Booxter for Mac2.8.2

I've been very pleased with Booxter over the years that I have used it. I can't think of anything I would like the program to do. I am also pleased that the developer continues to issue updates to keep it running smoothly.

Works just fine for me, but I have only just started with entering my vast library.

The only problem I had with v2.7.14 was with the connection between the iOS app and the MacOS app. There seemed to be something blocking things, but after an update to 2.7.15 and a restart of both apps I don't have any further complaints.

I can only write a comment, not a Starred review, because my remarks are based on first impressions gained only in one session. In general, I think it is cool that there are some database programs that one can use to obtain, to store, and to index information about media collections, like videos. I like the ability to download useful data on a video, or a book, if it would make my life easier than tracking my media in the FileMaker databases I had created for such a purpose. So, I am in the process of assessing such database programs in order to settle on one that suits my needs. Below are notes to myself, as I ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of these programs. Right now, the flaws stand out in my mind, so use my opinions and my venting at your own convenience, or not. These notes concern Booxter as compared to Librarian Pro, which I am considering replacing by something more customer friendly for the reasons indicated below. Booxter design flaws and first impressions > No Serial Number field: Where is the field for entering a Serial Number? How is it possible that this designer does not include a Serial Number field by default? Does he think that people sort their video collections by Title? How dumb can you get? > Custom data field Is there even a way to add a custom field? I don't see any. Another oversight. When will designers think in terms of what a customer wants, instead of what the designer wants? > Font size is abyssmally small. This designer set 11 point as the default font size for displaying text. Does he think that his software should run only on ancient Macs with their tiny screens? Has he not heard that people use large displays? Does he not realize that people want the option to set the font size to suit themselves, rather than use a magnifying glass just to read the damn data? Another self-centered software designer who fails to think about design from the customer's viewpoint. How is it possible that such people can learn how to program a Mac but they cannot relate to the needs of the people to whom they are trying to sell their product? It's so frustrating to see such simple, self-destructive mistakes in design. After all, if you can bump up the font size in Apple Mail and in Safari and in online Help and in other applications, why can't programmers allow us the option to adjust the text size bigger or smaller within their applications, too? Or, if such a function is beyond their skills or the capability of the operating system, then I think it behooves them to present a layout that is acceptably legible and big enough to be read without discomfort, instead of presenting us with small window layouts stuffed with tiny fonts! Do they think it costs more to give us fonts in 14 point instead of 11 point? > Inadequate Search capability Koingo's Librarian Pro also suffers from that same inability to let customers adjust the font sizes to something more comfortable to their reading pleasure, and their developer adamantly refuses to deal with fixing the problem. When I suggested doing that, I got embroiled in a series of emails with tech supporter/owner that ended with him saying that Koingo no longer supported version 2, even though I had specified in the very first feature request that I was using version 2. Foolish, rude man. All he did was waste my time and sidestep the whole point of the feedback. Despite that poor attitude, at least Librarian Pro has a search feature in which you can type in a title and the software performs the search at Amazon.com. As far as I can tell, Booxter can't even do that. That's a deal breaker for me. Am I supposed to know the esoteric UPC number, or the ASIN number, apparently by consulting the packaging or by looking it up online? I find that a designer who tasks the customer to do the work that the software can is rather puniutive, while subjecting me to a time-wasting nusiance. Customers want software to do the work for us in order to save us time, not to make us work harder. So, again, Booxter is flawed with this additonal unfriendly feature. > Poor Use of Screen Real Estate (i.e, Wasted Screen Space) Librarian Pro's developers are horribly guilty on two counts: not only do they make their fonts too tiny, but they also waste 75% of the screen showing nothing but white space. Booxter's developer uses small font in a small window, so he is equally guilty in not using the entire display which is at his disposal. Mac designers like these have a 200-mph Lamboughini car in the driveway, but all they use it for is to drive around a circle at 15 mph hoping not to bump into the curb. > Interface and Layout Design While I like the record layout in Booxter better than Librarian Pro, for at least the Booxter developer shows enough common sense to lay out all the pertinent fields in one screen load. Librarian Pro's developers has taken the approach that screen real estate is meant to be wasted, because all they do is list the fields of data in rows one under the other at the left side of their layout, leaving the remaining 75% absoulutely blank. Either they did that because Koingo's developers take long vacations, or they are just too busy to take the time to actually layout a screen in which the data is cleanly presented in one screen load, or they have no graphic designers on board who passed Graphic Design 101. > Multiple clicks approach is like digging for coal in a mine. To make things worse, Librarian Pro presents the data in a record in stages: if you click on an individual record in a list of videos, you get an "in-depth" layout consisting of six separate side-window "tabs" that you have to click on to get specific information, like Basics, Details, Reviews, Ownership, Borrowing, and Additonal. Why the serial number field has to be buried on the "Additional" screen is a mystery to me, for I find it really irritating to have to go through so many mouse-clicks to get to the field where I want to enter a serial number that I use for physically filing and retrieving the disc, when desired. > Good news for obsessives and pack rats Obsessive collectors leaning towards the anal rententive end of the scale may reallly like having 68 different fields into which they can stuff data, but all I really want is to able to index a video by title and by serial number so that I can find it when I want it. Having story summaries and credits is nice, too, but I want a simple database that serves me, not one in which I have to serve it. > Export feature flawed In preparation for moving my data from Librarian Pro to another program, I tried for hours to get a clean tabbed delimited file from Librarian Pro. I could not. Librarian Pro was able to export some fields into discrete, tab-delimited columns that would line up nicely in an Excel spreadsheet, but I could find no way to cleanly export the story Summary field so that its data would be contained within one single cell. Other fields also suffered from this same problem of having data spill over into adjoining cells, thus destroying any possibility of being able to quickly, easily, and accurately import that data into another database, like FileMaker Pro, or any other competitive product. Bad form, Koingo. Addtionally, although Librarian Pro's allows you to export its record in HTML form so that you can view records in a browser, you can neither select the fields that you want to export, nor can you search for the records once the HTML pages are created, a flaw which, to me, makes exporting to HTML entirely useless. If I can't search for the data, what good are those records? Interestingly, Koingo's developers didn't even the common sense to include the Serial Number field in a very small subset of fields that could be exported via a restricted, pre-determined template. Someone needs to be hired in Quality Control at software companies like Koingo and Booxter to act in the role of a Customer Ombudsman, because the software engineers who are coding the programs certainly aren't fulfilling that role! Wise developers will take heed and fix these inadequacies. Others will rationalize why they need not bother. I choose not to support them.

Another upgrade to 2.7 Program immediately crashes when trying to import 2,500 titles from DVDPedia. Beware this program if you have large libraries to import

Really great new feature to use it on the iPhone and have access to your library collection there. Have used this program for several years and it just keeps getting better.

Booxter upgraded to newer version. Still cannot handle large imports from DVDPedia.

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Booxter easily imported my library of 1200 CDs from CDPedia. However when doing an import of 2400 DVDs from DVDPedia the program crashed. I wrote Booxter support and got an initial reply of interest to help but nothing further. Seems that the company realized it could not currently fix the issue so they decided to stop responding. Will wait to see if they offer a fix for large importing in future versions.

Superb. I think this is the only program that lets book covers be in the column listings along with text data. This is a big deal to me because when scanning over items, the visual cue is a very strong reminder and focus of what I'm looking at, but I don't want to see only that. Other programs I've seen have either text only with just the image of the selected item, or they have grids of only cover images. Booxter is flexible and can show whatever data in the layout that you like. Also, it has powerful tagging with tag cloud views and other features. It might not be the perfect software, but it is a very valuable tool for me and I've had only a few minor complaints that don't really affect my workflow.

Release Notes Fixed issue where cover images were not being stored correctly in certain cases. Fixed comics.org comics search. Fixed chapters.ca book search. Made Notes available as a column in the item table. Made search field wider. Updated layout of item counts in filter view browser to make them more readable.

Excellent cataloguing of books by a program I've used for almost five years to organize a 645 volume library. I don't know about CDs; there is no program that handles classical music very well at all, so I have designed an Excel spreadsheet for the purpose (yeah, archaic). At any rate CDs are becoming obsolete, though I believe real books never will.

Now I have my full book and DVD list with me each time I need to check before buying a new book or movie, right on the iPod Touch :-) The only thing missing on these html export is a search capability, but I don't know wether this is easy to add (if something like php is needed, I understand not everyone has installed php on his ipod, alas...) For now I get along with alphabetic intelligent lists ("authors a-c"...), and genre too (after all, I find I don't have more than 50 or 60 books in a given genre) Of course this point just relates to html exports, on the Mac itself the search capability is perfect, instant, and Spotlight-associated :-)

I really love this program and the developer is one of the best and most professional developers I have ever conferred with. I bought an earlier version in early 2007 and have since switched computers. I contacted Deep Prose asking for my old serial number so I could continue using the program on my new computer. Matt Shedlick, the developer, wrote me back with a NEW serial number for the program, which had since been upgraded, for no additional cost. What more can I say? :thumbsup: keep up the great work!

Just upgraded to 2.0.2 which looks like a working start finally. Some issues remain (like Booxter not saving manually added cover pictures and not backfilling books with new (978...) ISBNs). But I'm positive that the developper will fix these issues as well, given the frequent updates since release of 2.0

In recent e-mail, developer says he will give me a $30 refund. This closes the question. Now, lets play with Booxter 2.0.1 The new CD Audio archive is great. Thanks to the developer and to MacUpdate!

Developer answered my e-mail. This version 2.0.1 solved my upgrade troubles. This version is a great upgrade from version 1.9.1 I must say. Only remains the question that I payed full price and not an upgrade... on account of this, probably I will ask developer a free one on next billed upgrade. So far so good. At this point I recommend upgrade, but be carefull not to pay the full price.

Just upgraded to version 2, since I purchased version one less than a month ago, they sent me a FREE upgrade. It imported my version 1 library almost flawlessly. So far, absolutely no problems with transition to version 2!

I received to code to register version 2 but at this point it is useless to me since even registered it can't open or import the file I work with. Its a big file 7,6 Mega, I work with it and so. I have to downgrade and, for now, wait.

This is a warning advise for up-graders. Don't be fast upgrading. I used my code for upgrade and even so payed the FULL price. Much worst, new version can't open or import my previous version from Booxter 1.9.1 Sent them already an e-mail but I am still waiting for an answer. I will reposr later if some news arrive. For the first time it happens with me, I am very upset.

Booxter was one of the first shareware applications I bought for my new PowerBook (some time ago) and it's always born a positive association of shareware done right. The developer was responsive to a problem with Spotlight searching I had a while back, promptly suggesting a remedy that fixed the issue. The interface is a pleasure to use and I look forward to scanning in batches of new book acquisitions with a childish glee. Australian books usually show up on the Australian databases searched by Booxter which is really great for me. Heartily recommended.

I have been testing out Books and Booxter. Both are extremely nice programs. I prefer Booxter, and the fee is well earned and low. I always wonder about people who expect to get shareware free?? I like that Booxter lets me have NO images and display a tightly spaced list of books. I am cataloging my ebook collection and this is ideal. I work all day as a library cataloger and I know my library database needs, and after trying out Delicious Library and a few other way overloaded programs, I opted for Booxter. The beauty of it is I can always add "new libraries" or start adding images and extra info if I care too, but I can get searchable "bare-bones" lists too. KUDOS.

Seems like a nice and solid piece of personal library shareware with good search capabilities. However, I would very much like to see the possibility to export MLA style reference lists. If I could export directly into MLA style (doesn't matter if it's in text format only) I would be happy to pay the very moderate price for the full version of this software.

Yeah! *Spotlight indexing* is just what missed to this nifty application to become perfect! Now given a title or a couple of words, I am able to find the book, any text comments on it that I would have recuperated from elsewhere, mail discussions on the same topic... all at once! I also appreciate the strong non-english books suport (including for retrieving data on internet stores)

Hi, this is the developer of Booxter. I want to thank everyone for your kind thoughts, words and prayers during this difficult time. As of today, Booxter is now back to a normal release schedule. God bless.

I tested the iSight scanning feature of ISBN. I am happy to report that it works quite well. It instantly fetches info on the internet and puts it in the database. For this feature alone already, it is a wonderful program.

Since my last review of this app, the free Books 2 has been released, and the books database market has become even more crowded (there are like 8 similar programs out there now - is there a "Learn Cocoa by building a book database" tutorial floating around?). I have to concede that with all its recent improvements, Booxter is definitely the best of all shareware databases. Readerware, the most expensive among them, is still unsurpassed as far as features are concerned, but unfortunately it's a slow and clunky Java app. If you want to spend money, Booxter is the way to go. The iTunes-like layout was a very smart design decision and gives it an edge over the competition. Books 2 is still more powerful than Booxter, but it also has a few annoying bugs, and the developer doesn't seem to have the time to fix them. However, there is one glaring omission in Booxter: it doesn't have a "Place Published" field. Since the place of a publication is a very essential part of any bibliographical information (for academical bibliographies, it's more essential than the publisher himself), its omission is a show-stopper for me. If this problem gets fixed, which shouldn't be too difficult, Booxter will be worth $15.

I bought this software for my wife because she has a lot of books and this is the best option. I was going to make a suggestion for an improvement to the software (smart lists) but the developer beat me to it. Great work, do you have any plans for other applications?

Isn't it nice to have the kind of choice and feedback that appears below. Given the number and variations of library programs now available, a wise and informed user will choose to do a search in MacUpdate, try-out and read the reviews on a number of the products, and choose the one that best suits their needs, offers good value, and seems to offer the kind of support that they are looking for. Hopefully they will also offer their comments and/or a review of their research to help others as well.

Hi, this is the developer of Booxter. I just want to make it absolutely clear for the record that Booxter did not 'borrow' anything from any other book cataloguing applications. Thanks for trying out Booxter. We hope you find it useful.

I'm the developer of Books, and I've seen a number of comments suggesting the Booxter "borrowed" features from Books. Personally, I have no problem with Booxter borrowing ideas and implementing them in its product. (I would have some issue with code being "borrowed", but ideas are not code.) For what it is worth, I originally wrote Books to fill a need that I didn't see being addressed in the OS X community. So, rather than buy Library (The 1.x version didn't have the features I needed.), I rolled my own application. Had Library or Booxter been at the state they are now, I would have probably paid them their VERY reasonable prices, and done something else besides developing Books. I'm meandering here, but I would like to echo the words of another poster. If Booxter (or Library) suits your needs and you feel that it is worth the $15, by all means, send them the cash. The more OS X software being developed, the better. If you like Books instead, download it. And for what it is worth, the release of Booxter did light a fire under my ass to make Books better. So, while Booxter may have borrowed some ideas from Books, I saw some things that were done better in Booxter and attempted to bring Books up to par. So, I imagine that there was plenty of give and take from both parties.

I've used MANY personal library programs over the past few years, hoping to find the best one for my needs (BookBin, Singlefile, Readerware, Library, Books, My Home Library [from the NY Public Library book of the same name]). My ideal solution would be to incorporate features from ALL of these into one fantastic program. Withstanding that, however, Booxter seems to be the best solution for now. I particularly like that LoC lookup seems to work consistently well...this helps when I think about how I'm going to catagorize my growing library. I also really like the iTunes-esque "playlists" and browser. The drawer interface is nice as well. All things considered, I'm happy with the $15 price. Hopefully this program will continue to be updated and supported!

I have to second eji's review. The app itself is very well done, but I'd wait for the 2.0 release of Karr's "Books" (which hopefully will be out on February 1) and then do a side-by-side comparison between the freeware and the shareware program. I wouldn't be too surprised if the Booxter dev learned one or two lessons from the (freely available) Books source code when he made this app. I have to give him credit for adding some very nice features (book lists being my favourite one) and for creating a great interface, but is this worth $15? You decide.

An auspicious start. The GUI is a pleasure to look at and work with. The features (e.g., book lists, Library of Congress lookup, barcode scanning) all seem to have been designed by programmers who are also bibliophiles. My major caveat is that it costs $15 when Chris Karr's Books is free. No, Books doesn't have LoC lookup (though I think this is going to be implemented soon) or UPC scanning, and it doesn't have Booxter's lovely Cocoa drop-down box for individually selected titles, but if you intend to use the app as a collection database and nothing more, then the cost is a big factor. If, however, you'd rather input your books and admire how nice the list looks on the screen, Booxter seems to be the way to go.