|
ScoutPal is so much more than most
people know. They were the lone pioneer of the lookup services and
still offer the best value and service available for looking up books to
add to your inventory.
The recent addition of their database service - AT NO ADDITIONAL COST -
is what led me to personally make the switch to using a PDA (more about
this below). If you think Dave is going to sit back and offer anything
less than the others, think again. Before too long, my bet is that
ScoutPal will be able to look up all the other media too.
I have heard all the rave about other services, but there are none with
the service, price, and integrity of
ScoutPal. Dave has added "clippy
scan" cell phone scanners recently for those booksellers that enjoy
spending more time in book stores looking up books for their inventory.
This is a lower cost option for sellers not ready to invest in PDA's and
scanners, yet still provides the same data results. He will also be
adding the "clippy scan" scanner feature to pay as you go phones soon.
You can learn more about the "clippy scan" scanner system at:
http://www.se4.scoutpal.com
Prior to getting a PDA and scanner, I used a Sidekick III cell phone and
the ScoutPal Internet lookup system. I was always very pleased with the
ScoutPal program, particularly the fact that I could reconfigure what my
cell phone displayed to suit my personal taste, but I was also
frustrated by being tied to the Internet and the response time of my
cell phone provider, so I made the leap to a PDA using
ScoutPal's
database system.
Here is my PDA & ScoutPal database story.
Last month I invested in a PDA and a laser scanner, mostly because I
felt an obligation to keep up with the technology in order to provide
the most up to date information to my customers, but partially because I
too want to reduce my book scouting time.
The PDA system I purchased is as follows:
Dell Axim X51v
2200 mAh second battery
2 Gb SD card
SocketScan Compact Flash 5P (class
II) laser scanner
With some other unrelated peripheral options.
The system came completely set up, less the software for the laser
scanner which took me all of 30 minutes to load and make operational.
As soon as I knew the PDA system was ready, I downloaded the
ScoutPal
database system program and database itself, which took me about 45
minutes to have completely set up and operational. Dave Anderson of
ScoutPal provides very easy to follow, step-by-step instructions for
doing this.
The minute I knew the system was fully functional, I started shooting
every book in my own collection to see how it worked. It is amazing how
fast the laser scanning system really is, and when a book does not have
a barcode I can call up a keyboard that covers the screen of the Axim
and type in the ISBN manually to get instant results. The keyboard is
even big enough for my big fingers.
I have not had a lot of time to spend scouting for books this past
month, but the couple times I have taken my PDA scouting have been
great. I find that I am able to look up about 25 times as many books as
I was able to look up previously using an Internet enabled cell phone,
and the frustration of waiting for lookup results no longer exists.
Thanks ScoutPal, I am very satisfied with my new book scouting system.
Now, I am eagerly waiting for
ScoutPal to add other media like CD's,
DVD's, and VHS to their database so I can expand my business to include
these products too.
You are visitor:
To This Page
Thank You For Visiting
|