In MediaMan, you can import items into your collection by downloading information from Amazon. To do this, we will need to use the Media Item Wizard. An Internet connection is required during this process. (If you don't have an Internet connection, or wish to type information manually, you may proceed to the dialog based manual item entry tutorial.)
Choose a sub category from the category pane. Press the "Add Item" button on the toolbar or use menu command Action -> Media Item -> Add Item via Wizard... to bring up the Media Item Wizard..

Click "Next" in the welcome page, and you'll be forwarded to the keyword page.

Type the title of your item in the Keyword edit box. Choose the type of your media, an Amazon International store, and click "Next". (Default Amazon international site can be customized in Tools -> Options.)
You may notice that if you typed the title, "Keyword Search Mode" will appear on the screen. This means that the Media Item Wizard is currently in keyword searching mode, and it'll treat the text you entered as product keywords. Alternatively, you can batch import items using manually entered ISBN numbers, barcode numbers or using your webcam to scan barcodes.
Tip: Using the batch ISBN/UPC/EAN mode. |
It's really easy to activate batch mode in the media item wizard. Just enter those ISBN/UPC/EAN numbers spaced by "space". And the wizard will automatically recognize those numbers and activate the batch mode.
Please note that you'll still have to choose "Media Type" in this process. And therefore you can't actually mix up books and DVDs. This behavior is a limitation in the Amazon WebService. |
Tip: Using your webcam to scan barcodes |
(Note: This feature requires a mid-class (or above) webcam configured, and Microsoft DirectX 9.0)
You do have to configure your webcam a little bit before actual scanning. Check out the webcam configuration guide for more information. If you've already done it, press "Scan Barcode from Webcam..." and the barcode scanning dialog will appear.

The barcode scanner dialog works in full non-interactive mode. It doesn't have a "scan" button. According to the configuration guide, you need to first adjust the focus of your webcam to around 3-inches (around 7 centimeters). And then put the barcode part of your media in front of the webcam, just as you see the barcode in the "Video" window, like the above one. Hold it for one or two seconds. MediaMan will automatically sense and read out the barcode and write to the keyword edit box.
You may have noticed that the barcode scanner is actually an extension to the batch mode. The wizard will automatically activate the batch mode to hold your scanned numbers.
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Tip: Using CueCat or other PS/2, USB-based barcode scanner |
Click the button next to the keyword entry edit box to launch the batch barcode entry dialog. It works as an extension to the single-line keyword box. It allows you to enter barcodes separated by the <Enter> key, which is a typical behavior of these kind of barcode scanners. Additionally, MediaMan will automatically decode the output of CueCat series scanners.

After scanning, the batch entry dialog will automatically recognize the type of the barcode and convert it if applicable. You can check to see if it was correctly entered. |
MediaMan will perform a web search based on Amazon Web Service to find the information about your product after you clicked "Next".
You may cancel the process by either the "Back" button which will forward you to the previous page, or the "Cancel" button which will exit the wizard. If you cancel the downloading process at this point, you'll see a message prompting that the program is closing its network connection. It'll take less than a second in typical situations, however, on high-congestion connections, you may experience a 10-second-delay.

After the search process, MediaMan will display a list of matching items. If the list box is not wide enough to fit in all the details, you can roll over any of the items using your mouse cursor. A tool tip will pop up containing the truncated information.

Choose the items in the list, hold on Shift or Ctrl to choose multiple items. If you didn't see your matching product in the result box, you can search again by another keyword. Choose the matching items and click "Next". Now MediaMan will connect to Amazon Web Service and retrieve detailed information about them and add them to the selected category.

Click "Finish" in the wizard and back to the main interface. You'll see the selected items being added to your collection.
Take a look at the alternative way of adding an item or proceed to the collection file saving tutorial.
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