Expediting Entry Of Album Descriptions Two Windows Depict Albums That You Own Or Wish To Own Maestro Manager uses two windows to enter details that depict an album that you own or wish to own. Use the Album Cover View window, pictured below, to enter the content information written on an album's cover and any other detail pertinent to ALL COPIES of that album. Should you own any copies of an album described by an Album Cover View, use the Physical Attributes window to enter COPY-SPECIFIC details such as purchase cost, appraised value, condition, label/pressing variations, and filing location. Using The Album Cover View Window To Enter Album Descriptions After utilizing any of three expeditious methods described below for entering Album Cover Views (album descriptions), Maestro Manager can answer any question that pertains to the entered album descriptions. Detailed below is a summary of these three methods. (See Album Cover View Window—Described for an in-depth description of the fields and buttons used on the Album Cover View window.)

Album Cover View window used to enter & edit Album Cover Views. The Critics section can be turned on/off as needed.

Internet Downloads To Create Album Descriptions - For LP Collectors Although there are Internet services that provide album descriptions of classical CDs that download into cataloging programs, these services do not provide pre-entered descriptions of LPs. For LP collectors, this lack of automation limits the usability of cataloging software programs as they force collectors to type an exhaustive amount of information in order to describe their LPs. Maestro Manager, uniquely, via use of the Archive, Copy, and Manual methods to enter album descriptions makes this lack of Internet resources irrelevant. A summary of each of these methods follows. Clicking on the links below provides more in-depth information regarding each method. Internet Downloads To Create Album Descriptions - For CD Collectors There are Internet services that provide album descriptions of classical CDs. Some of the downloaded album descriptions have sketchy details about album content and possibly misspelled names. Nevertheless a download of an album description is a good thing as this takes a short amount of time and eliminates the laborious chore of typing. Currently, Maestro does not support these Internet downloads. As an alternative, Maestro Manager's Manual and Copy methods used to enter descriptions of CDs all but eliminate typing, and in many instances take a similar amount of time relative to using an Internet service. METHODS SUMMARY OF EACH ALBUM ENTRY METHOD ARCHIVE: For LPs As the Archive method IS A FULLY AUTOMATED MEANS of entering descriptions of LPs, it is the fastest and the preferred way to enter an LP description. An optional enhancement to Maestro Manager, the LP Archive Library is the tool that powers the Archive method. This library is a repository of pre-entered descriptions of LPs that users can add selectively into their Maestro Manager cataloging software in a most expeditious manner. The Archive method provides the ease of entry associated with Internet downloads of CD descriptions but without the need to connect to the Internet along with album descriptions significantly enhanced relative to the downloaded ones. COPY: For LPs & CDs The Copy method is the next fastest as it IS A SEMI-AUTOMATED MEANS of entering album descriptions as most of the description is created automatically. At the click of a button, Copy creates a nearly complete album description similar to an album entered previously. To complete this description, simply make a few modifications. MANUAL: For LPs & CDs With plenty of intelligence built into its functionality creating an album description via the Manual method takes very little time as the time-consuming chore of typing is all but eliminated. See using the Manual Method to Create Album Descriptions for in-depth details and an example of how to use the Manual method. Duplicate Albums KEY FEATURE: Should you own duplicates, Maestro Manager minimizes the amount of information entered to track each duplicate as entering additional Album Cover Views is unnecessary. To describe a duplicate only enter the copy-specific details in the Physical Attributes window that are unique to that duplicate such as the purchase price and the album's storage location. Gain Control of Your Collection All information entered when creating an Album Cover View except for user-entered comments, album title, and instrument names become part of the searchable knowledgebase that empowers Maestro's librarian-like ability to answer questions. Because of the variety and ability to ask questions about any item or combination of items, the more information that you enter, the more control you have of what you own! Instead of being limited to answering which albums contain compositions by Brahms, Maestro can answer questions such as which albums would my friend Jane enjoy listening to when she visits or which albums contain piano concertos performed by Emil Gilels where Reiner is the conductor and the album is recommended by The Absolute Sound. (Probably not a realistic question though it demonstrates a complex question that Maestro can address.) NOTE: Even when using the Archive method to create an album description automatically, you may benefit from adding a play prompt to the description or changing the automatically entered musical category to something aligned with your style of collecting. See Fields & Buttons—Described for greater detail and examples of Musical Categories and Play Prompts in action.