AKICOLJ: using PDA vs iPod to store lists & LibraryThing

[kaylarudbek]

So I have both a relatively old PDA (Sony Clie SG-20, uses Palm as the OS) and a 30GB photo iPod. I want to have my list of books I own and my knitting inventory on me in a format that is reasonably portable and easily updated with a somewhat older Mac. I currently have Word files for these, and the whole "go-through-the-paper-list-and-print-out-inventory-and-update-by-hand-and-retype-into-computer" is getting really old. I estimate that I have about a metric Bryant total (1000) when I combine all my books, knitting magazines, and patterns. I have a knitting program on the PDA that I don't really use right now think it's called KnitAble or something like that ...

The options I think I have are:
1) Use the Clie a) get a MemoryStick(TM) to put into the Clie so I can store the Word files on it b) pay for the knitting program so I can use the Clie
2) Use the iPod, and store the Word files as some sort of text
3) new electronic gadget (prefer not to if can avoid it, saving $ to replace computers dating back to 2001 once Leopard comes out)

I may want to migrate to using the PDA/iPod as my organizer at some point (instead of the paper one dating back to law school)

Also, does anyone know if LibraryThing users can print out a list or save an electronic version of their "books owned" list? If so, I might spend the money to get a LibraryThing account and their bar coder....

Comments

[melannen.livejournal.com]

You can "export" as tab-delimited .txt designed to import right into a spreadsheet, or as CSV format which I know nothing about.

Getting a nice printout would probably involve printing from said spreadsheet after fiddleing with format. Although there is a print option built in which seems okay but I haven't tried.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Hmm. As long as I can get a printout which is small (under 10 pages of 8.5x11) and sorted by author, I think I might want to try it. What does the export into spreadsheet come out as?

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Well ... my library of about 1500 books (at the time) printed on to about 20-some pages, I think, but that was after I had deleted some of the data columns from the spreadsheet, and I could've made the text size smaller, too. (The export exports *all* data columns in librarything, which is over a dozen and probably more than you need in a reference printout.) The print directly from LT seems to format fairly well, though, and you can pick which data columns you want to see. And you can sort by anything you want, including author.

The exported .txt file should work with anything that can read ACSII.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Okay, then I can save the exported .txt file as Word, or the spreadsheet into Excel etc. Thanks.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Set up the LibrayThing account last night, and it works to export into Excel. Now awaiting the CueCat scanner...

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Also, there is PalmThing (http://home.comcast.net/~mmcm/palmthing/readme.html), which deals gracefully with said exported output, though I'm not sure whether it'll work with an older Clie.

Does the Clie not use HotSync? For that matter, does it predate the bundled DocsToGo app? hmm.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

That is, does your Mac not play well with HotSync? Sorry, missed that part on the first read-through. I suspect that if you are able to use HotSync, the PalmThing instructions could be modified so that it works from a Mac, but I am not any sort of expert.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

The Clie does use HotSync, so I've been able to load some things onto it (e.g. all of AJ Hall's ebooks), but I suspect I need to put in the additional memory to get the book list (in whatever form it finally takes) onto it. IIRC, the Clie is running Palm OS 4.something-or-other, so the only problem would be whether PalmThing plays with the Mac.

The other consideration is that I need to send the list(s) to my mom, who is not very computer-literate and who is also on a Mac.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

ISTR I needed a Java runtime bundle to use PalmThing (memory is working very slowly this week--sorry), which I downloaded here (http://www.palm.com/us/support/jvm/download.html) and which does have Mac installation instructions.... Hope that'll help.

I'm guessing that the interim file exported from LT would work for your mother, at least, since it can be opened in any spreadsheet program.

Good luck! :)

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's starting to look like LibraryThing for the Clie & Mac (maybe the ASCII would even work on the iPod).

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

PalmThing downloaded all right; need a memory stick in the Clie to pick up the exported file.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[sraun]

Would a read-only copy on the Mac work? If so, there's a Word Macro (that I think will run on the Mac version) that exports to Palm DOC format (as opposed to Word DOC format). Then you just need a DOC reader on your Palm - since you've already got fanfic on it, I assume you've got such a beast. If you really want to, you can get a Palm DOC editor that runs on your PDA, and WordDoc can read it back in.

[sraun]

I forgot to mention - Palm DOC files tend to about half the size of the matching Word DOC file. That should let you ballpark whether you've got enough room on your PDA for it.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think I'd prefer to have the Mac copy be something that I can modify as well, as I've worked with Macs for far longer than I have the Clie...

[sraun]

The convertor is two-way, so you could edit it on either the Clie (if you had a Palm DOC editor on the Clie) or using Word on the Mac. You can download a trial from the link.

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

I use a program called MobileDB for my list(s), because when I started cataloging my books I chose to do it as a database, so that I can sort automatically. With nearly 1600 books on my "owned" list, and about 100 on my "looking for" list, the file sizes show up as 95KB and 5KB, respectively, and the program itself is about 300KB, so there should be room on your Clie without needing to buy more memory ( depending on how much other stuff you have on it, of course ). It can import files in various formats, including the .CSV melannen mentioned, which stands for "Comma Separated Value", and is sort of a lowest common denominator for databases, like .TXT is for word processing. I use it to move things between my mobile version of the list and my "home" version, which I still keep in Works rather than the desktop version of MobileDB because a.) I keep several columns on info at home that I don't really need in the mobile version [ hardback/paperback, publication date, date last read, etc. ], and b.) one of the shortcomings of MobileDB is that doesn't allow you to adjust the font size, and I've become so spoiled using FireFox as a browser ( and hitting ctrl + whenever I start to squint ) that having to read small print on screen starts to irritate me really fast. MobileDB does list a Mac version, though as a Windows user I can't testify as to how well it works; it's been a while since I started using it, but I think the trial version only lets you save a limited number of items, and to use more you have to buy the full version.

I looked around the FAQs for LibraryThing ( I've been meaning to sign up there, too, I just haven't gotten around to it yet ), and all I could find was information about importing books, not exporting them, but I may have just not known the right place to look. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in eventually

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Yep, I looked at the FAQs too, and I couldn't find anything about exporting. I have a cell phone but I don't download data onto it, and if I can't/won't do that, my mom definitely can't & won't.