my precious

[ironymaiden]

i was able to keep away from LibraryThing until i found out how inexpensive it was to scan barcodes. my author cloud (this is with just under 300 books in.)

preciousssssssssss

Comments

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

What does it do for you? Can you track stuff you loan out or good for knowing if you lost something?

[ironymaiden]

essentially it's an online db that someone else manages for you. it has tags and other metadata per entry that i can use to pretty much track whatever i want. i have no idea how many books we own, and i sometimes forget which ones we have and which ones we don't.

the feature i find most interesting is that they process the data to give you suggestions based on people with similar collections and tagging. i'm always looking for new stuff to read. (this also means that i'm planning to create a separate account for the RPG books so that the recommendations aren't skewed.)

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I'm curious as to what response mimerki has on this.

I'm not sure if we would find it useful or not. I can think of plusses, but I'm not sure if it merits the time input. I spent a large chunk of time cataloging the CD's and it and the software I bought to do it, have pretty much been wasted.

[pixxelpuss.livejournal.com]

I want to do this, too. I'm a sucker for cataloging.

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

What's the process for scanning barcodes?

[ironymaiden]

acquire one dot-bomb remnant cuecat. from there it's waving the little cat's nose over the barcode with the ISBN number (for paperbacks that's the one inside the front cover). it populates the LibraryThing search field and then they mine whatever online db you choose (typically amazon) and enter the info. it's been pretty easy, except that a chunk of my collection is too old for barcodes.

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

Is there a better source than Ebay?

It seems like whoever (and it looks like one person) that is selling these things is making...unreasonable profit given that the two things I can find about them is 1) mailed for free to like everyone or 2) sold as a bulk sale for .30 each.

[ironymaiden]

ebay is cheapest, i think. you are trying to buy something that is no longer manufactured. LibraryThing sells them as well (which is where i got mine because i am a) lazier than i am cheap and b) reasonably willing to give them the money.)

[ironymaiden]

after i finish running our books, i expect that mine will be available for other people to use.