I have a very large collection of books at home. I would like to be
able to put them into a database without having to enter every title
and author individually. I was thinking that a barcode scanner, some
of my code and a ISBN database could do the trick.
Here is my question :
Is there a complete ISBN database available either on download or on
CD-rom that I could use to instatly find a book's details by scanning
the ISBN number on its back
knowing that
- I am looking for an offline solution (a website with a search engine
would not be convenient)
-most of my books are in French but a have about one or two hundred
books in English ( be it UK or american publishers)

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 05 Apr 2003 07:17 PST

Hi vax:

The trouble with offline databases of the ISBN numbers is twofold:

1. They are soon out-of-date
2. Since the information is readily available online, there is little
incentive for companies to publish them for offline use

I was able to find a very interesting product that has an interface
you install on your PC into which you connect with the barcode
scanner. The product then interfaces (over the internet) with the ISBN
data and automatically downloads all the relevant information to your
PC. So, you have to be connected, but you don't have to "surf". Would
this suffice? Let me know.

websearcher-ga

P.S. It also works on CDs and videos.

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Clarification of Question by vax-ga on 05 Apr 2003 08:28 PST

hello Again, Websearcher,
I am interested with this solution, if the price is not too big ( this
is after all, merely rearranging my books for myself, i don't plan to
invest thousands in that :) ) , the  program can be in its turn
interfaced with another soft or db ( or has exporting capabilitues) :
Copy/ pasting all fields for each book goes a bit against the concept
of automatisation i was looking for. This database has to have all
major french editors too since that is where all of my books come
from.
If it meets thos criterias, I will definetly consider that a valid
answer

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Clarification of Question by vax-ga on 05 Apr 2003 08:41 PST

Sorry, forgot to metion, I am aware of
http://www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/index.html#lookup

but I was looking, if possible, for something a bit simpler

Hello vax:

Thanks for the clarification. I've reviewed this product again, and I
believe it meets your criteria. The product is called "Readerware" and
can be found at:

Readerware
URL: http://www.readerware.com/

Cost: $40 (books only) $75 (books, CDs, videos)
URL: http://www.readerware.com/rwPur.html
Free Trial Version: http://www.readerware.com/rwDown.html

Exporting capabilities: 
URL: http://www.readerware.com/rwOvw.html
Quote: "Powerful import/export capabilities - Export all or parts of a
Readerware database to common file formats. Use Readerware
auto-catalog capabilities to provide data for other applications.
Migrate your existing data from other applications."

Major French Editors: 
URL: http://www.readerware.com/rwOvw.html
Quote: "Built in access to the ultimate reference sources - The
Library of Congress and The British Library are fully accessible from
within Readerware."

There are also a plethora of other features that can be seen at:

Readerware 2.0 Overview
URL: http://www.readerware.com/rwOvw.html

Readerware Features
URL: http://www.readerware.com/rwFeat.html

Have a look and let me know whether this product fits the bill. 

Thanks. 

websearcher-ga


Search Strategy (on Google):

isbn database scanner
readerware

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Request for Answer Clarification by vax-ga on 05 Apr 2003 09:01 PST

Hi websearcher,
I had a look and it definetly seems to fit my needs. Please allow me
to try the demo and test it on sample books and I will soon let you
know if it is what I need

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Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 05 Apr 2003 09:08 PST

Hi vax: 

Sounds good! I await your update. 

websearcher-ga

Very quick and accurate answer. exactly what I needed

You may also want to try our book catalog software Book Collector. 
More info can be found here: 
 
http://www.collectorz.com/book/ 
 
Alwin Hoogerdijk 
Collectorz.com 
http://www.collectorz.com