Delicious Library

[mundens]

I have just found a reason to buy a Mac. This is exactly the sort of application I've wanted for years. Not just for what it does, but for how it does it, but waving the bar code of your book, DVD, CD, etc in front of your web-cam. Feck, for the first time I really wish I had a Mac

Comments

[repton_infinity]

I had a brief look at that a week or so ago. Unfortunately the new version requires Leopard, and I got my iMac before Leopard came out.

I tried version 1, though. It got 2 out of the 3 books I tried correct. Unfortunately, not all the books on my bookshelf _have_ barcodes.

Plus, hauling them from the lounge to my computer and then holding them up infront of my iSight (built into the computer, so not easily movable) sounds like a chore.

Maybe one day I'll upgrade to Leopard, buy a wireless barcode scanner (not cheap), scan all my scannable books, and enter the rest manually...

[sentinelonlj]

I was going to say "Why?" but then I remembered at a NatCon two (or was it three?) years ago, there was a panel on houses of the future where items such as solar panels, water tanks / grey water etc. etc. were discussed.

One simple item I threw in was a bar code scanner which would be in say the pantry or kitchen and as you ran out of an item, say salt, or a tin of beans, you'd scan the item and a small green screen with two or three lines of display would ask if you wanted to add the item to you grocery list, either now or later? The bar code reader (which are already commercially available as are bar code scanners) can be hooked up wired/wireless to a home computer or direct to a supplier of choice.

In either application, a data base (like the CD Gracenode) would have to be accessed either through a one of list purchase or subscription.

But could you just look at the cover and work out what the item you are looking at is?

[mundens]

The attraction is that I would (theoretically) not have to type in anything, speeding up processing of the thousands of books and comics and DVDs I have considerably, and making it feasible to catalogue them.

Unfortunately, the experience I've had with with the Windows clone so far has been pretty disappointing, and I wouldn't recommend it.

[sentinelonlj]

I can understand where you're coming from in all this; there are bar code labellers commercially available so perhaps you could itemise everything and simply attach a bar code of you own making which would help when categorising things? (and thus avoid purchasing data bases of items you might not otherwise need info on)

[sentinelonlj]

The other advantage of this would be if you had your own garage sale, with your own bar code label on everything, you could set your own prices and run the sale quite efficiently (or hand it over to a shop to do on your behalf, again with your own set prices...)

[repton_infinity]

Also: http://www.collectorz.com/

[mundens]

Hmm, I don't like the fact that they sell all the different databases as separate products, but it is a good idea that they sell the scanner along with the software if you want it. A Bluetooth or WiFi scanner one would be the way to go, though they're feckin' expensive! At least some of the ones they sell can store a thousand or so codes which can then be uploaded by USB in bulk. I'm actually quite tempted by that concept.

May put it off until my cash-flow improves, but when I do it I'm sure I'll post about it! :)

[repton_infinity]

Ok, that's significantly more expensive than I expected. Delicious Library offers a bluetooth scanner for under US$200, so I'm sure you could find better prices, either from overseas or on trademe.

Also, it occurs to me that a handheld scanner would be necessary for the initial hundreds-of-books scan, but after that, a webcam scanner would be quite sufficient.