Spindle · vs. a spreadsheet

“Why not just use a spreadsheet?”

Fair question. A lot of collectors do. Here's where a spreadsheet wins, where Spindle wins, and how to decide which one you actually need.

Honest take

A spreadsheet is sometimes the right answer.

If what you want is an inventory — title, artist, year, pressing, where you bought it, what you paid — a Google Sheet or Notion table is genuinely great. It's free, you can shape it any way you want, and nobody's going to sunset it.

That's not what Spindle is. Spindle is for the part of vinyl that a spreadsheet can't see: the moment the needle drops, what you flipped to, how often this record actually leaves the shelf, and what that adds up to over a year of listening.

Side by side

Feature by feature.

FeatureSpreadsheetSpindle
Inventory your collection
Custom fields & sort/filter
Spindle has fewer custom fields by design, more opinionated structure.
Free
Already on every device you own
iOS + Android, no desktop or web app.
Log a spin with one tap
Auto-track hours per record
Lock-screen / Dynamic Island tracking
Listening streaks
Stats over time (no formulas to write)
A sheet can do it, but you'll be writing formulas every month.
Surface dormant records you forgot
Notes & journal per spin
Track needle / cartridge hours
Auto-import from Discogs
Scrobble to Last.fm
Listen alongside other people (Challenges)
Sync across phone, tablet, laptop
Works offline
You own the data
Spindle exports to CSV; broader backup format is on the roadmap.

“Spreadsheet” here means a generic Google Sheets / Excel / Notion table — anything you build by hand to track records.

Stick with a spreadsheet if

  • You mostly care about what you own, not what you listen to.
  • You want infinite custom fields and full control of the schema.
  • You actually enjoy formula golf on a Sunday afternoon.
  • You aren't interested in any community / Challenges layer.

Try Spindle if

  • You want to know what you actually spun this month, not what you own.
  • You want one-tap logging with lock-screen tracking, not a pinned tab.
  • You want hours-per-record, streaks, and dormant-shelf surfacing without writing formulas.
  • You want a small community of vinyl heads picking records together.

Worth a try.

Spindle is free. You can keep your spreadsheet for inventory and use Spindle for the listening part — a lot of people do.

Coming soon toApp Store
Coming soon toGoogle Play