I love collecting physical media, whether it be movies, TV shows, music, video games, books, or otherwise. One snag in the road I’ve come across as I’ve built up my collection, however, is that it can be a challenge to stay organized and on top of what I own, what I want to own, and what content I have and haven’t consumed yet.
Now, there are a variety of applications and services available out there that can help in the organizational process, some of which I’ve chronicled in a previous article right here on Pocket-lint. Nevertheless, even with these tools at my disposal, I generally stick to using a simple spreadsheet to stay up-to-date — I simply find it to be the most efficient and streamlined method of them all.
Recently, however, I stumbled across a mobile application developed by Blu-ray.com, a popular website known for its massive movie catalog database. Called My Movies by Blu-ray.com, the app is free, cross-platform, and, despite some rough edges, a great resource for media collection novices and veterans alike.
The only thing missing is native optimization for the iPad’s larger display
When looking for a dedicated physical media manager, one thing I value is the ability to interface with it using my iPad. I want to be able to view, scroll through, and organize my collection on a big, expansive display panel, which is something the iPad excels at.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the My Movies by Blu-ray.com application isn’t fully optimized for use with the iPad. That being said, the iPhone version of the app scales up reasonably well, offering both a rotation and a size button for additional viewing flexibility.
While I’d love for My Movies by Blu-ray.com to be optimized specifically for the iPad’s display, the lack of support here isn’t a deal-breaker. The app’s quality speaks for itself, with the option to scan media products via barcode, a database search tool, a price and deals tracker, a release calendar, a news tab, and more.
…the app deserves the Liquid Glass treatment, in addition to the aforementioned iPad support.
While fully free to use, it’s worth noting that the app does require you to create a Blu-ray.com account in order to get started with personal media tracking. Once set up, the process for scanning movies and shows is intuitive and incredibly speedy, which I appreciate.
As soon as a Blu-ray or DVD is scanned in, it populates with not only its respective title and artwork, but also details on the publisher, year of release, review score, Amazon price, runtime, rating, and more. A brief synopsis is also available, as is information pertaining to subtitles and audio/language support.
Everything within My Movies by Blu-ray.com is laid out in a way that doesn’t feel cluttered or overbearing, though its user interface is admittedly a bit dated by today’s standards. I can’t help but feel that the app deserves the Liquid Glass treatment, in addition to the aforementioned iPad support.
Even with these gripes in mind, I love My Movies by Blu-ray.com. Personally, I have it installed on my iPad mini, and I’ve been enjoying the process of chronicling my library of owned media content. With the iPhone version of the app blown up to iPad proportions, artwork is big and beautiful, information density is solid, and scanning using the rear-facing camera is a breeze.
I’m not ready to give up on my spreadsheet quite yet, but I’m about as close as I’ve ever been to placing the document into my PC’s Recycle Bin. I still love the simplicity of relying on a basic Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets page to get the job done, but, if Blu-ray.com were to optimize its app for tablets, I can see myself fully transitioning over to its platform.
