I am looking for advice for a, preferably free, video and DVD database program for a Palm. My computer is a Mac OS X machine, and it would be great to find a program that would work with both.

I do need it on the Palm because I'm starting to forget what exactly I already have when I'm in the store looking to buy.

Any recommendations?

I have two far-from-perfect solutions:
1. HandyShopper. It's free, but it is not a "database program", as much as an enhanced to-do lists program. But it will solve your problem while you're in the store. You can type all your lists in the Palm desktop (in a Memo), and later import it to HandyShopper.
http://www.freewarepalm.com/database/handyshopper-english.shtml
2. Smartlist to go. All you can ask for... at 39.99!
http://www.dataviz.com/products/smartlisttogo/index.html

Currently I have all (most) of my movies in an excel spreadsheet and then use documents to go to keep it on my handheld. I too would like a dedicated program to do this with a Mac, but I would also like it to keep it's database on the card. Maybe too much to ask.

How much would you pay for the entire IMDB collection, with all links, actors, movies, history, biographies, and so on... in a Palm format?

Not a standalone application, but an actual high-quality "encyclopedia" on your Palm.

I'm gauging how popular this would be, before I finish the local version I have here for redistribution. Its a LOT of work (and the licensing costs are pretty high), but it might be worth it, if the return is enough to cover my time + licensing.

Hacker, I believe your post deserves it's own thread, so more people can see it.

Francesco, your idea for using shopper program for movies I want to buy is a good one. I have Splashshopper and I can type my Amazon wishlist in it which will help a lot. For some reason I never thought of using it that way. But it solves part of the problem.

As far as a DB of what I already have: I messed around with a freebie called Media Database http://www.kaseisoft.com/in.html today. It might work, but I may continue looking as I'm not getting the desktop data to work with the handheld. I think I will continue looking for something.

Hacker, I agree with Francesco, that is a pretty important question and deserves some consideration.

How much would you pay for the entire IMDB collection, with all links, actors, movies, history, biographies, and so on... in a Palm format?

Not a standalone application, but an actual high-quality "encyclopedia" on your Palm.

I'm gauging how popular this would be, before I finish the local version I have here for redistribution. Its a LOT of work (and the licensing costs are pretty high), but it might be worth it, if the return is enough to cover my time + licensing.

Well, Leonard Maltin's Video Guide and Videohound are already available for PalmOS. I have them both, and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. As movie guide programs, they're okay. As DVD collection maintenance systems, they both leave a lot to be desired. I think you're going to have a hard time competing against these two programs, unless you can beath them both for features in the areas they are best at, plus having the best/most complete information database.

I've tried DVDpedia on MacOS X, and was not impressed. It's supposed to take information from IMdb and Amazon and combine that, but it's pretty much worthless.

Frankly, I haven't seen anything in the field of DVD collection maintenance systems that I would bother with on any platform, even if they were free.

I have Maltin, and the Video Hound (as well as the Tomeraider version of IMDB), and agree with shub-internet to a point. I actually think Maltin's guide is pretty good for cataloging your dvd collection and does pretty well as far as movie guides go. VH is super-huge and really sloooow.

Why do I have three of them? I'm sick, I tell you. I also refer to Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes each week before I both to see any films. I love the trivia in the IMDB.

Yes, I'm clearly deranged and love movies.


Maltin's guide doesn't have a desktop version, so I don't know if that's a sticking point with you. I find that it works really well just off the pda.

I have Maltin, and the Video Hound (as well as the Tomeraider version of IMDB), and agree with shub-internet to a point. I actually think Maltin's guide is pretty good for cataloging your dvd collection and does pretty well as far as movie guides go. VH is super-huge and really sloooow.

One thing I like about VideoHound is that they give you the option of two different databases -- one small, and one huge. The huge one has everything the small one does, plus a lot more. So, if you've got several MB free, you can get the huge database. If you don't, you can at least get the small one which includes the majority of the most popular films. Maltin doesn't give you an option.

Note that Maltin has now come out with a 2005 version, I don't know about VideoHound.


Still, I don't think this answers the question of the DVD database -- I have yet to find a single program on either Palm or MacOS X that does anything close to what I personally want.


Out of curiosity, how are you getting the IMDB data so you can carry it around with you?