What happened to Gearogs

Gearogs was a community-built database of audio equipment — a Discogs for gear, catalogued model by model. It went offline with the rest of the -ogs sites, but the database was kept, and it is back here, split into two catalogs: hi-fi for playback and music gear for making music.

What happened to Gearogs?

It closed a few years ago, with Bookogs, Filmogs, Posterogs and Comicogs. The data came out intact.

Is the Gearogs data gone?

No. Between the two catalogs there are about 21,000 pieces of gear and 2,600 companies, with around 35,000 images. Hi-fi holds turntables, cartridges, amplifiers, speakers, headphones and tape; music gear holds synths, keyboards, drum machines, effects and pedals, DJ mixers and studio equipment.

Some fields came across as they were typed: country has 211 spellings, "USA" and "United States" both common. Cleaning that up is open work for anyone who wants it.

Why two catalogs instead of one?

Because the two crowds want different fields and different browsing. A phono cartridge and a drum machine have almost nothing in common to filter on, and one combined catalog served neither well. A brand that makes both — and there are plenty — appears in both.

Is ctlgs a Discogs for synths?

That is the idea, and it works the same way for hi-fi. Discogs catalogs a record one pressing at a time; ctlgs catalogs gear one model at a time, with its maker, years, specifications and the variants a model went through — then records which of them you own, in what condition, and what you paid.

Is my old collection still there?

Not automatically. Post your old Gearogs username on the forum and someone joins your contributions, collection and wantlist to the account you are signed in as.

Do I need a new account?

Yes. Sign in with a forum account at forum.ctlgs.org; one account covers the forum and the catalogs. No old credentials were brought across, so the password is new.

What about the other -ogs sites?

Bookogs is back as the books catalog, Filmogs as home video, Posterogs as gigposters and Comicogs as comics. The guides have a page for each.