Where's My Stuff

What it is and why you'd need it:

Where's My Stuff is a software tool that allows you to keep track of your DVD, CD, Book or other collection and quickly find out who's borrowed what.

There are two main reasons that it would be useful.

  1. For maintaining an up to date list for insurance purposes.
  2. For finding out who's borrowed a given item when you can't find it.

Screenshot:

Screenshot of the software

What it does:

The main idea is that collections can be built up and tracked by the simple entry of the barcode from the back.

To achieve this, it uses a freely available database (www.upcdatabase.com) of UPC/EAN barcodes to match the barcode to a title and media type. In cases where a barcode isn't included yet, it can optionally do an internet search to guess at the title which can then be edited by the user.

The UPC Database is user-contributed. That is, lots of people enter a little of the data so that everyone can share the result. Eventually "Where's My Stuff" will allow CD/DVD titles to feed back to this database, but it will NOT share information about your specific collection.

What it doesn't do:

It doesn't try to provide all sorts of other information such as cover art, track listings, zones, formats etc. There are several other packages out there that do these sorts of things, but "Where's My Stuff" will keep it simple.

Do I need a scanner to use it?

No. you can use it just fine with manual entry. Although entering barcodes is pretty tedious its still nowhere near as bad as having to enter the whole title

Future plans:

The biggest improvement coming up is the ability to use a garden-variety webcam to enter barcodes. I've had some challenges compensating for fisheye distortion from the webcam being at close range to the barcode, but but I'm still working on it.

FAQ:

Q. Can I use my data from the beta version in the gold release?
A. Yes, you can. Simply run the installer as normal and move the DATABASE.FDB file to the Where's my Stuff install directory (usually c:\program files\wheresmystuff)

Q. What are the differences betwen online and offline mode?
A. Online mode connects directly to the UPC database to lookup barcodes. If a barcode isn't know, it then searches the web to try to guess at the correct title. Offline mode doesn't require an internet connection but does mean you need to download and load the full UPC database files.

Where's my stuff never reports anything about your specific collection to anyone.

Q. How do I load the UPC Database?
A. Simply download the latest version of the UPC Database from www.UPCDatabase.com. Copy the items.csv file into the Where's my Stuff directory. Press the "Load UPC Data" button and select that file.

Please note that loading the full database can take 10 minutes or so and the program will appear unresponsive during this time.

Change Log:

v1.0.4
More usability issues fixed

Export now sorts titles like The XXX and A XXX correctly

v1.0.3
Several minor usability issues fixed

v1.0.2
Added ability to locally edit entries in the database for cases where the UPC Database contains errors

v1.0.1
Fixed bug whereby adding an item locally and then reloading the upc database could cause a double listing
Added export function for html and csv
Added checksum for barcode data entry
Updated database to allow for future changes

v1.0.0
First production release

To download the software or for further details please visit the project page.

Project kindly hosted by sourceforge
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