Davi-Music 98 - Davilex

                      Reviewed by Sue

I'll admit it - I'm an avid CD collector. In the years since
buying my first player, I've managed to amass quite a number of
discs and because I almost always have music playing while I'm
working, it's a rare week when another CD doesn't join the Medley
household!

The problem with any collection is that, past a certain point, it
gets to the stage that you need to manage it in some way in order
to retain some semblance of control. This is true of books (of
which I also have quite a large number...) but more so of CDs
since you not only have to know what discs you have but it is
often handy to know which tracks are on which CD. It's time to get
organized - enter, stage left, Davi-Music.

Essentially, Davi-Music is a very user-friendly database for
listing your music collection. It can be used for all forms of
media, cassettes and LPs as well as CDs, but it's for the latter
that it really comes into its own because the program comes with
an integral CD player.

For CDs, once the basic information on album title, track details
and so forth have been added (more on this later), the disc can be
inserted in the player and scanned which will then not only add
all the track lengths but also identify the CD for playing
purposes. So in future, when the CD is inserted, the Davi Player
will also display the title and track details as well as allowing
three types of play - standard (in order), shuffle (random) or
preference (based on ratings you have an option of giving when
filling in track details into the database).

The fields in the database also cover details on the artists - for
the better known ones, there is often also a biography and photo.
You can add further details such as the album's country of origin,
label, genre, release date, catalogue number, artist's role
(composer, drummer, producer etc), album length and so forth. Some
of the fields are so obscure - the number of beats per minute for
a track - who would want to know that? I certainly couldn't think
of any field I wanted which HADN'T been included.

The program comes with a vast amount of built in data - over
700,000 tracks covering the 70,000 best selling CDs. But there's
more. Every two months, Davilex add another file to their Internet
site which contains information on the latest additions to the
best-selling CD list. This means that the program need never go
out of date - and apart from your basic Net connection charge,
updates are free, which can't be bad. If the album details aren't
already on the CD or in a Net update, you'll have to fill in the
info yourself, but I doubt you'll have to do this very often due
to the comprehensive nature of the data provided.

Much use is made of buttons and drop down category lists from
which you can select the data you require. One button brings up a
list of all artists who have already been entered in the database,
grouped alphabetically. Another list covers artist's roles and you
just need to click on the roles which are applicable to make your
selection. Further lists cover possible years, genres, types of
album - in most cases, as with the `artist' button, the data in
them is collated from previously entered information.

The info on artists and groups is very comprehensive. There are
lots of fields to complete if you're a perfectionist. For groups,
these include the date a group was formed/disbanded, their country
of origin and individual fields for members of a group. You can
link photos (yes, a number are stored on the CD - rock, pop and
classical - and you can also import your own) to the data, fill in
biographical details, add info on books and videos related to the
group, list their hits, including their highest chart position and
date. You can even record sound samples from a CD using the built
in player and link them to your data. And, of course, there are
full facilities for creating, viewing and printing reports whether
they contain a list of all your albums, a 'to buy' list or
whatever selection you want.

My main intention for using Davi-Music 98 was to end up with all
my CDs neatly numbered and their tracks listed, especially for
compilations, so that I could find a particular one when needed.
There was a bonus effect linked to this due to the vast amount of
built-in information stored in it. Sometimes I hear a particular
track on the radio and think, I'd really like to get hold of that.
Using their data and the report system, it is possible to find the
album(s) that contain a particular track. V-e-r-y useful!

In fact, that phrase - "very useful" - sums up Davi-Music 98. It
is reasonably priced and extremely competent. My only moan would
be with the generally untidy format of the reports. I now use the
Davi Player as my default CD player because I prefer it to the
basic Windows 95 one. All I need is the time to finish numbering
and cataloguing my CDs ...







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