A quiet, private research companion for Tobar an Dualchais
Tobar — Listening Room is an independent Chromium browser extension created by Ioannis Valasakis. It helps researchers, students, and enthusiasts curate private collections of recordings, preserve search histories, and capture structured field notes from Scotland's oral heritage archive.
Key capabilities
Built from scratch to support deep listening and archival discovery without distraction.
Archival Capture
Click the extension while browsing any recording or search on Tobar an Dualchais to extract track IDs, titles, contributors, and full catalogue metadata for review.
Curated Collections
Group discoveries into named research folders. Add personal notes, tags, favourite flags, and manual listening marks while keeping archive data intact.
Search & Snapshots
Save search queries with exact URLs and filter sets, or freeze dated snapshots of result pages so you never lose track of recordings as catalogues evolve.
100% Browser-Local
No accounts, zero telemetry, no tracking, and no external servers. Everything is stored securely in your browser's local IndexedDB database.
Obsidian & Backups
One-click complete JSON export and restore for safety, plus clean Markdown ZIP exports tailored for Obsidian or personal knowledge bases.
Respect for the Archive
Audio playback happens directly on the official Tobar an Dualchais website. Listening Room respects copyright and never redistributes audio files.
How it works
Browse the Archive
Explore recordings, stories, songs, and field collections on the official Tobar an Dualchais website.
Capture with One Click
Click the extension toolbar icon. Review the extracted metadata and catalogue tags, then save the recording, search query, or result snapshot.
Annotate & Export
Open your collection in a dedicated tab to write research notes, organise tags, or export complete backups and Markdown summaries.
Send Feedback, Bug Reports & Feature Requests
Tobar — Listening Room is under active development. Whether you have discovered a bug, encountered an unexpected page layout on the archive, have ideas for new workflow features, or simply want to share how you use it in your research, your feedback is warmly appreciated!
Direct email: wizofe.dev@gmail.com. Feel free to attach details about your browser version or Tobar an Dualchais recording links when reporting an issue.