VVV, which stands for Virtual Volumes View, is intended to catalog the files you store on removable volumes so that you can easily find them even when the source volumes are not mounted on your system. It supports cataloguing different file types, and in the specific case of audio, the tool can catalog not only filenames but their metadata as well.
The application is very easy to use: you just need to provide the name of the volume you want to scan and wait until the contents are included in the supporting database. Luckily, this process is rather quick, though the necessary time logically depends on the size of the scanned volume.
After this, there are three different ways you can find the contents of the indexed volumes. The first is by browsing files using the same source file structure. A second possibility is to create a virtual view, which allows you to arrange contents and even entire volumes in virtual folders. This option is great when some contents, maybe music, are stored in different volumes. Thus, you can avoid the limitations of a physical container and use a more logical organization instead. Finally, you can simply search the database for the desired file.
It is good news that the database it creates can be exchanged between various computers as this product is cross-platform. In this regard, it supports storing catalogs on a server so that they become available from different machines on the network.
All in all, VVV offers a simple way to organize contents, of which I appreciate the possibility of using a logical folder structure. Although it supports cataloging music files, do not expect it to automatically complete missing tags as other more specific applications do. Fortunately, this product is open-source and available at no cost.
v1.4 [Jun 29, 2020]
Fixed a bug: the program crashed cataloging files with a malformed date.
Now double-clicking a file will open it with the default program. Of course the file must be available. The same feature is available in the Tools/Open with default program menu and in the context menu activated by right-clicking a file.
The Open with default program menu is also available for folders in the right pane.
Now the program remembers the column widths in the search view.
In Search view now the program remembers the settings for filename and description (is equal/starts with/contains).
Added an option to show rows in alternate colors to improve readability.
Now the program shows files and folders sizes with thousands separators.
LAN Scan
