[cpac]

Originally posted by new newton:
That makes it no better than manual entry, because if I'm moving through a stack I've got to stop and enter the info myself because an entry consisting only of an unrecognized UPC is useless.

Well yes - but I thought it was able to search based on title and things also - so that, if it doesn't get the info based on the UPC, you can enter just enough for it to find the proper entry on Amazon, and it will populate the rest of the fields.

That's not ideal, but it's still better than manual entry.

[Chad A Wright]

I'm looking for a few features. I may be missing them, or they may not exist in this program.

Is there a way to create a seperate "Wish List"? I'd like to make this list without adding the titles to my library until I purchase them. Also, is there a way to have it calculate the value of the entire collection?

DVDpedia does both of these things with ease. I think I'll maintain both programs until one really outpaces the other. If Library had these few simple features, it would be a lot better than DVDpedia, but not yet. Maybe in the next release.

[DaveGee]

Originally posted by Chad A Wright:
Anyone else having problems buying the license. I go through the whole process and the click place order. It processes for a moment then says unable to place order. (Secret Error Code: "".) whatever that means. Any ideas?

Yep... having the exact same problem...

So they are out at-least $60

Dave

[Chad A Wright]

Plus, with Halo 2 coming out tomorrow, my time to input all my DVDs will be seriously limited. This is honestly one of the first times something on a Mac hasn't "just worked."

Oh well. I e-mailed support, but haven't heard anything back yet.

[maxintosh]

Am I the only one who doesn't understand the point of this software?

Why would I need to see all my books and movies on my computer, when I can just go to the real bookshelf? Am I going to loan so many things out that I really need to keep track?

Maybe people with huge collections...

Anyway I tried the iSight thing out of curiousity and it is incredibly frustrating. Even with the barcode in perfect focus it just kinda sits there and then if I wiggle it around a bit, it beeps.

...underwhelmed.

[new newton]

Originally posted by cpac:
Well yes - but I thought it was able to search based on title and things also - so that, if it doesn't get the info based on the UPC, you can enter just enough for it to find the proper entry on Amazon, and it will populate the rest of the fields.

That's not ideal, but it's still better than manual entry.

I just tried it, and I'm thinking manual entry is better. When it searched for "ESPN NFL 2K5" it came up with the strategy guide for the game, rather than the game itself. Once it had that info it wouldn't let go of it, even though it was incorrect. I wasn't given the option to say "yes, it's that item" or to select from a list of items with matching titles.

So I had to remove the item from my library, then scanned the UPC again. This time I manually classed it as a video game and entered the title, thinking that with that critical piece of info it would seek out the correct information. Nope. Once you make a partial entry manually it doesn't allow you to send it out to find the information.

Definitely not impressed. This one has over-promised and under-delivered.

[osxisfun]

i just wish they would take down the flash on the home page.

it makes my dual G5 go vroooooooooooooooooooooommmm and does not add that much at all compared to a html version.

oh well.

[OpenStep]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
Am I the only one who doesn't understand the point of this software?

Why would I need to see all my books and movies on my computer, when I can just go to the real bookshelf? Am I going to loan so many things out that I really need to keep track?

Maybe people with huge collections...

I agree... I really don't see the point of this either. Seems like a lot of wasted effort entering all these items into your computer when you can just physically look at them on a shelf.

[mitchell_pgh]

I can see the use for it... I lost three DVDs to friends last year. The thing is... I don't remember who borrowed them as people will borrow them from time to time. I don't even want to get started with books. I must have 5000 of them floating around.

That all being said, it's one of those things where you either say "FINALLY!!!!" or "I would never use this..."

[mitchell_pgh]

I used my old school sony camcorder and it worked like a charm. Sometimes it takes a few seconds... but it's better then entering UPC codes.

[wataru]

It's certainly nifty, but $40 is way too much for me. The only shareware that's managed to get my money lately has been less than US$10.

My mom might be interested, though. She likes to keep track of the books she's read. I've migrated her from a simple Excel spreadsheet to Books. She might appreciate the barcode scanning feature.

[mitchell_pgh]

If they could only get this to launch files. Say you have a DivX of a movie or an PDF of a book... You could launch the movie etc. etc.

Just an idea...

[gregjsmith]

I've been using this with my iSight with no problems. I scanned in 158 DVDs with a 98% hit rate. Took about 30 minutes.

Books was far more difficult to get a hit, about 60%. Haven't tried the CDs or Games yet.

Scanning in Comics would be very nice.

[mitchell_pgh]

They really need to consider an alternative "generic" icon. The brown box looks ugly. I guess they were going after the "school book" look, but I would rather see a nice clean white book/CD/DVD.

[Casper Crane]

don't know why you wouldn't love this program, unless you don't lend out media. or maybe you don't have many friends/books. well, i don't have many friends, but my wife does. and dvds just seem to disappear. books are worse.

the main reason to keep a database of your media, however, is for insurance purposes. i used to enter them in a homemade FileMaker database. then i got Books, then Chronopath Library.

my question for y'all - and Delicious: is there an upgrade path for Chronopath Library users? i already paid for that, and the Chronopath developer helped them build Delicious Library.

[kschulhu]

Ok... Reasons people find this type of software valuable:


- Insurance purposes
- Ability to track "loans" to family/friends
- Wish List, Sell, Replace/Upgrade Bookcases (makes more sense to keep this with the media library than in iCal's To Do's or Stickies which I used to do)
- Ability to sort and organize your media any way you'd like (You cannot do this by looking at your physical bookcase)
- iPod import or Printed Lists (memorizing a large library is not an option and scribbling out a list of your large library from your bookcase isn't either)
- For many, a large enough library (especially comic books) forces boxing and labeling. Quickly searching for an item via Delicious Library to see what box to look in is invaluable.


Again, the ability to organize your media into many bookcases is very helpful. I now have all my Anime grouped. I have all my Horror grouped (cross media... This will be great for next Halloween). I have all my Multiplayer games grouped. Trust me, when you have a large gaming library and your family/friends want to play something together, this is far easier than trying to rattle off games from the top of your head or standing in front of your bookcase sliding games in and out checking to see if you remember if a certain game is multi-player. One click and I can see ALL multi-player titles and we can get to playing much quicker.

Our company could create a bookcase for each developers technical books. We already have a library of community books that we have a check out sheet to mark who borrows and from what department. Entering all books into Delicious Library and splitting out developers' books into their own bookcase would make it VERY easy for anyone to search for the right material and know exactly where to find it no matter what floor/cubicle they reside.

The list goes on as to how you can use this or similar applications.

I understand how some people do not find it useful, especially when they do not own a large library. This does not however invalidate its existence.

To downplay its usefulness is like saying a cookbook application is useless because I can open up any physical book or encoding and listen to MP3s is a waste of time because I can just pop the original CD in my player.

Hopefully this gives some insight and helps stem "useless app" posts.

[new newton]

To many folks it would be useless. If you don't care to track your stuff, what's the point? It's like any application--if you don't have a use for it, it's useless for you.

I'd love to use this software. I think it looks great, but I need something a bit more usable/polished than it is at this point. Hopefully they'll reinvest their Amazon referral money into making the product live up to its potential.

[Jordan]

Originally posted by Chad A Wright:
Anyone else having problems buying the license. I go through the whole process and the click place order. It processes for a moment then says unable to place order. (Secret Error Code: "".) whatever that means. Any ideas?

I had the same problem and wrote to the authors. Got this response...

We have discovered a bug that makes buying impossible when upgrading
from DVDpedia. We are going to try to fix this soon though.


Guess that's why I couldn't buy it either. The software works fine for me though. Especially the iSight bit. That was really cool. Worked quite well. Follow the tips on their website to get an accurate scan...

Cheers,

Jordan

[Simon X]

Originally posted by Casper Crane:
my question for y'all - and Delicious: is there an upgrade path for Chronopath Library users? i already paid for that, and the Chronopath developer helped them build Delicious Library.

Yes, $29.95. The same discount for Library owners as for other third party book catalogue owners, which in my opinion is a bit poor. Chronopath Library users should be given a better discount considering that app has now ceased development.

They obviously spent most of their development efforts on the look of Delicious Library and iSight scanning. After what is essentially a version 3 app there are still not that many improvements nor international support. CD and movie entries are still problematic.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Casper Crane:
don't know why you wouldn't love this program, unless you don't lend out media. or maybe you don't have many friends/books. well, i don't have many friends, but my wife does. and dvds just seem to disappear. books are worse.

Do you really need a $40 program to replace a 2¢ post it note that says "Mike borrowed Joe vs. the Volcano"?

I can appreciate the application... it looks and feels amazing... but the $40 price tag seems steep unless you know this is going to make a great addition to your heavily used apps. I like it because my GF is always buying books. 1/2 of the time I don't even know what she has. So I was able to scan in 5/6 books in less then a minute and read up on the book before committing to read any of them.

The music thing is a little odd because I don't lend out music (the original CD)... and I generally have all my music converted to MP3 via. iTunes.

DVDs are cool... but you could make the same argument of "Why not just look at your stack of DVDs". Sure you aren't 100% sure that nobody has stolen one, but it's just as easy to make a list...

Again, I'm not knocking the application, but rather the "this is the best thing since sliced bread" mentality. I see it as being very valuable for a good handful of users.

[Mithras]

They really should have a "bulk add" function. When typing in numbers manually, I'd much prefer to enter 10 or 15 numbers at once, then let the program search for matches for all of them, rather than adding one, pressing command-N again, approving it, etc. etc.

Also, would anyone else want a way to link to files on disk? I'd love to use this as an interface to my DVD rips, for example. And it'd make a neat alternative interface to iTunes, which they seem to suggest they're considering.

[JKT]

Originally posted by Mithras:
Also, would anyone else want a way to link to files on disk? I'd love to use this as an interface to my DVD rips, for example. And it'd make a neat alternative interface to iTunes, which they seem to suggest they're considering.

I was just thinking the same thing except in the context of being a cataloguing app for all the pdfs and/or paper copies of scientific journal articles I have copies of*. It would make quite a lot of sense for it to behave in a manner similar to iPhoto in that instance - the images of your files in Delicious Library, should also link to the actual file itself in some manner.

* However, that would only be truly beneficial if there was a "Smart collection" system so that e.g. any Nature articles added were auto-sorted into a Nature collection. Otherwise, I might as well stick to the likes of Endnote.