DVDPedia
A MacZealots developer interview
06 July 2004 Justin Williams Skip to comments
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Conor Dearden is the developer of DVDPedia, an OS X catalog for your DVD collection. Justin Williams interviews the developer to get to know him and find out what is in store for his application.
In the first of what may be many developer interviews, I interviewed Conor Dearden. Conor is the developer of such apps as DVDPedia, a DVD cataloging application, and Bookpedia, a library cataloging application. Conor has been devoting most of his time lately to DVDPedia and contacted the crew at MacZealots looking for a review. While reviews are useful, I thought it would be far more enjoyable to get to know the person behind the application and see what his thoughts are on topics such as music, movies, the Mac platform and of course Tiger.
As far as a review, I will say that DVDPedia is a very well designed application that puts a lot of thought into its ability to browse, sort and edit your DVD catalog. Borrowing a lot from the iTunes paradigm, the application also allows you to rate, create lists and create smart collections based on criteria (all your action movies for example).
For more information on DVDPedia, be sure to check out Bruji, Conor's development and consulting company.
MacZealots: Tell us about your self.
Conor Dearden: My name is Conor Dearden. I live in Barcelona, Spain and I am 25. I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. Spanish is my first language. I went to school in Boston.
MacZealots: What's your favorite thing to do away from the Internet and all things tech?
Conor Dearden: Traveling is my passion. I need a Travelpedia, just for personal use, to keep track of the numerous places I want to go. On the same note I enjoy sailing the blue ocean calls to me. The idea that you can travel and go anywhere while taking your home and work with you is very exciting. On a more day-to-day basis, I enjoy good food, going to the movies, and reading; I have to stop working for a day each month when the new 'Wired' comes out, just so I can read it cover to cover. I will need a week off when 'A Feast for Crows' by George R.R. Martin finally comes out.
MacZealots: Who are your top five musical groups?
Conor Dearden: Dire Straits is one of my favourite bands. I find you can listen to their music in any kind of situation. Sting, The Rolling Stones and The Doors, because I grew up with an older brother and sister, so I was raised to this music, dancing when I was still too young to sing along. Moby and other electronic music help me keep a good pace while coding and biking.
MacZealots: What are your top five movies?
Conor Dearden: Princess Bride, I believe this to be the best movie of all time. Although I admit that watching it now is not the same. Just like reading 'Lord of the Rings' is not the same as when I was 13 and read it for the first time. All the Pixar movies are great, nothing to do with loving Apple. They stand on their own. Of course Star Wars, but something has been lost due to the disappointment of the new ones.
MacZealots: What do you want to be doing in five years?
Conor Dearden: I would like to expand Bruji.com into a respectable software company as well as consulting and providing solutions for all things Apple. I love working with Apple technology and I never get tired of it. There is innovation at every corner. I would like to provide customers the same enjoyment and quality that I get from working with the Mac, be it through software or consulting.
MacZealots: How long have you been a Mac user and why did you choose the Mac?
Conor Dearden: I have been using a Mac since I was 8 but even earlier than that my brother had an Apple II+. I spent countless hours playing Karateka. Choosing a Mac is not a choice once you've spent a year with a Mac. There is no going back.
MacZealots: What is the best thing Apple has done in the past 5 years? Why?
Conor Dearden: OS X was the smartest move they could have made, even with all the sacrifice it entails. It brought Apple into the present by harnessing open source projects. It made working with the Mac a breeze. XML, Zero config, Unix, MySQL, PHP, Apache and countless others are all there to be used with well-documented and easy to use APIs. Safari was very important, previously all the other browsers left something to be desired. Now with the new RSS features of Tiger, Safari is finally coming of age and surpassing anything out there--no more badly rendered CSS pages. Integration of all the Apple Apps has been a great move, sharing the address book, letting iPhoto provide graphics to any application, including the desktop picture. iMovie is a great example of interapp communication. The last five years is a long time and I could go on giving you a large list of great things apple has done, but I think 3 will suffice. One last word: iPod.
MacZealots: What is the worst thing Apple has done in the past five years? Why?
Conor Dearden: They have taken over a lot of great ideas from small Mac developers and incorporated them into the Mac OS without recognition. The way of progress is to move ahead and for things to change, but they could do a better job of letting people know that these ideas are not from them. Help the small companies to market their next project as compensation; keep them in the spotlight. Recognition goes a long way. Examples are Konfabulator and Launch Bar whose days are numbered with the release of Tiger.
MacZealots: What is the main feature for developers that will hopefully come from Tiger?
Conor Dearden: The Spotlight feature looks to be promising. The ability to easily integrate smart lists and have a search API will save a lot of coding. It makes my code obsolete but that is the way of progress. I am wary of the new meta data search, but users will get used to finding files this way. We developers will have to integrate it into our apps or be left behind.
MacZealots: Where do you see the Mac platform going in the next five years?
Conor Dearden: At the speed of OS X releases to the stratosphere and beyond. Apple has been focusing on the video market and has pushed their high-end computers and software. I believe in the next five years we'll see all this innovation trickle down to the regular users. Interest in the PowerPC Chip is growing and I think the Mac will see a boost from IBM further developing the PowerPC.
MacZealots: Where did the idea for DVDPedia come from?
Conor Dearden: I wanted to create a pet database so that pets would be safe in their own neighbourhood and communities could grow. You could learn the names of the dogs on your block. But that was an all encompassing project that deals with issues of privacy. I thought I should start small and with my own belongings. DVDs and Books are what I own most of, and I always wanted a quick reference in my computer and the ability to tell people, 'here have this file, it's what I have seen in the a last month' and if I liked it or not.
MacZealots: Has the general public caught on and embraced the application?
Conor Dearden: This being the first commercial project I have ever done, I have been amazed at the support and encouragement from the Mac community. Being a small developer, I have no marketing, and I have relied heavily on word of mouth. DVDpedia has done well thanks to its users' willingness to spread the news to others.
MacZealots: What is your favorite feature of the application? Why?
Conor Dearden: The ability to export .dvdpedia and .dcard files. I send them to friends to let them know what I bought recently and what they can borrow. Also to be able to mark my DVD as borrowed with drag and drop and know who has them at a glance is important for me. Those are the most useful features. I think the new 'Movie Mistakes' and 'Trivia' plug-ins are the most fun.
MacZealots: What's next for DVDPedia, or other projects you are working on?
Conor Dearden: The Pedia core grows and becomes better with everyday. It will soon to be extended into other pedias. CDpedia is in the works and Gamepedia, an upcoming project, will integrate with a dedicated server for sharing information and building a community. A new feature, once tested, will make its way back through the pedias to DVDpedia. For something completely different there is a secret upcoming project in the works, that has nothing to do with the pedias.
MacZealots: Any chance of combining DVDPedia and Bookpedia into a centralized application?
Conor Dearden: There are plans for a combined application that will combine DVD, CD, Book and Gamepedia into one. But given that CD and Gamepedia have yet to be released, this combined application is still in the distant future and it depends on the demands for such an app.
DVDPedia 1.4.2 was released on July 6, 2004. Conor is constantly updating the application with new features, tweaks and fixes. You can buy a copy for $18.
Justin Williams is founder and chief author for MacZealots. He switched to the Mac almost five years ago hasn't looked back since. When not blogging or coding, you can find him watching copious amounts of TV. Justin can be reached at
Reader Comments (5)
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#1) On August 1, 2004 11:11 PM
Really looking forward to CDPedia! Please let me know when it’s out!
RG
#2) On August 7, 2004 7:06 AM
DVDPedia is great! I love that I have all of that info at my fingertips. It sure beats the Excel sheet that I was using prior to that.
#3) On October 13, 2004 12:26 AM
hi, i try to find some software like DVDPEDIA to make a list with my play station 2 games.
#4) On August 8, 2005 9:08 PM
please,i really want to have a better industrial training opportunity with any good firm either in germany,columbia,venezuela,england,usa,spain,brazil ;r france
#5) On December 16, 2005 12:53 AM
I am using DVDPedia for my PS2 games too.