TUAW Interviews Mike Lee of Delicious Monster, looks at Delicious Library 2

Great video, if not a little long, but next time, can we up the volume level a little. I know you said that the quality was low with the bad mic, but you can up it in post.

First off, this goes to our good friend Larry, aka LD:
I've never used Pedia, or any of the other apps mentioned. They sound great, and I'm guessing after the poopystorm everyone here has raised, one of our bloggers will give 'em a try and blog about it. As well we should (a bakeoff, perhaps?)

Insinuating that TUAW is getting a kickback? That's laughable. We're not beholden to any particular anyone, but each of us *does* have a preference for one thing or another-- that's called being human. Blogging about what you find interesting is, uh, called blogging.

Questioning our integrity makes me a little ill (OK, a LOT ill), and I'll thank you not to do it again. Really, if you think we're that cheap, just go somewhere else and never darken our URL again.

Now, for some other notes:

1. Scott's audio had an issue with hum, so I had to cut most of it down to a whisper. My sincerest apologies if it made anyone start thinking wacky conspiracy theories. Who knew?

2. I also had to cut a segment where Mike showed plastic game boxes exploding, not catching fire like the books. Sorry if you think they aren't using enough CoreAnimation.

3. Mike isn't really a spokesperson. He's a developer, and this wasn't rehearsed. Basically he's a guy who loves what he does speaking passionately about a product he believes in. Sorry if that offends anyone of makes you uncomfortable in any way, shape or form. I find the personal attacks pretty gross, and I don't think they have a place here. Mike didn't show us every feature, didn't illustrate every effect, nor did he dance the hoochie-koo. Again, deepest apologies.

4. Nick says it better than I can regarding the overall respect DM gets: Wil has been doing this a LONG time (like Andrew Welch with Ambrosia), and there's something to be said for that. In fact, Nick from Montreal has been a voice of reason in this chain of comments, and I want to thank him for that. Rare is the commenter who follows through on baseless claims. If we still had stars, you'd get an automatic 5.

In closing:

If the developers of Pedia or Bruji or *anything* else would like to talk to us, we're willing to listen, record and report. Mike happened to be at Macworld, and we happened to schedule an interview. Again, no big freaky conspiracy or "fashion effect" or monkey business. If you'd watch the interview in full or watch any of our WWDC coverage you might have a better understanding of where we come from-- we're Apple fans and critics, and (speaking for myself anyway) believe that developers who have thrown their energies into developing software for this platform do so NOT to become wildly rich or famous or get Learjets and all that... They do it because they genuinely love to do it, they believe they can make the world slightly better place by making apps that "just work" or "work better."

While it may not be fighting fires or saving babies from runaway carriages, I think what developers do is quite awesome. I sure couldn't do it (my programming experience never graduated above Visual Basic). So I think a modicum of respect is deserved for what Mike and ALL Mac developers do.

At the very least, perhaps a bit more thinking before you hit the "Add Your Comments" button. We're humans, after all.

I am one of those who was greatly impressed by the original app and it seems that the people behind it are wonderful souls and have all the best motivations, but... I find the 2.0 version as described, seriously disappointing. I heard for ages how it was going to "blow people away" (graphically) and how it uses everything Leopard and Core graphics/animation has to offer, yet in this video all that is really demonstrated in that regard is the flaming CD case?

The main reason I did not end up buying version 1.0 was I found the giant wooden bookcase metaphor a tad on the ugly side (just my personal impression I know), and I thought it wasted space. In the intervening time I have bought an iPod and am now a big fan of coverflow view. Now here we have a 2.0 version, and it has the same gigantic space-wasting wooden bookcase and no other options for viewing the products are detailed. No mention of coverflow view at all. Additionally, I echo all the comments from others about integration with multiple databases besides Amazon.

I am hoping that this is just a really poor presentation by the Delicious Library spokesperson and that it actually *does* have a lot of features and graphical options that this fellow just foolishly did not demonstrate. There is that giant TV just sitting there for the entire 20 minutes and it is used for what? Nothing at all. If there *are* new graphical features or data views, why would they not take a few seconds to show us instead of talking for 20 minutes while looking at a virtually unchanging image of the giant wooden bookcase? They talk about web-templates for at least five minutes without *showing* a single one also???

Finally, as a database expert myself, I find it astonishing that when talking about importing and exporting, no mention is made of FileMaker at all. Again, I will have to assume this is just a very stupid omission in the interview and that it must be in the actual product. Why the hell would you create a relational database of all your stuff on the Mac that doesn't even talk to the number one Macintosh database program? Absolutely idiotic if they have left it out or just plain dumb not to have mentioned it if they haven't.

I am a student and use DL for two main reasons: a) I lend a lot of books out and I want to get them back (I have about 600 in my library) and b) for insurance purposes. If I loose these books in a fire I'm screwed (I'm working on a doctorate), so I regularly backup my library and post the files online. So I like it for these reasons, but that said if I would have known about the open source version of this software called books which works just as well http://books.aetherial.net/ or the bruji one, that would suffice for what I need.

Though I have to admit, the ability to make a bibliography out of the library will be really helpful.

It's absolutely true that DL is one of the best looking Mac apps and you could easily argue it's one of the best looking apps ever but honestly, if you're a true DVD collector with more than 100 DVD's, DL just doesn't cut it. I WISH IT would but in an email, they said, they wanted it just for small collectors and newbies so - yea, good looking but ultimately, not very deep, here are some reviews of the Mac DVD cataloging apps:

http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/mac-movie-dvd-cataloging-bring-isight/

I'm pretty sure he mentions new categories (plural). So what is new besides gadgets?

As it stands now, I use DL hoping comic books will be added. Booxter looks like a good alternative, but doesn't catalog video games.

So whoever can do all 5 (dvds, cds, books, video games, comic books) first will be the one I'll use.

While I agree that not every program is for everyone (especially something like DL or my personal choice DVDpedia, or the other *pedias), what's great about having a cataloging/database app like these is to keep track of the interesting statistics (eg, most of my DVD collection is Comedy, followed by Action/Adventure; while oddly enough Quinten Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and Sam Raimi are the most popular directors). Also, it's great to keep tack of people borrowing my DVDs.

So theres two examples of why I (and I'm sure others) use db/cataloging apps.

I'll throw my vote in for the Pedias as well. I tried DL and while it was pretty, I just like DVDpedia better. I even decided to try it again a few weeks ago. While doing some searching, I came across this review:
http://www.macobserver.com/review/2006/10/30.1.shtml

What really made me decide to stick with the Pedias was Will Shipley's comment on the page ("Ratings, Smatings" http://www.macobserver.com/review/2006/10/30.1.shtml?ppp=50&p=284973&sid=a4b835294171ba8f2237cf4c0f8a6678#284973)
and Bruji developer Conor's comment ("Ouch..." http://www.macobserver.com/review/2006/10/30.1.shtml?ppp=50&p=285025&sid=0c2dee4003de9650bc676f48b0a51f98#285025). Shipley's comment was actually ranked down, so you'll have to manually open it up.

While the rest of the Mac community deifies Shipley, I think the attention has gone to his head and he seems more like a pompous prick.

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 also comic books.

It's been around for many years, is updated regularly, and is available right now. It can also import from DL, so if you are a current DL user, you can download Booxter and try it out.

Delicious Monster lost its soul when both Mike Matas and Wil Shipley left to join Apple. Both departures probably threw huge delays into DL2's product cycle.

As a DL1 license owner, I wonder of DL2 will really be more like a DL1.4 as far as the UI and perceived changes ago.