iBookshelf Review: Personal Book Catalogue for the iPod Touch

The features that iBookshelf provides are basic and simple. Books have to be entered manually, that is the ISBN code for the books allows the app to pull up relevant information. The requirement for the ISBN code is strict and the app cannot search for books based on just their names or author information. This is a bit annoying, though there is no way around it. iBookshelf supports only the ISBN format, UPC or ASIN codes are not accepted. The app allows sorting of books based on author, genre and title. The books can also be marked as read, owned, lent etc. which helps in keeping track of the books. You can also add books that you would like to own, also add comments regarding a book or borrower.

The app also allows backing up the book database to its own online server, which is handy but still wouldn’t be difficult to allow a PC based backup either. iBookshelf allows the user to also select the best place to buy a book that they have listed in the “wanted” section. The app does a price comparison on several sources including Amazon, eCampus, Abebooks & Powell’s allowing you to go in for the best deal. The app supports only cataloging of books and does not allow other stuff like DVDs or games.

The interface of the app is not really inviting and will require some makeover to really shine. The menus are pretty straight forward though not intuitive. The inclusion of the coverflow style view of the book catalogue in the landscape mode is helpful, but it is not executed very well. The book covers look pixelated and at times the text labels on them are not visible. The idea of entering a book by typing in the ISBN code may be a straightforward approach for a few books but if you’re looking to put in a considerable sized library - it becomes an arduous task. Yes, the application can import catalogue files from other applications that are capable of exporting data in the CSV format but this feature is constricted by the special formatting requirements.