:

Here’s what I’ve learned in my research for the import process…
The author said, “Unfortunately, the CSV File format had to change because of the new columns. There are now seven columns:
Title,Rating,Category,Status,Type,Rank,UPC”

What’s not noted is that there are 2 other columns which need to be in the IMPORT record for the IMPORT to work: RECORD_TYPE (my name for it) and RELEASE_DATE (yyyy-mm-dd format).

So, the import record in the .csv file has the fields Title, Rating, Category, Status, RECORD_TYPE, Type, Rank, UPC, RELEASE_DATE.
The term RELEASE_DATE is the date the movie was released by the studio, or when the book was published, etc.

If you don’t know the UPC code, or RELEASE_DATE, you need a blank field (e.g. “”).

The term Status refers to New, Old, Loaned, etc; in my interpretation of all of this, I auto-filled the Status field with “New” since they’re all New to my database.

The term RECORD_TYPE refers to BOOK, CD, GAME, MOVIE, and MUST contain one of the these data types, else the record will NOT import (since the program wouldn’t know how to present it under a TAB.

The IMPORT record looks like this (e.g. movie)…
“movie title”,”PG-13″,”Sci-Fi”,”New”,”Movie”,”DVD”,3,” “,” ”
Title, Rating, Category, Status, RECORD_TYPE, Type, Rank (1-5), UPC (empty), RELEASE_DATE (empty).

If you have all of your .csv records in this format, it’ll load just fine. Note in my example I left UPC and RELEASE_DATE blank – the columns must be there, and a blank entry works fine.

Apparently, the IMPORT.csv file, can be anywhere on the SDCARD; for simplicity I put mine in the my_collection directory, since that’s where the program stores the export file and the database (you can also name the import file whatever you want, I just chose IMPORT.CSV).

Now, for the process… I have an HTC (Verizon) Eris, firmware 1.5, O/S 1.6. After launching the app, tap the MENU icon, tap the MORE icon, and tap the IMPORT icon. At this point, on my Eris, the system displays the /SDCARD directories. Using the trackball, I scrolled down to MY_COLLECTION and selected it (on mine by pressing the trackball). The system then displays the contents of that directory. Using the trackball, I selected the file I previously named as IMPORT.CSV… the program then gave me a notice box that the import was in progress. After it’s done, it takes you back to the primary app screen.
AND THAT’s IT! (yeah, sounds like a mess, but only took a little while – and certainly LESS time than re-entering all my data.

So, have fun… I now have my CD and MOVIE database with me all the time (handy when we’re in a store and wife says: Do we own that movie?)…

Finally and MOST IMPORTANT, if what I’ve learned here doesn’t work for you, please contact the app author – I’m just another app owner who figured this out for my database.

Paul

Reply
By blotto on April 8, 2010 at 4:35 am:

a interface or direct link to imdb for stored movies would be great. some less commercial movies are not recognized.

thank you for the explanation of the import functionality.

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By ed on June 15, 2010 at 8:44 pm:

After inserting over 900 dvds it forced closed and now forces closed everytime I went into movies. I went to settings and removed other tabs ,now it force closes immediately. Is my entire catalog lost?

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By andrew on October 12, 2010 at 7:50 am:

Great app with lots of potential. A few hiccups that need looking at tho.

It crashes alot for example if you are importing or expoting to the sd card and when you have scanned a few items in one go.

The export works OK but it appends to the file which means that you get duplicates. Import does not work at all

Sometime it says that it cannot find album data but by restarting the app, it magically can!

Would be good if you could add your own category (like LPs).

All of these are fiaxble and it is still a really good app. It will save hours of keying in data and finding album covers. Keep up the good stuff

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By Cory Harrison on November 10, 2010 at 10:40 pm:

in using my collection i use it so much i finally got the purchased version hoping the bugs i had would be fixed and there not what would be nice is if it would look up books with option to enter the ISBN number instead of the barcode for those books that have old unused barcodes. the search could be directed to the library of congress instead of just amazon.com

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By Storkraft on December 6, 2010 at 3:59 am:

great app. have tryed it a litle.
but is there a PC program for it also ?

so after scanning it in to the phone i could export it all to the pc ?

Please. Thanks

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- By Ledreamers on December 6, 2010 at 1:24 pm:
  
  yes you can upload to your pc but there isn not a My collection for the pc yet although there are other programs simmiler for the pc not sure if there compatable or not though havent tried
  
  Reply
- By Storkraft on December 6, 2010 at 2:54 pm:
  
  and also after haveing scanned and typed about 400 cd´s
  80 blu rays and 50 dvd´s.
  
  it would also be great if in preset, it could be set to like blue ray.
  and also gengre. like i hear metal.
  
  so i allways have to change that. even when 99% of my cd´s are metal.
  
  and how to search ??
  
  when ever i search it can only search under title ? not name of band ?
  or is it just me ?
  
  Reply
By Kenneth Pont on December 7, 2010 at 4:16 pm:

I use MediaMan on the PC side, it also pulls info from Amazon to create a database of what Music (CD), Movies (DVD/BD), Books and software, after searching from keywords, UPC, ISBN or Amazon’s ASIN. What export from something with (likely) the same Amazon data would need to be imported to My Collection to then sudo-synchronize the list on an Android phone?

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- By Storkraft on December 8, 2010 at 6:40 am:
  
  cool downloading it now. but can it ralk to my collection ?
  
  and im not sure that amazon is the best place hehe….
  or maybe its becouse its .com. maybe .co.uk would be better or maybe its the same.
  there should be made a serve only with names and titles and barcodes for stuff like this. so it allways worked. or maybe its becouse im danish.
  like 50% of my stuff i have to type in a bit less with the cd´s.but more with the dvd´s. its a pain. and i still have lots of dvd´s to go.
  and so far i have scanned /typed in 552 movies. i wich it could be seperated in different tabs. dvd and blu ray
  
  Reply
By pam on December 27, 2010 at 10:22 am:

do u plan to add a bulk mode to scan, to be able to scan many barcode before importing and searching.. ? (as others applis as shelves of movie collection*…)

regards,
pam

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By Storkraft on January 5, 2011 at 5:15 am:

what happens if i factory reset ??

it seems to need it. after the last update (froyo)

will i loos it all ?

ps. how use it on the pc ?

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- By Ledreamers on January 5, 2011 at 6:12 pm:
  
  menu export then copy the file to puter
  then do factory reset then copy file back to phone and import via my collection menu. after you reinstall app. once you pay for it as long as you use same email you wont have to pay again if your woundering that too
  
  Reply
By Walter on January 9, 2011 at 3:29 am:

This app failed on the very first dvd and cd I attempted to add to the database. Uninstalled straight away.

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- By Storkraft on January 9, 2011 at 4:06 pm:
  
  well i have had alot of fails too. i think that alot of the bar codes here in denmark are different så amazon.com dosent know them.
  
  that is why there should be a other option. and link the code to the amazon code.
  
  Reply
By Ledreamers on January 9, 2011 at 6:19 pm:

had some issues when trying to add some dvds etc but for the most part if there common and reguler no some far fetched no chance of being read by anyone else yah its gona have issues

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By Storkraft on January 21, 2011 at 11:18 am:

have opdated my phone. and has now lost it all.

i have reinstalled the program. so how do i now import it ?

i cant seem to find it in the phone

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By Storkraft on January 23, 2011 at 2:59 pm:

please help. i realy want to be able to use it again.

and sertainly not scan them all again.

so please how ot import the file ?????

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By Storkraft on February 9, 2011 at 8:46 am:

when ever i i try to load (import) the export file.
it force close ?? how to fix ??

well so far i can this is a great ideer for a app.
but it has to be alot better to be usuable. it seems.

it has alot of fails. and at present for me. it is unusable.
when it cant even import its own file.

im not gonna rescan & type ( since it for some reason dont reconice danish bar codes.) about 600 dvd´s and 300 CD´s

please help !!!!!!

Reply