Desperately seeking a truly audiobook-friendly cataloging site...
Catch-22: When importing from a database, LT and GR only care about the ISBN. No ISBN, no import. BUT, Audible does not provide ASINs, let alone ISBN, in any of its product description and, with a few rare exceptions, Amazon provides only ASINs.
I spent the last week whipping my BL datebase into shape. I exported it to a spreadsheet. I added all of the titles I was unable to add in the first place because the titles were not in the BL catalog. I corrected all of the titles that has been added as hard copies when I could not find the digital edition. I scanned for duplicates, removed all library loans and even removed all commas. My DB is now as ready as it is going to be (except for some missing indexing numbers for titles that I own but are no longer on the market). I have now spent all of the time I am going to spend on cleaning and repairing; from here on out, it will be new additions only. And I do feel a buying spree coming on!
My not quite pristine DB contains 1085 records, of which 990 are Audible audiobooks. When I fed my database -- indexing numbers only, since that is all the import applets on the websites look at -- to the websites to import, Goodreads was able to add 124 titles to my library and LibraryThing, 138 titles. That is not an acceptable success rate. Ninety percent of my DB was left on the cutting room floor.
Audible do
es a pretty job of organizing a bookshelf for members but it has its problems -- and
yes, I said pretty, pleasing to the eye but not necessarily usable. No
list view. No ability to navigate to a specific page in the list. No
ability to export. No ability to keep track of multiple reads, etc.,
etc.For me the quest is over. The thought of adding 1000 titles manually, one title at a time, to any new database when I already have that information neatly arranged in a DB that the websites won't accept is the deciding factor. Until a website comes along that recognizes ASINs and will import 99% of what I own, I will keep my own catalog on a spreadsheet on my hard-drive. It is already up and running with over a thousand entries already in place. It won't be as pretty but it won't be as frustrating or as time consuming as trying to make my round peg fit into the square hole.