Scott Catalog 2015 Digital Plans

Ok, I'm done!

Went and installed the new Scott Catalogue app on my old iPad. I can confirm that on my iPad, Nexus 10, and my phone you CANNOT pinch and zoom. You have to tap the center of the screen, wait for the bars to pop up and then you can click on the (+) or (-) buttons to zoom or shrink.

I find this to be completely unacceptable. Seems the new "app" is just a wrapper around the web site.

The old app was a annoying wrapper around a PDF file, but at least it was available offline. This is just an embedded webpage inside an app.

I can't even begin to express my annoyance at this. How does this company not get what an eBook is?

Thanks for the post! I will certainly stay clear of that app.

I've spent the last 25 years in publishing (print and digital news) and in public relations/digital marketing.

One of the issues is that Amos has been very slow to adapt and even the things they are doing now (moving Linn's to Olive, this app) are not in keeping with the most current technologies and approaches in publishing.




There is a direct correlation between the catalog and my field. I work in public relations. Back in the 1990s, we purchased these huge green books - four or five volumes, called Bacon's. It contained the names and contact information for every person working in every newspaper, magazine, TV station, radio station, syndicate, etc. in the United States. They were EXPENSIVE.

Today, they are owned by Cision. It is entirely cloud based and there are many more tools available now. And it is more expensive than ever.

Until Amos embraced the digital and really embraces the idea that their product is data, not a catalog, they'll be able to monetize like never before and open up to more collectors and dealers, and presenting said data in searchable formats.

I could see collector inventory, dealer inventory management, valuation, grading, purchasing/ecommerce systems and so very much more.

Yes, not being able to pinch and zoom is a deal breaker. That's one thing I really didn't like about reading PDFs on my htpc. Having to click to zoom in and out, and still not finding the exact right size.

I'll never buy a new set of the catalogues, but if they came out with a usable OFFLINE tablet version, I would consider it. An ebook would be ok, but as someone mentioned earlier it would be so much more useful to be able to easily search and sort the information, add notes, buy updates, etc.

Christ on a crutch, second iteration and they STILL don't have a freaking clue!

I have a full set of the iPad catalogs from last year, which was in hindsight a HUGE mistake, given that the app has been abandoned, but this nrew version sounds like it is even worse, the only positive being that you (supposedly) can access the content from more than one device.

No offline usage removes it as an option for a great many people. At least I can take my iPad version to a place that has no Internet connectivity (like virtually all stamp show venues!!) and still use it.

Question: Can you print pages from this new version or have they locked that down as well?

Amos is so concerned with locking things down that they are missing the forest for the trees and crippling usability.

I think the thing the fail to grasp or make clear.

If I buy the 2014 Catalogue, I should be able to keep/use it forever (and yes, OFFLINE).
If I SUBSCRIBE, then I should always have the latest catalogue (but of course, when I stop subscribing, I lose access).

I have yet to find a way to print on either the PC or on any tablet or phone. You can of course take a screen shot and print that, but it's cumbersome.

The problem here is that we are beholden to Scott Catalog numbers, which something I can't understand. Why can't another numbering system take hold in the US?

Scott clearly doesn't get digital and simply wants to find a way to offer digital without interrupting their workflow. They clearly can generate a PDF and continue to try and find a way to take that PDF and wrap some DRM around it.

The day of the annual catalog should have been over 5 years ago. What we need is an online database you can subscribe to, that offers up to the minute price values based on data it pumps in from sites like ebay, bidstart, and others.

Amos licenses their catalog numbers to the makers of EZstamp and StampManage. I don't think they want to lose that revenue stream, even though they could easily surpass it with their own product.

I once sent them an email talking about a good half dozen apps out there for collection management that lack a way to get catalog numbers into the app, because of licensing requirements. I told them that if they had an API, then some collector could license the catalogs numbers and they could by an app, enter their username and password, and the app would populate with stamp data that would update for the end user as new stamps come out. I mentioned that this kind of forward thinking would put them ahead of Michel and Stanley Gibbons and might give them a strong foothold overseas.

The concept went completely over their heads. Stamp collecting, as a hobby is moving into the digital age, with or without them.

Before they embarked down the Ebook path, I emailed Amos, referring them to the Krause Publications Numismaster product as a model.

Krause Publications produces all of the standard World coin catalogs. In addition to the printed tomes (which make Scott catalogs look tiny in comparison), they offer subscription-based access to Numismaster, which is the online product.

While the search interface is cumbersome, they do get some things right in that you can create "collections", add coins to them, record dates purchased, prices paid, create wantlists, upload pictures, etc.

These features are what makes the product more than just a static catalog, as well as the fact that values and listings are updated continuously, not just when printed editions are published.

This is what Amos needs to embrace, however I fear that Amos is firmly entrenched in the 1970s...

1970's seems about right to me too, maybe even a little optimistic....and if anyone doubts that, just read this quote from a recent Linn's article:

"Value changes are submitted on copies of the catalog pages that Kloet­zel mails to us for subsequent entering into the database."

SERIOUSLY? At least that explains why they have to charge $120 for a catalog that should cost no more than $75. Probably hundreds of hours of manual data entry putting in Jim's marked up pages.

I actually laughed out loud when I read that.

There was something else they seemed "proud" of, another item maybe worth noting in the 1970's, but not so today...

"Despite the thousands of miles that separate him from our headquarters in Sidney, Ohio, Kloetzel is able to submit editorial input remotely by connecting to one of our computer servers"

Whoa, someone can submit editorial content remotely??? In 2014??? Unbelievable... Next thing you know, they're all going to be getting email addresses! LOL.

http://www.linns.com/news/editorial...ized-catalog

Comments like these are beyond embarrassing IMO. And I still can't fathom how a PUBLISHING company can be so excruciatingly far behind the curve with their digital/eBook offerings and still be in business.

Scott needs a top-notch electronic version of the catalogs at a reasonable eBook type price (no more than $25.) They completely whiffed on their first shot in this area, so PLEASE get someone who knows what they're doing and redo your entire technological back-end ASAP. Believe me, it's going to pay off. If you do that right, even at $25 you're going to make WAY more profit on those eCatalogs than you do from the print versions...

The reason is that in the United States, there is nobody seriously competing with them. Yes, you can get the overseas catalogs and products here easy enough, but at the end of the day, in terms of catalogs, products, and Linn's they have a total package that has resisted what serious threats have emerged in a hobby that, as a whole, has been fairly without innovation.

Unfortunately, lack of competition stifles innovation and "moving forward" more than anything. Years ago, when working as a newspaper publisher, the owner of our company was adamant. "Even if you don't have a competitor in your market, act like you do, or you will."

Putting aside the current technology status of Amos for a moment, the basic problem of how to serve up and offer massive amounts of catalog stamp data remains. The very first challenge is how to design such a system, is the database to be served up online or not? This is not a trivial issue.

Online database – This architecture is efficient since you can administer and maintain a single database; make an update on your server once and everyone gets the change. This is great for real-time updates for things like catalog value or fixing an error in the data. Also keep in mind that the app also has to provide a massive amount of images with each catalog. These may actually stored in the SQL database (as large binary objects) or the database may simply contain 'links' to the images. These links could be local (stored on your PC) or they may be located on a remote web server somewhere. Same issue, administrating and maintaining a single source of these images is far more efficient than dealing with thousands, or hundreds or thousands, individual 'installs' of an app.
Another great thing about this approach is that you can develop a website an app(s) which can be used across many client platforms. Although not quite 'write once, run anywhere' it is about as close as it can get.
And lastly is cost. If you have a centralized database sitting on a server you do not have to face the added cost of licensing an actual datasbe engine on each client device. You can invest in a robust SQL server and not worry about having thousands of clients each running their own database engine locally. The support costs alone make this very attractive.

Offline database – This architecture means that each user downloads/installs a massive amount of files including the database itself and the images. To get updates you will need to 'check' each time the user starts the app to see if they have the latest version of the app/data. All of this tends to drives developing specific client apps for each targeted device you want to support; a very expensive proposition. You also end up having to have disk space on each of these devices to store all the data and images. And lastly your support costs skyrocket since you know have to have not simply the tools/resources to develop the apps but also to be able to help the users of the various devices.

Frankly if Amos came to me and inquired about the possibility of moving to the latest technologies my first question would be, "how big is the budget?". If the answer was anything less than committing millions I am not sure it would succeed. I see no way to 'dip a toe in the water' with this kind of project, they either take the plunge of not. It is not a question of simply developing a new product, it represents a complete change in course of their company. It would impact jobs, many jobs would 'go away' and new positions would be required. Existing legacy investments may have to be walked away from and substantial new resources put in there place.

Doing this would require courageous management; change like this is never easy, cheap, or anything less than very risky. I have seen very few management teams, in any industry, which would be able to navigate a transition like this. It is certainly possible but is a tall order.
Don

Or Amos could go another route and find someone that wants to do this, but simply needs a license for the catalog numbers.

The only thing keeping us all tied to Amos is catalog numbers. I don't know how popular bidStart is, but imagine if their parent company suddenly required all listing be done with SG numbers, or if Michel contacted ebay and cut a deal with them to use Michel numbers for everything.

How much life would Scott have then?

This is a company that can't put together a half-way decent app for Linn's. The basic structures for such a database and access exist. I'm not sure there is a desire, nor a perceived need.

And this is why stamp collecting stays in the stone age sometimes. Young collectors are not going to find any joy in flipping through catalog pages to try and find out what this stamp is. They expect to be able to take a picture and have some backend do the work for them.

Amos could partner with any number of companies to give them what they should have. I think you're right though. I don't think they see any value.

Catalogs have always been broken up geography. I haven't met too many people in England or Ireland that use Scott. With proper online catalogs and some kind of tool, they could change all that. Any of the catalog makers could.

Imagine logging into some site from, say, Stanley Gibbons. The site lets you keep your inventory on it. You decide you want to sell a stamp, so you enter a price you want to sell it for and hit submit. SG goes out and automatically creates a listing for you on ebay, bidStart, Delcampe and God knows who else. That listing has the SG number in the title and the description has a link back to the online catalog, so buyers can compare your asking price vs actual catalog value.

The thing is ANYONE with good coding skills could come up with an online app that does that. The only problem is the catalog numbers. You'd have to license them, and they probably won't give you a license, because it competes directly with their print catalog.

God, we need a free universal stamp numbering system that anyone can use. That would be a game changer.