ViniVault/Starting
Use photos of sleeves as your vinyl catalogue
A camera roll of sleeves is hard to search. ViniVault puts a sleeve on a record you can find by artist, title, or track.
A photo needs a name
Pictures help you recognise a cover. They do not tell you the catalogue number, the label, or the B-side unless you also stored the title. A camera roll of a hundred sleeves is a hundred images you still have to scroll.
Upload your own photo when you want the exact jacket, a signed sleeve, or a copy the catalogue has no image for. That photo becomes the sleeve on the record, which is the right place for it. It is not a second catalogue beside the names.
A saved sleeve should be the pressing you picked, your upload, or a placeholder. A photo of a different edition, attached because the title was similar, is worse than no photo. You will trust it later.
Name first, then the picture
Add the record so it has an artist and a title you can search. Then upload the sleeve from the record page if you want your photo used. Search, including a song from the track list, is how you find it. The picture is how you confirm you have found the right one.
Photos on their own also fail in a shop. You cannot ask 'do I own this?' of a camera roll with any speed. The check in the app looks at the shelf and the wishlist, which means the record needs a name.
How this works in ViniVault
Catalogue the record, then add the photo if the saved artwork is missing or is not your copy. Keep condition and the price you paid in their own fields. The picture does not store them.
The image is kept for that record on the shelf. You do not need a separate album of sleeves in order to browse the collection.
Questions
- Can I rely on photos alone?
- Add the artist and title too. The photo is how it looks. The name is how you find it.
- What if I already have a camera roll of sleeves?
- Use it as the pile to work through. Add each record by name, and upload the photo you already took. Then the picture sits on a record you can search.