BookCAT 8.10.01

• Quick specs
• Price: Free to try (30-day trial); $39.95 to buy
• Operating system: Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
• Date added: June 25, 2006
• Total Downloads: 66,931
• Downloads last week: 45
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• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 27 votes
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User reviews of BookCAT 8.10.01

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 27 votes
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• 5 stars

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

  Version: BookCAT 8.10.01

  "Simply the best book database application for Collectors."

  by dmatlock1 on September 3, 2006

  Pros: I rarely take the time to rate a program but this one deserves to be noted.

  BookCat is one of a group of programs for collectors from fnprg.com.

  As a long time book collector I had been searching for a database program to suit my needs for years. A little over 2 years ago I found BookCat and finally stopped looking.

  In short the program has facilities to scan in books, download information from several websites on the net (many are non-US sites so if you collect German, British, French, Etc. you have the means to do download from those countries) and record just about any aspect of a book that would be important. If the aspect of the book is not in the standard database template you can add it yourself with one of the numerous custom fields available for you to use.

  So the pros are,

  -Easy to start using (but does have a learning curve for some advanced features see cons).

  -Very stable. Never had any database corruption and only occasionally a small info display bug which is often readily correctable with the customer support.

  -Extremely flexible. If you need a field for a book and it is not present in the standard template you can add it using one of the several custom fields available. In addition you can display the information to suit your needs so if you do not need a field you can get rid of it and rearrange the other boxes to your pleasure.

  -Multiple ways to view information. You can view your books in several window pane arrangements or an explorer HTML based view.

  -You can export the data in many ways including into an iPod to use a reference when on the run.

  -You can scan in bar codes in preparation for downloading information from the internet.

  -Update info from the internet.

  -Add pictures of your books, autographs, etc.

  -etc, etc, etc.

  Take a look at the demo. If you collect books this program will likely blow you away and the pros are too numerous to note here. You really have to see it.

  Cons: I do not care for how the program deals with Pseudonyms. To my knowledge the application does not really deal with this issue at all. While you can find ways to work around this problem the program does not work as elegantly as it could with this issue. So if I have a book by Isaac Asimov and I search for Paul French (who was really Isaac Asimov) the program does not allow you to link these names as the same person and you will not get the search result you would hope for.

  While the following is intended as a feature I find the following aspect to be annoying as you have no control over it. Each book can have as many content entries as you want. These can be stories, afterwards, forewords, etc. however if the entry is by the same person as the main book author the name is not displayed in the contents view. I originally thought this was a bug but I heard back this was an intended feature. The way I use this database though results in this being a bug from my perspective and I still hope that we will have an option we can set to disable this. Currently you have no choice.

  You can not download bulk information from the internet for multiple books. You can do it book by book but it would be nice to select 10 books (or 20 or 100) and download the information and then cycle through it to select what you want to keep or reject.

  That is about it. To me the only really important con is the pseudonym issue. All the others are just annoyances and not really an impetus to using the program effectively.

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• 5 stars

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

  Version: BookCAT 8.10.01

  "An excellant program for the novice or the professional."

  by hflibrary on August 31, 2006

  Pros: This is a program that a novice can easily work and the intermediate and advanced users can have a field day in doing just about anything. The assistance from the designer is quick and very helpful.

  Cons: Personally, I have some difficulty in working with XML...only because I know little about using it. That's the only CON I can note.

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• 5 stars

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

  Version: BookCAT 8.10.01

  "Knocks the socks off other book databases!"

  by ehknapp on September 12, 2006

  Pros: I tried out 6-8 potentential databases for my personal library (3,000+ books) before settling on BookCAT, and it's a choice I've never regretted. This is a stable. very complete, highly flexible program, with exceptional user support.

  The program can do an internet search (of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Library of Congress, and many foriegn sites) by ISBN and LCCN. New books can be added in batch mode (as many ISBNs and LCCNs as you wish to list at one time), although books already in the database must be updated invidually. There are fields for almost any characteristic of a book you might want to keep track of, plus many custom fields which you can define as you wish. (All fields, even the predefined ones, are customizable, by the way.) Data entry windows can be modified to suit your needs, by eliminating (hiding) fields you do not need and adding or rearranging those you do. There are a variety of predefined reports which can be produced, and with a little knowledge of XML (or help from the author or the user forum) these too can be customized. A recent addition to the program is the ability to download to an iPod; data can also be downloaded to Palm and PocketPC devices with the help of a free 3rd-party add-on called FNProg2PDA.

  The program can be used "out of the box" by a database novice (as I was when I started two years ago), while the more advanced user can take advantage of its power. It includes a very good tutorial, extensive help files, and context-sensitive help. There is a User Forum, and the user community is active and very helpful. And support by the author is outstanding--the best I have experienced from any software (or hardware) company. It is not unusual to receive a response within an hour or two. The program is in an active state of development, with improvements and new features being added regularly, and the author is very responsive to users' needs and requests.

  Cons: There are no significant cons that I can think of--nor, for that matter, insignificant ones. Other reviewers have reported a learning curve, but this is a problem only if you want to take advantage of the more advanced features; as noted, the program can be used by a relative novice.

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• 2 stars

  2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

  Version: BookCAT 8.10.01

  "You get what you pay for . . ."

  by JPManga on May 14, 2007

  Pros: A fairly solid product that fills a small but important niche market. It has many features you would normally only find in a more professional product. So it's a fairly good deal for this price range.

  If you have many foreign books, or any use other than a small personal library, you will be better off finding a commercial grade product.

  Cons: Almost every feature you would want, if you don't mind aimlessly wading through the cluttered menus.

  We have also had some minor problems with the database becoming corrupted by use over the network, perhaps it wasn't designed to be used in a library environment. Be sure to keep a recent back-up handy!

  It seems to have trouble with the extended character sets used in foreign languages. And no apparent support for foreign ISBN downloads. In fact the author Explicitly states he can't/won't add support for Chinese, Japanese or Korean books. Many complaints are brushed off or ignored on their own forums!

  Don't expect customer service until you pay (this complaint is even posted in their own forums!). After several paragraphs (actually a full page) of explaining our problem, all we got back was a short surly response ("Sorry, can't help with that").

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• 5 stars

  1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

  Version: BookCAT 8.10.01

  "Best personal library manager for the price"

  by Naismith on September 4, 2006

  Pros: Great customizable details for every kind of books. Quick "Add by ISBN number" way to capture books data and cover from Internet sites. Professional "books on loan" management. Very good product support.

  Cons: BookCAT has "personal use roots": it doesn't support different level of access (e.g. a "view and search only" user account) to segregate admin user rights from casual users / kids limited "no mess around here" data.

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