User Interface

This page covers the main screens and layout of Discography: the Home Screen, the Collection List, and the Album Detail View.

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Getting Around

Discography uses a two-panel split layout. On Mac and iPad the sidebar shows your collection list on the left and the detail panel on the right. On iPhone the app starts on the detail panel (the Home screen); swipe or tap the list icon to get to the sidebar.

Control	What it does
Discography logo (toolbar)	Returns to the Home screen
MusicBrainz icon (toolbar)	Toggles MusicBrainz search mode on/off
+ button (toolbar)	Creates a new blank album entry
Barcode icon (toolbar) iOS	Opens the barcode scanner

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Home Screen

The Home screen is the default detail view when nothing is selected in the list.

Statistics card — shows your total album count and a breakdown by the two most common formats in your collection, with any remaining formats grouped under "All Other Formats."

Recently Added — a horizontal coverflow scroll of the albums you added most recently. Tap any card to open that album's detail view. The number of albums shown is configurable in Settings.

Album Spotlight — one album picked daily from your collection. The pick rotates each calendar day.

Quick Actions iOS — shortcut buttons for Add New Album and Scan Barcode.

Search bar iPhone — a floating search bar at the bottom of the Home screen lets you type a search and jump directly to the filtered collection list.

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Collection List

The sidebar lists all albums in your collection with cover art thumbnail, title, artist, year, country flag, and format icon.

Note: If the album is marked as a re-issue, the Re-Issue Year will display in the collection list, not the original release year.

Filtering and Sorting

A compact control strip sits above the list:

• Format picker — filter to a single media format (Vinyl, CD, Cassette, DVD, Blu-Ray, 8-Track, Other) or show all.
• Sort picker — sort by Artist, Album title, or Year.
• Sort direction button — toggles ascending/descending order.

A results count banner below the strip shows how many albums match the current filter and search. When an advanced search is active, a blue "Advanced" badge appears next to the count.

List Actions

• Tap / click an album to open its detail view.
• Swipe left iOS on a row to reveal a Delete button.
• Right-click / long-press a row for a context menu with: Search MusicBrainz for this artist, Duplicate Album, and Delete Album.
• Select multiple macOS by clicking rows while holding Command or Shift, then use the Delete toolbar button to remove them all at once.
• Pull to refresh (MusicBrainz mode) iOS — reruns the current MusicBrainz search.

For details on deleting and duplicating albums, see Managing Your Collection.

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Album Detail

Tapping an album opens its detail view. The layout has two modes: read-only and edit.

Read-Only View

• A hero banner at the top displays blurred cover art behind a gradient, with a full-resolution thumbnail on the right side.
• Title and artist are overlaid on the banner in large text.
• Format / Release Type displayed below the banner.
• Rating shown as filled record icons (1–5 scale) if set.
• Release metadata: year, country, reissue year, label, UPC, catalog number, media condition, sleeve condition, matrix/runout notes, and free-text notes.
• Apple Music pill — taps through to an Apple Music search for the album (requires internet).
• MusicBrainz pill — opens the release page on musicbrainz.org in your browser (shown only when a MusicBrainz ID has been linked).
• Tracklist — tracks displayed hierarchically. For multi-disc releases, a Disc N (or Tape N for Cassette) header groups each disc's tracks. For Vinyl and Cassette, tracks are further grouped under Side A, Side B, etc. within each disc. The disc header is hidden when there is only one disc. Each track shows its position number, title, and duration.
• Credits — sorted by role then name.
• Tags — displayed as colored pills.

On macOS you can drag the cover art thumbnail out of the window to share it with other apps. On iOS, long-press the cover art thumbnail to Save to Photos or share it.

Toolbar Buttons (read-only mode)

Button	Action
MusicBrainz icon	Fetches missing metadata (tracks, credits, cover art) from MusicBrainz for albums that already have a MusicBrainz ID
Pencil / Edit	Switches to edit mode

Edit Mode

Tap Edit (pencil icon) to enter edit mode. All fields become editable. Tap Save (checkmark) to commit, or Cancel (×) to discard.

Title and Artist are required — Save is disabled until both are filled.

As you type in the Title, Artist, and Label fields, autocomplete suggestions drawn from your existing collection appear in a dropdown. Navigate with the arrow keys and press Return to accept a suggestion, or Escape to dismiss it.

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Fields available in edit mode

Field	Notes
Album Title	Required
Artist	Required
Year	Original release year
Country	Two-letter country code or full name
Format	Vinyl, CD, Cassette, DVD, Blu-Ray, 8-Track, Other
Release Type	Album, EP, Single, Compilation
Re-Issue Year	Year of the specific pressing you own
Label	Record label (with autocomplete)
UPC / Barcode	Numeric barcode
Catalog Number	Label catalog number
MusicBrainz ID	UUID for the release on musicbrainz.org
Rating	1–5 record icons
Media Condition	M, NM, VG+, VG, G+, G, F, P
Sleeve Condition	Same scale as Media Condition
Matrix / Runout	Pressed-in matrix text (vinyl)
Notes	Free-text personal notes
Cover Art URL	Direct URL to cover art image

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Media Conditions

Key	Value
M	Mint
NM	Near Mint
VG+	Very Good+
VG	Very Good
G+	Good+
G	Good
F	Fair
P	Poor

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Cover art can also be set by:

• Clicking the camera button on the artwork thumbnail to pick an image from your Photos library iOS or file system macOS.
• Dragging an image file onto the artwork thumbnail macOS.
• Right-clicking / long-pressing the thumbnail and choosing Remove Artwork to clear it.

Tracks — tap Add Track to create a new track row. Each track is displayed as a card with the following fields:

Field	Notes
Position	Auto-calculated — not editable directly. Resets to 1 at the start of each disc or side
Title	Track name
Duration	In m:ss format (e.g. 3:45)
Disc #	Disc (or tape) number for multi-disc releases
Side	Physical side label (e.g. A, B) — only shown for Vinyl and Cassette formats

Cards are color-coded by disc number. For Vinyl and Cassette, Side A cards are shown at full intensity and each subsequent side uses a progressively paler tint to make sides visually distinct.

Drag the handle (≡) on the right of a card to reorder tracks. When a track is dragged into a different disc or side group, its Disc # and Side fields update automatically to match its new neighbors.

Tap Add Track to append a row — the new track inherits the disc number and side of the last existing track so you can keep entering tracks without adjusting those fields each time. Tap the × on a card to remove it.

Credits — tap Add Credit to add a role/name pair (e.g., "Producer — Quincy Jones"). Tap × to remove.

Tags — type a tag name and press Return to add it, or tap the × on a pill to remove it. See Managing Tags for renaming and deleting tags across your whole collection.