About IDNV

The IDNV was designed as a complete, up-to-date and reliable catalogue of internationally available printed music and musical products. The system is useful as a reference work and tool for publishers, retailers, libraries and all those interested in music.
The system was developed and revised in close cooperation with key representatives of the Deutscher Musik-Verleger-Verband (DMV, the German Music Publishers Association) and the Gesamtverband Deutscher Musikfachgeschäfte (GDM, the German Music Retailer Association).

The system contains articles and individual titles (contents) as well as a range of reference databases featuring composers, instruments, prices, types of products, participating publishers, formats and much more.

The contents are not "pre-selected" but include all the available products of the participating publishers. The product numbers are listed in the way given by the publisher (original order number, ISMN, ISBN, EAN and UPC) so that every article may be clearly identified. This is an important requirement for a smoothly-running electronic ordering system.

You will find in the IDNV an interesting and wide range of products: For example, solo or orchestral sheet music by different composers and periods, also school and study material (with accompanying Music-CD when applicable). Also included are conducting and study scores, books and critical literature, and composer and work indexes.

The IDNV is available in various software versions depending on its intended uses.

1. How It All Started

First, the data from the VLM (the former printed music database of the German Buchhändler Vereinigung GmbH) were transferred to the IDNV. They were then selected according to usefulness and reliability and used to form the basic foundations of the new database. This was followed by the actual creation and editing of the IDNV contents.
Prior to this, standardised ways of displaying the data and a specific maintenance software had been developed for the new database.
Therefore, the IDNV is a completely new system both in terms of its technology and its contents.

2. Publishers, Retailers, Libraries

In order to put the IDNV catalogue to its best possible use, specific functions are offered to individual users.

Powerful systems are provided for publishers for sending and receiving data. These systems are ideal for the maintenance and analysis of data and work alongside existing applications.
For retailers, a system allows for making enquiries and ordering products. Therefore, an employee can find out and pass on information quickly and make confident decisions about stock selection. A further software version is available to be used as a customer terminal in the shop. The customer is able to make his/her own enquiries on a computer protected against unwanted interferences.
Customer involvement is also planned, with a CD-ROM version that will offer private customers (teachers, musicians and others interested in music) access to the IDNV database. This edition contains a "notepad", which can be printed and used as an order form by the retailers.
For libraries, the IDNV is the official and up-to-date bibliography of printed music and musical products with high quality research functions.

3. Searching And Selecting

Exceptionally easy-to-use software programs guarantee an exemplary clarity of the databases. It is easy to begin complex search processes and see them through to the desired end. In the search fields, search terms can be entered freely (the first letters are usually sufficient) and can be combined with each other. The results appear immediately in a list and can then be narrowed down further or, in the case of several suitable results, easily compared with each other. Therefore, the user always obtains the most accurate end result. .

4. Ordering And Delivering

The IDNV provides retailers, wholesalers and publishing houses with a standardised, powerful and reliable electronic ordering system. This represents a great gain in efficiency for the individual participant and for the Music Industry as a whole. The procedure takes place through a central server through the means of high-quality data exchange and secure software. Several safety devices have been integrated into the exchange system and the central server to enable a reliable and smooth ordering exchange.
Data interfaces allow connection to existing stock control systems. The publisher can transfer the data to his own system or print out a paper version of the order.

5. The IDNV System

• offers comprehensive and flexible data structures using key descriptive parameters
• provides up-to-date and reliable information for all users at all times
• is continually being expanded and revised
• is a standardised system: clear and concise data collection
• provides a powerful and efficient system for ordering and data exchange
• offers new perspectives - gain in efficiency and therefore likely to lower costs. New instruments and advantages for marketing and sales. Continued development and revision.

6. This Technically Advanced Product

• offers reliable and powerful technology
• offers fascinating possibilities for catalogue structure,maintenance and data-input
• is available in various software versions depending on its intended uses
• provides secure and reliable data exchange
• CD-ROM version (quarterly), on-line updating of data
• software versions for one or multiple users, with central server
• step-up from most IT applications