Delicious Library 2

Lately I've had an organization bug. I cleared out my craft room, throwing out all the crap fabric and stuff I haven't used and will never use. I organized my patterns. I put magazines in binders. 

Then I remembered my friend Kellie told me about a book inventory that she used for her Mac. All she did was hold the book up to her camera and it scanned the book in! I had to have it! Of course, I didn't remember the name of it, but that's the beauty of internet search engines--you can look it up. 

And that's how I ended up with Delicious Library 2.  The software is solely for Mac computers, which means that I was lucky. And the more I read the website, the more I wanted it. So I bought it. The download was done in minutes, and I could get started immediately. They also offer a barcode scanner that you can purchase. It can hold information on up to 400 books so you can move away from the computer. I decided not to purchase that because  I don't have that many books. 

I have 325. 

I have 71 movies. 

I can also inventory things that aren't media. Anything with a barcode can be scanned and looked up. I haven't moved past those categories yet--I have enough to scan before moving on to other ideas. 

I also like that I can use my Address Book to keep track of who has borrowed books from me. They remain on my shelf, but are shadowed out to show they aren't on my physical shelf. It is also very easy to get delete books once I get rid of them. 

The scanner was hard to use, because I had to hold the book a certain way. This was mostly due to human error though, because once I turned the light on in the room, the scanning became easier (this genius figured out it was a camera!). The main problem is that a lot of the books didn't scan into the proper item. By using the UPC code on the back of the book, especially mass market paperbacks, I kept being told that I had a "pink butterfly watch." 

I can guarantee you, I own no "pink butterfly watch". 

This was quickly resolved by using the barcode on the inside of the book. This would pick up the correct title of the book. 

Of course, if it didn't scan at all, I could hand-enter the UPC or ISBN into the database to get my data. This worked, too, but took longer than the scanner, and wasn't as much fun. 

One question I do have is why the book details are sometimes listed in UK pounds sterling and not US dollars. I know that I bought my books in the US, but the approximate value of a mass-market paperback isn't a high issue for me. 

ETA: On 6/22/08, I downloaded an update that is intended to fix the "UK" bug. I don't know how to automatically update it, though, unless I have to rescan the books involved back in. Which will be a pain.

Overall, I give this product an "A" and would recommend it to any book lover with a Mac.