The Big Year End Wrap-Up Issue:
Atlas, Tech Tips, and Atomic Avenue 2.0

Merry Christmas and very happy holidays!

In just two weeks, I should be sitting around a Christmas tree with the kids, opening presents, drinking hot chocolate, and eating way too many Christmas cookies for my own good. Before then, however, I wanted to give a quick update on everything that’s happening in the wacky world of ComicBase and Atomic Avenue.

 

ComicBase Atlas

The world’s biggest database of comics get even bigger, more portable

Although it’s not technically a violation of the rules of time and space, we somehow figured a way this year to add an additional 100,000 issues to ComicBase, while at the same time making it possible to keep all your comic collection data with you wherever you go: on your iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Symbian, or Windows Mobile smartphone—even your PSP!

Yes, it’s ComicBase “Atlas”—this year’s newest release of ComicBase—and it’s amazing.

For starters, it comes with detailed listings and current pricing for over 425,000 comics—which, if our math is correct, would be the number of comics required to fill every square inch of the average American home to over two long boxes in height. (And, since we’re given to understand that many of you have actually done just that, it’s good that we’ve provided the data to help you manage the collection!)

But even with its foreign currency support, smartphone support, speed improvements, and other great features, the real standout (for me at least) is that Archive Edition users can now download the cover images from almost a quarter of a million comics into their copy of ComicBase with just a click. We’ve also added the ability to automatically download new issue covers for Archive Edition users as part of the weekly price and title updates that you get with your ComicBase subscription.

Check out our web site for the full list of what’s new, and don’t forget our great Holiday Specials going on right now through December 31st on both new purchases and upgrades.

 

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Tech Tips

The year’s top advice from our support experts

 

Top Tip #1: Compact Your Database

Running into weird errors, particularly after a big update? Is your database suddenly running slowly? Before anything else, make sure you use the File > File Tools > Compact & Verify command.

Databases naturally “swell” with use, since new information is added to the end of the database, and the information it replaces is internally marked as obsolete. Over time, this can lead your database to grow—sometimes even up to the maximum 2 GB file size that Windows allows—after which, no new information can be added to the database until it’s compacted. Compacting a database takes a few minutes, and tells the database to throw out out all the old junk, leaving only the current data. In the process, minor database errors can be automatically repaired, and any problems caused by the database growing to its maximum size of 2 GB will go away.

You should have ComicBase automatically Compact and Verify using the Setup menu’s Preferences command. Newer versions of ComicBase will also attempt to automatically compact themselves if they detect that your database has grown bloated with use, but feel free to use the Compact & Verify command whenever you like to keep your database in its fighting shape.

 

Top Tip #2: Moving your database to a new computer

All your database information is kept in a single file called (by default) “ComicBase Database.cba”, which lives in your <My Documents>\Human Computing\ComicBase <version> folder. To transfer your data to a new machine, all you need to do is (a) Install ComicBase on that new machine, (b) Copy your ComicBase Database file to the <My Documents>\Human Computing\ComicBase <version> folder, and (c) Launch ComicBase on the new machine, and File > Open that file. If you use a different name or location for your database file, just File > Open that file (but remember which file it was! See the next tip!)

 

Top Tip #3: What to do if ComicBase asks you for the name of a database file when you launch it

This happens if you were using a file other than the default database file, and something causes your preferences to reset, or your old database file to become unavailable. To sort this out, just locate the file you had been using, double-click on it, and you’ll be all set.

Don’t remember where your database file was, or what it was called? Have Windows do a search on your disk for any files ending in “.cba”, and open each one up in turn until you find your proper data. After which, you may want to consider just calling your database the default name, “ComicBase Database” (.cba) and saving it in the default directory—this will save you the need to remember anything special about your database in the future, and may make future upgrades a bit smoother.

 

Top Tip #4: Use barcodes to find tricky trade paperbacks

Having trouble finding a book in ComicBase? Try using the Jump command (Ctrl-J), and bleeping (or typing) in its complete barcode, complete with all the small digits. In most cases, you’ll be taken straight to that issue or book.

 

Top Tip #5: Back up your data some place other than your computer

Floods, fire, viruses, robbers, lightning strikes, ex-spouses… our poor tech folks could write a book on the ways that some unfortunate customer lost everything on their computer. Don’t be a victim yourself: make sure you periodically keep a copy of your data on something that’s not your hard drive, and preferably not even on your computer. Whether it’s a CD backup, flash drive, network backup, or something else, make sure that at least every month or so, your data is archived in a safe place.

 

For more tech tips, see our Tip of the Day archive

 

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Atomic Avenue 2.0

We’re still #2, so we’re trying harder

First, the bad news: As we celebrated Atomic Avenue’s first birthday this year, we were forced to acknowledge that—for the moment, at least—we were still slightly behind those eBay guys in terms of being the world’s biggest online marketplace of comic books. We’ve made up a lot of lost ground since then, and are currently nearing the million-comics-for-sale mark. We’ve also been making the system much faster, easier to search, and even more customer- friendly.

Head on over to www.atomicavenue.com, and check out the new system for yourself. Version 2.0 of Atomic Avenue is nearing completion, but you can already check out the easier, more flexible searching, quick access to titles and issue numbers, as well as featured specials on everything from Golden Age bargains to the over 100,000 comics that are available for $1 or less. You can even take advantage of free shipping offered by many of our sellers.

If you’re interested in selling your own comics on the system, all you have to do is mark them as “For Sale ”in your copy of ComicBase 11 or later, then use the Internet menu’s Sell command to post them on Atomic Avenue. Listings are free, and there’s no mucking about with auctions or non-paying bidders (in fact, the whole thing works an awful lot like Amazon.com’s used book sales—albeit on a really large scale).

In our typical humble fashion, we’re fond of referring to Atomic Avenue as “The World’s Best Place to Buy and Sell Comics Online”. Once you look around, we hope you’ll agree.