Comments on: Ideas are Cheap : IMDB of Music, Books?

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:52:10 +0000

I highly recommend rateyourmusic.com. It's a comprehensive database of artists and their works (albums, EPs, singles), which is predominantly user-oriented -- users create and edit artist, label and release pages; users rate, review, catalog and tag music; users can create personal lists; users socialize on the rym forums, etc. One of the features I love is the top-rated charts from various years and genres, which are a good starting point for any music collection. Unfortunately, there's nothing like a "popular releases this week" page on rym (I would direct you to Pitchfork.com for something like that.) Additionally, it has a film section which is in its early stages. Check it out for yourself.

However, rym isn't the commercial powerhouse IMDb is. It doesn't focus on album sales and radio play but rather user opinions (a system I much prefer).

Regarding books: I give both Goodreads and LibraryThing thumbs up.

By: Swaroop

Swaroop — Mon, 18 May 2009 03:19:29 +0000

@Sankarshan Interesting, but it looks to be more about comprehensiveness than anything else.

@Thejesh LibraryThing looks good! It has the right kind of information, but I couldn't find a "top books this week" kind of list or a navigation via genre.

@Ankit I have used OpenLibrary in the past, but I feel it is purely a catalogue, I can't visit the site and find the "best books of 2009", etc.

By: Thejesh GN

Thejesh GN — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:24:30 +0000

Yeah, the aims openlibrary are good.

By: Ankit

Ankit — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:45:42 +0000

LibraryThing is a great tool for book-lovers, but focuses mainly on building your own ‘collections’. The Open Library [http://openlibrary.org/] would be amazing, if it takes off.

By: Thejesh GN

Thejesh GN — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:25:54 +0000

I guess as of now..librarything is imdb of books.

By: sankarshan

sankarshan — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:05:38 +0000

There is/was isbndb.com that covers ISBN data