Coollector – A Huge Movie Title Database and Collection Organizer

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation and then suddenly you realize that you can’t remember the name of a particular movie? It’s on the tip of your tongue, and it absolutely kills you that you can’t remember. The same can happen often when you’re trying to remember the name of an actor or actress who starred in a particular film. The other brain cramp that I always have is whenever I see an amazing movie preview, I think to myself, “Wow! I have got to see that movie.” Then, a month or so later when I’m looking for a what movie to go see, I can’t remember the title.

Here at MUO, we’ve always been fascinated by anything to do with the movies and providing tools to help movie enthusiasts find and organize titles, such as Mahendra’s excellent list of 5 ways to catalog your movies online, or Saikat’s very cool list of 6 Firefox add-ons for the movie freak. However, there are times when I’m nowhere near the Internet, or I don’t feel like going online, but I’d really like to do some movie research. Well, thanks to an amazing free movie title database application called Coollector (Windows), you’ll never forget another title or actor again, and at the same time you’ll have somwhere to store and organize not only all of the movies that you currently own, but also all of the movies that you want to see!  It’s all in one tidy little package – and it’s a movie collector’s dream.

A Movie Title Database With Over 50,000 Titles

When you download and install Coollector, it not only installs an application that you can use to organize both the movies you own and the movies you want to own, but at the same time it downloads the entire Coollector movie title database onto your PC or laptop. This means that once it’s installed, you don’t have to be connected to the Internet in order to research movie titles, actresses, directors and more. The software itself is very well written, aesthetically pleasing and very easy to use.

This well laid-out application features two complete panes of information, separated by the central control bar (we’ll zoom into the screen above in a moment.)  On the left, you’ll find specific movie information, while on the right you can view additional information for actors, directors or production staff who worked on the movie. It’s an impressive database that’s well cross-referenced, and it’s very easy to get sucked into spending hours just learning about the careers of various actors and directors.

The center bar is where you’ll first trigger off the initial search. The other functions are very straightforward – you can get help, search for movies (within the database or within your own collection), update your local database with any new titles from the online Coollector movie title database, modify settings or exit the application.

The settings that you can change include the ability to hide particular video formats from the “price” guide – for example, if you want to filter out all VHS NTSC formats (you don’t still have a VHS collection… do you?)

You can also modify how and where the application displays current movie price information (which you can use to purchase the movie if you want to). And you can also configure the application to provide you an alert whenever movie prices have changed.

Researching With The Coollector Movie Title Database

When you click on the search button, you have access to the entire movie title database (yes, the screen above reads 55 thousand movies at your disposal!) Type in a whole or partial title, or the name of an actress, and the fun begins.

The programmers who put this application went no-holds-barred on this one. As you type the title, it performs a smart-search against the database and tries to complete the title for you. Not only that, but at the same time as it guesses what title you mean (even before you finish typing it), it displays the movie information of that title in the left pane! As you type, the left pane movie changes as the software tries to guess what you’re going to type.

As you’re exploring the details about a particular movie title, when you hover your mouse over a particular director, actor, or other crew – a picture of that person will pop-up automatically. There’s no better way to recall who an actor or actress is than with an instant photo to refresh your memory.

Whenever you do click on any of the film cast, on the right pane you’re treated to a full list of that person’s film career.

An Offline Library Of Your Own Movie Collection

While all of this isn’t especially extraordinary when you’re dealing with many online movie sites – keep in mind that all of this information can be accessed when you’re using this application offline. It’s essentially a huge movie information library on your hard drive and instantly available for you to access.

When you click on the “Existing” button under the movie title in the left pane, the screen above pops up, which displays specific movie information such as languages and formats in which the movie was produced, the running time, studio and release dates. At the lower right, you have the option to buy the movie from either CD Universe or Amazon (if you’re online). You can also opt to add the title to your existing movie title database of your own “owned” movies.

Instead, if you click on the big green “ADD” cross under the title, the screen above appears where you can provide specific information about the title that you own, including the format, language, packaging details and even where you have the video stored away.

Probably the best part of this application is how it’s integrated with the various online movie communities. Directly from this application, you can click to watch YouTube movie trailers for the title, check out IMDb user ratings for the movie, and you can also rate the movie yourself.  The other icons allow you to keep track of where your owned copy is by “loaning” the movie out to a friend, or marking a particular title as “wished” – which is great for later when you want to watch a movie and can’t remember which ones you liked.  Just log onto Coollector and call up your wish list!

If you are a real movie freak, don’t forget to check out our Awesome Internet Guide to the Movie Addict! Do you have a huge movie collection? What do you think of using Coollector to manage your movie library? Share your own insight in the comments section below.