GCW Games & More & Wacky Windows Companion/gcw.iso/win/util/orgcol/classics.txt

Text File | 1994-04-26 | 9.6 KB | 227 lines

CLASSICAL MUSIC COLLECTIONS


This CD/ALBUM/TAPE format is designed both for people who have a
few CDs or tapes in their home and for the professional music
librarian working at a radio station.  There are a total of three
music cataloging formats supplied with OYC: one for pop, rock and
country music; one for classical music; and one for jazz.  Each
is described in its own documentation file.

These formats allow you to catalog a record, tape or CD library.
You may then locate a composition, or groups of compositions, by
any one of up to 21 characteristics.  For example, you can get a
list of all the recording by the Boston Pops.  Or do a cross-
reference and find all of the Christmas records made by the
Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler conducting.

Another nice feature of this format is that it can be used with
LPs, compact disks, singles, EPs, cassettes, videos, laser disks
or even edison cylinders.  You can catalog all your recordings in
one place without regard to what type of media. An unlimited
numer of individual compositions can be cataloged for each album,
allowing you to list the individual, unique characteristics of
each composition.  You may then list each composition by a
specific composer, all the compositions on an album, or sort them
into any other order you wish.

Or, if you want, you can just catalog CD/Albums/tapes and not the
individual selections.  You can even store the jackets separately
and use this format to catalog the jackets.

ORGANIZE! provides three different formats for cataloging CDs,
records and tapes.  One for cataloging pop, rock and country
music.  One designed for classical music and another designed for
the requirements of jazz enthusiasts.  What's the difference
between these formats?  All will catalog basic information such
as the title, artist's name and label.  However, each is designed
to specifically handle the information a collector of that type
of music is most likely to be interested in.  For example, the
pop version includes fields such as chart history, that are
typically not of interest to classical or jazz collectors.  The
classical version includes fields for cataloging the conductor,
orchestra and soloists.  The jazz version is designed to keep
track of the individual performers on each composition.  Of
course, you can use any of these as a starting point and modify
it to meet your specific requirements.

If you have different types of music in your collection, should
you set up a separate catalog for each?  I prefer not to.  I
combine all my music together in a single catalog using the pop
format. In my case the POP format best suits my needs as I'm
primarily only interested in the song titles, artist, label
information, year released, and type of music.  By using one
catalog for everything I can search for a title and find all
versions of it (classical, jazz, rock, etc...).

If you're not sure which format is the right one for you, take a
quick look at all three.  If you want to catalog different
information for different types of music (such as tracking the
performers on jazz compositions), you may want to keep separate
catalogs.  Or you could design a new catalog format yourself that
combines all the features you need.

The names for each format are:

Pop, rock & country version: POP

Classical music version: CLASSICS

Jazz version: JAZZ


The following lists the fields provided by each version.


POP                 CLASSICAL           JAZZ
Catalog Number      Composer            Title
Title               Title               Artists
Artist              Alternate Title     LP Title
Year Released       Catalog Number      Catalog Number
CD/LP Title         Note                Note

Value               Value               Value
Writer              Orchestra           Vocals
Producer            Conductor           Percussion
Other               Other               Other
Type                Type                Bass
Highest Chart       Date                Wind
Year End Chart      Recorded            Keyboard
Label               Time                Brass
Mfgr. Catalog #     Label               String
Pressing/Delta #    Mfgr. Catalog #     Other

Time                Lyrics              Label
Intro               Choir               Mfgr. Catalog #
Outro               Choir Director      Type
Rotation            Soloist(s)          Date
Date Last Played    Soloist(s)          Writer
Location            Soloist(s)          Miscellaneous


The format can be used in two basic ways.  It has been designed
so that each composition on a CD/LP is a separate entry.  The F3
"Repeat Last Entry" key makes typing each composition easier.
Just type the information for the first selection on an album,
push F5 to save it, then push F3 to repeat that information.  All
you need to do is type the new title and save the next selection.

Using the software this way provides a lot of flexibility.  It
allows you to combine CDs, LPs, EPs, 45s and other formats in a
single data file.  It also makes cataloging various artist albums
simple, since each selection is a separate entry.  Cassette
singles and 45s can be cataloged with the same format as LPs and
CDs.  Just leave the LP/CD TITLE line blank.  This way you only
need to search one catalog when you want to find a specific
composition or performer.  With all your music combined in one
catalog, you can find what you need without having to search
several separate catalogs.

Some people just want to catalog the album title without
cataloging each selection.  This can be done with these formats
and is the second most common way the software is used.

The following describes what each of the lines in the catalog
format is used for.  You are not limited to using these lines.
You can enter anything on any line and the software will still be
able to conduct correct searches and sorts.  You can also modify
these lines to change their lengths, or redefine them for other
types of information.


Composer - Use this line for the name of the composer.  You can
also include the composer's birth and death years after the
composer's name.

Title - The official name of the composition.

Alternate Title - The popular name of the composition.

Catalog number - This is the catalog number in your library for
this record, CD or tape.  You do not need a separate number for
each composition.  All the compositions from a certain LP, for
example, could have the same catalog number.  If you do want to
specifically number each composition, however, you could use a
number for the record, a dash, and then a number for the track on
that disk.  For example, the 4th composition on the 2nd side of
an LP with a catalog number of LP0708 could have LP0708-0204 as
its number.  The number "0204" indicates the second side, fourth
selection.

Catalog numbers can also be used to identify the media.  For
example, the catalog number for a CD should start with the
letters "CD".  The catalog number for an LP should start with
"LP", and catalog numbers for cassettes can start with the
letters "CA".  Then when you conduct a search, you can limit the
search to a specific media by putting the letters for the media
on the CATALOG NUMBER line as part of the search criteria.

Note - This line is provided for miscellaneous information.  You
can enter an abbreviation for the type of composition, or
describe the condition of the record, or enter any other
information that you feel is valuable.

Value - Enter the current value of the LP, CD, or tape.  If you
are entering more than one composition from an individual record,
enter the value for one entry only (usually the first composition
on the CD).  If you were to enter a value for each composition on
an LP, when the software adds up the value of your collection,
that LP/CD would have its value counted 3 or 4 times.

Always use the same number of digits when entering values.  If
the value of items in your collection range from $1 to $1000,
then the $1 items should have their values entered as 0001, which
uses the same number of digits as 1000.  If you need to include
cents for some entries, such as in $1.50, but not in others, you
do not need to type ".00".  Digits to the right of the decimal
point, while significant in determining the value of an item, do
not effect how a computer sorts values.

Orchestra - The name of the orchestra that made this recording.

Conductor - The name of the orchestra's conductor.

Other - As you did on the NOTE line, you can enter whatever
information you feel is useful.

Type - Use this line to classify compositions by type.  The
classifications you use will depend on your requirements.  You
could classify compositions as symphony, march, string quartet,
concerto, etc....

Date - Use this line any way you want to.  In most cases it is
used for the year the composition was written or first performed.
You can then find compositions for specific decades (i.e. the
1760's).  This line is also long enough to enter time periods
such as 1760-1772.

Recorded - Enter the year this recording was made.

Time - The duration of the recording.

Label - The name of the record company that issued this
recording.

Mfgr. Catalog Number - The record company's catalog number.

Lyrics - The name of the person who wrote the lyrics.

Choir - The name of the choir performing on this composition.

Choir Director - The name of the choir director.

Soloist(s) (three lines) - Use these lines to keep track of the
names of soloist(s) performing in this composition.  You can
enter the names of several soloists on one line.