Book database - input with scanner

Hi everyone -

I'd like to catalog my book collection, and thought that an ideal solution
would be to be able to use a barcode scanner to scan the ISBN & then do an
auto-lookup on one of the many databases out there.

I see there are a couple of products that offer this -
http://www.readerware.com , http://www.delicious-monster.com/ (Mac only),
and even some do-it-yourself'ers - http://www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/

Does anyone have any experience with any of these or other products? I'm
long overdue to catalog my collection, if nothing else than for insurance
purposes. Any input is greatly appreciated!

Readerware is great if most of your collection has barcodes or at least
ISBNs or LOC numbers which you can enter into a search. For older books, you
have search the LOC manually and drag the information into the database, but
it still beats typing!

Chris

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:40:32 GMT, "Chris Charles"
wrote:

Readerware is great if most of your collection has barcodes or at least
ISBNs or LOC numbers which you can enter into a search. For older books, you
have search the LOC manually and drag the information into the database, but
it still beats typing!

I recently bought Readerware but haven't tried it out yet, but it
looks to be exactly what I needed - thanks to those of you who
recommended it.

(thank you again)

JAH


Net Crimes & Misdemeanors: 2nd edition
netcrimes.net
haltabuse.org

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:29:43 -0500, "Jeff B"
wrote:

Hi everyone -

I'd like to catalog my book collection, and thought that an ideal solution
would be to be able to use a barcode scanner to scan the ISBN & then do an
auto-lookup on one of the many databases out there.

I see there are a couple of products that offer this -
http://www.readerware.com , http://www.delicious-monster.com/ (Mac only),
and even some do-it-yourself'ers - http://www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/

Does anyone have any experience with any of these or other products? I'm
long overdue to catalog my collection, if nothing else than for insurance
purposes. Any input is greatly appreciated!


I use Readerware and when I got it, they tossed in one of those "cue
cat" readers for free (USB version). I am a happy customer not with
just the program, but also with the ease I added several hundred of my
most important books into the db using this device. I attached the USB
device to my laptop so it made things a whole lot easier to scan
rather then carrying the collection to and from my primary desktop
machine. Then I just backed up and restored the db's.

I created two separate db's to start - one for my signed 1st's and one
for my 1st edition/1st printings. My other books I haven't gotten
around to scanning yet, but this combination of software and hardware
made little work of it.

What they offer in addition to this is a scaled down version of a Palm
app, which is a nice freebie - I merged and then ported my db's so I
can carry a copy on my Palm Zire. One could conceivably create a db
of sought after books as well and carry that around if you have a long
book list of what you seek when you're "on the road". My lists are
rather short, so a simple note in Outlook suffices (and then synced to
my Zire 72).

Another nifty feature of the program is to pull data from various
sources (Amazon, etc.) about book descriptions, things of this sort.
It even downloads a small jpg of the book dust jacket if available.

The best deal was to get the version which also includes software to
catalog not just books - but video's and CD's. If memory serves, this
was the least expensive way to go. I haven't gotten around to
scanning my CD's and dvd's yet, but if each of those apps work as good
as the book version, I'll be a happy camper.

I have no affiliation with Readerware - I'm just a happy customer.
Take a look through the newsgroup archives (groups.google.com) - I
asked the same question you did when I was looking around for an app
and others here offered me useful advice as well as alternatives.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

LiRM

Greetings:

Whay would you use two dbs? There's a field for 'signed' in the reguar
db, so it's easy to pull out the signed books in a blink.

Also, if you have a book in the 'unsigned' database and then it
becomes signed, a headache to move it.

Just curious...

Denton

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:42:37 -0500, LiRM wrote:


I created two separate db's to start - one for my signed 1st's and one
for my 1st edition/1st printings. My other books I haven't gotten
around to scanning yet, but this combination of software and hardware
made little work of it.

"LiRM" wrote in message
...


I use Readerware and when I got it, they tossed in one of those "cue
cat" readers for free (USB version). I am a happy customer not with
just the program, but also with the ease I added several hundred of my
most important books into the db using this device. I attached the USB
device to my laptop so it made things a whole lot easier to scan
rather then carrying the collection to and from my primary desktop
machine. Then I just backed up and restored the db's.
snip
Hope this helps.

Regards,

LiRM


Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Looks like Readerware is
probably the way to go.

JB

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:42:48 -0500, Denton Taylor
wrote:

Greetings:

Whay would you use two dbs? There's a field for 'signed' in the reguar
db, so it's easy to pull out the signed books in a blink.

Also, if you have a book in the 'unsigned' database and then it
becomes signed, a headache to move it.

Just curious...

Denton

No other reason then I have them organized like that - signed firsts
in one bookcase and unsigned firsts in another - along with 7 or 8
bookcases of other books I haven't started to catalog yet. Your point
is a good one, though.

Regards,

LiRM


On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:42:37 -0500, LiRM wrote:


I created two separate db's to start - one for my signed 1st's and one
for my 1st edition/1st printings. My other books I haven't gotten
around to scanning yet, but this combination of software and hardware
made little work of it.

Keep in mind there's also a 'location' field... anyway the auto
lookup, whether you scan or input ISBNs manually, goes pretty fast.

Denton


On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:20:47 -0500, LiRM wrote:


No other reason then I have them organized like that - signed firsts
in one bookcase and unsigned firsts in another - along with 7 or 8
bookcases of other books I haven't started to catalog yet. Your point
is a good one, though.

Regards,

LiRM