“Back in 2004, shortly before the release of Mac OS X Tiger, Delicious Library 1.0 arrived as a slick looking inventory cataloging application designed to manage listings of books, videos, albums and other media. This year, Delicious Library 2.0, currently in beta and scheduled for a March release, will deliver a major update by taking full advantage of features in the new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Here’s an exclusive preview.”
I’ve always admired their technical skills in providing a quality product. Although I haven’t purchased their program (I don’t have an iSight, nor a new mac – my Powerbook refuses to die) I love the idea that the company develops the software at their local cafe. Very grass roots orientated.
You can find out more about this innovative company at:
http://www.delicious-monster.com/company.php
Tellico is very nice as a catalogue package. It doesn’t have the eye candy. It has none at all in fact. But its very simple to use, well featured and of course free. Imagine you could get it compiled for OSX – its a KDE package. Bar codes, you just get a keyboard wedge scanner and support is automatic from any package.
It was a good informative review, but I was left feeling, no, this is not the kind of thing I want on my dekstop. Tastes differ…
For Linux there are other nice similar apps too although Tellico might perhaps be the best at the moment(?). In the GTK-based apps category there is, for example, GCStar: http://www.linux.com/feature/127174 It is marketed as a movie collection manager but can be very well used in cataloguing other media types (books, games etc.) too: http://www.linux.com/feature/127174
Anyway, I have to admit that the Mac app reviewed here, Delicious Library, looks much better than anything available on Linux so far.
I’ve never really understood the point of these applications. Why would I want a virtual bookshelf of my CDs, DVDs, books etc when I can just turn around and look at my bookshelf filled with… CDs, DVDs and books.
Perhaps I’m missing some killer application of it.
I guess some people just think that anything can be made better by adding a computer to the mix
On a more serious note these types of apps can have their use. If your collection is so large/your apartment so small that you need to keep some of your collection in storage in the attic, or if you have your collection spread out over several rooms (or even several houses), it’s nice to still be able to check what you actually have and where you have it. I also know people who use these types of apps to keep track of whom they lend stuff to.
That being said this particular app seems to be mainly eye candy and not a serious inventory tool.
Welcome to the delicious generation.
Think insurance, if your collection were stolen.
(UPCs and even prices-of-the-day for the insurance adjuster!)
And search, you can query your dvds for certain actors, etc.
Neither am I a maniac collector, and I suppose I can pretty well remember where each of my books, CDs and DVDs are. Maybe if I had lots of friends borrowing my records and books all the time, it would make more sense to have such an app to keep track of the stuff borrowed?
But, there are also many private collectors who do have thousands of books, videos and/or records (etc.).
Besides, these kind of apps could be useful for organizations that have troubles maintaining paper records of their book or other collections but who don’t yet have need for real library management software. Say, a small hospital library that has lots of books and magazines both for the personnel and for the patients and that needs to keep records of who has borrowed a certain book or magazine etc.
Edited 2008-03-04 22:10 UTC
It depends on what you’re keeping and if you have so many that you’re not sure whether to buy something you believe you don’t have yet.
It would be a lot more useful if it was closer to a warehousing inventory application with locations, for those with large numbers of products. It’s long on visuals and amusement but those wear thin quickly. Rather than wait for the webcam to scan my UPC code, I’ll enter it myself.
For most people, IMDB offers reasonable online cataloging plus good information about each item.