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Welcome to the Readerware^™ Newsletter

Readerware 2.981 is now shipping. This is a maintenance release with some ISBN-13 changes.

Plus, FAQ "How can I print a list of items?".

Visit the Readerware Newsletter archive, all back issues of the newsletter are online.

Readerware 2.981 Now Shipping

Release 2.981 is now available for all products (Readerware, ReaderwareAW and ReaderwareVW), and all platforms, (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux). A full list of the changes included in 2.981 is available online:

Readerware 2.981 changes

Some of the highlights in 2.981.

Changed the location of the Browse button in the import, export, backup and restore dialogs. It is now to the right of the filename field. Click on the Browse button to select a file. The button used to be located near the bottom of the page and users were not seeing it.

Added a new ISBN-13 column to the table and detail views. You can now display both the ISBN-10 (traditional ISBN) and the new ISBN-13 which starts officially in 2007.

Due to a sudden batch of URL changes at several sites, the extraction URLs are now stored in the scrapers directory allowing them to be updated remotely along with the scrapers. This means that a URL change will no longer require a Readerware upgrade.

Added auto-catalog and drag and drop support for Fishpond [AU].

Download Readerware 2.981

Upgrade policy

Most of you know this by now, Readerware 2.981 is a free upgrade. All 2.x upgrades are free.

You can always download the latest 2.x release for free. If you ever want the latest version on CD, you can order it from the web site for $12.

Readerware CD

Backing up your Readerware databases

It is important to frequently backup your Readerware databases to protect your data. By default Readerware gives you the opportunity to backup when you exit. You can also perform a backup at anytime by selecting the File->Backup Database menu item.

But where do you store your backup files? Creating a backup file on your hard drive helps but hard drives do fail, laptops do get stolen. Ideally you want to store your backup somewhere else.

Copying the backup file to CD is a good option. Most machines these days include the ability to write files to CD.

Another choice is online backup. PC World magazine recently published a review of 17 different web based storage services. These services let you easily copy your Readerware backup files and other important files to remote servers. This means that whatever happens to your PC, your data is safe and can be recovered.

They can also be used to transfer your database between machines. If you want to access your Readerware database on a machine at another location, you can copy the backup file to the server and retrieve it on the other machine.

Web based storage services can be a very valuable tool and part of your backup solution. But there are some online perils too as the article points out. The PC World article is a good introduction to online backup, the advantages and disadvantages, and a closer look at some of the services out there.

Do you have a favorite web based backup service? Share your thoughts in the Readerware Forums.

PC World: Store It on the Web
Copying your Readerware backup files to CD
Readerware Backup Wizard
Readerware Forums

Readerware and ISBN-13

As many of you may know the International Standard Book Number or ISBN will officially expand from 10 characters to 13 characters beginning in 2007. You may have already seen new books with an ISBN-13. During the transition period books will list both the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 as shown here.

Users have been asking about ISBN-13 support in Readerware. As Readerware has always supported the Bookland EAN-13 barcodes found on hardcover books, you have always been able to enter an ISBN-13 in Readerware. For most Readerware users the transition to a 13 digit ISBN is a non event so feel free to skip the rest of this article.

For the next few years the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 can be used interchangeably. You can convert from ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 and from ISBN-13 to ISBN-10. It won't always be this way of course. One of the reasons for converting to the ISBN-13 format is that we are running out of numbers. Eventually all the numbers in the 978 prefix will be used up and ISBNs will be issued with a 979 prefix, these cannot be converted to an ISBN-10. So the ISBN-13 is needed and will be used more and more in the future.

The ISBN-10 is not going away as everybody has books with the older format ISBN on them. You will always need to be able to catalog books using an ISBN-10. With Readerware you will continue to be able to catalog your books with either format ISBN.

With this release Readerware can now display the ISBN in both formats. You don't have to choose between formats, in the table view for example you can display both the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 in separate columns. Select the format that meets your needs or use both.

The conversion to ISBN-13 is an ongoing process that will continue over the next few years. For Readerware users the transition will be seamless, you will continue to catalog your books by scanning the barcode or entering the ISBN, 10 or 13 character format. Behind the scenes web sites will change, some will switch to ISBN-13 before others, Readerware will handle it all for you. Recently a European web site switched to an all ISBN-13 format, Readerware was able to handle it. Other web site users weren't so lucky. If you wanted to search for a book with an ISBN-10 you had to get out your calculator and convert it to an ISBN-13 first. Needless to say this change didn't last long, they quickly switched to supporting both formats.

As mentioned earlier for most Readerware users the transition to a 13 digit ISBN is a non event. but if you would like to learn more check out the links below.

ISBN History
Are You Ready for ISBN-13?
ISBN-13 for Dummies (PDF Document)

Tell A Friend

Many users have told friends and family about Readerware. Since the start of Readerware, customer referrals have been a great source of new users. I would like to thank everyone who helped spread the word about Readerware products.

Recently the web site was updated to include a new Tell-A-friend service. You can use the service to send an e-mail to one or more friends with a link to the Readerware web site. You can also add your own comments. Just click on the Tell-A-Friend link on any page.

The Tell-A-Friend service is also available in Readerware itself, select the Help->Tell A Friend menu item.

Again thanks to everyone who has helped make Readerware such a success.

Readerware Web Site

FAQ: How can I print a list of my items?

Another one from the FAQ file. You can print the current table view in Readerware by simply selecting File->Print from the Readerware menu. But sometimes you will get a bunch of narrow columns, what is going on?

The print function will print out your collection in a table view in WYSIWYG fashion. Readerware prints the table view as displayed on your screen. If the title column takes up 20% of the screen, it takes up 20% of the page width. As the default table view consists of many columns, if you print it the report will consist of the same columns squished to fit on the page.

What you need to do is decide which columns you want to print and create a new view containing just those columns. You can create as many views as you want. Try this:

Select the Preferences menu item, Views tab.

Select the Default Table view in the left column.

Click on the Copy button, you will be prompted for a new name, enter say MyReport

Your new view will appear in the left column, select it.

Keep it simple to start with, let's just print Title, Author and ISBN. In the right column double click on the column names so that these three columns have a green check mark, the rest have a red X. Double clicking on the column name toggles between the two.

Click OK.

Select your new view from the view drop down list on the right of the toolbar.

Click on the Browse toolbar button to display your database

Only these three columns will display, size the columns as appropriate.

Select File->Print.

Using Readerware Views

You can create as many different views as you want, each with different columns. So you can create many different reports.

The ability to create any number of views, each with different columns in any order is a powerful feature in Readerware.

Views are used for more than just reports. You can also use views with the export feature. If you need to create different TAB delimited or CSV files, define a view containing the columns you want to export and the order you want the columns exported in.

You can also create views to help you edit and organize your data. Say you want to price your books, you can create a "Pricing View" containing just relevant columns. Maybe title, author, format, condition and price.

There are a lot of reasons to define views in Readerware.

Printing in Readerware
Readerware Views

View Preferences

Be sure to check out the updated FAQ section in the Readerware forums, there are lots of new questions answered.

Readerware FAQs

Site news

Fishpond [AU] was added to ReaderwareAW and ReaderwareVW in this release. It is a great resource for Readerware users in Australia.

For some reason a number of sites changed URLs recently which has caused a few auto-catalog problems. Borders and Chapters [CA] changed the way you link to items, Amazon [UK] seems to have merged operations with Amazon [US] and broke their CD UPC search in the process. All these issues are resolved in this release. In addition Readerware 2.981 now includes the ability to add and change URLs remotely. So these issues will not be a problem in the future, URLs will be updated along with the extraction scrapers automatically.

Fishpond [AU]

Readerware support

There is nothing more important than answering your questions. You can always e-mail support@readerware.com and expect a reply in a couple of hours. 24 hours maximum. Unfortunately e-mail communications are not as reliable as they once were. Spam and the various schemes people have dreamed up to combat spam are interfering with normal e-mail communications.

If you have not received a response to your support request within 24 hours, something has gone wrong.

Check any Spam or message filters, the response may be there.
Check with your ISP or system administrator. Sites are implementing various defense mechanisms which often block legitimate e-mail.
If you are using a challenge system, please check to see if your response is being held. I do try and respond to challenge e-mail, but it can mean your response is delayed.
If you are using AOL, check your Mail Controls.

If you have not received a response within 24 hours, don't wait any longer, send a follow up e-mail or post to the Readerware Forums. If possible try and include an alternate e-mail address. I will re-send your answer from another e-mail server to all addresses you specify.

Obviously Spam is a real problem. But it is important to realize that none of the defense mechanisms are anywhere near 100% accurate. There is nothing more frustrating for you than feeling ignored, you aren't being ignored. Every e-mail you send is answered promptly. From this end there is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to create a reply that is never seen then getting a "why aren't you responding" e-mail a couple of days later.

All support e-mail is answered within 24 hours, if you don't get that response, check your anti-spam measures and try again.

Thanks.

Your feedback

Your feedback is always welcome and does make a difference. Please send in your comments. E-Mail support@readerware.com.

Thanks for your support.

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Welcome to the Readerware™ Newsletter