Is there a quick way to create a list of my software or MP3 collection?

Yep, sure is. You don't have to type it all out yourself, well unless you've got too much time on your hands and you really want to. Have a look at these nifty little programs listed at the excellent freeware resource, No Nags. Most of these microscopic marvels run from a single executable file, saving you the hassle of having to install them.

Double-click on the exe file of your chosen cataloguer to run the program, select the directory from which you would like to compile a list and let it rip. To keep things simple all these programs save your list as a basic text file, which can be opened and edited without specialised software. When you have created a series of text files you can use AM Code Search or a similar program to quickly find out on which CD a particular piece of software resides.

On the other hand, if you want a much more information packed list you can use Treesize Professional (it's shareware, but a crippled trial version is available for free). This program will allow you to add to your list statistics such as file sizes, dates, file locations and a myriad of other options, many of which are too detailed to be of any real use. One important advantage it has over the aforementioned freeware listers is that your list can be exported to Excel for further processing.

If even Tree Size sounds a bit tame, and you want to opt for some heavy duty cataloguing software instead, what better place to start than with Where Is It? According to the web site blurb this is an application, "designed to help you maintain and organise a catalogue of your computer media collection, including CD-ROMs, audio CDs, diskettes, removable drives, hard drives, network drives, DVDs, or any other media that Windows can access as a drive.

The most basic goal for Where Is It? is to provide access to the contents of any media you have from the catalogued database, even if the media itself is not available on the system - you can browse lists of files and folders, search by any criteria, use descriptions, thumbnails, categories, etc."

So there you have it, an application which does everything, but wash your socks! What more could you want?