Delicious Library 2: Interface Tweaks, New Features and More
If you have ever wanted to keep track of your media on your Mac (Books, DVDs, CDs, etc.), then you have most likely heard of Delicious Library. Two weeks ago, Delicious Library, from Delicious Monster, has received a major upgrade, going from v1.6 to v2.0. Delicious Library 2 takes advantage of many Leopard-only technologies, that aim to build upon the success of Delicious Library v1.0.
The first thing about Delicious Library 2 you will notice is a major design change. In the previous version of Delicious Library (which I will henceforth refer to as “DLâ€), the main window consisted of three vertical panes. In DL2, there are still three panes, but they are arranged with one pane vertical on the left side, and two panes stacked vertically on the right. I am not a big fan of this change, as the other design was able to make better of screen real estate on widescreen computers. Some may not be too concerned about this change, but it would be nice to have an option to change the view in the next update of DL2.
Other design changes include making the overall window more “open,†with more white space, and each element of the window is no longer boxed in by the gray border. You will now find all info pertaining to your media in one “Details†tab, instead of having separate “Details†and “My Info†tabs, and 3 additional tabs (Synopsis, Reviews and Recommendations) have also been added. One feature of DL that always had the “neat†factor also got a bit of an interface tweak. When inputting items with your iSight, the window now has guides to make it easier to line up the barcode to be scanned.
As I mentioned above, DL2 takes advantage of many Leopard technologies. When you add an item, a nice little animation fills up the space where the item will occupy, and deleting an item will cause it to “explode†out of your library. DL2 also takes advantage of some technologies available to developers to make it run faster and more smooth, like CoreData, and CoreGraphics.
Above interface changes, the most significant changes to DL have been done under the hood. Many things have been optimized, so that things like scrolling now work flawlessly, even for people who have very large libraries.
Feature-wise, DL2 did receive a few additions. You can now create Smart Shelves (think iTunes’ Smart Playlists), your iTunes library now shows up in the sidebar (albums, movies and audiobooks), you can export to the web right from within DL2 (more on that later), quicklook items on the desktop, improved voice search, three click selling through Amazon, and the list goes on. For a full list of all changes from v1 to v2, check out the release notes on Delicious Monster’s site.
In v1 of Delicious Library, the only types of items you could add were media items such as DVDs, but in v2, you can add many more different categories of items like Tools, Gadgets and even clothes. Depending on how keen you are keeping track of your belongings, or on using the functionality of this app to your advantage, DL2 may never be anymore than a novelty to you. I feel that DL does have practical use if you have a lot of stuff to keep track of, and actually take the time to fill out the metadata, though again, for some, DL may never be more than a novelty. One very handy use that is brought up on the Delicious Monster site is insurance reasons:
But a few people are skeptical, or slightly less obsessive. “Ok,†they say, “then I have my stuff in my computer. Big whoop. I can just look at my real shelf, right now, for free.â€
And we say, “True, but have you ever had someone break in and steal all your CDs or DVDs? Your insurance company wants an exact list of what you had, but you can’t remember every last thing, and so for years afterwards you think, ‘Drat, I forgot to list Rocky Horror Picture Show, and now it’s too late!’ Well, with Delicious Library you always have a complete inventory of your stuff, with replacement costs. You can print it or back it up to the web, so it’s not going anywhere.
Being able to share your library with friends is quite handy, which can be done with people through the new “Publish to Web” option. You then get the option to export to .Mac, iWeb, FTP or a folder. You can choose to upload everything or just selected shelves to two different templates. Clicking on the little green “i” will let you select the different options for that destination. It does take quite a while to create the pages, and quite a while to upload, especially when your library is big. The first time I uploaded everything to my server, I just walked away from my Mac for a hour or so.
Overall, DL2 is a solid upgrade that brings many new features and speed improvements. To purchase a new license of DL from Delicious Monster, it will set you back $40. To upgrade, the cost is only $20, though if you bought a license between December 1st, 2007 and May 26th, 2008, you qualify for a free upgrade.
I have always wanted to buy it but I never have the spear money to spend on an app that I would consider a luxury.
I’ve a lot of CDs, books, DVDs to classify and clean at home, I don’t want and don’t need to do the same on my mac.
I love this app. The upgrade has made it so much better. The new database system keeps the application support directory much leaner and quicker as well as making backups easier.
The new version can track pretty much anything now (not just books, movies, music and games) so using it for an insurance database is pretty compelling.
I agree that the previous 3 vertical pane layout is better than the current layout. The older layout worked much better on my widescreen laptop.
I like the idea. But DL has no real use here, in Slovakia. It does not know barcodes on books released or printed in Slovakia as well as it doesn’t recognize dubbed DVD’s or localized software. I wish developers weren’t that much USA-centric, but in the end – they have a point. There is not much more market outside USA. (Probably only CAN, GBR, FRA and GER are worth of mention.)
After three years in development, you’d expect more than a few cheap visual effects (which are only possible because they’re built into Leopard) and a poorly re-arranged UI, and you’d find a little more depth. For instance, we can now catalogue our tools. That was really keeping me up nights.
I’m not saying it’s no good, but it was severely disappointing and far, far less satisfying than all of Shipley’s hype implied. Try it for yourself, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself wondering what all the fuss is about. Some will find it adequate and workable; the more anal-retentive among us (guilty!) will want a far more powerful tool for inventorying their digital media, books, CDs and DVDs. And tools.
I’ve not looked yet but I’m guessing no integrated Comic Book support is included in this version either. It’d be great to just scan a comic book barcode and get all information added to the database. Anyone know if this has been added?
I’ve also been looking into this recently, and as dex mentioned above, the international support could do with some work. Surely the dev’s could look into some options that are not amazon. I emailed them to suggest a way of looking up Australian DVDs, but got no response. I’d love to buy this software, but without Australian support it’s not really worth it.
I’m hoping that once iPhone SDK is out….
Techslacker – can’t say whether you can import comics based on the barcode (I don’t own any), but I did manage to import a couple of them from amazon.
For those outside the US, not a lot to say, not all apps are going to be made in all languages. Most developers will, after all, develop apps either in their own language or in a language that will deliver a return on their time.
Since I had DL, have been waiting for quite some time for them to fix the print overlaying one on top of the other and not being able to read a thing in the info pane as you would move from one selection to the other on the shelf. Well, as the review stated, they fixed it alright – they removed it.
Although that issue is now gone, going to a stacked design is a real backward step. I think they must have forgotten that almost all screens are widescreens today. If you want to be able to read the info pane of a selection without scrolling, you have to size it such that you now only have one shelf visible. You want multiple shelves visible – well get use to scrolling to be able to read the info pane. What a pain!!
They incorporated Leopard features? Where’s coverflow view?
There are some pretty neat things they have added. auto importing all your itunes collection is pretty cool. All the multiple types of shelves if you want to keep a database for insurance, or direct link to sell on Amazon – those are pretty nice also.
If you’re looking for something to showcase, your DVD collection for example: you might try also downloading DVDpedia and comparing both before you lay out your $$. They both have a free trial, so check ‘em out.
I want to like this app, it looks so nice. I even bought DL1. But after trying DL2, the inability to change views is the dealbreaker for me. I much prefer the panes setup on columns for the widescreen as in DL1. Why they couldn’t add the option is beyond me.
A nice addition to DL2+ would be the ability to scan a bar code, and even if the item is not on Amazon, have the ability to enter your own information. Or use the camera to snap a picture and enter your own information. For example a wine collection, or whatever.
And no, I’ve never had someone break-in and steal all my CDs. I think a thief would much rather grab my Mac than 1,000 CD jewel cases.
jc, hillarious comment about stolen CDs
Btw you forgot books and clothes! I can imagine a thief running away with a huge Santa Claus-like bag full of clothes, CDs and books 
P.S. However, floods and fires can occur and the list of your (destroyed) DVDs, CDs, books, etc. may come handy.
I would also suggest taking a look at Booxter 2.0 (http://www.deepprose.com) which will keep track of your books, music, movies, and comic books. It’s been around for many years, has been recently updated with a lot of powerful features, and is available right now. It can also import from Delicious Library, so if you are a current Delicious Library user, you can download Booxter and try it out.
tthu.. a way to look up Australian DVD’s? Use DVDpedia. It’s had it built in (as well as most of the “new” features in DL2) for years.
And they are far more active with implementing features than the Delicious crew.. seriously what were they doing for three years?? And what happened to the sharing/social networking stuff they talked about earlier? (I was looking forward to that)