Scott Catalog 2015 Digital Plans

I do believe Amos has some kind of database at some level. They almost have to have it at least in a table of some sort to generate the catalog pages. But I seem to remember hearing that it's in some older or oddball format and/or can't be ported to SQL or something like it. I could easily be wrong on every thing I just said, though :) They really can't afford not to do it, though. No one can sell information in this day and age and survive for long without it being in a modern, robust database. Once it's done, they wouldn't need to redo it over and over again. It would be a large initial capital outlay for them with smaller, ongoing maintenance costs.

Just announced (breaking news): Linn's Stamp News is reporting their 2015 Scott Catalogs are now available as e-books for Android and Apple mobile devices, including the iPad and iPhone, as well as Windows and Mac desktop and laptop computers.

http://linns.com/news/breaking-stam...ott-catalogs

Darn you Linn's! Making me spend money!

Just bought the US Section of Volume I. Time to review.

Ok, first fail. Seems you need to be online to view the catalog, even on the Android app. I'll keep reviewing.

Absolutely crazy prices for ebooks

The store is very poorly laid out; you do not know which is an eCatalog until you click on the image.

Got sick of waiting for Amos to respond to my email, so I called them. No one told Customer Service they were releasing any eBooks today, so she had to take my name and number to call me back. She said she's pretty sure you need to be online, even on your tablet/phone to view the catalog.

If that's the case, I'm asking for a refund. The idea of being able to walk into a stamp store or stamp show with a tablet with the Scott catalog is appealing. This is something you won't be able to do, if you need Internet the whole time in order to view the catalog.

If that is the case, I'm going to ask for a refund.

So, next question I have for them is, if I buy the paper catalog, do I get the "eBook" for free?

It's not really an eBook if I have to be online at all times to view it.

That is quite pathetic if you have to be online to view the eCatalogs. That is not stated at all in the description.

I think the folks at Amos are little too obsessed with piracy of their catalogs. This version 2 of their catalog adds an iPad version and an online version you can view on their website, but it's still a wrapper around a static catalog.

Bingo. It's not an ebook at all if you have to be online to access it - sounds like some sort of hybrid app.

Looks like they really could use one of those bright boys and girls on the young genius list. If only for the design bit.

Terry

I do NOT advocate piracy, but while searching for any truly free online value catalogs I did notice that the Scotts 2009 (0r was it 2008?) Catalogue popped up in my searches as a torrent download. With the money they make on the books and with the hobby as a whole not generally very tech savvy, I'm not surprised they worry about piracy.

I AM surprised my local library still buys the catalogs every year. I'm not complaining, I have 2015 vol I in my home with no waiting. I'll check out one volume at a time and I know they'll be on the shelf waiting for me.

2009 PDFs were sold as burned CDs on ebay for quite a while. It's one thing to knowingly download a torrent of the 2009 PDFs, and quite another to buy a set of CDs off of ebay for, say $99, only to find out that you bought a bootleg.

From my conversations with Scott, their legal team was more concerned about illegal sales than they were about online file sharing. If you bought the Scott 2009 Catalog on CD and are able to print, then you have a bootleged pirated copy.