A library between friends

I would wager that amongst friends you have a DVD library available to you that rivals any Blockbuster video or public library. Our tastes all vary enough that there are certainly movies that overlap, but some we otherwise would never see, let alone think to own. Thee and I have talked about a “friend library” for some time. He suggested I make a web site that does that, but I knew there had to some web app that already did. And there is.

Out of a brief searching period I found two. The better of the two is called Zestr. Zestr is a media cataloging web app where you can catalog your movies, books, games, and music. It interfaces with Amazon so when you’re looking for titles it pulls up all the information, pictures, etc. that you would want in a catalog. To help motivate the Friend Library I cataloged all my DVDs, so you friends of mine can now peruse my collection and we can swap and borrow from each other. Not a bad idea.

Of course, this whole thing only works if you, my friends, catalog your DVDs too. Cataloging is the tedious part, but nothing a good sit in front of your DVD rack with your laptop can’t solve. The search on Zestr is good and pretty quick. The workflow for searching is pretty good too, so you can easily go back-and-fourth with your searching and adding. Although cataloging will do one of two things, it will make you realize that you just don’t have many DVDs, like me - only 5 pages worth - or you have way to many.

As you finish your own cataloging, post a link here or send me mail. I’ll make a page dedicated to our Friend Library and we can begin to enjoy the fruits of each others’ spending.

• The Morning Toast DVD Library