So, I was going through my book and CD collections trying to figure out how to get rid of some of it, when it dawned on me that it might be nice to have a catalog of all of this information.

As with any problem that involves storing data, I rush off to search for the perfect web based media cataloging application. After a bit of searching i found a huge variety of apps, and no clear winner. I wanted to do this the easy way by finding a the gold standard, but now I’m just stuck staring at this silly list of apps.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Heres the list (i’m in the process of reviewing them):

- Library Thing: Fast, clean, and gets the job done for books. Left me wanting to be able to use the same app for my dvds, cds, etc.

- Listal: Thought it was going to be too heavy, but it turns out to be quite efficient and very powerful. Cool importing and exporting features, fast searching, and nice reporting. Could be a winner!

- Swagroll: Hate it, Dislike it, neutral, like it, love it, rating system. Very simple and fast del.icio.us like layout. Makes me feel like i’m taggin something the same way I do with bookmarks in del.icio.us. Has categories for electronics, software, magazines, and tools. The search isn’t so great, so sometimes its hard or impossible to find exactly what you are looking for in order to add them to your swagroll.

- All Consuming: I found the layout to be confusing, and was frustrated by the limited amount of control you had over your catalog. I hate when they force you too choose from drop downs! It did allow for dvds, books, etc including food?

- Stuffopolis: complicated sign up, complicated UI, and difficult to use search. The service specializes in the sharing of your stuff with others, though it does allow you to track books, doesn’t currently excel at keeping and managing your catalog. It does integrate with Delicious Library.

- Delicious Library: a desktop application that can read barcodes using a

- Chainreading: Geared towards what you’re planning on reading, currently reading, and then recommending books to others. Doesn’t seem to specifically address the issue of maintaining a catalog of your books.

- Lib.rario.us : Funky UI for adding media to your collection, 5 star rating system, just give username and pass to register, and a bookmarklet. It also has an export to excel, but i’m having a real hard time getting my collection into this system, and sometimes I can’t figure out how to add media at all.

- Squirl : didn’t take much time to look at these guys because they were focused on specialty collectors, but there is a very comprehensive review here.

http://www.suggestica.com/

http://www.gurulib.com/

So either I have weird needs, or these apps are really designed poorly. Library thing and listal were my favorite.