Album Cover View Window—Described The Album Cover View Window Described The Album Cover View window describes the content information written on an album's cover and any other details pertinent to ALL COPIES of that album. Whether an album is on your Wish List or you own ten copies, one filled in Album Cover View describes them. This is similar to perusing the content on an LP cover or a CD booklet or reading a review of an album—the information mentioned is applicable to all copies of that album. Understanding what's displayed in the Album Cover View window is as simple as reading an album cover as ONE window displays all of the content information written on an album's cover, with a logical location and a readily understandable label for each item. Also included are other album-specific details such as a musical category, ratings by critics, play prompts, and user-entered notes. With other cataloging programs, you must suffer through opening window after window to display this content. Furthermore, most other cataloging programs lack the ability to track and logically display all of these classical-music-related details. A detailed description of the fields and buttons on the Album Cover View window follows. NOTE: There are two versions of the Album Cover View window. The enter/edit mode version has scroll lists which enable entering and editing album descriptions. The display mode version lacks scroll lists and displays when Maestro is responding to questions. Lacking the scroll lists allows displaying longer names within each field. The photos below show the Album Cover View window used to enter and edit information. QUICK CONVERT BETWEEN MODES: If in the enter/edit mode, clicking the SEARCH button converts the Album Cover View window to the display mode. If in the display mode, clicking the EDIT button converts the Album Cover View window to the enter/edit mode.

Album Cover View window used to enter & edit a description of RCA LSC 2225. The Critics section can be turned on/off as needed.

How To Select The Album Cover View For RCA LSC 2225 Displaying an album description for any album previously entered, such as RCA LSC 2225 shown in the photo above, is very simple. Enter the album's catalog number (the 2225 in RCA LSC 2225) into the white field directly below the BINOCULARS button and then click on the BINOCULARS button. In response, the Album Cover View window will display all album descriptions that have a 2225 catalog number, one album at a time. If there is more than one album, use the ARROW buttons at the top of the Album Cover View window to move to and display any other Album Cover View. The Record # Indicator The Record # Indicator located below the BINOCULARS button indicates the number of album descriptions available for display within the Album Cover View window. "Record 1 of 1" in the above photo indicates there is only one Album Cover View available. A display of "Record 2 of 3" would indicate there are 3 Album Cover Views available for selection by the ARROW buttons and the 2nd of the 3 is displayed. (There would be three albums if, for example, the user’s database contained album descriptions for RCA LSC 2225, Decca SXL 2225, and Vanguard VSD 2225.) The Album Cover View Window - Fields & Buttons Described Most of the information displayed in the Album Cover View window above is self-explanatory. Of particular note is the Play Prompts and Musical Category scroll lists, the Critic's section, and the buttons along the top of the window. A brief summary of their use follows. NOTE: Users integrate their style of collecting by adding to the details pre-programmed into the Musical Category and Play Prompts scroll lists described below. By utilizing these user-defined details when entering album descriptions, Maestro adapts to characteristics important to each user enabling those details to be both trackable and selectable as criteria included in questions that Maestro will respond to.   Musical Category: Musical categories group albums—in this case "Orchestral"—with others that share the same musical category. When a musical category is part of a question's criteria, any albums mentioned in Maestro's response will be limited to those that share a particular musical category and fulfill the rest of the question's criteria. KEY FEATURE: As filing locations are part of the information Maestro provides when responding to questions, musical categories enable Maestro to locate the filing location of all albums that are part of a particular musical category even if they're filed in places that do not pertain to that musical category. With this ability, collectors gain tremendous flexibility in how they file their albums as they no longer have to group albums together that share a specific category in order to locate them. For example, even if some albums are filed by composer names and others by conductor names, Maestro can tell you the exact location of each album that contains a piano concerto performed by Sviatoslav Richter. Maestro pinpoints the location to a specific place within a specific cabinet, shelf, room, or storage area. Play Prompts: Play prompts serve to prompt the selection of albums based on a specific characteristic. When a play prompt is part of a question's criteria, any albums mentioned in Maestro's response will be limited to those that share a particular play prompt and fulfill the rest of the question's criteria. KEY FEATURE: In the photo, the "Play" play prompt groups this album with others that the user wants to play in the near future. Before Maestro, this user had a large to-be-played stack of albums on the floor. These albums are now neatly filed within his collection as he let’s Maestro track their locations. As filing locations are part of the information Maestro provides when responding to questions, including "Play" in a question enables this user to pinpoint the location of any album on his "Play list" as fast as if they were still piled on his floor. "Rare" is a prompt that groups this album with others that the user considered the rarest in his collection. NOTE: A play prompt can be a sonic characteristic, a time of day, names of music-loving friends who occasionally visit, a description of a performance/recording characteristic, or anything relating to classical music or collecting. For Each Composition on the Album: In the bottom section of the Album Cover View window, there is a row of information dedicated to each composition on an album. Along with the composer's name and the composition title, each row indicates the conductor and orchestra that performed the composition. Critics: The Critic’s section tracks whether you ("Me!") or a critic recommended an album. A critical recommendation is indicated by the presence of a check adjacent to the name of a critic. In the case of Mr. Robert Moon and Mr. Sid Marks, additional space is available for entering their unique rating systems. When one or more critics are part of a question's criteria, any albums mentioned in Maestro's response will be limited to those recommended by all of the critics that are part of the criteria and that fulfill the rest of the question's criteria. The mention of "Marks 29" in the photo indicates that Sid Marks rated this album as number 29 in his list of the top 52 RCA Living Stereo recordings. FOR LP USERS: Use of the Archive method to enter album descriptions provides a near instantaneous and automated means to enter a description of any LP that's in the LP Archive Library. Many of the available pre-entered descriptions include critical recommendations and mention recommended pressings and relevant quotes such as those shown in the photo above. Buttons: The buttons selectable at any one time (not grayed out) depends on what's displayed in the Album Cover View window. In the photo, clicking EDIT enables making changes to the displayed description of RCA LSC 2225. Clicking the GARBAGE CAN enables deleting the description of RCA LSC 2225 from your database. Clicking DROP LISTS enables adding to or editing any of the names in Maestro's scrollable lists. Clicking COPY creates an almost completely filled in Album Cover View based on the displayed RCA LSC 2225. By modifying the contents of the copied album, the user can quickly create a description of an album to add to his database. Read about where to take advantage of COPY. Clicking the ERASER clears the contents of the Album Cover View Window and activates the ADD button which can be clicked to manually enter an album description. $$ Button: When the $$ button at the top of the Album Cover View window is active (not grayed out), as shown in the photo, this indicates the Physical Attributes window is not open. In that event, clicking that button opens that window. The $$ button, when active, is color coded. A black $$ button indicates that you own at least one copy of the album currently described in the Album Cover View window. A red $$ button indicates the album is on your Wish List. Buttons are positioned along the top of the window. The Record # Indicator displays "Record 1 of 1".