If you’re the kind of person who needs to keep their media collection – be it video, DVD, books, music or whatever – organised, then the obvious solution is to store it in a database. That takes time to set up, and then it takes time to populate with your vast collection. In many cases, people give it up as a bad idea after the fifth or sixth item in your personal library is entered.

This is where a program like MediaMan proves itself. For starters, it’s designed specifically for storing details of your various media libraries, so you don’t have to spend ages setting up the initial database. And second, it integrates with the Amazon US site to help you quickly and easily build up your media library, simply by entering keywords or – for exact matches – the barcode number of a product (the program can even scan in barcodes via your webcam). The program then finds either exact matches or presents a list of possible options – you just select the item you have and job done, quickly and painlessly.

Items are organised into folders – create sub-folders to further organise items (for example, authors under Books) and assign tags to items to help filter future searches. Everything is quick and simple, thanks to drag and drop and judicious use of the right mouse button.

The program is packed with features – you can, for example, export your collection into a navigable website, or flag items you’ve lent out, so you know who has them.

The program offers a 30-day free trial, after which you’ll need to pay US$39.99 for the full version.