Migrating from Discogs

You can move your whole collection from Discogs to Music Tracker, and Music Tracker will keep the release number of every record, so nothing is imported twice.

Ask Discogs for your collection

Discogs prepares the file for you and lets you know when it is ready. The export is only available on the Discogs website, so use a computer rather than the app.

  • Sign in to discogs.com and go to your Export page at https://www.discogs.com/users/export
  • Choose Collection from the list of things you can export.
  • Click Request data export.
  • The status starts as Processing. It usually takes a few minutes for a large collection. Discogs sends you an email when the file is ready, and the status changes to Download.
  • Click Download and save the file on your computer. It is a CSV file with a name like discogs_collection-20251220-1225.csv

You do not need to change any setting before exporting. Discogs always writes the same columns, always in English, whatever language you read the site in.

Get the file onto your device

If you exported on a computer and you use Music Tracker on an iPhone or an iPad, put the file where your device can reach it: iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or anything else that appears in the Files app. On a Mac you can import it straight from where you saved it.

Import the file into Music Tracker

  • Open Music Tracker and go to Settings, then Import.
  • Choose the file you downloaded from Discogs.
  • Music Tracker reads the columns and recognizes the file as a Discogs export on its own. If it says something else, tap the name and choose Discogs from the list.
  • Tap Continue. Music Tracker reads every row and checks it against the records you already have.
  • Look through what it is about to do, then start the import.

What Music Tracker keeps

Discogs writes thirteen columns, and Music Tracker reads all of them:

  • The title, the artists, and the label.
  • The format. The medium becomes the type of the record, so CD, LP, cassette or file, and the number in front of it becomes the number of discs, so 2xCD is a record on two discs.
  • The year the record came out. Discogs writes 0 when nobody has filled it in, and Music Tracker leaves it empty rather than importing a record from the year zero.
  • Your rating.
  • The folder the record is in, which becomes a tag. Records in the folder Discogs calls Uncategorized get no tag, because that is not a shelf you made.
  • Your notes, and the condition of the disc and its sleeve, which are written together in the note.
  • The catalog number printed on the spine, kept as a code beside the record.
  • The release number, which is the number of that exact pressing on Discogs.

The release number is what identifies a record beyond doubt, so importing the same file twice adds nothing the second time, and a record you already have is recognized even if you added it by scanning its barcode.

A note about artists

Discogs tells two artists with the same name apart by putting a number after it, so you may see Testament (2) or Extreme (2) in your collection. Music Tracker removes the number and keeps the name.

Classical records often list the composer, the soloists, the orchestra and the conductor in one line. Music Tracker reads them as the separate artists they are.

That is it. Your Discogs collection is now in Music Tracker.