It may seem like a timely process, but software can quickly hasten the process and if you’re willing to pay $10-$20, you can buy hardware which will further minimise the needed time.

You must initially decide how you will input your possessions into whatever software you choose to own. Naturally, you can input the product’s details but this can be timely. Other options are to buy an inexpensive barcode scanner or some software even allows you to utilise your webcam as a barcode scanner.

With regards to software, there are options for every platform.

The de facto official cataloguing software for OS X has to be Delicious Library. Delicious Library allows you to search Amazon for items, through keywords, barcodes, titles, authors, directors etc., and then import the data, including the current price used versions sell there, straight into the software. Items can then be displayed in a number of ways, including an aesthetically appealing ’shelf’ mode which shows the picture of each item on a shelf and is at the item’s size. One can also rate items inside the software. Supported input modes are typing, scanning barcodes with the iSight camera (to varied degrees of success) or using their Bluetooth barcode scanner (which costs over $100!). It also allows libraries to be shared over a local network. It costs $40.

MediaMan is similar software for Windows. It too grabs data off Amazon, displays it in a ’shelf’-like view. It supports USB barcode scanners and webcams too. It works on XP and Vista, and also costs $40! Basically, it’s like Delicious Library for Windows!

GCStar is free and open-source cataloguing software, for Linux, BSD, OS X and Windows. The software can grab data from a host of sources.

I use a CueCat Barcode Scanner, which when modified works with all of the above software. It simply converts barcodes into keystrokes. You can pick one of these up for around €10, but ensure it’s modified or it won’t work.

Related posts

• Unsuggester and some Apache .htaccess tips (2)
• Zero Punctuation (2)
• Xbox Project Natal (6)
• WOW Addons Updater (4)
• Would the try & buy model work for games and movies? (10)

Cathy has a size of only 59 Kilobytes unpacked and creates a new disk catalog file after scanning and indexing a new disk. I previously mentioned that the indexing process was fast. It takes only a few seconds to index the contents of a full DVD. That is possible because Cathy indexes only the files, their path and information whereas Visual CD would index the contents of zip drives and media information.

Another benefit of using Cathy is its simplicity. Every disk catalog is searched automatically and results start to appear after seconds. Several filters are available to narrow down the search results. It is for instance possible to filter by date or length.

The verdict: If you want fast, simple and portable select Cathy. It’s the perfect disk catalog software for users who want to search their entire disk collection in a few seconds. If you want to add value, add mp3 tags, thumbnails and the like go for Virtual CD which offers that. It does take much longer to index the disks though and the interface is complicated and not that intuitive.

Related posts

• Disk Catalog Software Visual CD (8)
• Zip Repair (3)
• Zen Key An All Purpose Application Manager (3)
• Youtube Batch Downloader (13)
• Yahoo Widget Position Restorer (1)

Visual CD will start the disk scanning and file indexing process. I kid you not if I say that this can take a while depending on the amount and type of files on the disk. Most files get simply indexed but some get indexed with additional information. The contents of archives gets indexed as well or the tags of music files.

A disk catalog is created in the end and stored locally. Each disk catalog can be searched independently from each other or to search across multiple disk catalogs. The additional information, like mp3 tags, are included by default.

Not everything is indexed by default and stored in each disk catalog. The options contain numerous settings that index additional information. Go there to add video, picture, mp3, music and hidden files & folders to the indexing process.Visual CD can also create thumbnails of images and videos that are then displayed during searches or while browsing a disk catalog. It’s pretty obvious that each additional setting can have a huge influence on the indexing process and the time it takes to create the disk catalog.

One interesting aspect is the use of comments that can be added. Comments can also be included in searches. The disk catalog software comes with a few extras like a renamer and duplicate finder which add to the value of the software program.

Related posts

• Cathy A Fast Portable Disk Catalog Software (9)
• Octopus DVD Indexer (9)
• Catalogue your DVDs, games and book (5)