For as long as I can remember, I consumed some form of entertainment, some form of media. Either it is cartoons, documentaries, films, music or video games. But only recently have I started tracking them, and it changed how I consume media.
I’ve forgotten a lot of media. Cartoons I’ve watched as a kid, movies even so, and if not thousands of YouTube videos. To me, that time was lost. What is the point of spending your time on it, if after a few years, you’ll completely forget about it? It doesn’t sound like a proper use of your time, at all.
So, through some recommendations, I’ve started tracking my behavior. And I’ll share some of the sites I started using, so that you too can benefit from using them.
Tracking Sites
I mainly use “services” for tracking. I don’t go out of my way to set up some spreadsheet or notebook. The services I use allow me to track in a standardized, interoperable way. Their databases have everything tracked appropriately with unique identifiers and much more metadata than I could sanely fit into a spreadsheet.
I’m not afraid of losing all of my progress, because all of these sites have a way to export your data, which, is great, considering that losing all of that history would be a disastrous blow to all the work I’ve put into tracking.
Currently, I don’t rate or review. I mainly use them for cataloguing.
Music Tracking
For tracking my music, I use Rate Your Music. It claims to be one of the largest music databases online. I mainly track music that I like, even if I listened to it briefly.
Film Tracking
For tracking films I use Letterboxd. I also considered Trakt. I use it in a fairly simple manner. I watch a movie, and then track it. That’s about it. Films aren’t something I’m very passionate about.
Anime/Manga
I use MyAnimeList. It’s the biggest database of anime and manga. I use Tachiyomi to read and track manga, and manually track anime, which I rarely watch these days.
Conclusion
Referring back to the introduction of this post, and how it changed how I consume media, I believe that it will also change yours. Try these websites, or find better ones. Give it a try. Even if you haven’t started tracking since the beginning, which most people haven’t, I believe you can start and grow your collection gradually. You’ll slowly remember past media, and you’ll grow your collection. If you liked it, don’t let it be forgotten.