How to manage a boot collection

[Bobo]

I still manage my Zappa boot/gig collection the old fashion way:  every new show I 'find' is marked on a printed list. Simple and easy, but from time to time I need to add missing shows to my list, turnng it into a mess.

I just wonder how all you Zappa afficionados are managing your Zappa collection: on paper, perhaps a Filemaker/Access database or are you using specific software?

Feedback is much appreciated. Currently my list is too messy so I need to do a mayor update. I can stick with my paper based management but maybe there is a better way with good software. And who better to ask this question than you boys and girls...

[slime]

two .txt files... one has each show chronologically; i can quickly check if i have it or not:

1962	.....	rare Beefheart & vintage Zappa
1963	may-19	mount st mary's
1963	sep-19	Dot demos
1966	jun-25	san francisco, fillmore w
1966	.....	Absolutely Free demos
1967	may-30	garrick
1967	jun-20	nyc
1967	sep-30	stockholm
1967	oct-01	copenhagen
1967	oct-02	lund
1967	oct -09	Hoepla dutch tv
1967	dec -03	ann arbor
1968	apr-10	detroit
1968	apr-20	nyc
1968	may-03	denver

etc.etc.

2^nd .txt file has each cdr with each track on it:

boot 1

1969 feb 23 rockpile E01 Intro~Bacon Fat
1969 feb 23 rockpile E02 Lonely Lonely Nights
1969 feb 23 rockpile E03 Corrido Rock
1969 feb 23 rockpile E04 Pachuko Hop
1969 feb 23 rockpile E05 Behind The Sun
1969 feb 23 rockpile E06 The String Quartet
1969 feb 23 rockpile E07 The String Quartet 2
1969 feb 23 rockpile E08 Charles Ives
1969 feb 23 rockpile E09 WPLJ
1969 feb 23 rockpile E10 In The Sky

1970 Weasels Ripped my Flesh - radio promo #1
1970 Weasels Ripped my Flesh - radio promo #2
1970 Weasels Ripped my Flesh - radio promo #3
1970 Weasels Ripped my Flesh - radio promo #4
..... etc. etc.


boot 2

1971 200 motels live 16 Divan
1971 200 motels live 17 Eddie Are You Kidding
1971 200 motels live 18 What Will This Morning
1971 200 motels live 20 Daddy Daddy Daddy
1971 200 motels live 22 Magic Fingers
1971 200 motels live 23 What Will This Evening
1971 200 motels live 24 King Kong
1971 200 motels live 25 Junier Mintz Boogie
1971 200 motels live 26 200 Motels Finale

1973 aug 30 bologna 01 Dupree's Paradise
1973 aug 30 bologna 02 Cosmik Debris
d1 04 Dog Breath (dog meat) ... etc etc

... etc etc

boot xx

1968 oct 26 paris 01 Improvisation
1968 oct 26 paris 02 King Kong
1968 oct 26 paris 03 Plastic People
1968 oct 26 paris 04 Hungry Freaks Daddy
1968 oct 26 paris 05 Mr Green Genes
1968 oct 26 paris 06 The String Quartet

1969 may 24 rockpile E01 Interlude
1969 may 24 rockpile E02 Boogie in G
1969 may 24 rockpile E03 My Music chucha
1969 may 24 rockpile E04 Uncle Meat drum duet
...... etc etc

makes it easy to find out if i have the show, or find out which cdr the show is on   
      

[Barry]

Funny you should mention this Bobo at this point in time...
Let me explain: for the last couple of months I've been working on a bunch of php-scripts that allow me to keep track of the boots I own.

Features are:
- based off of the FZ Gig List database of gigs (see elsewhere at KUR)
- easy 2-click adding of a boot
- possibility to add comments, edit
- various ways to view your boots (per year, per song, venue...)

It's still in "beta" at the moment, but I have considered making this available at KUR. Simply put: you'd sign up, add your boots from the db, and you'd have an online "boot editor" of sorts.

Would this kind of thing interest any of you?
If so, what kind of other features would you expect from such an application?

[Dunk]

Should Anal Retentive be hyphenated?

[zardoz]

Should Anal Retentive be hyphenated?

LMAO!!!  

[slime]

...Would this kind of thing interest any of you?
If so, what kind of other features would you expect from such an application?

that would be cool, i'd like to try it...

• if we have an incomplete show, any way to highlight missing tracks either in another color/font or put them at the bottom of the list for that show
• anyway to import a filelist rather than having to add them one at a time...i use a cd label program that extracts file info & creates a tracklist
• include file extensions: .mp3 .wav .flac etc...
• include track duration & file size
• link to tape reviews from fzshows & buzby's '88 tour reviews
• linked to zappabase by song

[Barry]

that would be cool, i'd like to try it...

• if we have an incomplete show, any way to highlight missing tracks either in another color/font or put them at the bottom of the list for that show
• anyway to import a filelist rather than having to add them one at a time...i use a cd label program that extracts file info & creates a tracklist
• include file extensions: .mp3 .wav .flac etc...
• include track duration & file size
• link to tape reviews from fzshows & buzby's '88 tour reviews
• linked to zappabase by song

Duly noted slime... you just postponed the public release date of this thing by about a year but again: duly noted...

By the way, slime: what textfile are you using that supposedly has *all* available boots? I mean what's it based off of? Ullrich's work? Zappa Patio? Or maybe http://zappagigs.sytes.net ? The proverbial logistic bitch* here is that I'd like to base it off of the most complete boot-list as is humanly possible...

* "proverbial logistic bitch": never thought I'd ever be typing THAT on a public forum -- my sincere apologies  

[slime]

no, please don't postpone it just to put a few bells & whistles on it, they can wait for v1.02....

the text files i use only have my own collection on it, it's just a quick way to find a show or track without shuffling thru all my cdr's

each cdr has a label with all the tracks on it, the cdr's are number & stored on the shelf in consecutive order, so i search the first index to see if i have the show, then i can find which cd it's on

too many gigs to store on my machine; the cdr's get burned as soon as i get 700 megs, so they're in essentially random order

i use fzshows to compile a z-notes .txt file similar to the zappateers standard info file, with a tape review added (if it exists) and the original file names with file size

i like the idea of starting with the complete fzshows list and somehow denoting which ones you have & which ones you still need, including missing or partial tracks

a colleague uses an excel file to manage his boots in a sortable format, including year, city, cd number, size of show, number of tracks per show, show duration and comments; limited to shows rather than individual tracks....he also his entire collection on his machine, giving each show it's own folder so he can generate a .txt file that lists every track, date created, file size etc; searchable but not sortable

the offline zappabase [download from zappateers] also has a way to manage your boots, but it requires some database savvy & i haven't been compelled to find the time to figure it out yet

[Bálint]

This is my handmade version:

I made a word table (schedule?…) showing these things:

Time - - - place - - - CD number - - - Quality - - - kpps - - - source - - - comment

And into this I write the shows in cronological order. As soon az about 700 Mb (as Slime said before) I burn it into a CD, then give it a number, I write that number into the table. These are only the complete shows – the uncomplete ones remain on my harddisc until it explodes and all my half-materials disappear (it happened once or twice…) Nowadays I mostly get full shows from Barry here and from you all and from other guys, but before that I had most of them from P2P systems (WinMx), that’s why I had (and still have) quite a few half-shows.

Time after time I print this table (meanwhile it keeps on growing in my machine) and put it in the box I keep the CDs in, so its easy to find things.  And about the shows I DONT have: its easy to take a look at them online, so I dont care about them.

I was thinking of maing an excel-file to make it easy to sort by -title, by date, by CD, by whatever, but seemed to be too complicated (to me). This way its simple and clear, easy to find things.

What? How do I know the tracklist of each show? Well... Khm... I take a look in fzshows 6.0, or put the CD in the computer...

B

[Bobo]

Barry, the php script base thing looks fine. My intrest in managing boots is focussed onto the shows and the songs related to it. I also collect 'real' boots (see Zappa Patio) but they are not my prime focus. I don't care much for all the extra info like format, filesize, duration of a song,... I'm using Mediamonkey http://www.mediamonkey.com/ for that.

And for all the extra's, it seems that everything a Zappa booter can wish for has already been mentioned in previous posts. Still there is one option that I deem necessary: the abillity to update the master boot list in an easy way.

By the way, slime: what textfile are you using that supposedly has *all* available boots? I mean what's it based off of? Ullrich's work? Zappa Patio? Or maybe http://zappagigs.sytes.net ? The proverbial logistic bitch* here is that I'd like to base it off of the most complete boot-list as is humanly possible...

I also have the idea that there is no 'ultimate boot list' at this moment. Personally I use the FZ shows list http://home.swipnet.se/fzshows/ to which I had to a lot of shows not listed. The lists available vary in completeness and sometimes show contradictory information.  So Barry, there's a lot of work ahead if you really want to start off with the most complete list humanly possible. Maybe this could be a task worthy to members of this esteemed KUR forum?

[UniMuta]

Bobo said: "I also have the idea that there is no 'ultimate boot list' at this moment. Personally I use the FZ shows list http://home.swipnet.se/fzshows/ to which I had to a lot of shows not listed."

Jon's FZShows is THE reference list used by people that trade zappa concert recordings. (a bootleg is something else. check the Zappa Patio)
You should take note, however, that the txt-version of the FZShows is not up-to-date. Use the html version that Jon offers.
And now the reason why I'm writing this: what do you mean when you say that you have a lot of shows that are not listed in FZShows? Please elaborate.

UniMuta

[Bobo]

Jon's FZShows is THE reference list used by people that trade zappa concert recordings. (a bootleg is something else. check the Zappa Patio)
You should take note, however, that the txt-version of the FZShows is not up-to-date. Use the html version that Jon offers.
And now the reason why I'm writing this: what do you mean when you say that you have a lot of shows that are not listed in FZShows? Please elaborate.

UniMuta

Ahh, you just explained the reason why I had some shows that are not in the Naurin list, that is the text version, I failed to check the HTML version. Thanks for making this clear.

I'll check the lot and be sure that any show not in the list will be made available through the proper channels  

[Antsa]

Hi!
I have made an MS Access database on the music  I have (over 3 000 Zappa items; total is over 21 000 items) and placed the mp3s on the hard disc (currently 280 gigas). In the database I have a hyperlink field with adresses to the corresponding mp3s.
So now I can sort out my music in Access any way I want and play the tracks by just clicking the hyperlink adress.
Does anyone know, how to build a macro, which could paste a selection of hyperlinks as a playlist in any of the players?
Antsa

[kookie]

hey antsa you may be a radish like me but that's pretty cool what you have set up........my lot are in a mess..........cds and tapes..............I tried ramming my 8 track cartidges into the drinks holder thingy on the pc but doesn't upload !!!!!

think I have a new project!