About What I Already Own

What I Already Own is an installable web app that catalogues a physical collection of records and books by scanning their barcodes: it finds the exact edition, tells you whether you already own it, and shows what is missing from each series, discography or bibliography.

On a phone's home screen, its icon is labelled “Already Own”. The name comes from the question you ask yourself at a record bin or a pile of books: do I already own this one?

Updated September 29, 2026

Who is What I Already Own for?

People who own records (vinyl, CDs, cassettes) or books, and often both: collectors digging at flea markets and record shops, readers following series, families who want to know what is on their shelves. It is not built for libraries or for dealers.

What the app does

• Scan

  The phone's camera reads the barcode of a record or the ISBN of a book. No barcode? Search by title, or by the matrix number etched in a record's run-out groove.

• The exact edition

  Pressing, country, label, year: when one barcode covers several editions, you pick yours. The details come from an open catalogue of millions of editions.

• Already on your shelf

  Before you buy, one scan tells you whether the item is already in your collection, and in which edition. That is how duplicates are avoided.

• What's missing

  For every series, discography or bibliography you have started, the app counts what you own (“5 of 7”) and lists the rest. Missing titles can become wishes, shared through a link.

• Import

  A collection kept in Discogs, CLZ, Libib or a spreadsheet comes in from its export file: each line is matched by its ID, barcode or ISBN, never guessed from the title.

• Offline

  With no signal, at a flea market or in a basement, the app still knows whether you own a record or a book; scans made offline are processed once you are back online.

• No App Store

  The app installs from the browser on iPhone and Android, without the App Store or Google Play, and opens full screen. On a computer, it works in the browser.

• Exportable data

  Your collection can be exported as a CSV file at any time, with or without a subscription. It is private: only a sharing link you create shows it to others.

How much does What I Already Own cost?

A 7-day free trial, with a card requested at the start, then €3.95 a month or €39.95 a year, taxes included. One subscription covers everything: records and books, phone and computer. Without a subscription, the collection stays readable and exportable, but nothing new can be added. The public catalogue is free to browse, without an account.

Where does the data come from?

From open databases that allow commercial reuse: MusicBrainz and Discogs' monthly dumps for records; Open Library, the National Library of France and other national libraries for books; Wikidata for the order of series. The catalogue is rebuilt every month.

Who publishes What I Already Own?

What I Already Own is published by a French sole proprietorship (micro-entreprise). The service opened in September 2026. No advertising, no sale of data.

For questions, corrections or removal requests: [email protected]

What I Already Own at a glance

Name

What I Already Own

Name under the icon

Already Own

Type

Installable web app (PWA) for iPhone, Android and computer

What it catalogues

Records (vinyl, CDs, cassettes) and books

Publisher

French sole proprietorship

Launched

September 2026

Languages

English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish

Price

7-day trial, then €3.95 a month or €39.95 a year

Contact

[email protected]

Website

whatialreadyown.com

What What I Already Own is not

• A marketplace: nothing is bought or sold between users.
• A social network: no feed, no comments.
• A streaming or e-reading service: it catalogues physical objects, not files.
• An app-store app: it is a web app, installed from the browser.