Silver Clef Music is tickled to announce that LIDA – the Ultimate Music Library Data Management System – is now under development!
The concept behind LIDA has actually been under conceptualization for more than 15 years, because as professional database applications developers, we KNOW that the best system to manage data – including Music Library Data – is a database.
Unfortunately, most people scratch their heads when it comes to building effective databases, so they wind up managing their Music Library data in a word processing document, or a spreadsheet (which has SOME database capabilities), or horror of horrors, in a text file.
We cannot fault people for doing this, because at least they are TRYING to manage their data. But they are all using the wrong tool for the job.
A word processor is for nicely-formatted text documents. A spreadsheet – despite its extensive database capabilities – is principally for keeping accounting numbers, or other numbers on which you need to perform mathematical operations. Text files are great for keeping raw information, but do not provide any way to query or manipulate the data.
No, the ideal tool for managing Music Library data is unquestionably a database.
And that’s where LIDA comes in.
We started with all the questions Music Directors want to ask of their music librarians, and the questions Music Librarians themselves want to have answered:
- What patriotic tunes do we have that we haven’t played in a while?
- How many arrangements do we have of the Star Spangled Banner, and what are they?
- What Leroy Anderson tunes do we have that we haven’t played in 2 years or more?
- What do we have by Tchaikowsky or Khatchaturian?
- Which tunes feature a trombone player?
- What do we have in our library that we’ve never played?
And many more.
As we write this, at the tail end of 2019, we are about 80% of the way to the first release version of LIDA, and we are currently testing it with more than 23,000 records. So far, it is working beautifully, and it is lightning fast and incredibly flexible.
We have a team of testers currently trying to break it, trying to make all possible mistakes even the most computer-naive users could make, and telling us how to make it into the absolutely MOST usable program out there. The testers are also suggesting new features and functions for the program, so it will be able to take care of anything you need.
Currently, we are still seeking a few more testers, so if you are interested in helping LIDA become the absolute best go-to music library data management program, please go to our Be A Tester page and apply.
We are also building this program completely “on spec,” meaning so far, no one has paid us a cent to build it. But of course, there are tons of expenses, such as this website, so we are offering a pre-release purchase plan to those who want to be sure to be one of the first to get it. For details on this, please go to our Reserve Your Copy page.
That’s it for this first announcement. Stay tuned for more updates.