This post has been working in my head for literally weeks, touched off in large part by a comment that 'z' added to my software roundup post. I've been rewriting it over and over in my head, but I can't come to a perfect solution, so I'll just brain-dump it here, and maybe I can come back to it later.
First off, let me dive back into the mists of time a little. When I first started seriously looking at Apple's product line again, round about when they released OS X, I came across an applications called Delicious Library.
I fell in love with it immediately.
Keep track of all my DVDs, CDs and books? Check. View all my stuff on virtual "bookshelves", using the album/movie/book covers downloaded from Amazon? Check. Keep track of who's got my stuff on loan? Check. Input my collection by scanning the ISBN or UPC code, rather than typing them in by hand? Double Check. (My favourite feature, considering my library is well over 2000+ CDs, DVDs, and books). All-in-all, an absolutely fantastic application, well-designed and thought out, and a KEY selling point for my Mac purchase.
From that moment on, getting a Mac meant buying Delicious Library for it. Then, when I got my MacBook Pro in October of '07, I went to their site with my still-warm credit card in hand, ready to buy. But I hit a common problem for the modern day software shopper: upgrade-itis.
Delicious Library version 1.6 was out, and available for $40 US; but the developers were promising Version 2.0 (cue bells and whistles) ANY DAY NOW. So I held off. Why spend my money on a product that will be obsolete almost immediately? I could upgrade later, but that would be another $20.
Days, then weeks passed with no 2.0 release.
In December, Delicious Monster (the umbrella company -- of 3 coders -- that makes Delicious Library) finally relented to their public and said, "Buy version 1.6 now, and you'll get the 2.0 upgrade for free!" Still I held off. Why learn the 1.6 interface, and import all my books and DVDs, when I can just start fresh with 2.0 when it comes out.
Then the ALPHA(!) release of Delicious Library 2.0 even won a 2007 Apple Design Award for best Leopard application (in my mind, a product should be shipping in order to be award-eligible). More hype and promises of imminent product release.
Then, last month, reviews of 2.0 started coming. AppleInsider. The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW). I pored over these reviews and news items like epistles from on high. Is 2.0 worth the wait? Is it vaporware? Will someone please give me a GD release date??!!!
Both articles mentioned a March release date. Well, guess what? It's now April 1st. (Happy Birthday to me, BTW!). Still no 2.0 release. Still nothing on the Delicious Monster team blog about this release or even a date.
So maybe you'll soon see a review of Delicious Library 2.0 here on 3 o'clock blog. And then again, maybe you won't. I honestly hope that in 2 months, I'll look back on this post and laugh at how over-wrought I was about this product. I really hope.
