Welcome to CATraxx!

CATraxx is a powerful database program designed to help you catalog and manage your music collection. CATraxx will let you catalog all media types, including CDs, LPs, cassettes, mini discs, and audio files. CATraxx supports CDDB - the worlds largest music database. Simply insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive, and CATraxx will download the CD data from the Internet. Designed for the Windows environment, CATraxx is comprehensive, intuitive, and easy to use. For more information, see What is CATraxx? and Key features.

Before you can start cataloging your collection, you must open a database or create a new database. The first time you start CATraxx, the sample database (Sample.mdb) is automatically opened.

The main window is divided into three parts: The menu/toolbar at the top of the window, the view bar to the left (if you can't see the view bar, choose View Bar from the View menu). The rest of the window is occupied by the active view. There are a total of six different views: the Explorer view, Album view, Track view, Loan view, Lookup view and Playlist Manager view. In addition, you can create your own custom views, enabling you to easily access relevant information in your database (albums, tracks, artists, labels, playlists, etc.).

When you open a database, the program activates the Album view. To activate another view, click the view you want to activate in the view bar, or select from the View menu. For example, to activate the Explorer View, click Explorer View in the View bar, or choose Explorer View from the View menu. The Explorer is a fully featured browser integrated into the main window that allows you to search/browse your collection.

You will probably use the Album view the most. This is the view you use when you want to add new albums or tracks. To active the Album view, click Album View in the View bar, or choose Album View from the View menu.

All views, except the Explorer view, utilize the same layout. The main part of the view is occupied by the browse list. Above the browse list, there are three drop-down lists. (If you cannot see these lists, choose Lists -> Layout / Sort Order / Filter from the View menu.)

The drop-down list to the left includes available list layouts. A list layout contains information about which fields to display in the album list. You can create as many list layouts as you want.

The drop-down list in the middle includes available sort orders. A sort order defines the order in which albums are displayed. The data in the database remains the same; only the way data is being displayed changes.

The drop-down list to the right includes available filters. A filter is used to determine which albums that are displayed in the browse list, and makes it possible to work with a subset of the database (for example, live albums or albums that are for sale).

To the left of the album list is the drop-down list which includes available grouping definitions. Below is the grouping values list. (If you cannot see these two lists, choose Lists -> Grouping from the View menu.)

The grouping feature is used to determine which albums that are displayed in the browse list, and makes it possible to work with a subset of the database (for example, albums released by a specific artist). Using the grouping feature is similar to using a filter, except that it is easier to change the value used in the filtering process. For example, if you group by artist, you can simply click another artist to display the albums released by this artist.

To add a new album and manually enter the data, choose Add from the Album menu (or simply press Ctrl + N). To download CD data from CDDB, insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive and choose Add - Query CDDB from the Album menu (or press Ctrl + Y). To edit an album, double-click the album in the browse list. You see the 'Album Edit' window.

To edit the tracks on the album, click the Tracks tab and double click the track you want to edit. To add a new track, click the Add Track button below the track list.

To close the data entry window, click the OK button (or choose Close Window from the File menu). All changes are automatically saved.

To catalog your audio files, choose Scan Folders: Add Audio Files from the Audio menu. For more information, see Working with audio files. For information on how to create your own playlists, see Setting up playlists.

If you need support, don't hesitate to contact us. If you want to order CATraxx, please see our web site.

We hope you enjoy using CATraxx!

CD-related data through the Internet from the CDDB™ Music CD Database, Copyright 1999, 2000 CDDB, Inc. CDDB Client Software, Copyright 1999, 2000 CDDB, Inc.

CDDB-Enabled, CDDB, CDDB2 and the CDDB Logo are trademarks of CDDB, Inc. Disc Recognition Service and DRS are service marks of CDDB, Inc.