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Make it simple.

Have a stack of small name stickers printed and put those on the inside cover.
Archive and track your titles with Delicious Library or a similar tool that can scan the book-barcodes with the webcam on your computer and then automatically fetches the books metadata and coverfotos from the intarweb (amazon, etc.).

You can then use Delicious Library to keep track who's got what.
The namestickers are enough to let people know who's book they've still got.

I have been using Delicious Library for 5 years and it is excellent. It seems to have been created with exactly home libraries in mind. BTW, no need for a scanner. It uses your webcam to pick up the barcode. Call me a fan. Delicious Library -Tayster

Try Delicious Library. http://www.delicious-monster.com/

If your library is small and you have no tracking what-so-ever installed, or only trust-based tracking, Delicious Library might be the right thing. It's a personal solution focussing on private collections, but it is very fun and easy to use, supports barcode scanning with simple webcams and retrieves its item/katalog data via the web by scraping amazon and other sources when adding items, so you'll save yourself the hassle of data entry.

Even if you use a different solution in the end, the data retrieval system might be worth looking at, to save yourself data-entry headaches.

My 2 cents.

I'm on a Mac and I use Delicious Library

My brother uses the different products from Collectorz which run on a bunch of platforms.

Or you could just use spotlight? Thats what I have been using and it works fine for me.

I'm on a Mac and I use Delicious Library

My brother uses the different products from Collectorz which run on a bunch of platforms.

Bullshit, he licenses his stuff legally, if Amazon doesn't want to license it he doesn't use it.

I'll see your bullshit and raise you one.

He posted the iPhone app sometime around the beginning of April in spite of Amazon clearly stating, "You will not, without our express prior written approval...use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection with any site or application designed or intended for use with a mobile phone or other handheld device." He didn't pull his app until July 7.

From TFA:

Amazon gave D-M an ultimatum: pull the iPhone app, or lose the API access for the desktop version of Library.

(Emphasis mine)

In other words, he broke the terms of his agreement with Amazon, one that he probably figured was kind of insignificant and not worth getting worked up over, and they grossly overreacted by threatening him.

Kind of like how, you know, the developer who used his frickin' woodgrain texture was in minor violation of his copyright, something they probably figured was kind of insignificant (and that it's quite possible they weren't even aware of) and not worth getting worked up over, and he grossly overreacted by pulling out this "I'll Sue Ya!" bullshit and resorting to kindergarten name-calling instead.

If you've ever known an artist, you'd already know that even excellent artists don't make shit for their work.

...And then the bullshit got really thick.

I might agree with you on this point if the woodgrain texture--and I mean that specific woodgrain texture--were an integral part of his application. If it were somehow unique in some way that made that specific woodgrain texture scream, "This is Delicious Library!" As it is, it's just a plain ol' generic-looking woodgrain texure. If he spent more than ten minutes on creating the texture or paid more than $0.50 or so for it off a stock art site, he's an idiot. As it is, it's more like Ruby Tuesday suing a customer who posts a picture they took in one of their restaurants because the picture happened to capture the wood grain on one of their tables in the background. "Waaah! Copyright infringement! Furniture makers don't make shit, and it's because he--gasp!--took a picture!!!

By the way, look closely at this screenshot of Delicious Library posted on his site. Specifically, the black-and-white photo in the upper right corner. See that Dolby logo? That's trademarked, you know, and I'd bet that he didn't pay Dolby to use it. Look at his home page and notice all of the references to iPhone, iTunes, OS X, etc. Notice how he doesn't put any trademark symbol or registration mark after them? I also don't see any kind of "iPhone/iTunes/iWhatever is a registered trademark of Apple Inc." disclaimer. Technically, that's a violation, and Apple could sue him. Or better yet, let's just publicly shame him and call him a thief, the stealing bastard!

Bullshit indeed. Let's just crucify them all, shall we? Because that's obviously what these laws are for!

Bullshit, he licenses his stuff legally, if Amazon doesn't want to license it he doesn't use it.

I'll see your bullshit and raise you one.

He posted the iPhone app sometime around the beginning of April in spite of Amazon clearly stating, "You will not, without our express prior written approval...use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection with any site or application designed or intended for use with a mobile phone or other handheld device." He didn't pull his app until July 7.

From TFA:

Amazon gave D-M an ultimatum: pull the iPhone app, or lose the API access for the desktop version of Library.

(Emphasis mine)

In other words, he broke the terms of his agreement with Amazon, one that he probably figured was kind of insignificant and not worth getting worked up over, and they grossly overreacted by threatening him.

Kind of like how, you know, the developer who used his frickin' woodgrain texture was in minor violation of his copyright, something they probably figured was kind of insignificant (and that it's quite possible they weren't even aware of) and not worth getting worked up over, and he grossly overreacted by pulling out this "I'll Sue Ya!" bullshit and resorting to kindergarten name-calling instead.

If you've ever known an artist, you'd already know that even excellent artists don't make shit for their work.

...And then the bullshit got really thick.

I might agree with you on this point if the woodgrain texture--and I mean that specific woodgrain texture--were an integral part of his application. If it were somehow unique in some way that made that specific woodgrain texture scream, "This is Delicious Library!" As it is, it's just a plain ol' generic-looking woodgrain texure. If he spent more than ten minutes on creating the texture or paid more than $0.50 or so for it off a stock art site, he's an idiot. As it is, it's more like Ruby Tuesday suing a customer who posts a picture they took in one of their restaurants because the picture happened to capture the wood grain on one of their tables in the background. "Waaah! Copyright infringement! Furniture makers don't make shit, and it's because he--gasp!--took a picture!!!

By the way, look closely at this screenshot of Delicious Library posted on his site. Specifically, the black-and-white photo in the upper right corner. See that Dolby logo? That's trademarked, you know, and I'd bet that he didn't pay Dolby to use it. Look at his home page and notice all of the references to iPhone, iTunes, OS X, etc. Notice how he doesn't put any trademark symbol or registration mark after them? I also don't see any kind of "iPhone/iTunes/iWhatever is a registered trademark of Apple Inc." disclaimer. Technically, that's a violation, and Apple could sue him. Or better yet, let's just publicly shame him and call him a thief, the stealing bastard!

Bullshit indeed. Let's just crucify them all, shall we? Because that's obviously what these laws are for!

Bullshit, he licenses his stuff legally, if Amazon doesn't want to license it he doesn't use it.

I'll see your bullshit and raise you one.

He posted the iPhone app sometime around the beginning of April in spite of Amazon clearly stating, "You will not, without our express prior written approval...use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection with any site or application designed or intended for use with a mobile phone or other handheld device." He didn't pull his app until July 7.

From TFA:

Amazon gave D-M an ultimatum: pull the iPhone app, or lose the API access for the desktop version of Library.

(Emphasis mine)

In other words, he broke the terms of his agreement with Amazon, one that he probably figured was kind of insignificant and not worth getting worked up over, and they grossly overreacted by threatening him.

Kind of like how, you know, the developer who used his frickin' woodgrain texture was in minor violation of his copyright, something they probably figured was kind of insignificant (and that it's quite possible they weren't even aware of) and not worth getting worked up over, and he grossly overreacted by pulling out this "I'll Sue Ya!" bullshit and resorting to kindergarten name-calling instead.

If you've ever known an artist, you'd already know that even excellent artists don't make shit for their work.

...And then the bullshit got really thick.

I might agree with you on this point if the woodgrain texture--and I mean that specific woodgrain texture--were an integral part of his application. If it were somehow unique in some way that made that specific woodgrain texture scream, "This is Delicious Library!" As it is, it's just a plain ol' generic-looking woodgrain texure. If he spent more than ten minutes on creating the texture or paid more than $0.50 or so for it off a stock art site, he's an idiot. As it is, it's more like Ruby Tuesday suing a customer who posts a picture they took in one of their restaurants because the picture happened to capture the wood grain on one of their tables in the background. "Waaah! Copyright infringement! Furniture makers don't make shit, and it's because he--gasp!--took a picture!!!

By the way, look closely at this screenshot of Delicious Library posted on his site. Specifically, the black-and-white photo in the upper right corner. See that Dolby logo? That's trademarked, you know, and I'd bet that he didn't pay Dolby to use it. Look at his home page and notice all of the references to iPhone, iTunes, OS X, etc. Notice how he doesn't put any trademark symbol or registration mark after them? I also don't see any kind of "iPhone/iTunes/iWhatever is a registered trademark of Apple Inc." disclaimer. Technically, that's a violation, and Apple could sue him. Or better yet, let's just publicly shame him and call him a thief, the stealing bastard!

Bullshit indeed. Let's just crucify them all, shall we? Because that's obviously what these laws are for!

These two programs pretty much the same thing and look *very* similar. In fact one has taken image resources from the other in order, presumably, to look more like it. How could it *not* confuse people?
Just look at the two screenshots:
http://delicious-monster.com/images/librarypage/screenshots/iphonepublishing_BIG.png
http://iphone.netwalk.be/sites/default/files/01-main.jpg

https://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/3966821025

In summary (summarizing a twitter post, really? ;)).. they're pixel-for-pixel the same. He's not claiming copyright on 'a generic woodgrain pattern'. He's claiming copyright on -that exact- woodgrain image.

http://iphone.netwalk.be/sites/default/files/04-quickfind.jpg
( note: the developer of this application has already stated that he will change the graphics - citing that he was unaware the image was that of the delicious app - so that picture may change )
vs
http://delicious-monster.com/images/librarypage/screenshots/Delicious-Library.png

They're at different scales so a pixel-for-pixel comparison won't work for those two, but it should give you a reasonable indication of the exact pattern and whether or not you believe they indeed match.

Delicious Library is one of the most popular Mac shareware apps, and is exceptionally well-designed. Those wood bookcases are central to its UI look and feel. And he's already written an iPhone app - except Amazon decided to yank all mobile licenses to their data. Yes, that's right, he pays Amazon for access to their data, so it is legal use and paid for.

So your entire post is written like a true asshat who has no idea what's going on, and has contributed nothing. But that never stops Slashdot.

Delicious Library is one of the most popular Mac shareware apps, and is exceptionally well-designed. Those wood bookcases are central to its UI look and feel. And he's already written an iPhone app - except Amazon decided to yank all mobile licenses to their data. Yes, that's right, he pays Amazon for access to their data, so it is legal use and paid for.

So your entire post is written like a true asshat who has no idea what's going on, and has contributed nothing. But that never stops Slashdot.

Except he's been on the iPhone for a while - until Amazon yanked all mobile licenses to their data.

This goes back to the whole issue of stealing "look and feel", which they most certainly did. Whether that constitutes legal copyright infringement is beyond me (and I imagine 99% of the commenters on /.).

Image off of his website.

Macbook, Starcraft, Peggle... Are those fair use applications?

Brushed metal doesn't exist anymore. When it did, it was for applications containing a source list or emulating some real world device, so there was an intended consistency. Around the time brushed metal disappeared, black HUDs showed up in Apple's media applications, allowing you to make edits without obscuring too much of what you're working on. The deviations in OS X have a purpose.

The inconsistencies the person you're responding to is talking about is stupid crap like the way fonts are rendered. There is still uneven kerning and bad font choices after all these years. Applications don't follow a standard interface paradigm. You know how a Mac app is going to look and feel, even when it deviates from the norm, such as Delicious Library.

Ubuntu is odd because it's a project trying to take all this third-party work and make it feel like it's cohesive and meant to go together. I'd rather use the stuff in "vanilla" form and not make-believe that it was all created by the same team.

Delicious Library, Hold any CD, Book, VHS, DVD, UPC symbol in front of any webcam, built in, cell phone pic, and it organizes all your media. http://www.delicious-monster.com/ Written by a guy who never knew who he loaned stuff to. Gorgeous and lickable GUI. I think they patented the software... but a UPC?

Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster test drove a Tesla and wrote about it in his blog.

Here is part of what he had to say about:

It's crazy-fast. It handles like a jet fighter. It gets the equivalent of about 140 mpg. It has no gears ...

That may have been true at one time, but in its latest incarnation, it has a gearbox with two forward speeds, because low speed acceleration was wanting. The gearbox has proved to be its achilles heel. They have not been able to make it durable enough to last more than a short time.

Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster test drove a Tesla and wrote about it in his blog.

Here is part of what he had to say about:

It's crazy-fast. It handles like a jet fighter. It gets the equivalent of about 140 mpg. It has no gears. It requires almost no maintenance.e It's gorgeous. It's whisper-quiet. And, in Seattle, runs off hydro power.

In my world it's called Delicious Library.

Mod parent up. I was wondering when someone would make the connection. This could be like a portable version for shopping.

Actual website http://www.delicious-monster.com/ It was quite a splash in 2004.

In my world it's called Delicious Library.

And what the hell does "potential software base" mean? I have no idea, but I do know that lots of Mac applications exist. That doesn't even count some of the big ones, like those produced by Omni or something like Delicious Library and DEVONtechnologies.

Contrast that with books. There's no easy way for me to transfer the 200-odd books Delicious Library tells me I have to one of these devices. They're a mix of hardcover and paperback, new and used, and I'd be comfortable wagering that they average out to costing around $10 each, and I'm not about to throw that investment away for a digital reader that, just to get the reader, costs as much as 40 books. There's no way for me to easily transfer The Atlantic and The New Yorker to it whenever a new issue comes out. I don't want to read books on my computer screen, even though I have a nice shiny aluminum iMac with a monitor nicer than 90% of those used by people in the industrial wirkd on my desk, so I haven't bothered becoming a digital ruffian and downloading books from p2p or Bittorrent networks, assuming they are even available. Amazon isn't going to have every book I want available, and every book I want that I can't find and have to buy or check out of the library represents another reason not to use their system. This goes back to the digital ruffian issue that made mp3 players so appealing.

If I'm still reading thirty years from now, I probably won't be doing it on dead pages of ground up trees. The question is how the transition will happen. Maybe someone will come along and give me a free e-book of every book I already have. Maybe the piracy networks will develop, although this seems unlikely given the number of books out there and the difficulty of converting them from bound paper to digital files. Or maybe environmental problems will make printing and shipping books so cost ineffective that we'll end up converting to these devices for reasons other than those I'm imagining. Whatever the shift, I don't see it happening until someone solves these problems.

... if this were combined with an 2nd generation iPhone and Delicious Library. It'd be like a handheld barcode scanner to catalog all your stuff. Oh wait, still no SDK.

http://www.delicious-monster.com/

It uses the webcam build into new Macs, or a third-party firewire camera, to scan barcodes and index books and DVDs and such. It pulls the data from Amazon or another web source.

No laser scanner needed, no special barcodes required.

I have a Cue Cat hanging in my classroom. When the kids ask me about it, I tell them the funny story of people who thought you might want to spend the day scanning the barcodes of everything in your house! I sure am glad dumb ideas die and never come back !!!

You could try doing what these guys did

At first, I was kind of shocked when I heard this, just because it sounds so absurd, and was ready to abandon my plans of purchasing one when it comes out in Europe. Now I still think this is stupid (_if_ it is completely true), but I still like it enough as it is to buy it.

As I see it, there are two kinds of Applications which could theoretically run on the iPhone: "real" full-blown apps, and widget-like extensions of OS X desktop apps.

While probably a lot of people around here would care more for the first category, like in SSH/VNC/Remote Desktop clients or VOIP stacks, I think the killer app the masses would care about would lie in the second category.

For example, think about apps like the DVD/book/CD management software Delicious Library, or a recipe management software like Cookbook.

It would be incredibly cool if OS X developers could use xcode to compile small widget-like iPhone extensions with sync capabilities for their apps! Buy such an app, one-click install the extension to your phone. You could take your delicious DVD library with you on your phone, have Cookbook create and sync a shopping list automatically for the recipes you chose for the week, have your OmniOutliner task lists handy on the go etc etc.

Everybody wins - you could really have all the data you care about with you whereever you go, OS X developers would add even more value to their apps and Steve would have one killer application more to help him sell assloads of iPhones.

Steve doesn't know which data is important for me, and he shouldn't care. If he truly wants to bring "my digital life into my pocket", then he needs to open up the iPhone at least this far and bring the Mac and the iPhone closer together.

I see absolutely no reason no to do this; who said every app should have lowlevel access to the hardware / the network stack ? Put the apps in a sandbox, publish a limited API, I don't care.

But honestly, I'm taking everything I see with a grain of salt until it is officially on sale.

Seriously dude, take a look at all the great apps on OSX, plus the top-notch and free development tools.

Picked more or less at random off my machine: HOC, Objective-C binding for Haskell
and the fantasticDelicious Library. There is nothing as good as this on a PC. Full stop.
I could go on and on and on. Please don't talk crap.

Here's what I know of and/or could find for the ones I didn't.

• Aaron Hillegas
• Adam & Tonya Engst
• Amit Singh
• Andrina Kelly
• Andy Ihnatko
• Ben Wilson
• Brent Simmons
• Dan Frakes
• Danny Goodman
• David Pogue
• Drunkenbatman
• John Gruber
• John Siracusa
• Jonathan "Wolf" Rentzsch
• Josh Wisenbaker
• Michael Bartosh
• Mike Breeden
• Nigel Kersten
• Ray Barber
• Ric Ford
• Rich Siegel (Bare Bones SW)
• Rob Griffiths
• Rosyna Keller
• Scott Knaster
• Wil Shipley (Delicious Monster)

Unfortunately, it seems that Slashdot has a limitation on the minimum number of characters per line. So I can't just create a nice, simple list, but instead need a significant amount of text to pad out the list, so that I can make it past the filters being used. But I'm still not there yet... sooner or later I will (20.4 is still too few). I'm probably going to have to type a whole lot of crap in here just to deal with the 25 names that are only a few characters each. (and I tried removing returns from the message, but it didn't seem to help at all)

Same list, with links:

10 - Transmission
9 - Potion Factory
8 - Podcast Maker
7 - Transmit
6 - Quinn
5 - AppZapper
4 - AcQuisition
3 - CoverFlow
2 - Newsfire
1 - Delicious Library

Delicious Library works great for this. It stores all of its data in an XML file, which is open enough for me.

I haven't used it but it looks like an amazing interface that uses your barcode scanner to get details about the item from sites online. The UI looks fantastic as well!!

http://www.delicious-monster.com/

I wish I could afford that problem.

But if you can afford that, you can afford Delicious Library and a Mac mini to run it on.

On the Macintosh there is a program called Delicious Library that lets you use your iSight web cam to read in the bar codes. It then looks up the product at Amazon and stores it in your "library." You could scan in all your books (and movies and CD's) and sort them by Author or my Title to see which you like best. Then file them accordingly. It gets the book cover off the web too and gives you a virtual book shelf. The software also lets you check-out the book and track that activity. http://www.delicious-monster.com/ This program pretty much rules.

http://www.delicious-monster.com/

That's a total no-brainer.
Delicious Library. Period. No other Library programm or solution comes even close. It's the companies only product, sells for 40$ and it's a programm that justifies buying a Mac just for the purpose of running it. It's that good.

It has everything you could wish for and loads more. Among the most notable features are bot's that spider the web (amazon, etc.) for meta info on your books based on the barcode (including grabbing cover-pictures), option to use a webcam as barcode scanner and exports to data formats of your choice.

Really, looking any further is pointless. DL+Mac Mini+Barcode Reader or Webcam will take you farther than any other solution you could even dream of.

Closed source but for The Apple platform

http://www.delicious-monster.com/

It does everything for you. It works with either a scanner or you cna manually enter numbers.

It's also slower than molasses in January in Maine, if you have a sizable collection. We have ~3000 books and DVDs (95% books) and the app takes 30+ bounces to open on a dual CPU G4 with 1.25GB RAM, and often gives us the beachball of death intermittently for 45 seconds when it needs to catch its breath.
I don't think I've seen such an unoptimized program (was it written in REALBasic??) since Word 6 came out. When it works, it works well, but those who need it the most will find it the most lacking.

There's really no substitute for Delicious Library for Mac. It has bar code integration and pulls book covers from Amazon. I use it to manage my library and really couldn't fathom not having it.

I can't believe that no one mentioned Delicious Library yet. ( http://www.delicious-monster.com/ )

I can't believe that no one mentioned Delicious Library yet. ( http://www.delicious-monster.com/ )

Closed source but for The Apple platform

http://www.delicious-monster.com/

It does everything for you. It works with either a scanner or you cna manually enter numbers.

The big solution though is physical sorting of the books. You have to keep them in place and return them to that place, being as anal as your old high school librarian about where the books/dvd's/etc are returned to.

I know its already been said (at least once with about 3 people backing it up in that thread) but for the hell of it ill say it again.

http://delicious-monster.com/

requires a mac of course, but then again - you know youve wanted to get a mac-mini just so you can keep your itunes library and all your book collections sorted on one machine :)

If you've got a Mac (a big IF, I know), Delicious Library is the way to go. I've not seen its equal for Mac or PC. Barcode scanning (I use a modified USB CueCat), auto-querying for book covers and other information, borrowers, and so forth. Works for books, CDs, video games, DVDs, whatever. Worth every penny!

Issues of lock-in and implementation aside, this is a brilliant proposition for academics and researchers (like me). I'd pay money to be able to do full-text searches on my library: I can't tell you how common (and frustrating) it is to chase after a half-remembered quote or reference amongst your books. On the Mac, Tiger/Spotlight already makes searching your PDF copies of journal articles much easier. Books would be a great addition. Amazon should do this retroactively, as they know all the books I've bought from them. Ideally, it would also be available via their API, so that beautiful but basically useless applications like Delicious Library would aquire real functionality.

Sure - in theory all that's possible. However, when the world's largest retailer (Wal-Mart) will be disabling them at checkout you can bet others will follow. The market will take care of itself. Look - people thought barcodes were going to do the same thing and now you wouldn't do without 'em (everything from UPS to all the food in your kitchen).

Personally I would like to have it in some items. Books and DVD's could be quickly added to my delicious library (currently I scan the barcode), I could manage the inventory in my kitchen much better (which would integrate well with recipe software) and it would be great if I could just put my wine on the racks in my cellar and not have to track it manually.

Take off your tinfoil hat and put on your thinking cap. Let's figure out how to take advantage of a great technology and figure out how to make it safe.

Here's what he's talking about: http://www.delicious-monster.com/ Looks interesting.

Yeah, except that e-books are only used by a small and to my mind somewhat confused micro-minority, and for good reason -- you are not going to sell 500 trillion of them, or whatever the number is they are aiming for this Harry Potter (full disclosure: I have the whole series, too). E-books are a pain to read in the sun, are a risk to read in the bathtub, can't be dog-eared (my book, my rules), won't survive having your backpack thrown in your locker, writing a note on the second page when you give them to your kid sister is sort of hard, and you can't include them in your Delicious Library, just to name a few real-life problems. In other words: E-books are good for the publishing company, but not for the customer.

I would like to predict they are going to die like web push technology. But unfortunately, capitalism in the 21th Century is not about what the customer wants, it is about what big multinationals can get away with. When you buy an e-book, you are helping them screw you. If you want a tech toy to look cool, get a frigging iPod, that's what they are there for. But please don't support the attempt to kill something that has served the human mind for more than 2000 years.

Those demos have really got me interested in seeing what I can do with this.

Imagine a web enabled version of Delicious Library with this. Fuck, that's cool.