Can entertainment actually be(come) a chore?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by usuallee

That's hilarious! Love those shelf names, I wonder if they are trademarked, or in the public domain :-)

Released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Heh. I can recognize some stuff in the answers given.

For people who are thinking that I'm frantically compiling lists of everything: that's not the case. However, it often happens that I stumble upon a book, song, game... and so on, and I think: I'd like to read or play or watch that. Then I just add it to the list.

The problem is that mosts lists become longer more quickly than I can "work" through them, books and games (especially RPG's) being the worst by far. Adding a 1000 page book to the list takes 4 seconds, while it takes me 28 to 40 hours (depending on the subject and genre) to read it.

Creating a list isn't the problem. Lists can be useful. Fun even. Putting an item on the list shouldn't make it an obligation. It doesn't matter how long the list gets. You never have to finish it.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Beware the pursuit of luxury and leisure. It seems to offer an escape from work but can become as laborious as an avocation.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Well, I don't really want to add books I don't own to Calibre, but most importantly I want the lists on my iPod, so I can refer to them when I'm in a second-hand bookshop or at work or whatever.

I use a program called ListPro. It used to be I could sync between my PC and my PDA. They have created a iVersion, but no Android one.

[Geralt]

I don't really have lists outside of the goodreads. And even that one is only formal.
I don't put much importance on things like lists.
The choice of what I will watch next or read next often comes from the conversation with my bf, my friends...or by browsing the net. Point being if I really want to watch something I do, and if I'm not so eager I move along and don't put it on the list. If its anything worthwhile it will surely emerge next time. I don't put much thought in to it, and quickly forget it even.

[rkomar]

As I've hit middle age, I find that my memory has been getting worse. I still go to used book stores, but now my lists aren't of books I want to buy, rather they're of books I don't want to buy (because I already have them). Too many times I've bought a book by an author I like, come home, and found a copy already sitting on a bookshelf. Blah!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rkomar

As I've hit middle age, I find that my memory has been getting worse. I still go to used book stores, but now my lists aren't of books I want to buy, rather they're of books I don't want to buy (because I already have them). Too many times I've bought a book by an author I like, come home, and found a copy already sitting on a bookshelf. Blah!

Been there, done that . That's one of the reasons that I buy virtually all my books from Amazon these days: it tells me if I've already bought a book.

[mike_bike_kite]

My life is largely ruled by lists. Wish lists. Lists of things I'd like to do. Lists of things I should be doing. Lists of things my wife wants doing. If I wasn't continually losing these lists then I'd probably have no time left to enjoy myself.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I use a program called ListPro. It used to be I could sync between my PC and my PDA. They have created a iVersion, but no Android one.

Does it actually do 3-state lists?

I currently make do with a freebie, which does (kind of) sync to Google Docs, but it doesn't do three states. I have to modify the name of the list item to indicate whether or not I have bought it, which is quite annoying. I use the actual checkbox when I've read something, and add a dash to the name when I buy something.

I keep thinking about writing one myself, since it is more-or-less my day job, but it's not quite inconvenient enough for that.

[mr_nihilism]

The things you own end up owning you - Tyler Durden

[pagansoul]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I use the low-tech approach of having an "eBooks to Buy" page on the "Notes" app on my iPhone.

I do this. I also use Evernote to keep track of my blu-rays and blu-ray want list with prices. I have list of book collections that I try to read in order like my TORCHWOOD collection or Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series or Dresden Files. I also have George R.R. Martins books to read which I've had in cue for over a year.

[HomeInMyShoes]

For books I use Goodreads and a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is for statistics I decide I want to know and I really only have a list of potential reads and a list of my challenge books for the current year. That keeps things simple and I've always got a list to help me find a book when nothing is screaming at me to be read. Part of the fun of reading is finding new things to read so time spent in the lists is always enjoyable.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Does it actually do 3-state lists?

The version I have does. It's not the latest one, but when I looked at the webpage, the screenshots still seem to, although the layout looks a little different from what I'm used to seeing.

You can pick various graphic options on a 3-state "column". So I might choose a checkbox - which would toggle between a red check, a greyed out checkbox, and an empty check box.

Or you might choose a circle that's blue, green, or empty (an outline of a circle).

I remember it took me a long time to manually enter everything, but if I remember correctly, you can actually upload to it with a spreadsheet and/or comma delimited file. Since nowadays it's just a case of entering new books as I add them (and since Fictionwise's demise, that's a *lot* less than I used to), I just do it manually.