Combine all the PEDIAs into 1 Great Apps

[drotsap]

Hi,

I just bought BookPedia, DVDPedia and CDPedia. I can't help but notice (obviously) that all 3 apps are very similar in looks and functionality. Have you thought about combining all these great applications into 1 big application? Maybe with TABS or something elegant like that. I at least a couple of advantages to doing this:
1. You only need to open 1 application instead of 3 or 4
2. You could do a search say "Beatles" and see all your Beatles DVDs, CDs, Books in your collection.

I'm sure there are many other advantages.

Before finally deciding on BookPedia, I was considering Delicious Library because they combine all your libraries in 1 application. But in the end, BookPedia offers a lot more than DL didn't. Having said that, it'd be great to have all the PEDIAs in 1 application.

Thanks for writing such great SW

Regards
drotsap

[Nora]

This question has come up before of course and if you do a quick search on the forum you'll see the different pro and con arguments from our users but here are ours: the main reason the programs are separate is because we want them to be good at what they do - if you have large media collections then putting them all together into one application will mean a slower program and less specialized features. Imagine the possible list of columns in an all-in-one app from the Pedias united, there would be about 60 different fields. To handle this you have to start getting generic and it renders the app useless to a true collector. In Bookpedia, for example, the copy command creates a MLA bibliography of the selected books as plain text to allow you to paste it to an email or a term paper.

Of course, keeping the apps separate also allows us to keep the price low for users who are only interested in one application.

Having said that though, the Pedia programs do have some integration between them. You can link a Bookpedia book to a DVDpedia movie, for example. Sure, you're using two programs but clicking on the link will take you directly to the other program with the related entry highlighted. Take a look at this how to page for more info.

Alternatively, there's also the Amazonpedia widget or Spotlight, which allow you to search all your Pedia libraries at once (as well as Amazon in the case of the widget) so you don't even need the programs running to check for an entry. "PediaItem" in Spotlight will narrow your search to only the pedias entries. You can even look at the details of an item with Quick Look.

[drotsap]

Hi Nora,

Thanks for a quick reply. I agree, a program must first of all be functional, otherwise it defeats the whole purpose. As I said, this is the reason why I chose Book,CD, & DVD Pedia. I totally agree with your reasoning.

I still feel there's too much similarity (at least as far as interface and look and feel is concerned), that combining them seems like a natural thing to do. In my short time using the 3 apps, I find myself having to switch back and forth and it's counter-productive.

How about this, I don't know if this makes sense (or possible) as i'm not a programmer: can we have 1 common application/interface/program and using tabs access all 4 separate applications (or databases or tables?) in the background?

As far as pricing goes, you can still market/package it as 1,2,3, or 4 separate apps (2 tabs for 2 apps, 3 tabs for 3 apps etc)
Sorry if it doesn't make sense. I will leave it at that.

Let me just make it clear that I'm not whining. I'm a VERY satisfied user of 3 AWESOME applications. I just think they could be even more streamlined

Thank you

[Conor]

It's a good idea and we have thought about it; one app that takes plug-ins for the different medias and is extensible. It's a possibility for future development. Thank you for adding your voice.