Comic Collector Live 0.7.0.0 (www.comiccollectorlive.com) – reviewed 3 May 2007
Price: Free
Pros: Free, growing user community, promising start
Cons: Interface is not very intuitive, can be difficult to add multiple comics, not all the advertised functionality is available yet.
Ratings:
Inputting new comics – 2.5 stars
Entering an existing collection – 2.5 stars
Searching and browsing – 2.5 stars
Wish list – 2 stars
Determining the value of your collection – 0 stars
Overall – 2 stars
First up was Comic Collector Live, a new product from MidTen Media that has been heavily advertised in recent comics and Wizard Magazine. Based on version number alone (0.7.0.0) the software appears to still be in beta, though nothing on the website seems to indicate beta status (even in the software’s version history). After I began using it, I found that some advertised functionality is not there yet.
Comic Collector Live Input Screen
Copyright Comic Collector LiveInputting new comics (2.5 stars)
Comic Collector Live requires you to download series information to enter comics into the database. If you do not have a title in your database prior to entry, you will need to download the series before adding issues. This is fairly easily accomplished, and once the title is in, you only need to double-click the title to add the comic to your collection. For the most part, this was reasonably painless until I ran into some titles that did not appear to be in the Comic Collector Live database. If a series is not there, you must submit a database change request and wait for the series to be added before you can include the issues in the database. If the change is never approved, you will never be able to add the title to your database.Of my 30 new comics to enter, two series were not listed in the Comic Collector Live database, and one issue of third series was not listed. This left me with several comics not added to the database. I submitted change requests to add the information to the database, and was informed with the new issue that if I did not submit a cover picture with the submission, the addition was more likely to be rejected. Four days after submission, I did not see the comics listed, but they were eventually added. Overall, the process took about 22 minutes to add the comics that could be added.
Entering an existing collection (2.5 stars)
Comic Collector Live Browsing Screen
Copyright Comic Collector Live
