Delicious Library or Bookpedia???
 

I'm in need of a good book cataloging app. I've narrowed it down to 2.

Delicious Library
and
Bookpedia

I've just downloaded both of them and I'm currently browsing through their features.

Which one would you recommend and why?

Bookpedia is cheaper, but Delicious Library catalogs whatever you want, bookd, DVD, CD. I broke down and bought the scanner, which works as claimed. I can scan in DVDs at their shelves, and when I get back to my Mac, they upload automatically...

Occasionally it doesn't find a movie, but I am usually able to sort that out. I can't say where Deliciuos would get their book information.... It uses Amazon for movies...

Hope this helps you choose...

iSight and Barcodes
 

Barcode scanning with the iSight is one of the coolest ideas and is actually what turned me on to organizing my book collections.

Delicious Library: I like the scanning window. The several rows of infrared bars help me to quickly position the barcode. As long as I have ample light scanning is fast and fun. Delicious Library even pronounces the title you scanned, ensuring you that it has found the correct book. This is very useful when you're on-a-roll and quickly scanning.

Bookpedia: I have purchased its sister app, DVDpedia, and I use it quite frequently. Because of such a good experience with this app, I was actually biased to Bookpedia over the other. I love its native iTunes sort of feel. However, the iSight feature has not impressed me nearly as much. I've had some successful scans but it tries my patience. While using Del. Library I was able to establish a rythem of scan-and-go. Not so with Bookpedia.

So far I am leaning towards Del. Lib. But I am going to evaluate both a little more.

15 Pros and Cons of Each
 

Delicious Library:

1. Price: $40
2. iSight scanner is simple to use and very efficient. Titles can be quickly scanned.
3. Integrates Loan Management System w/ Address Book and iCal: Syncs the book's due date with a new event in iCal.
4. Catalogs Books, Movies, CD's, and Games (ea. with its on shelf)
5. Nice interface, but not as intuitive as BP's iTunes-feel
6. No use of Smart Folders. Can only create Folders (Shelves) and manually add items
7. Buy and Sell integration with Amazon.com
8. Lacks the ability to choose where to download information from
9. Lacks Viewable and Sortable Columns (Title, Author, Genre, Rating, etc...)
10. Lacks .Mac features
11. Bluetooth scanner option: Flic® Wireless Laser Barcode Scanner Rather cool idea, but pricey ($199.95). If you wander out of wireless range (50 ft), the scanner automatically remembers up to 500 barcodes that will be imported the next time you're in range.
12. iPod Syncing: Sync library of books, CDs, DVDs, and video games to iPod's notes category.
13. No "I'd Like to have..." cataloging (wishlist)
14. (I couldn't find anything on plug-ins. Not sure.)
15. Voice Search: Speak the title of any book, CD, DVD, or video game and it's instantly highlighted.
    
    

Bookpedia:

1. Price: $18. Offers a Bundle Price, which includes DVD, CD, and Book pedias, for $54
2. iSight scanner is weak. It really tries my patience. Typing ISBN #'s is faster.
3. Integrates Loan Management System w/ Address Book and Mail: Sends email to borrower(s)
4. Catalogs only Books (really all I need it for though)
5. Native iTunes-like feel to its layout
6. Ability to create Smart Collections
7. Only Buy integration w/ Amazon.com
8. Ability to choose where to download information from
9. Viewable and Sortable Columns (Title, Author, Genre, Rating, etc...)
10. Ability to export directly to .Mac account and create a webpage
11. Does have the ability to Use a regular scanner and CueCat
12. iPod Syncing: Sync book library to iPod's notes category.
13. Create a wishlist of books you'd like to buy in the future.
14. Plug-in Support
15. No voice search features.

Bookpedia... (i think)
 

After considering all of the above information I would rather have Bookpedia with Delicious Libraries iSight scanning. ;) Oh, why can't that be possible!

Do any of you have problems with BP's iSight scanner?

I first got DL and entered 123 books, 110 DVDs and 360 CDs. I hated the way I had to create manual shelves. If I added one later it always went to the end of the list. To alphabetize them I had to create them again in the order I wanted.

Later I downloaded BP and tried it out. I loved the way I could create smart collections and they alphbetized automatically. I got the BP, CDP, DVDP package and have been very happy with it. I don't have an iSight so I've entered all ISBNs and UPCs manually. After reading about the trouble with using iSight in BP I may not want to invest $150 just for iSight. However, I wouldn't trade anything for BP. It includes some fields (Dewey Decimal Number) which DL doesn't have. It also allows you to name two user-defined fields.

The only problem I had with the pedia programs was a bug which I reported to the author. Ten days later he posted an update on all three programs which fixed the bug.

Unless you have a few thousand books to input, I'd recommend BP. If you have CDs and DVDs as well, I'd get the package.

robertv: First off, Welcome to the forum.

I am really hoping to get some responses on this problem with BP's iSight scanning; maybe even some feedback from the developer. I do have a huge collection of books and it would be such a headache to input them all manually. We'll see what happens over the next few days.

Bookpedia for me
 

I use Bookpedia myself. I tried them both and while DL felt a little more polished to me, the difference in feature sets wasn't enough to justify the difference in price. The feature I most miss from DL is the similar items list. Since I don't have an iSight (or any other input device), I enter my books by hand, so the similar items list was nice because I often owned many of the similar items so I could add then all at once. However, I didn't need to manage DVDs or CDs (not enough DVDs to care, and I load all of my CDs into iTunes, so iTunes knows what I own), and I didn't really care about most of the other bells and whistles.

One nice feature of Bookpedia that I do like is the ability to create templates for data dumps, I can't remember if DL can do that as well.

Over all, I'm pretty pleased with my choice, and I've now added probably 500+ books to it by now.

Similar Items autoentry in BP
 

When BP is running click on the Drawer button (4th from the left at the top of the window). This toggles on a drawer which shows, among other things, a list called "Similar Products." On this list are links to similar items at Amazon.com. You can click on one of these links, which will bring up a selection of similar books at Amazon.com. Once you are viewing the selection of similar books you can drag any of those books directly into your BP window. This will cause BP to look up all information on the book you dragged in and offer you an Add button. You can then add the book by clicking on the Add button.

In short, the feature you miss is there in a different format.

Similar items
 

I'd seen the similar items, but it never occurred to me to try and drag books out of the web browser into BP. It isn't even really necessary to use the similar items in BP, it seems any arbitrary book can be dragged from Amazon into the BP window... Interesting. It isn't as useful or convenient as the interface in DL, but good to know. Thanks.

Any Bookpedia+iSight users out there? Would love some feedback. I still havent casted my vote in this poll. Even with all its great features, I cant use BP if I have to manually type in each ISBN.

Wow. It seems that the Poll has jumped towards DL over night. Yet, mosts of the actually posts favor BP.

Those of you voting for Delicious Library in the poll, please give us some feedback. What do you like and dislike?
======================

Bookpedia: The developers and support staff are very fast and a pleasure to work with. I have been contacting them for my DVDpedia questions over the last week.They also have a user support forum set up. (http://www.bruji.com/forum/) On this forum people are encouraged to leave their feedback and wishes for future versions. The staff regularly comments.

Delicious Library: Unfortunately, I have not had the oppurtunity to evaluate the customer support of DL. I did search for a user support forum but was unable to find anything. Just a page of FAQ.

Hey all, this is Drew from Delicious Monster. Cool discussion. To me, it's a no-brainer, but I totally appreciate comments from you guys that will help us improve in the future.
Keep posting suggestions and what you guys like/dislike. We do read this stuff and take it into consideration so it's definitely helpful. Feel free to write me at delicious@delicious-monster.com too. Our eyes and ears are open for sure and we're working hard. :)

Also, I just want to point out that Delicious Library definitely has viewable and sortable columns. You can switch into List mode (either with the toggle at the top left of the main Cover View, or from the View menu, by choosing Show as List) and you've got real columns to view and sort by -- or you can stay in Cover View and you can sort how you want to see your books in the top header above the main view.

I also wrote a great Help item on this. From the Delicious Library Help, choose Browsing and then Sorting Items.

Let me know if you guys have any more questions.

Have you considered getting a CueCat? I got one so that I could simplify the process of listing my CDs, DVDs and books with all the Pedias. It works very well (with books, especially, the scanning is a breeze).

The only problematic cases with a CueCat, for me, have been CDs that have very small barcodes (sometimes) or barcodes completely to the edge of the plastic case (in this last case [no pun intended], the CueCat will sometimes bump on the edge of the CD case and fail to completely read the code).

Otherwise, as I've said, it works very well, it's very fast... and very cheap (should cost you about 10$-15$ on eBay).

Delicious Library w/iSight vs. Bookpedia
 

I bought Delicious Library a few months ago without entering my complete database of books (approaching 4,000). I even bought an iSight because I thought it was sooo cool, all that easy scanning. Well, the iSight is cool and it works very well with DL, but DL is excruciatingly slow to work with. It takes minutes to open, minutes to close, and moving from list to list within the software is slow enough to DRIVE ME NUTS.

I really like just about everything about the software -- EXCEPT THE SPEED. I can only assume it's because I have a large DB, but they don't say anything about limiting the size of the DB. And why should I have to? Kind of defeats the purpose. I imported my DB into Bookpedia, and it seems to move around much, much faster.

Another thing that is extremely slow about DL is email help response. They don't have a forum, and they should. I have had need to ask them three questions by email. The first one was answered within a couple of days. The second one ... well, it took more than two weeks to get a response and I sent a couple of emails reminding them that I hadn't gotten a response, even started to feel invisible. My last email took 11 days for a response. I guess if you don't have any questions for them, you won't have to worry about that.

Finally, I have to say that exporting from DL is pretty poor. You can't select which columns to export -- you have to take the WHOLE thing, and once you've added notes and comments, etc., it's a BIG file. When you want to import that into anything else, it's a mess. If you just want to send someone a list of your books, you still have to export EVERYTHING. There is no other way to export ... oh, well, except for a really nice looking PDF file of your DB (137MB for my DB).

You can use the iSight with Bookpedia now, too. It's not as clean as it is with DL, but it does work. That was an important feature to me. So is the Market Price at Amazon. I want to know which of my books is selling for the highest prices so I can hurry up and read it and sell it!

DL is just about everything I would want, if it moved faster. It appears that Bookpedia does has pretty much the same features and is less than half the price.

Also, I have been working with Booxter (http://www.deepprose.com/). Their scanning with iSight is better than Bookpedia. The only thing I have emailed them about is adding a tie-in to Amazon's Market Price (response within 24 hours). That market price tie-in is so important to me that I can't bring myself to use them until they've added that feature, and who knows if they will? Keeping my fingers crossed. The are only charging $14.99.

So, if you don't have another thing in the world to do and don't mind sitting around WAITING on Delicious Library (I'm using a PowerBook G4, 1.33GHz, 1 GB RAM, OS X 10.4.2), then use it. It's my own fault for not entering my entire DB before I bought it. If I'd know it was this slow, I would never have bought it. Live and learn.

Hello everyone,

I'm glad to hear that so many of you are happy with Bookpedia. The iSight feature - which seems to be the most important part of this discussion - is still very new to Bookpedia. Writing the code for it gave Conor quite a headache but to improve it and get other developers interested, he's made it public now on sourceforge.net so any of you with coding experience, you're welcome to help.
There's also a little section in the Bookpedia Help file about how to use the iSight feature. It includes a few helpful tips and tricks, so be sure to check that out.
We're always working on improving Bookpedia (and the other Pedias) so keep the feedback coming!

Kind regards,
Nora - Bruji.com

>Bluetooth scanner option: Flic® Wireless Laser Barcode Scanner Rather cool idea, but pricey ($199.95). If you wander out of wireless range (50 ft), the scanner automatically remembers up to 500 barcodes that will be imported the next time you're in range.

You do realize that you can use a CueCat or many other USB scanners with DL, right? The Flic is just a fancy option, and so is the iSight. I use a CueCat and have the same issue of CD barcodes that are close to the lip of the case causing issues at times.

I have not tried BP, but even though DL can get slow at time with an older processor, it is seeing improvements and it is nice to have all of my media in ONE program and not a suite. Kinda like I prefer AppleWorks over Office.

I just got a CueCat and love it. It works great with all the pedias (BP, CDP, DVDP) as well as DL. It cost me $10 plus $5 shipping on eBay though I see several posted now for $7 plus shipping. I bought it from theguywhopaystoomuchjusttowin and he shipped it the next day. It came with a single page with instructions and a sample bar code. Once I started running it over the UPC fast enough it worked without a hitch in all four programs. I could even use it in other programs such as TextEdit or Mail. Be sure you get the "modified" version. It's listed as "Modified USB Cue Cat CueCat Standard Barcode Scanner" on eBay.

I really didn't want to spend $150 for iSight. Fortunately, I saw another post in this thread where someone else used a CueCat. I'm using it through a USB hub.

Older books.
 

Not only do I have several thousand books, I have many hundreds of collectible paperbacks that way precede barcode/UPC and ISBNs. This is a problem.

Yup. I have a number like that as well. Not much that you can do about that. At least with both of these tools you can type in part of a title and the tool will fill in the rest. Not all of the information is correct, but really, do you need more than title, author and format (and maybe location - but you would have to fill that in yourself anyway). This is what I did and it worked well enough. Is it as fast as scanning barcode? No, but it is better than not having a record of your books at all...

Readerware
 

Good discussion, most helpful thanks.

Anyone tried Readerware?

www.readerware.com

best regards
Stewart

Posted from an Email
 

I recently received this email. I asked his permission to post it here.

Genres
 

I rather suspect that the strange genres are not a function of the tool, but rather a function of where the data is pulled from...

Getting Images for DL and BP
 

You can capture an image from DL or BP by double-clicking on a book, single-clicking on the picture itself and copying (Command-C) the image.

You can also find images using Google Image Search at http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q= and typing in the book title. This also works for CDs and DVDs.

After you've found the image you can drag it into the image area of either program once the book, CD, or DVD has already been added. Don't try to drag it into a record which has been found but not yet added--add it first. Don't forget to click OK after adding the image.

Google Image Search will find some but not all of the images which both programs fail to find on their own.

You're right there. It's a side problem of pulling so much data from Amazon, which lately has been going nuts with their categories. Which in turn is a side effect of their letting everyone do their own categories for a while as well.

I myself would like to be able to select what info is pulled and from where. I trust info in IMDB more than that of amazon, and I sincerely don't want to have reviews (user or editorial) in my items, personally.

Other than that I like DL a lot and was a very early adopter, but that's probably because I had a less than wonderful time with Readerware and DL was a beacon of light in what seemed to be awful interfaces all around.

I've heard desire of others to be able to change themes or turn DL into a more Aqua version of itself (the speed of which is also probably a side effect of its heavy use of graphics).

Other than that I'd really be willing to move to whatever program decides to be able to categorize comics separately from books, as its the only kind of books I track as a different issue (partnership with comicpriceguide would be cool, too)

Eduo

Hey all, it's Drew from Delicious Monster again. Thanks Reflect_TRUTH, for posting the feature suggestions email. We are working hard on 2.0 and hopefully, should all go well, everyone here should be very happy with what we're working on.

As to the genres, you're right, they're a function of Amazon presently. Actually, the ones we use right now are greatly cleaned up from the Amazon versions (we actually spent several days trying to find common bogus genre data and eliminated tons of it). If you go back to version 1.0 and compare the progress we made in 1.5, it's not even funny. They've gotten a lot cleaner and we've done our best to continue to make them more accurate. The rest is somewhat up to our data source at the moment, as you keenly observe.

Thanks for the wonderful feedback here and keep it coming. We check our email a lot more than I get to this page, but I'll do my best to keep returning. If you want to reach us right away, let us know at delicious@delicious-monster.com

I just learned of Bookpedia, and I tried it out. iSight scanning is an absolute necessity for me. I don't want to manually enter anything. I was pleasantly surprised to it worked well on Bookpedia, 10/10. I also like the export options in Bookpedia.

That said, the user interface in DL seems much more intuitive and user-friendly. I also like having Books/Movies/Games all in one app. Also, I noticed I have to click the mouse after every book I scan into Bookpedia. DL I can just scan,scan,scan. Doesn't seem like much, but it makes a difference.

I haven't bought either yet. I plan on waiting for DL 2.0 then resuming this comparison.

Wow. What a close race in the polls here: 26 (DL) to 27 (BP).

Im really glad to see that the developers have responded here as well. It speaks of their desire to please their customers.

I must say that both are great apps. I'm still wishing that I could combine some features from both. Oh well, guess I cant have it all.

It's been six months since you wrote this reply, and we are still waiting on Delicious Library version 2. Any update?

well... they are at 1.6.1

Moving up at least....

So far my only complaint is the random failure to find movies using the barcode scanner.... Sometimes they just come up blank! I have found occasionally that what is on amazon doesn't match the dvd case....

I desparately want to use Delicious. I have a large DVD, Book, and CD collection. Two rooms.

I can't get the scan to work. I have even tried in direct sunlight. I have tried two different iSights, and 3 different computers.

I am envious. My excel sheets kind of suck, and this widget and application was supposed to make my millenium.

I've got god knows how many books, I bought DL a while back and then shortly after discovered BP.

I much prefer BP, and would use that if ONLY the iSight scanning worked better. DL iSight design and reliability is much, much, much, much better.

DL will have its uses but as far as I am concerned it will not be for my books.

BP beats it hands down every time when it comes to finding info on books.
Also has the great web export.

One of the reasons I want to store by book list, is so I can make webpages of them.

I often find myself in a Book store and come across a book I am not sure if
I have read or not. I want to be able to check there and then, by using my mobile phone web browser.

Strange. I don't own the app, only tried the trial. But I used a regular old FireWire video camera, and had no trouble scanning in quickly. After a while I felt like a grocery clerk. Beep, beep, beep...

I know this may sound extravagant, but I got their barcode scanner... works very well..... If you really want to use Dl, I recommend it.... No. I don't have an iSight - I wouldn't want to force people to look at my mug!!:p