request: How do you find and compare specific releases?

Hi everyone!

Based on , one of the problems we are currently working on is improving the way people find and compare specific releases. (So you don't have to open 20+ release page tabs to find what you're looking for!) One of the ways we hope to address this problem is by improving the version table list and "Find a Version" feature on the Master Release page.

We've gathered some initial research on this including searching through the forums for related threads. But I'd like to open it up to you all and start with these questions:

1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

Thanks!

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

If it's something like Abbey Road, I add the matrix info to my search. So if I have a UK copy, I'd search for:

beatles abbey vinyl uk YEX 749 (then add the additional identifying matrix info)

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Matrix

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

All of the above

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

I don't see any improvements that could be used. Generally speaking I don't use the master page that much when identifying exact releases anyway (usually enough data added in the original search is sufficient).

A bigger issue is when contributors create new submissions (label variations, text layout variations, etc) and do not mention these in Notes. They assume the images are enough. This is unhelpful when searching multiple releases, but is not an issue under Discogs direct control. Better understanding is needed.

Thx for the thread! Generally, finding a specific release on Discogs isn't one of the difficulties using the site and it's even kind of fun, but I'll participate nonetheless:

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

Going to the master release searching for the catalog number (Strg+F), then compare all versions available based on images and matrix/runout data. On large releases, sometimes 5 or 10 releases are left after this first step which I then have to examine more closely.

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Usually the catalog number is the first indicator, but matrix/runout is crucial.

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

Adding to collection.

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

Don't know, maybe an extra section for "Unofficial" versions - these disturb the work flow a bit.

devotionaIie
Going to the master release searching for the catalog number (Strg+F), then compare all versions available based on images and matrix/runout data. On large releases, sometimes 5 or 10 releases are left after this first step which I then have to examine more closely.

Thanks for the ! Are you comparing versions by scanning through the version table/list or are you using the Find a Version tool to narrow down the releases?

Jarren
A bigger issue is when contributors create new submissions (label variations, text layout variations, etc) and do not mention these in Notes. They assume the images are enough.

When you do want to look at the release notes, do you open each release version one at a time then go back to the search results page or open multiple release versions at a time in new window/tabs to compare?

Usually I'm using the version finder to work out which version is the one I have in hand. The place I start is by filtering by format, then label.

After that it's a bit hit and miss because the data can be all over the place. I'm in the UK, so it's likely I have a UK version, but that doesn't mean it's exclusively UK. Might be 'Europe' and so selecting "UK" might remove my version from the results.

Year is the least likely to be correct, since release dates are (almost) never printed on the release itself and one would need a lot of research to find out the date (and discogs is supposed to be the place I go for that research).

So, I typically go for the free-text/keyword filter next and hope something sticks out.

The thing that is starkly obvious that's missing is the ability to select multiple items in each filter section (absolutely including multiple keywords), and the ability to exclude (multiple) selections (including multiple keywords) from the inclusive results.

If I could remove "it's obviously not" countries, for example, from the filter, that would be fab.

It would be good to make sure all data for the entry is searched, including BaOI and so on (I have no idea what is currently searched) in the keyword text so I could search for something I see etched into a runout, for example.

Jillbo
When you do want to look at the release notes, do you open each release version one at a time then go back to the search results page or open multiple release versions at a time in new window/tabs to compare?

Open them in new tabs. It's the most time efficient way once you get the hang of it.

I should stress I'm a desktop . I guess it's different for mobile phone s.

My standard-process to find a release is the same that Jarren sounds really efficient and I'll try this next.

I search for releases to add to the collection.

I only do this on the desktop. Adding releases through the app is a real pain, even though the scanner seems like a good idea at first glance.

Jillbo
Are you comparing versions by scanning through the version table/list or are you using the Find a Version tool to narrow down the releases?

Oh I never realized there was a "Find Your Version" feature. Is this new!? Thx for the hint, I will definitely try this.

devotionaIie
Oh I never realized there was a "Find Your Version" feature. Is this new!? Thx for the hint, I will definitely try this.

No problem! When on the Master Release page, if you look at the Versions list, you'll see the Find a Version button in the top right of that Versions section.

I think it would very useful for each release list to have an extra column with the release number in it.

Right now I'm looking for a particular release of Peter Gabriel 1 & I have two tabs open next to the releases list. I can see their release codes by looking at them but I can't easily tell which of the items in the list they are without opening one & seeing if it's the same.

Also, if I'm looking for a CD, it would be great to able to click a button to remove all the LPs & cassettes from the list. (i.e. pick a format).

1) If it has a barcode, I scan the barcode with my phone. If not, I usually start by looking up the catalog number. If either of those methods turns up multiple hits and it's not obvious what I have, then I usually have to go into the Master Release and use the "Find Your Version" tool.

2) It could be anything, right? It depends from release to release. For records, I usually look at the runout groove and/or the label design if there are multiple versions with the same jacket, artwork, etc.

It would be nice if the "Find Your Release" tool indicated what was unique about each release, instead of just showing dozens of virtually-identical listings that requires you to click into each one.

3) Usually when I've bought a new record, sometimes when I'm looking to buy one.

4) It would be nice to be able to filter by format, country, label, etc. on the Master Release page.

As in the "Find Your Version" tool, it would be nice to have more information about what makes each one unique.

"Find Your Version" also needs to have the release date added to the list.

In both places (in all lists, actually) it would be nice to be able to filter on *multiple* values, e.g. Year = 1972 OR Year = 1973 instead of going one-at-a-time.

For other fields, it should be possible to filter using "AND" logic, e.g. Format = "Mono" AND Format = "LP". Tricky to manage that in the UI, but it would be extremely valuable. Ideally, the format of the audio program (mono, stereo, etc.) would be in a separate field from the format of the physical object (CD, LP, etc.).

Similarly, there should be a way to filter on items with an unknown release date.

We don't need to see the word "Album" next to every version of an album. If it's an album, then presumably all the versions of the Master release are albums. In any case, that designation is not particularly useful when looking for a specific version of a Master release.

In the "Find Your Version" tool (or in the Master Release, if filters were added) it would be good to have a function that would allow you to "Add All to Wantlist" that would only add the releases that are visible using the filters you have selected. I.e., if I've gone through "Find Your Version" to select all the LP versions of an album from X, Y and Z country, with Release dates from 19XX to 19XX, I would like to be able to add them all to my wantlist with one click instead of clicking on the menu for each one separately.

HTH.

snowdog63
I think it would very useful for each release list to have an extra column with the release number in it.

Oh, interesting! Thanks for the suggestion!

uzn007
It would be nice if the "Find Your Release" tool indicated what was unique about each release, instead of just showing dozens of virtually-identical listings that requires you to click into each one.

Thanks for your ! What specific identifiers do you use to see what is unique about each release? Is it primarily the info in the free text field?

uzn007
For other fields, it should be possible to filter using "AND" logic, e.g. Format = "Mono" AND Format = "LP". Tricky to manage that in the UI, but it would be extremely valuable. Ideally, the format of the audio program (mono, stereo, etc.) would be in a separate field from the format of the physical object (CD, LP, etc.).

Yes! I've been working on some tricky UI to tackle those tricky filter algorithms. ;)

uzn007
In the "Find Your Version" tool (or in the Master Release, if filters were added) it would be good to have a function that would allow you to "Add All to Wantlist" that would only add the releases that are visible using the filters you have selected.

Ohh, I've been exploring this feature already!

snowdog63
Right now I'm looking for a particular release of Peter Gabriel 1 & I have two tabs open next to the releases list. I can see their release codes by looking at them but I can't easily tell which of the items in the list they are without opening one & seeing if it's the same.

Actually, I have another follow up. Would you mind explaining this a bit more? For example, did you search for Peter Gabriel from the main search field in the top navigation bar and open those releases in tabs? Then you went to its master release page and wanted to compare those tabbed releases to the version list?

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

For larger master releases, I would like to see some kind of a filter or nested view. Most useful filters for me would be format, year, and country.

Jillbo
Thanks for your ! What specific identifiers do you use to see what is unique about each release? Is it primarily the info in the free text field?

Like I said, it's different for every release. Discogs needs to find a way to tell the what to look for for a specific album, e.g., sometimes it's the position of the logo, sometimes it's the copyright text on the label, sometimes it's the presence or absence of a small piece of text on the back cover.

At a minimum, the FTF should be expanded so that something more explanatory than "Yel" could be included, but the bigger problem is that for many releases, even after you've selected the criteria you're interested in, you're presented with a bunch of identical listings, e.g.:

https://discogs.cinepelis.org/Bruce-Springsteen-Born-To-Run/master/26725?country=US&filter=true&format=LP&year=1975

While finding these examples, I was reminded of something else. If I'm looking at a list of releases, and I know it's *not* a promo, or *not* a test pressing, or *not* a club edition or whatever, I should be able to de-select those formats and remove them from the list.

Jillbo
Actually, I have another follow up. Would you mind explaining this a bit more? For example, did you search for Peter Gabriel from the main search field in the top navigation bar and open those releases in tabs? Then you went to its master release page and wanted to compare those tabbed releases to the version list?

Yes, that's right. Once I've found the artist's page using the top search field & opened the given master release in a second tab, I then scroll down & open each of the potential releases in separate tabs until I find the one I'm looking for.

In my digital music library, I like to have the album title & album artist do all the heavy lifting. It's pretty idiosyncratic but, as a part of the album title I like to have the Discogs release number, so that I can refer back for additional details, should I need them. So album titles look like this:

1977-02, Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel, I Car (1987-05, RE, r3184647) (AIFF)
1977-02, Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel, I Car (2003, RM, SACD Hybrid, r11414769) (AIFF)

Discogs is a bit inconsistent for original album release dates, so I often get that from Wiki. The second date puts all of the versions of a given release in chronological order. This can be tricky, as so many albums fall into the "unknown" section. Sometimes it's an educated guess.

So my browser basically looks like this: https://imgur.com/hkeyJbj

The problem is that, after a while of clicking around, so many hyperlinks have changed to the "visited" colour that it's impossible to easily relate the open tabs to where they came from.

As you can see here, I've only visited the ones that have a matching cat. no. https://imgur.com/gR2NP3g but there's no way to directly correlate the open tabs to the visited links. If the open tabs' headings & the release's list had the release numbers in, it would be easy.

Of course, that might not be useful for anyone else! ☺️

snowdog63
Of course, that might not be useful for anyone else! ☺️

Thanks for explaining that! It's helpful to see everyone's process even if it is unique. :)

Jillbo

Thanks for explaining that! It's helpful to see everyone's process even if it is unique. :)

I think snowdog is really asking for the same thing I'm asking for: some way to identify what version is which on the "Find My Version" list. He wants the Release ID, I want something like "Purple Label" or "Broadway Address" but the goal is the same. The more information the better, as long as it can be presented in a -friendly manner (e.g. maybe customizable columns so each can zero in on what they're looking for).

the "Find a Version" tool sucks so much, pop up windows are always a bad idea

Apologies if this has already been suggested, but for me when I am checking multiple releases it would be useful to simply have a "next" and "previous" link to be able to brwose the different release - much like you might dig through a crate.

Otherwise it is a case of expanding the "view all" link on each page load, finding where you were in the list and opening the next release in the list. Tedious when there might be 50+ releases.

Also - a "nice to have" would be to filter by media (eg. just vinyl) with a single click - with the DOM updating without a page load.

spacebiscuit
have a "next" and "previous" link to be able to brwose the different release - much like you might dig through a crate.

Oh, this is an interesting idea. We've had internal chats about how we could mimic the feeling of discovery and excitement you get while physically create digging. I'd love to find a balance between making releases easier to search and find but also keep some aspects of finding things randomly in there somehow. :)

spacebiscuit
Also - a "nice to have" would be to filter by media (eg. just vinyl) with a single click - with the DOM updating without a page load.

We're hoping to make this happen!

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

I typically start by searching for the Matrix/Runout, which (if I'm lucky) will generally pare it down to a handful of releases, and from amongst those it'll usually be the Australian release that I'm looking for. If I can't find via Matrix/Runout, I'll search by title and (as a last resort) artist.

Once I've found a likely candidate, I then double-check the label, catalog number, barcode, Matrix/Runout, images and release notes to see if I've got the right release. Releases by popular international artists (ie. with lots of versions) can be tricky, and I often find the release notes (eg. comments like "Similar to release xyz, except for...) to be very helpful in those instances.

When it comes down to two or three options for identifying the release, I'll usually open each release in a separate tab in my browser, and then toggle between them to compare details. (See below for an idea I have on how to make this easier).

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Label, catalog number, Matrix/Runout and images. When there are two releases that are identical except for the manufacturing/pressing plant, having that info in the Format free text is also very helpful.

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

When buying online through Discogs or another platform, or when adding a record store / thrift store purchase to my collection.

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

How about a split-screen view similar to the one you get when you're merging releases? Similar to the "Compare" function we see on many shopping websites (particularly for tech) - you know, where you check ("tick") multiple items that you want to compare, and then you get to view them side-by-side for easy comparison.

Being able to check ("tick") two or more releases in a master release list and then click "Compare" to view them side-by-side would be great. It could get a bit unwieldy with more than two, particularly if you're on a mobile device, but I'll leave that up to the boffins :)

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

* Click "Find your version"
* Narrow it down by format CD
* Remove format CD because looking at Reissue (example) is more efficient
* Enter identifier into the free text search
* Remove identifier because it gave me too many results
* Add different identifier
* Repeat process as necessary until there are few enough results that it's worth opening them in tabs

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Varies greatly from release to release. Can't really specify.

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

Adding to collection.

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

I'll just echo all of uzn007's great suggestions.

Jillbo

1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

Type in the album/single name, hoping it'll pop up, if not then try it through the catalog number, lastly use the artist page.
If it's a well know release e.g. a pink floyd, I go to the master release and use the "find your release" search script.

Jillbo

2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Catalog number usually does the trick if the album/single name doesn't.

Jillbo

3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

Having heard it and wanting to know more about it (and possible own a copy)

Jillbo

4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

It would be great if it were possible to add more than 1 text to search with.
Sometimes there are so many similar releases it's not enough to search with only one i.g. runouts + labelcode + some note etc.

Jillbo

Thanks!

No worries (:

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

- browsing the artist page
- opening an MR, sorting on country and going from there
- entering release specific identifiers in the search box and see what it comes up with

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

- barcode
- catalog# sometimes combined with label
- artist + title (+ sometimes format)

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release?

- having a release to add to my collection
- looking for the best version of a release to add to my wantlist
- weeding out duplicates
- looking for a release that needs changes

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

Make it possible to select a number of items in the MR (checkboxes) and have a Compare button so the selected entries can be compared side by side.
A similar thing is much needed at https://discogs.cinepelis.org/submissions?mode=merges

jweijde
Make it possible to select a number of items in the MR (checkboxes) and have a Compare button so the selected entries can be compared side by side.

What data/information would be most helpful to compare if there were a comparison view like this? Would it be the same as what you listed as your key identifiers: barcode, cat#, label, format?

Jillbo
What data/information would be most helpful to compare if there were a comparison view like this?

Label, format, country, released, tracklist, barcode and other identifiers, release notes
Genre, styles and credits are not needed in the comparison.

jweijde
credits are not needed in the comparison

Credits can IMO be very usefull when comparing different versions.

Silvermo
Credits can IMO be very usefull when comparing different versions.

When a certain artist credit is the only difference with another version, this will likely be specified in the release notes too (atleast it should be).

What I would love to see, although I realize this is likely not feasible, is a tree/hierarchy structure which would help examples where you have dozens or even hundreds of versions in the same MR, many of them pressing plant/printer/price code variants. So maybe start with country/format and then branch off by cat #, so e.g. all copies with country of US and cat # ABC-123 go into one branch, while UK copies with XYZ-987 go into another. So if you've got an MR with hundreds of releases but you know the country and cat #, you could quickly narrow it down to a handful.

1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

I'm in Canada so a good 75% of my locally bought CDs are Canadian printings. So I start by checking the back for "distributed by" info. If it's a Canadian version it's usually distributed by a country branded variation on a major company (eg: Sony Music Canada), and even if it's not almost all Canadian versions will say "distributed by" in both English and French. If it is Canadian I can sort by country and reduce the possibilities to (usually) one to seven entries, which is a HUGE help.
Once I've cleared up if it's a Canadian release or not I check the catalogue number, then narrow it down further with the back of cd info (which requires looking at each entry that checking country and cat number didn't eliminate from my search).

2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Country (determined by "distributed by" info on back), catalogue number, matrix/runout.

3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

Adding to my collection, which is usually done with my latest "brick and mortar" store purchases. I can't the last time I took the time to enter stuff I've had for a long time, although I know I currently need to do so for my Metallica and Megadeth cds.

4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

I'm at a loss to think of improvements to the master release list. Although the release list you get when you click on a record company's name needs a record company field because it lists compilations that AREN'T by that record company but have a track licensed from it. So it's not actually self explanatory which company the album was from.

Jillbo
1. What is your process to find a specific release on Discogs?

I've been entering in my collection of mostly 50s and 60s LPs over the past few years and I've definitely formed a process.
The first step is to find a master listing. I'll do a search for artist and album title which works most of the time. If it's a popular artist or generic-sounding title then I'll include unique-looking words from the song titles. This almost always narrows it down. And the fringe benefit is that I often find orphan releases that haven't been added to a Master.

Jillbo
2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

Next, given a Master and several versions. If there are less than 8 or so releases I can scan the list and figure out what appears like mine. I do use the Find Your Version button if there's a lot to choose from and immediately check off the country to hone it down.
Because I'm doing mostly older LPs the Stereo/ Mono options work well, though not everyone checks off the Stereo format which can be irksome.
And I never check off Reissue or Album since most submitters fail at labeling their entries as such when it applies, making it fairly useless as a search parameter.

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

I'm my case I'm working through adding my 4,000 LP collection.

Jillbo
4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

When I use the Find Your Version pop up, I'd like to be able to choose more than one Format options. If I click on Vinyl for instance the option to choose Mono or Stereo disappears.

Thanks for your questions. Hope this goes somewhere?

Vinylrecliner
Thanks for your questions. Hope this goes somewhere?

Thanks for your detailed answers! It definitely will factor to improvements. :)

2. What are the key identifiers that help you find the release you are looking for?

label, runouts

3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release? (ie. when you're buying? selling? adding to your collection?)

selling, adding to collection

4. How can we improve the Master Release version table list to help contributors?

Drastically improve and update the UI to modern standards. It's quite dated and at this point, feels like a placeholder UI. Searching/Filtering could be much more powerful.

In a perfect world we'd be able to filter, both include and omit, using any criteria.

An example:
- show year(s): 1980, 1982, 1986 (hide others)
- hide country: Japan, US (show others)
- hide all official
- hide all where barcode doesn't exist (or the opposite)
etc.

I think giving some sort of forced formatting to runout side names would help, then let us filter based on that.
Filter example: Side A (including all variants and releases) includes text: 1234xyz or '1234 xyz'
All the runout/matrix side descriptions are editable thus it seems impossible to have you programmatically let us search by side. The only solution with the current system seems to be searching all runouts, but that makes it harder to narrow down releases for more popular albums.

Having a separate search fields for runouts and other text would help. I know there is the Advanced Search but that is different from filtering within a Master release.

I'm sure you'd never do it but somehow tagging photos with "cover front", "cover back", "side a label", "side b label" would be helpful. Then you could create a GUI where we can filter, using my first example above, and in the same window/interface, let me choose to see all Side A labels for the releases I've chosen to include in the filter. Then it would be easier to visually see which ones don't match.

Another nice feature would be if a small thumbnail appeared when hovering over the other version links. This would help to identify a release without necessarily clicking the link,

spacebiscuit
Another nice feature would be if a small thumbnail appeared when hovering over the other version links. This would help to identify a release without necessarily clicking the link,

I am testing this exact feature out in our prototype! Quick image view is definitely a high priority.
Our goal is to minimize the number of tabs you have to open to compare versions.

alternapop
I'm sure you'd never do it but somehow tagging photos with "cover front", "cover back", "side a label", "side b label" would be helpful.

This is a great idea. Adding more context to images is something we’d like to do for sure. I’ll note this request along with your other ideas. Thanks!

To search for the field country is a bad idea, because the country is very often wrong.

Search for CDs:
1. barcode
2. catalogue number
3. matrix
4. SID codes
then hints and images in the dataset

Search for vinyl: the same but without SID codes
1. barcode
2. catalogue number
3. matrix
then hints and images in the dataset

Jillbo
3. What usually triggers you to search for a specific release?

When listing an item to sell, the Discogs website presents a list of all the releases and we must choose one. That is the primary reason to search for a specific release. But perhaps the most important reason to select a specific release is because not all masters sound the same. A buyer may be searching for a particularly good pressing or may be interested in avoiding certain pressings.

I applaud your efforts to improve the search features to identify the release we are trying to sell. I just spent a couple hours trying to find which release I have. After I finally was able to read the runout markings, I input that into the search engine. Fortunately only one query result was found. However, when I tried to open that release, the website consistently hung (Error 524) I tried several times and was never able to open that page.

One improvement would be to include a filter or search field for country among the search fields on the "List Items For Sale" page.

oddiophyle
I applaud your efforts to improve the search features to identify the release we are trying to sell. I just spent a couple hours trying to find which release I have. After I finally was able to read the runout markings, I input that into the search engine. Fortunately only one query result was found. However, when I tried to open that release, the website consistently hung (Error 524) I tried several times and was never able to open that page.

One improvement would be to include a filter or search field for country among the search fields on the "List Items For Sale" page.

Thanks for your ! We are currently in the build and test phase of a new feature that improves the version search and filtering on the master release page. The goal is to help you all find specific releases much faster!

As for adding the ability to filter/search by country, are you referring to this sell page? https://discogs.cinepelis.org/sell/

Jillbo
As for adding the ability to filter/search by country, are you referring to this sell page? https://discogs.cinepelis.org/sell/

Yes, that is the filter to which I was referring. Thank you for your !

oddiophyle
Yes, that is the filter to which I was referring. Thank you for your !

Cool, thanks for confirming! I will note your request to add an option to search by country in that search form. :)

Jillbo
Hi everyone!

Based on , one of the problems we are currently working on is improving the way people find and compare specific releases. (So you don't have to open 20+ release page tabs to find what you're looking for!)

Jillbo

Reading through this thread in its entirety, it seems like a lot of the suggestions were implemented, which is great.

However what brought me to this page was searching for how to do a "compare", which I still don't think is there? Or at least I can't find it.

I think compare should be a table (like when you compare a laptop, or phone on an online retail store), where ALL data could be shown, however only data that is different actually is...

So if you had 3 releases all exactly the same bar a note, or one extra catalog number, then it would only show and highlight that. This means you know immediately what to look for on your release.

E.g. I am searching for this now https://discogs.cinepelis.org/master/7601-Queen-At-The-Beeb?format=Cassette&query=017644900141

And I can't see what's different between them. I have to open each in a new tab and compare field by field by field...
If there could be a complete table with a diff highlighter, would be much easier!

Good job anyway, asking for and responding to !!

wcndave
And I can't see what's different between them. I have to open each in a new tab and compare field by field by field...

Thanks for the !

Can I ask what details/fields you are comparing for this specific situation? I'm interested to know what other information people are using to compare and identify releases that you might not be able to find directly through a search field.

Jillbo
wcndaveAnd I can't see what's different between them. I have to open each in a new tab and compare field by field by field...

Thanks for the !

Can I ask what details/fields you are comparing for this specific situation? I'm interested to know what other information people are using to compare and identify releases that you might not be able to find directly through a search field.

That's the thing, I don't know what fields are different, so I don't know what I am comparing...!

In my example above, I put the three tabs side by side, and eyeball it.

#1 had Label BOJMC 001
#2 had Label BOJMC 001 and BOJCD001
#3 had Label BOJMC 001

Mine had both, so is either #2, or, some data is missing from #1 and #3
So I carried on

#1 and #3 both have distributed by and published by in Companies, and #2 has only copyright, so again it's probably just missing data as mine had all of the 5 companies listed across the 3 records.. so again, not a difference

In the notes, #1 and #2 had very similar notes, but #2 had at the end "Light Yellow Shell."
#2 had different notes completely, just saying "Transparent cassette" - which ruled that one out.

Both #1 and #2 look a bit yellow, could well be colour balance in photos, so I don't actually know if they are different releases or not, so went for the first one...

I noticed when looking at the history of a release, that you do show the differences, green/yellow/red text. So you can quickly see what changed.

I guess having a very similar layout for comparing items is what I was thinking of.

Also, after looking at photos on the variants page, when you find the one, you close, and can't which one you clicked on... maybe it should be highlighted. Sometimes the page jumps around as well, which makes that harder.

The last thing I can think if that would help is some natural language logic in the search, eg "foo and bar", or I could enter "foo or bar".

Hope that all makes some kind of sense!