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.

[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.

[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