Unfortunately for my purposes, each seemed to have one or more weaknesses. Some lacked the ability to record details of stamps in their condition, color, type, watermark or worth. None provided for use of two different catalog numbers for each stamp. None allowed me to make additions to the program as my needs changed or increased. Most did not allow me to categorize my stamps by topics. A few seemed nothing more than a ledger to keep track of your stamp "investment." Others were less than "user friendly" and just plain required too much typing. None provided a means to conveniently view and print reports for my duplicate trading material. Few, if any, provided the capability to customize options as my collecting needs changed. Many were DOS based and restricted in the information available on screen. Still others didn't include generation of "want lists." Some provided reports but were too limited and/or made you regenerate reporting conditions every time you used them. I couldn't find a program that was well suited for both country and thematic collections, of which I have several. The programs that charged a fee seemed overly expensive - they provided country databases that did not meet my needs while were limited in flexibility. Free programs did not appear very complete - they all lacked details for covers, plate blocks and PNC collections. None of the programs included sufficient capability to manipulate my data for good file management, collection growth or file safety. When I began this project none that I saw allowed incorporation of scanned stamp or watermark images. And none offered reports including stamp images. Out of frustration and a sense of challenge, I decided to put together all the features that are important for my own use. I choose to concentrate on making an inventory program that met my needs and left the generation of country catalog lists with yearly price changes to others. I have successfully converted many listings in format for my use (and will convert yours by request). I also download many beautiful stamp images from the World Wide Web for my inventories as well as scan from my collection. At any rate, this project just grew until STAMPCATalog Plus came into being.

You will find STAMPCATalog Plus includes many features that should be useful to an active stamp collector - whether a country specialist, topicalist, cover, block or PNC or world wide collector. I hope other collectors will find the program as helpful to them as it has been for me.