I’ve just noticed that on the popup on the ‘CLZ Book Web Software’ if you try to edit that says ‘This feature only available in the full CLZ Book Web Software’, it also says this:
‘It can be a great companion to the CLZ Book mobile app or the recommended alternative to the legacy old Book Collector downloadable desktop software’ (my emphasis).
The phrasing of this concerns me a bit. The use of ‘legacy’ and ‘old’ seems to imply that the desktop software is not going to be actively developed in the future, or will be phased out.
Am I reading too much into this? As long as it’s not possible to add user-defined fields to the web version (among other things), the desktop version is always going to be more useful to me than the web version.
What a coincidence (being on CLZ Web while not having a subscription, clicking Edit or Add, and seeing a popup that I actually did indeed add “legacy” and “old” to a couple of days ago)!
So, yes: We have stopped the development of the legacy Collector desktop software quite a while ago (early 2023). There will not be any feature updates anymore, but we may still do maintenance/compatibility updates when absolutely necessary.
Our complete focus is on the CLZ Web web-based software and of course the CLZ mobile apps. For use on your computer, the CLZ Web software is the way to go and we are recommending all desktop users to switch to the web-based software ASAP.
Since the new CLZ.com website, the legacy Collector desktop software has been removed from the site and is not available for new users anymore. Existing users can still renew your desktop software, by LOGGING IN to the CLZ Shop at https://shop.clz.com.
More about Collector versus CLZ Web in a forum post here:
Okay, the post you quote definitely slipped through the cracks (I don’t know whether this was included in any emails to subscribers; my bad if there was and I missed it, but if there wasn’t an email specifically covering this it would have been helpful!)
This is disappointing, but I do understand the reasons. I have been reworking things to make them available on the mobile version (for example, I’m gradually adding a box set for each collection, anthology and magazine so that I can add each story as a entry, which will make it available on the mobile version), so I can see maybe moving to the web version in the future (as I already have for Games).
There are a couple of things that would need to be implemented before I could do this:
User defined fields being available on the web version (in the 2023 note you say
So I assume this is planned to be implemented at some point?
Box sets on the web version need all the fields that it has on the desktop version, particularly the purchase information (Purchase Date, Store, etc.) Notes would also be useful, but not be a deal breaker!
Those are the main things for me personally, though adding the ability to record multiple ‘reads’ of the same book (and who it was read by) would help persuade me
I have 100s of hours of work put into the database, so I’m definitely keen not to lose any of the information that’s important to me!
Yes, it will very likely be this year (don’t hold me to that though).
Box Set is indeed due to have some more fields, it’s likely those will be added to Web.
An expension of the read it field into multiple users, percentage/pages for books, multiple reads, is a cool feature that we do have on our request list, and will likely make it to the web/mobile apps at some point…
For me, one of the major deal-breakers is that the web version doesn’t allow custom images. Many of the books in my collection are older, and don’t have ISBNs or even LCCNs. Being able to see the actual image of my actual book is very helpful, as I can avoid buying duplicates or be sure I don’t have a certain copy of a title.
Is this feature on the to-do list for the web version?
To hear that no more improvements to the Book Collector desktop software is disheartening for me. I purchased the lifetime license years ago and now find out that what I have is all that I am getting (as far as improvements), is sad. I have been duped before by software companies that offer lifetime license, then shortly thereafter go out of business or stop updating the product. I personally have a very hard time with the app, that is why I purchased the pc version. Are the movies and music desktop versions in the same boat?
To hear that no more improvements to the Book Collector desktop software is disheartening for me. I purchased the lifetime license years ago and now find out that what I have is all that I am getting (as far as improvements), is sad.
I am sorry to hear you are disheartened.
But, you make it sound like we are dropping all development for our software, which is not the case. We stopped development for the desktop software only, so that we can offer all our customers a BETTER solution, by fully focussing on the web-based software.
Of course, if you switch to the web-based software, that investment in the lifetime license is not lost, and will be fully transferred to the Web software.
I have been duped before by software companies that offer lifetime license, then shortly thereafter go out of business or stop updating the product.
I am sorry to hear that, but we are not duping anyone. We offer an excellent trade-in offer for switching over to our Web solution.
Also… have you considered that those other companies may have gone out of business BECAUSE of the lifetime license? That just is not a feasible business model in the long term.
Which is why all our software is subscription based.
I personally have a very hard time with the app, that is why I purchased the pc version.
The mobile app is NOT the alternative for the desktop software.
The WEB based software is the alternative.
Are the movies and music desktop versions in the same boat?
If I update to the web version, will all of my filters and personal settings from the desktop version get updated when the changes are made to the web?
@fr8trn I’m no sure I follow, but I think the answer will be no.
Filters do not sync, there are no filters on CLZ Web (as we discussed in a difference post, you know where I explained the folder settings you can use)
Other settings are also not synced, CLZ Web has its own settings, different than desktop.
Thanks, CLZ_Alwin. I think what I meant was that uploading from Book Collector to the web version doesn’t keep the custom images. Did you mean that it does, or just that you can create custom images directly in the web version? I admit to trying this a year or more ago, so my details are fuzzy.
Custom images do sync up into CLZ Books Web. Have done for a long time actually (longer than a year).
I recommend trying again. Use menu Tools > Maintenance > Automark custom images to make sure all custom images are marked as such. Then sync and your custom images will sync.
That sounds great – – thank you for the info, and for making it so clear. I’m still hesitant about changing from the desktop version, as it seems to have more features, but I think it might be time to take another look at the web version.
Just FYI, I’m coming from BookCat, which had wonderful customization options, but of course is no longer being developed. The one thing it was missing, in my opinion, was a mobile option.
Please do give it a try again and ask us if you’re missing something that you really really use on desktop, as it might be there and I can help you out
To hear that no more improvements to the Book Collector desktop software is disheartening for me. I purchased the lifetime license years ago and now find out that what I have is all that I am getting (as far as improvements), is sad. I have been duped before by software companies that offer lifetime license, then shortly thereafter go out of business or stop updating the product. I personally have a very hard time with the app, that is why I purchased the pc version.
I feel the same. I was an early adopter and I really really don’t want to use the web version so I’m really sad. Well…. keeping my fingers crossed the desktop version hangs in there as long as I do. Maybe prepping with excel or keeping track on paper is called for sigh
As a user and Early Adopter, like yourself, I had some apprehensions about moving to the Web version of the products. Here are my observations based on moving to Movie Collector to Web
(1) My Lifetime Licence was transferred to the Web - so no problems there. I now have a Lifetime Subscription to the Web product instead.
(2) Although there are minor differences between the products I found nothing that I needed was missing. Indeed I believe that only the Music product has significant differences.
(3) The Web version does require you to be online, and occasionally there are slight performance issues, eg with Large cover images or with very long lists (eg list of Actors in Movie Web). These are not too troublesome. There are workarounds - eg take a snapshot of your database by exporting to CSV or print to PDF - though they are inconvenient. Much better is to use the Mobile App, which provides a proper offline, editable copy of your database. This, unfortunately, entails an additional subscription.
(4) The collection is not “private”, in as much as Clz can see it if they wish. This is an issue for some people, although certainly not for me. In any case if you use the Cloud view or Sync, Clz will also be able to see your data.
On balance I find the Web version far superior to the Windows version. Not only is it better designed but I can access it anywhere, and don’t have to log on to my Windows computer all the time.
It would be interesting to know why you are sad, and what it is you are sad about. Why do you want to stick with an old product which is becoming increasingly inferior to the new one?
