Readerware and LibraryThing ~ teknologi

Posted on Mon - April 27, 2009

Readerware and LibraryThing

Database problems

I'm a big fan of LibraryThing, it's probably the only social networking tool I enthusiastically support.

Well, recently I decided to take the next step. I bought the Readerware package that would let me track all books, videos, and music on a computer and on my Palm.

My plan was simple. I was going to steal an idea from the NYC public library. Rather than arranging my books and videos so I could browse them, I'll put everything on the computer and use that to browse. All my books and videos will be in numbered black plastic crates. So if I want my copy of Office Space, I go to the computer, look up the location, and pull it from the box. The inside of the video (and the inside front cover of a book) will have a number sticker telling me where to put it when I am done.

There will be some restrictions of course. Porno videos and sexually themed books won't share the crates with other movies and books. Rarer books will be in their own crates. My more important references will probably live in the hutch near my desk as soon I winnow them down (I have WAY too many dictionaries).

Music is a little different. I handle most of my music through iTunes and my iPods (Tunage and Twonage), I keep the CDs and tapes just to back up what's on the computer. So that already has it's special grey crate.

So my frustration came when I tried to extract my Amazon purchases and combine it with my existing LibraryThing entries. I'm still sorting through that, but in some cases my LibraryThing books showed twenty or thirty copies of books I never purchased or books that didn't even exist. Usually with multiple ratings.

In the long run this is going to be great, but it's going to take a while to fix.

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