Delicious Library
A Yummy Treat
23 November 2004 Justin Williams Skip to comments
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Have a large DVD, book, or movie collection? Read on. It will be worth it.
Design: “an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.“
Design separates Mac OS X from Windows XP. Design separates good applications from great applications. The fundamental difference between good and great is that a good application, while functional and useful, puts controls in an application without much thought: “DesignXP” as I like to call it.
Great applications invest a large chunk of their development time into tweaking, testing and simplifying their design so that it is not only functional to a new user, but also not insulting to the power user. Great designs are also beautiful. Compare a Van Gogh painting to the painting your little brother made in Kindgergarten. While little Johnny's painting may hold more sentimental value to you, it is nowhere near as beautifully crafted as something Van Gogh poured his time, sweat and soul into.
Design Influences
One of the first companies to put design at the forefront of their development process was The OmniGroup. Their Web browser, OmniWeb, was the first on the Mac platform to fully define what an OS X application was supposed to be like. Before OmniWeb, Mac users were using a quick port of Microsoft Internet Explorer from OS 9. When OmniWeb was released, developers and users alike got a taste of what OS X applications were meant to be like. At its core it was just a simple web browser like any other, but when you looked beyond the surface, users realized the raw power the browser offered without sacrificing ease of use. They realized what it was like to have an OS X customizable toolbar, drawers, and OS X preferences. With the bar set high, Mac users have become accustomed to great design. We label anything that doesn't conform to Apple's Human Interface Guidelines as a quick Windows port or bitch about it incessantly; particularly when it comes from Apple.
Roots back to Omnigroup
Two of OmniGroup's more influential employees, founder Wil Shipley and interface guru Mike Matas, left the company and went into hiding. Rising to the surface in the late summer, ThinkSecret posted a piece on just what Shipley and Matas were working on. They had formed a new company called Delicious Monster Software and were planning to release an application called Delicious Library.
How Delicious Library works
Delicous Library is a digital catalog of your books, movies, video games and music. Each title is stored on a shelf along with information on the author, release date, genre, synopsis and rating. Users can edit this information, or add their own rating and notes for each item. Delicious Library also acts as your own rental store. You can "check out" any of your assets to your friends, coworkers, or neighbors by simply dragging the item onto their name in the Borrowers list.
The most compelling feature of the application by far is its ability to use an iSight video camera or Bluetooth barcode scanner to import your library. With other applications, each item's title has to be manually typed in before it can download any information. With Delicious Library, you can scan the barcode of any item and it will use that to search for the item information. Very slick.
Amazon Integration
The application is integrated tightly with Amazon's Web API which allows applications of all types to pull information from Amazon's massive product database rather than companies creating their own. Amazon offers this to developers because they believe it will spark new sales for them. Delicious Library tries to push sales by the "Similar" tab that is available for each title. Under it, you receive a listing of titles that are similar to the selected one. They may be of the same genre, similar actors or sequels. It works fairly well, but it is usually predictable.
The problem with Library's tight integration with the Amazon API is that the application is not very functional on a machine without an Internet connection. Though a rarity in today's age, there are some that that still use dialup, and may not want to have to connect to the Internet each time they add an item to their library.
The other issue is the situation that may arise if Amazon doesn't feel Delicious Library is making them enough money and cuts off their access to the API. This happened to the iTunes display application Synergy a few months ago. For the sake of full exposure, you will probably want to know that each sale that is made through Library is made with a referral code for Delicious Monster. Wil Shipley said, "...it doesn't increase the price for the user at all, so we figured, "Why not?" It helps subsidize the price of the app for everyone. A couple people have said they would prefer to use their personal codes, but that's actually illegal (according to Amazon.com's rules for affiliates) so we don't allow that." It may be an issue for you.
Getting started
When you first launch the application, it has a few preset titles added and your family in the list of borrowers. Many people have reported seemingly random people showing up in the list, but I had no issue. Your mileage may vary. You can also import your data from other applications such as DVDPedia. Very nice.
From there, you can simply begin scanning in your titles. If you want to take advantage of the Bluetooth scanning capability, you need to have a Flic Laser Bar Code Scanner. These run from $100 to $200. I do not have one, so I can't test the functionality. Delicous Monster states that if you are out of range with the wireless scanner, it can hold 500 titles and will then be synced up the next time it is within range of your Mac. This is something I would find useful for adding all of the books in my personal library to the application, but after that initial time saving, I don't see much of an advantage over sitting at my desk and using my iSight. The developer also stated that a lot of other scanners may work, but they don't offer official support for them. If you have a wedge-type scanner (one that emulates a keyboard), it may work—give it a shot.
Bar Code Scanning
Scanning is a simple task as long as you have the right amount of light and an unobstructed view of the barcode. Simply click the camera icon, place your barcode in front of the camera, and Library does the rest. The scanner's accuracy is decent. I had very little problems with books and movies. Of the eighteen books I had in my apartment, only one of them was unable to be scanned in. It was an obscure title so Amazon couldn't find it in the database. Of my 81 DVDs, 15 were unable to be read. These were not obscure titles. Library either couldn't scan the barcode, or it wouldn't find the title in Amazon's database. Video games were nearly impossible. Of the 10 Xbox games I scanned, half of them were not found in the database: titles such as NFL2k5, NBA Inside Drive 2004 and Tiger Woods 2004. These games are less than a year old, and in some cases brand new. A manual search of the Amazon database found the titles, but it shows an area that may need some improvement.
Importing Music CDs
As for CDs, I don't have any in my apartment. I buy all of my music online through the iTunes store now, so there was no easy way to import the 400 plus albums I own. This is a major oversight that I'd love to see Delicious Library address in a future release. Being able to read my iTunes database and add the albums would be ideal. It would not necessarily fit with the borrowing concept since I would usually just burn copies of CDs I wanted to let my friends listen to, but I think the focus on the app is letting me categorize and sort my assets more so than running my own Netflix.
Once imported, you can place your assets on shelves by any sort of criteria you'd like. I personally created shelves based on DVD genres since that's my largest item set. Manually adding the DVDs to each shelf was a tedious task. It would have been much nicer to be able to establish a "smart shelf" that I could have Library automatically update with all of my Action flicks or all of my movies that star Elisha Cuthbert. 
As it is now, each time I add a title to my library, I will also have to manually add it to the shelf it belongs on. That's not the best workflow for me.
Printing, iPod Syncing
Unlike the last application we reviewed, Textmate, Delicious Library supports printing, and does a decent job of it. You can easily print out a list of your DVDs to share with your friends. Useful? Absolutely. If you are ever trying to decide on a movie to watch with friends, you can send them a PDF copy of your DVD library and let them choose rather than having to name off a long list of your titles. The library data is also sent to your iPod if you have one. Stored under the Notes section, you have mobile access to your library if you ever need to reference who directed "Traffic" or the Amazon user rating of GTA: San Andreas. A nice feature, but I am not really sure how useful it is.
Looking ahead
In future releases, there are a few things I'd like to see added besides the almost mandatory smart shelving and iTunes integration. I'd like to be able to easily post something I want to sell to somewhere besides Amazon: eBay for example. I don't know too many people that use Amazon to sell their items compared to eBay. I want the most eyes as possible viewing my item. Searching is limited at this point. I'd like to specify what type of search I want to create. For example, if you open Mail and use its search field, you can specify if you want to search by the To, Subject or Body field. I'd like something similar in Library: let me search only the Actor field for example. I'd also like the ability to have an wish list that is totally separate from my actual library. There is a large list of DVDs that I want to buy, and being able to look through that list and make purchases through Library would be a great asset. If it could tie in with my actual Amazon wishlist, I'd appreciate it even more. I don't want it to interfere with my actual DVD library though because I would end up with another hundred or so DVDs that I don't even own.
The geek in me wants the application to be AppleScriptable. Hopefully this will come in time for Automator in Tiger. Imagine I use Automator to rip a DVD I purchase onto my Mac for viewing on an airplane or television. I could create an automation that rips the DVD using one application, saves it to a certain location and then adds the title to Delicious Library: all with one button click. Finally, I want a contextual menu. Having to constantly navigate the menu bar is frustrating for someone with a two-button mouse. Let me right click on an item and accomplish the tasks under the Item menu. It is on Delicous Monster's radar, so I expect to see it in a future release. Finally, I'd like more export options. Presently, you can only export to a text file. Being able to export an XML file that I could parse on my Web site would allow me to keep a list on my site that visitors could compare with theirs. Being able to select what fields I want Library to export would also be nice.
Conclusions
Design is important, and Delicious Library proves that. I worry, however, that Shipley, Matas and company spent far too much time trying to create "delicous looking" software more than something that is deliciously functional. Library is an application that will either click right away with you, or you will wonder what the point is. For those that organize their physical DVD collections by actor rather than title, it's probably up your alley. You're the meticulous type. If you just throw your DVD on the shelf and are done with it, you may wonder what the use of cataloging all of this data is. It clicked with me, and I will continue to use it. I like being able to sort and organize my DVD collection. The application comes with a hefty $40 price tag. For many, that may be a deal breaker for this sort of application. $40 is especially steep considering the application can be seen as a fancy OS X front end to Amazon. The application has a functional trial, so I recommend any type of music, movie or book collector try the application. Maybe you will like it. Maybe you won't. Regardless, I look forward to the next big release of Delicous Library and all future titles from Delicious Monster. They truly create “delicious software.”
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 (9)
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#1) On November 26, 2004 4:37 PM
What an excellent review of an exciting product. Like you, I wonder if it is worth paying $40, but with more functionality I think this would not be a bad price.
#2) On December 2, 2004 8:04 AM
The delicious library file is ALREADY an xml file.
you can parse it with all xml tools
#3) On January 11, 2005 7:00 AM
I find delicious library beautiful, and almost bought it. Out of curiosity I looked up the other app you mention here DVDPedia and found it superior. It has Smart collections which are essential for me, as well as HTML export straight to .Mac. Given that I was only interested in cataloging DVDs and Books it turned out to be a lot cheaper with more functionality.
Thank you for a good review,
John.
#4) On January 12, 2005 9:05 PM
Well, this app does print, but all it lists are titles. I want a printed “catalog” to use when choosing a DVD, and I want things like actors, and description. What good is a list of titles?
#5) On January 14, 2005 1:22 PM
I echo the Wish List comment. It would be a great addition and very handy. Also, I spent months adding my CD collection to iTunes, and now they are all in a large box in the garage. Unless Library will grab them from iTunes for me I will never go through that again. Also, is there any ability to provide my friends with access to my library so that they can browse and make requests?
#6) On January 16, 2005 2:06 AM
I think that the problem with not finding items is more a problem with Amazon. They seem to not have the UPC codes for a lot of items. Not much Delicious Library can do about this, sadly.
#7) On January 19, 2005 5:18 PM
ddefenba,
CDpedia will grab all info from iTunes—catalog complete. No need to drag the CDs back out again.
http://www.bruji.com/cdpedia/
Bruji also makes Bookpedia, and DVDpedia. I own all three, and adore them.
#8) On February 1, 2005 5:58 PM
Nice article. I have no idea what you are talking about but it sounded good. The website looks great.
#9) On March 23, 2006 12:36 AM
Well this is dandy, but the lack of support for various large library lookups (library of congress etc.), as well as the lack of any attempt to help you to organize your home library… think by author or subject and shelfspace etc. (which wouldn’t be too difficult to implement)… means it will just be an interesting way to have a list of all your books. The linkup with Amazon doesn’t really intrigue me at all, as it doens’t do anything good for my own library I currently own, merely attemps to sell me more with fancy options. Seriously, there must be a program capable of implementing Deuey as well as subject sorting and personalized library notations?