Over the past few days, I have been looking for some options that will allow a new bookstore startup that I am with to have a reliable, super-cheap book cataloging system. Now when I first agreed to do this, one of the things that was made crystal clear to me was that they had no desire for a fancy POS system. As such, this definitely ruled out my idea of them going with the BookAccents program. For most bookstores, this is where I would point them. However, these folks are doing stickers on the books to dictate price, therefore I discovered that they really do only require a very basic cataloging system indeed.

So, I have spent the better part of two - three days looking for the best options. Another thing that I needed to consideralso, is that they are wanting to do a combination Windows/Linux network. This means that I ought to be open to the possibility to just taking them to a Linux option if this is something they want to do. Regardless, Windows does tend to have the best software in this realm. Most of the time, anyway.

What did I come up with? Well, the best options that I found for someone who is adamant about not using complex POS software are as follows:

• Book Collector (Windows)- I have been playing with this software for a couple of hours now and to be brutally honest, it is outstanding. Simple to use and has full barcode scanner support with no configuration whatsoever. The only downside is that there are lot of button options. Could lead people to becoming overwhelmed without proper training. On the plus side however, once a new user gets the hang of it, there is nothing this software can’t do!
• Readerware (Windows, Linux and Mac)- Like the above option, Readerware is really great to work with. Less in-your-face options than Book Collector and it’s cross platform, too. This would allow Linux users to have full usability with barcode scanner support as well. Unfortunately, while in many ways this software could be seen as superior, I feel that makes me work entirely too much to retrieve missing pictures, ISBN numbers, etc. Still, doing so is still not impossible within the software itself. But it needs to be a little easier to find.
• Conclusion- Both programs are excellent. Either one will present you with easy to use export/import options. Having said this, Readerware’s export and import feature is more straightforward and sets the proper file extensions for exports. Book Collector incorrectly sets them as .txt files which often times does not work. Also, when exporting to an HTML file for addition to a Website, I noticed that Book Collector seems to have a rather bloated way of offering up the book list. Yet with Readerware, we get relevant data like ratings, dates, etc without extra clicking to see it. If you want to create a more advanced looking export result in HTML however, then maybe Book Collector is a better match for you.

For my clients, I will likely go with the Readerware program. For most bookstore clients that are needing true POS software/hardware however, I will continue recommend the setup known as BookAccents for Windows. They offer everything you would need to run a busy little bookstore with the up most ease.