Socket OrganizeIT Suite

Socket Communications, well known for their line of Pocket PC hardware accessories, has just released the OrganizeIT Suite, a complete solution for managing music and movie collections with the Pocket PC. The package contains their SDIO card barcode scanner bundled with OrganizeIT-Video and OrganizeIT-Music, two applications designed to help you keep track of your collections quickly and easily.

Scan your collectionwith lightning speed!

Most music and movie collection software catalogs your collection by reading data directly from the disc using your PC CD-ROM or DVD drive. In order to take a full inventory, you must remove each CD or DVD from its case, go to your computer, and insert it in the drive. Those applications require a few seconds to recognize each disc. Once the selection is added to your list, you then replace the disc in its case and start over with the next disc. This system is inherently flawed because it makes the task troublesome for anyone without a laptop or PC, and requires a significant amount of time to record each disc.

The OrganizeIT Suite puts convenience first, taking advantage of the fact that every commercial CD or DVD has a barcode that identifies it. Just install the software on both your desktop and Pocket PC, attach the barcode scanner to your Pocket PC, launch the music or video version of OrganizeIT and click on the scan icon. The Batch Scan screen will appear with a large Scan & Save button. Each time you touch the button, the scanner powers up and looks for a barcode. A beep and the on-screen message (Fig. 1) confirm each successfully read barcode. Once you've scanned your entire collection, connect the Pocket PC to your computer and synchronize using the included desktop software. If you have a wireless network or Bluetooth connection, you can also sync with the desktop in real time as you scan each item.

Figs. 1, 2: The OrganizeIT software has a clean scanning interface and a database list designed like the Pocket Outlook applications.

The desktop application looks up each barcode from popular Internet databases (Amazon.com, freedb.org, and imdb.com) and fills in all of the details for each disc. Resynchronize with your Pocket PC and you'll have a handheld database of your entire collection at your fingertips (Fig. 2). The Pocket PC application includes a powerful five-category filter that allows you to select from more than fifty categories to search for a specific type of DVD or CD.

Scanning my entire collection of 507 DVDs took less than an hour. Of the 507, I had to manually enter 27 DVDs that the scanner couldn't recognize, usually because the disc was still in the original wrapper and, I imagine, was too reflective for the barcode scanner to read. Using the Pocket PC or desktop version of the software, you can manually enter the numerical code located right below the barcode for each movie that cannot be scanned.

And after you've scanned your collection...

Has OrganizeIT Suite outlived its usefulness once you've scanned your entire collection? No, now you can use it to conveniently manage your collection. On your Pocket PC, you can instantly bring up the record of any movie or CD simply by scanning its barcode. When you edit an entry, you can add personal details to each item, like who you received it from, a personal inventory number, the location (e.g. home theatre room, or bedroom), where it was purchased, and much more. An entire Notes screen even allows you to jot down your personal review of the movie. When you are satisfied with the changes to the entry, you can save it to the database, copy it into the Pocket PC Notes application, or even beam it to another Pocket PC.