Desktop absolutely, but with the support of the mobile apps, for at least three reasons:
1: it is better software, eg User Defined Fields, though Connect may be enhanced later to include these
2: ability to edit Templates, which I used to do a lot in the past
3: Grandfathered subscription, so software always works without being forced to pay a fee.
3 Likes
Exactly how I feel! Could have written this post myself.
Web based is the right solution, in my opinion. I have everything I need and I don’t have to worry about saving my data. no keys, nothing. I connect to the internet and that’s all . I find my work again and again.
This has been an interesting discussion, and it’s clear there is a variety of viewpoints. Before I leave it, I thought I’d add a few thoughts. I see pros and cons to both.
Connect can be accessed from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. It uses no local system resources or overhead, requires no local storage, and is relatively fast as long as you have a reasonable internet connection. Updates happen in the background and are seamless. Your data is secure, or at least as secure as the service’s security system and server reliability. It’s all just “log on and go.”Many software companies are going this route, and with good reason. I imagine it’s easier and less costly to maintain and debug, and there are no distribution costs. Help systems and user assistance are probably easier as well. I’m sure there are many other benefits I haven’t listed. However, I’ve also noticed that some companies that use web-based systems still maintain downloadable software as well. Quicken, for instance, has gone web-based, but still offers software, now rebranded “Quicken Classic.”
So, why still have locally based software?
For some there is of course a psychological factor: a feeling that, whether real or imagined, you are still somewhat in control and can still function if you choose to pull the internet plug, have an outage, or are on a long international flight with no WiFi (if you’re one of those birds who still flies with a laptop). Roon last year changed their system to require an internet connection to operate, and there was a hue and cry on their forum. Internet outages are apparently still more common than we’d like. In the end, they’ve now reverted to a system that can be operated without an internet connection.
There is also the concern, although it may be a small one, that there will be some sort of system outage, or even that the company goes out of business - the fear of one day getting “web site not found” or the dreaded 404 error. Or the email telling us there’s been a security breach and our email addresses or whatever may have been compromised. Music Collector is probably too small a target for that, but you never know.
And then there’s data security. Although I’m sure web platforms have redundant storage systems, most competent computer users will also have reliable automatic triple redundancy backup systems, including a physical offsite backup.
The last, and for some, one of the most important benefits of Collectorz software is the ability to scan local files. For me it’s an occasional use, but a time-saver when needed. It’s usually a download I’ve purchased of a new release from a smaller, more obscure label that isn’t in core yet, or a used cd of some even more obscure regional music, or a self-published disc from my local bar band. Sometimes although not in Core, the metadata is available from an online source and I can update the files as I add them. Sometimes I have to edit the metadata on the files manually. Either way, if I can then scan to Collectorz, I only have to make updates once - no need to add the data manually to Collectorz.
Many of these pros and cons apply to the mobile apps as well. I like to look for used vinyl when I travel, and more than once I’ve found myself in a small shop somewhere with no cell service, browsing records and using the phone app to check if I already have something.
For me, while I recognize the value and benefits of Connect, I’ve weighed the pros and cons and decided the best combination to suit my needs (and paranoias) is desktop software and mobile apps. Others may come to different conclusions based on their needs, but I think the key is that one solution isn’t best for all needs.
Apologies for the long ramble.
5 Likes
Thank you for that long ramble. Well-reasoned and well-written. Stand by for another long ramble.
I don’t use Connect, mainly because I can do everything and anything I want with desktop MuC … so if it ain’t broke … But more importantly, web-based apps, as has been mentioned by you and others, lose the connection to local files. The actual music from my ~1200 CDs and LP albums resides on my home media server (about 32k tracks). The physical disks are on shelves, only archives now. All the CD and LP tracks had to be imported and converted to files the old-fashioned way - no shortcuts for them, and now I’m adding more streamed content as well.
A lot of my collection is esoteric stuff that never saw the inside of anyone’s catalog, so there’s significant manual labor involved in getting the content on the server and into Plex, a great server/player app but lousy cataloger.
All of this means that my cataloging software doesn’t just need, but requires local connections. Using MuC I can buy an old, Chilean LP from Discogs, convert its tracks to WAVs, save them on the server, then - ask MuC to scan those new files and save them as a new album, with much of the editing already done. Likely there aren’t many of us who need that much, so back to “different apps for different needs.”
If my assumptions are mistaken, would someone please correct me?
6 Likes
This sums up my experience as well. Thank you.
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I only depend on the desktop app for Music Collector. I am in the minority, I know. I use Connect for my movies and books.
I use all 3 currently. The desktop is an old friend. But the web programs do most of the work anymore.
CLZ App for when I’m at the store/cons
Currently Subbed to Web version because … laziness to switch sub back to PC software. Only thing going for me that I haven’t switched back to using the PC for is the “Shelf” view. It makes the screen shots to share with friends of my monthly Pull List or store/con purchases and my “Read This Month” so much nicer as I can get a lot more per screen.
PC is my go to. It’s insanely better at editing on the fly, batch editing, and just all around usage.
This is for Comic set of programs.
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That is strange. Batch editing is where Connect is light years ahead of the desktop software.
Also, with today’s update, the regular Edit screens are now much better than those in the desktop too.
When I switched from PC to Mac last year, I also made the move from desktop to online for Books. Sure, change is hard sometimes. The transition was not bad, just learning some differences. I have been with the online version for about 9 months and I don’t really have any issues. I no longer have to worry if I have the current update to the software. I also use the app on my iPhone and iPad. It all works together nicely.
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It being nice offline software with online syncing is precisely why I was considering buying comics collector. Sad to see it won’t be supported. At that point why should I have to pay separately for connect? Why not just have it as an extra to connect? Both work on your PC in a sense… Hell it’s a subscription. I know there’s online components like the database and syncing to it but it feels like it significantly devalues paying a subscription. And sure it’s not that expensive but if I’d also want software for my games and music…Or also the mobile versions…Yeah that’d add up quickly.
It will be supported. It’s just that our development focus will be on the Connect web-based software.
I don’t understand what you’re saying. You don’t need to pay extra for Connect. You either pay for Comic Collector OR Comic Connect. These are alternatives to each other.
Again, I don’t follow. What exactly is devaluing the subscription?
Just opt for Comic Connect and you get all the value you want/need.
I think that there’s a critical perception and experience divide here that is being lost in translation. There are two elements that are unfortunate truths that can’t be fixed with web-based features and trust alone, because they are simply out of all of our control.
Internet Access is no where close to equal
It’s important to realize that not everyone has access to broadband or reliable internet, especially in America. America is huge. Texas alone is larger than almost all European contries and in many cases quite a lot of them combined. You can drive 12 hours in a straight line and not leave the state, and that’s a technically small part of America as a whole.
There are vast stretches of land all over the world with very little internet access, if any. Proximity to (or even being in) a large city means nothing because the businesses that own the infrastructure and access tightly control and abuse this. I live within an hour of the Internet AND Internet2 Backbone NOCs, and I literally cannot pay anyone to get more than “advertised” 500MB Download and 20MB upload speeds. I already pay more than $120 monthly for what I have. It goes out if the wind blows hard enough. It delivers far less than the “advertised” on a daily basis.
I’m lucky - most of my neighbors even 15 minutes north can only get satellite options that are always incapable of even maintaining a Google Meet or Zoom Call and are completely cut off at the whims of rain, snow, or even thick clouds.
You have to be willing to undertand and accept that the internet is simply not the completely open, fast, and unfettered joy of an experience that it may be where you are and that can be true randomly. Even in First World countries. There are no list of benefits that will make a web-based product surpass an installed product in responsiveness and processing speed unless you also are running a dedicated fiber line to my house as part of the package. If the commands I send to the server never get there or take incredibly long to travel between points, it makes no difference how awesome your web-based application is.
The Enshittifcation of Web-Based Platforms
I want to be very clear - I completely believe Alwin if he said he would never do this and does not intend to ever let this happen. He and the company has walked this walk enough that I believe him, and I honestly can’t say that about any other company I work with.
…but situations change and all of the best intentions and promises are wind in the end. I would never believe he meant it to happen. I would firmly believe he would do whatever he could to stop it, but it can (and probably will eventually) happen because of the world we all live in.
At the end of the day, the cloud is just someone else’s computer. The cycle of enshittifcation for platforms is incredibly powerful. While Collectorz has maintained a very fair approach to development, one day they may…
… need to sell the company…
… have to close down unexpectedly…
… have the company decision makers pass to another for whatever completely benign reasons…
… and the cycle may then begin in earnest.
How many owners have sold their properties for truly the “right reasons” only to find the people they trusted are now gone and replaced by cut-throat capitolism as they helplessly watch?
If I wanted to retire and was offered enough money to quit working for the rest of my life from the thing I built from scratch? I’d probably see it as a blessing.
If someone in my family fell ill and I needed money to help them and I could get that through selling my assets, should I?
If I’m dead, what cares and impact will I have about what happens after?
The end result is still going to be the end result, whether it’s intended or not. Whether there’s anyone to blame or not.
Why does this matter?
I want Collectorz to be successful. I want those who work on it to make a good living. I value the things they have made. I deeply appreciate the careful thought that has gone into it.
I’m sure everyone here agrees that Collecting anything to the point where you feel you need a robust database to manage it is a huge investment of their time (which is the only resource we can’t buy) and probably a large part of a person’s identity; It’s extremely personal to them and the experience they get through the application itself is intensiely valuable to them. Having the data in any format is important, but it misses the point.
With a physical application on a machine I control, I could still use the app as-is to get the valuable features and experience I payed for. I may not get new features, but there’s still plenty of value in what I already paid for. I could use emulators to keep an older OS viable in the long term, so the value is maintained personally. I have some expectation of control over what I have personally invested in that cannot be infringed by anyone else.
This is a level of say and control over our experience that is slipping further and further away from most of us as time goes on. Death by a thousand papercuts.
With a cloud based app, even if I have the data export, it’s the interface and functionality that I can never get back or recreate. I have no options or alternatives and yet another decision I had no place or word in is taking it away from me.
I think what some people are saying here is that they appreciate the product and reasons why the Web version exists, but a true local application has inherient limitations that actually protect the end user in ways that web-based applications cannot achieve today and likely won’t for many years, if ever. They are promise-breaking-proof in that way. When so much of your time and identity is reflected in that, you don’t want to take chances with it and no amount of promises that won’t happen can be enough because humans don’t control enough to make that absolutely true.
Now, if an installable application is made in a way that it cannot function without an internet connection, then it’s really a web-based application and the same logic and problems apply. To pretend otherwise is disgenous.
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Thanks for you feedback.
Sooo… basically you are saying you will stick to the desktop software. And that is OKAY.
I am happy to hear that. But to be honest, posts like the above are not really helping.
If you prefer the desktop software, please just keep using that. No need for the long explanations why web-based software is bad and evil. Let everyone make their own decision.
I will post a statement on all this early next week.
The TL;DR:
- if you like Connect, use Connect or switch to Connect and enjoy our future developments
- if you prefer Collector, stick with Collector and enjoy the trusted environment
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This is what I’m trying to decide on right now. I don’t mind paying the price increase that is coming up, but do I pay for it with Movie Collector and Music Collector. It’s nice these programs will be supported but will there ever be any updates to these programs in the future. Each month I wait for maybe some small updates, but it is almost always the web apps. I also pay for Movie Connect hoping it will get better and better in which it has, but the customization is not on par with Movie Collector. Another suggestion would be a bundled discount on the more programs you renew for people that have both desktop and connect versions of the same program.
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It is unlikely that there will be any more feature updates for the desktop software.
Are you referring to customization of the DATA or the software itself?
Any examples?
Bundle discounts have been available for at least 15 years 
I have written a long statement about all this here:
This topic is now closed.