Sunday larf, plus a question about online book and/or DVD scanner databases

[tzikeh]

I've been remiss in keeping up my "Sunday is for LOLs" posts, so here's a double for you:





So, I'm thinking of jumping into Library Thing, but I have a few questions for those of you who use it/know more about these things than I do.

Even though this is a general poll, please add any other thoughts or info you think I should know in the comments. Also, please, if you feel like it, point your flist over here to help out--the more info I have, the more... info I have. (Shut up I'm tired.)



[Poll #1739361]

Sorry if the poll is a bit out of order; I'm really really tired.

Comments

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

Whoa. I just read fic based on Library Thing.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

What? People use Library Thing for fic? How? Do they have barcodes?

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

No, I mean, Library Thing was a major plot point in the story. :D

[usakeh.livejournal.com]

That Google graphic is hilarious! I love the stuff you post. It always brings a smile to my face.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to make people happy :)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

My librarything (linked on my LJ sidebar) is owned by me and my hub, since we share our library. My goodreads is me alone. I use it to keep track of my to-be-read & read lists.

We used a scanner for our 2000+ books, but some were pre-barcode technology - our pulp collectibles, my antique kid lit, etc.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Ooh - what kind of scanner do you have?

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I don't know, actually - we borrowed it from a friend, since we didn't need it forever, just until we'd put in the catalog.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

This site tracks many things, including books and DVDs. http://www.itrackmine.com/

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

I have an awesome one on my Android phone that handles books and DVDs equally well and pulls up the data from the barcode (using the camera in the phone). I don't suppose that helps though, does it?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Well - what's the name of the program? ;)

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

It's called "Book Collection & Library".

Though I should probably add this one disclaimer - it finds some of my pretty esoteric stuff and labels it appropriately... but it can't find any of my Star Trek novels. It tells me it's found them and then gives them a different name. Even some of the newer ones, like ones from the Enterprise series.

But some of my really odd stuff, like some of my small-publisher Wiccan/Pagan books, it handles beautifully (and those are the ones I need to be able to tote the names around with me, so I don't buy the same book twice, so...)

[azriona.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked at my account in years, and frankly, until you posted, I'd forgotten I have one. The original plan was to keep track of books in storage v. books we had on hand. Not a good plan when you can't even remember you had the program to start....

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

HEE! No, not particularly useful that way.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Suppose it would be accurate for me to say that I *used* a service like LibraryThing, once, but my dalliance with Shelfari really didn't last all that long. Part of it was that I was trying to catalog some very obscure books that I owned, and all that without using barcode scanners or the like, and part of it was that it was setting itself up as a social network based around books but really didn't have that much social energy. Also, the source of the data was Amazon's very wonky back catalogue.

[thaccian.livejournal.com]

I've been happy with Bookpedia. You can use a barcode scanner (though I never have). I like the way it will go out and grab all the relevant info from sites like Amazon & the Library of Congress and other sites, and the fact that I can manually enter additional information, which is especially useful for keeping track of which individual titles etc. are contained in all my play and literary anthologies.

They also have a DVDpeida, a CDpeida and a Gamepedia available in a variety of bundle offers. See: http://tinyurl.com/3haw44k

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

I've not tried to use it to record my entire collection. That would be a scary task! I just enter and review books or audiobooks when I feel like I have something to say. IOW, not everything. It's just a handy way to record thoughts if I have them.

I've also been sharing some of my reviews with Facebook, when I've read something I think my friends might be interested in. Oh, and they have the "early reviewers" program where you can apply to get advanced copies. I actually got one! ...and then took ages to submit my review, so I'll probably never get given another ;->

I joined Goodreads when they sent me a message that they have an author page on me because of a story I have in an anthology. I filled in the profile, but haven't done much with it. It looks like a good sight that might be more social than Library Thing -- in terms of discussing books. Someday, I might copy all my reviews over there too, but I haven't done it yet.

[bibliogrrl.livejournal.com]

I use goodreads, and I entered everything manually. I am terrible about keeping up with it. :D

I own MAYBE 20 DVDs. Heh.

[natlyn.livejournal.com]

http://www.collectorz.com/ sells products for cataloguing books and DVDs, but I think the modules are sold separately.

[pocketmouse]

Granted, the software I do know of that lets you catalogue books and DVDs is the pro software my library uses. So, uh, yeah.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

We use LibrarayThing (finally cataloged my books - xlorp's are next). We rarely buy books so it was annoying when we kept buying duplicates.

I am also trying to use it to track my DVDs - saw the recommendation for http://www.itrackmine.com/ so will check it out.

We use a CueCat barcode scanner and it works for 85% of our books. older books I have to manually enter.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

I amost never use my account but i bought a lifetime one when I opened it. I also bought from them the CueCat barcode scanner, which was useful to catalog all my books at the time. I haven't kept up because I'm silly but I want to. :)

[vass]

I'm very happy with LibraryThing. I really wish they'd make an iPhone app that did the same thing, but that's Amazon's fault, not theirs - Amazon is blocking them.

If I had to enter my books again, I'd definitely buy a CueCat.

If you have an iPhone, they've made a nice app that does something else: Local Books. It's billed as the Urban Spoon for bookshops and libraries and literary events, and it showed me all the bookish places in a 10km radius of me, including all the ones I already knew about and some that I didn't. And it's free.

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

I use LibraryThing more for the books I own and Goodreads more for the books I've read and more for the social aspects. I plan to get a barcode scanner soon because it's getting harder to keep up. I was quite happy to pay for a lifetime account on LibraryThing shortly after they first started up because it was a cool thing that I wanted to support but I won't deny that I appreciate that Goodreads is free.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Google: oh so true. And at least I know how to use a search engine. Watching my students try to conduct a search? Painful. And of course, they don't want my help, because what do I know about the internet, since I'm old? I tell them that by the time they were born, I'd been posting to usenet for 2 years.

sticking in my late 2 cents

[lapillus]

I have both a librarything account and a goodreads account. The former I've used to catalog my physical library, mostly by hand (I am very fast doing 10 key data entry and, although I have barcode scanner, a cuecat, for me it was much faster to just do it by hand, especially given that I have a fair number of books without barcodes (and even a not insignificant number that don't have ISBNs or library of congress numbers).I used librarything to make a full listing of the books I own, mostly so I have it for insurance purposes, although I've loaded an exported copy of the data to my phone so I can try to avoid duplicates when buying.

I've uploaded the result to goodreads, but mostly use it follow what a couple of friends of mine are reading or interested in reading and occasionally to see how books have gotten rated/reviewed.

For CDs and DVDs I've ended up buying collectorz.com products. In both cases you can catalog by scanner (at least in theory, I never bothered trying), by inserting the disc in question, entering the barcode by hand or doing a more exhaustive hand search. I've dumped copies of the data in my dropbox to avoid dupes. Again, I want them mostly for insurance and duplicate-avoidance purposes, rather than social, although it's certainly easy enough to send an exported spreadsheet if someone is interested.

I'm currently surrounded by Jackie's cds that I'm putting in a separate file via the software.