I have been blessed to have been using the beta for the past couple months and words cannot really describe how far Bible computer software has come in the last five years.  There is so many new features that it would be dang near impossible to write a decent review of everything.  Allow me to say, though, that LOGOS 4 is as simple as downloading to your computer and using.  It is so easy to use that anyone wanting to study the Bible with greater care will appreciate all of the information available at your fingertips.  Still, the most intellectual PhD will find much value in what LOGOS 4 has to offer.

Below are some screen shots of LOGOS 4.

Newspaper appearance on the home page.  Note (bottom right corner) there are five pages to your home page.

Study the Greek and Hebrew with a click of the mouse.

Easily tile your workspace to have up to five resources on your screen at once!

You can take a guided tour of the Bible lands and never have to flip to the “book of maps” at the end of your Bible.

Upload to your iPhone!

The bottom line for LOGOS 4 is that the developers in Washington state have outdone themselves.  If you already use LOGOS, then you absolutely must upgrade to 4.  If you do not already use LOGOS, then you need to see what you are missing.  There is a discount for existing LOGOS users when you upgrade.

“I don’t have time to read the Bible right now.” Sadly, this statement is often heard in churches and in conversations among believers. Even worse, we say this ourselves–I know that I have said this. Without trying to sound like the beginning of an infomercial, I want to tell you about a product that is going to take away pretty much every excuse you have for not having daily intake of God’s Word.

Features of The Original GoBible

GoBible is exactly what the name says it is. It is a Bible for people on the go. You can purchase three different translations–KJV (narrated by Alexander Scourby (1913-1985)), NKJV (narrated by Stephen Johnston), or NIV (narrated by Mac McLean). In all three cases, the narrators

Verse Indexing

The Original GoBible is indexed at the verse level which, in my opinion is one of the most amazing aspects of this produce. The main menu is set up to allow the user to choose the Old or the New Testament. Once you choose which testament, you then choose your book. When you are in your book, you choose your chapter. For the most part, every CD or MP3 audio Bible I have had stops right there. No so with the Original GoBible! Once you are in the chapter, you can then select whatever verse you are wanting! That is worth the price of the Original GoBible right there!

Story Index

You can choose from over 225 of the more popular stories within the Bible by choosing the Story Index from the main menu and then select the Old or New Testament. From there, you can choose any of the most popular stories found in the Bible. The creation of the world, the fall of man, Samson, David and Goliath, the birth of Jesus, Water turned into wine, etc. In the event that a story is told more than once, like the birth of Jesus for instance, they have each telling of the story from the different books. The stories are indexed in biblical chronological order.

Special Features

The following features are located in the main menu under the Special Features button.

First, there is a topic index. This is a small version of a topical index. The Original GoBible includes around 30 different topics and circumstances that someone may find themselves. Here, the listener will be able to access verses related to emotions like grief and doubt as well as other topics like heaven and the love of God. By clicking on a topic, you will be presented with a list of Scripture passages from which to select. You can listen to all or listen to a few.

Second, there is a listing of different holidays on the American calendar throughout the year. These include Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s and Father’s Day. Also included are some major life changing events. These include events like military deployment, baptisms, weddings, graduations, and funerals.

Third, you can read through the Bible in a year with your GoBible. This is divided into 52 weeks and then subdivided in to 7 days per week. Each day has a reading from the OT and the NT.

Finally, what brings all of this together is the ability to bookmark up to 36 different passages. This is especially useful when reading through the Bible in a year or simply just reading through the Bible as I am. All you need to do is press the bookmark button and your passage is saved. Next time you go to listen to your Bible, you just need to go into your bookmark and click on the passage where you left off.

Inconveniences of the GoBible

I have labeled this section inconveniences because the following critiques are simply some things that I would like to see changed and in no way do they make the GoBible less than an excellent and most recommended tool.

The first thing is that the stories are in chronological order making it somewhat difficult to get to a story in the middle of the Old Testament. The stories are in canonical order as they appear in the Bible. Perhaps a separate alphabetical listing would be of help.

Second, for some reason, the voice (I have the NIV with Max Mclean) sounds as though the narrator is in a can. I own the CD set of the Listener’s Bible and in comparing the two (the GoBible and the CD’s) it seems that their is a slight difference in the quality. This would not be noticeable, I think, except for the fact that I have listened to the same audio CD’s for over 6 years now.

Third, placing the GoBible in the belt clip makes it a bit more difficult to use the navigation buttons. It is harder to push play and to bookmark a section, but I think that will change the more I use it and break in the leather of the case.

Finally, the choice of translations is currently limited to just the KJV, NKJV, and NIV. While you can download more translations at the website, these are the only three available for the GoBible.

Qualities of the GoBible

What’s not to like? I have been listening to my GoBible every day since I received it. I have found it to be a calming influence when I am walking around doing mindless tasks. It has helped me to stay in the Word during one of busiest seasons of my life.

The fact that the entire Bible is already uploaded to its own MP3 player makes the Original GoBible a steal at only $99. There is over 70 hours of “reading” and well over 3 GB (probably pushing 4 with all of the added features) of material. To purchase an MP3 Bible and an MP3 player to upload the files onto will certainly cost you more than that! Having a Bible at the ready no matter what you are doing is beyond priceless. There is no more uploading files. You simply turn it on and start listening.

Because it runs on one AAA battery, there is no charging and hoping that you get a full charge before you need it. You simply put in a battery and start using your GoBible. There is no more being away from your charger and getting aggravated that you can’t use your device. You simply pull out another AAA battery and pop it in and start listening.

Recommendation

The GoBible has quickly become one of my favorite tools for Bible intake. In no way does it replace reading the Bible, but it certainly helps to have it playing in your ear during the day. Its sleek, compact design with all of the features listed above makes the Go Bible an excellent gift for any professing Christian.  You can purchase the GoBible at Amazon.

Confession

I have a confession to make. One year ago, I hated the concept of digital print media and swore I would never “cave-in” to the latest “trend” in books; i.e., Logos. My how times have changed! Over the course of this past year, I have come to see the upside and the stewardship that is Logos Bible Software. I have moved up from the Logos Scholars Library to the Logos Scholar’s Library: Gold and continue to be blown away by what an excellent resource I have at my fingertips.

Installation

The installation is very easy. However, remaining true to form, I found a way to make it difficult! Actually, the problem was not me or the software as much as it was the age of my computer. I tried to download the Gold edition from a DVD only to get stuck at about the 10 minute mark. I literally spent 2 hours on the phone with customer service going through every trouble shooting method they could think of only to be told that we I probably need the CD’s instead of the DVD.

Nevertheless, this is to your advantage for a couple of reasons. First, if your computer or laptop is more than a couple of years old, purchase the CD’s. They are the same cost as the DVD’s but will load much faster on an older computer than the DVD because of its multiple layers.

Second, customer service at Logos is truly second to none. In both instances (read my review on Scholar’s Library), they were patient and kind and extremely helpful. We got to joking around about the problem and was even able to share testimonies with one another while waiting for the program to run its checks.

Usability

I do not get into the technical jargon when it comes to the interfaces and what-not of a computer software program. I only want to know one thing. Can I simply download and begin using or do I need, as we called it in the military, a block of instruction?

I have found Logos to be one of the easiest Bible software programs to use without first sitting through a bunch of training videos. As soon as the software was downloaded to my computer, I was able to begin checking everything out with no problems. That is very important to me since I truly do not have the time to meticulously learn all of the features.

Now, I realize that a block of instruction will only help the user to become familiar with all the various components and features of Logos, but not everyone has time to sit through tutorial videos let alone attend a class on how to use a particular Bible software program. However, because I am writing a review, I “researched” the tutorials and found them to be extremely beneficial. You do not have to sit for hours on end to learn how to use this software. There are a ton of videos you can watch on an as needed basis in order to increase your information and decrease the time it takes to get that information.

Perhaps one of the greatest features is the ability to search your entire library for one subject, hit return, and see which of your books mention that subject. Imagine the time saved from going to your library or the Internet and looking up all the books!

Content

Ok, the main thrust of the Logos Scholar’s Library: Gold is that it is truly the most cost efficient way to build a quality library quickly. The Gold edition contains more than 700 titles—which includes sets of books so that a commentary set may contain 12 of those titles. Allow me to share the importance of this. I currently own about 2,000 books in my personal library. I have moved four times in the past four years. Obviously, my library was not always at 2,000—it has grown considerably in these past four years. Every time my family has moved, the first thing that had to be done was to pack up the books because they take up the most boxes and space. At one point, I had over 100 boxes of various sizes of books moving into a third floor apartment!

With that picture in your mind, imagine being able to carry 700 books in something as small as a compact disc but no bigger than a CPU. Next, think of how many bookshelves 700 books take up. I will give you a hint–think one decent sized wall. It is obvious to see how having digitized books can only help. This is not too mention how much your back will thank you let alone how much your spouse will thank you for giving her part of the house back!

Another nice feature is the ability to study the original languages and do some solid exegetical work before looking through all of those commentaries and other resources. For many, this is the most important function when it comes to making a choice regarding Bible software. Logos can easily stand toe-to-toe with any other software when it comes to diagramming and studying the original languages.

If you are going to work on a sermon, simply type in a passage and you bring up commentaries (turned to the exact pages you need), parallel passages, key words found in the passage, sermons from SermonCentral.com and even power point presentations (if any exist). You can also get a list of hymns and worship music that are based from the passage as well as a list of all of the topics that can be discussed. In other words, this could be your one-stop shop for your sermon preparation.

Counting the Cost

At a price of $1,379.95, this product will clearly set you back a nice chunk of money. But, before you freak out over the sticker price, you need to keep in mind a few things. First, Logos offers payment plans for their more expensive products. They are able to work with everyone to make their product as affordable as possible. Perhaps, you can’t afford to start with Gold, but you really want to work with the original languages. You can purchase their original languages library and begin to build your very own library from there.

Second, Logos offers generous discounts to any degree seeking student, faculty or staff member as well as various other discounts throughout the year. Also, Logos is offering Going to Seminary readers a generous 25% discount on any of the base packages by using the coupon code GOINGTOSEMINARY. This, in addition to the payment plan, brings the total for Gold, their absolute largest package, to just under $1,035.00—that is only $36.00 more than their silver library!

Third, the inclusion of just two commentary series, the New American Commentary and the New International Greek New Testament Commentary, practically pays for itself. What is more, you still have over 650 other resources! The bottom line is you are receiving over $11,700 worth of print books for about 90% of the price!

Finally, I have found that because I now have duplicated copies (in print and Logos), I am able to sell (or give away) my print editions. This also helps to offset the cost of software. Some books I want to keep in print and therefore I do. However, my resource books, like commentaries, sell nicely and have would have already made a couple of the monthly payments for me.

BibleWorks8 (BW8) is the latest in the Bible Works computer software series. Building upon the huge successes and renovations made to BW7, this new edition has much to offer while at the same time remaining constant in most of its functionality.

Much of what I have written in regards to functionality can be found in my review for BW7 found here. In this review, I would like to focus on what is new and believe me, there is a lot that is new.

What is New

First, there are over 190 different translations now available on the Bible compared to 115 in BW7. This makes BW8 more useful in the missionary setting especially overseas.

Second, there are new analysis tabs giving more information about the current verse. You can now find the most common word in current section (or pericope), chapter, and book. In addition, you can quickly find the full context of the verse you are studying by clicking on the Browse Tab.

Third, there is a cross-reference window that will shows the related verses. It is as simple as passing your mouse over the text. Here you can compare cross-references for any Bible version as well as build your own file of cross-references.

Fourth, the phrase matching tool enables you to see all verses that contain similar phrases. The related verses tool allows you to find all the verses containing some of the same words found in the current verse.

Fifth, BW8 offers an extra set of Greek sentence diagrams in addition to the Leedy Greek NT sentence diagrams. William MacDonald’s “Textual Transcriptions” helps to see a slightly different array of the sentence structures.

One final addition I would like to discuss is what they are calling ERMIE: External Resources Manager. What this cool little function does is to collect and organize your resources (PDF files, word .doc, websites, etc.) into one location that can be shared with other users. This will certainly be a feature that will come in most helpful in stream-lining one’s exegetical work and study.

There is so much more that has been added, but space does not allow me to go into detail here. If you would like an exhaustive list of what is new please go to the What’s New in BibleWorks8 page.

What has Been Lost

Unfortunately, some things are lost in making the move from BW7 to BW8. Their websites gives the reason why this is the case.

Many of the databases contained in BibleWorks are licensed from the copyright holders of those databases. On rare occasions we are unable to reach a mutually-satisfactory agreement with the licensor and items must be removed from BibleWorks or turned into extra-cost modules. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.

Completely lost is A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures, Mark Futato’s Basic Hebrew for Bible Study and the German Lutherbibel 1984. These three are no longer available from BibleWorks.

With all of the additions to BW8, some databases were in effect squeezed out. These are A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay M. Newman, Jr., A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger, and a Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint by Lust-Eynikel-Hauspie. However, according to the BibleWorks website, if you were a registered user upgrading from BW7 to BW8, they will send you a set of activation codes for Metzger, Newman, Lust-Eynikel-Hauspie, and Lutherbibel 1984.

Recommendation

While some have been greatly upset with the loss of Robertson’s Word Pictures, I do not see this as such a problem that one would not want to upgrade to BW8. After all, you can still access Robertson’s Word Pictures on the Internet at Crosswalk.com.

BibleWorks8 will remain one of the two premier choices (see LOGOS) for any biblical scholar or exegete. Here is a list of upgrade costs for BW8 (DVD or CD):

• From BW7–$149.00
• From BW6–$175.00
• From BW5 and older–$349.00

There is nothing technical about this; I am simply offering what I found to be the strengths and/or weaknesses to the two programs as well as a comparison of the add-ons each offers. In many ways, this was a lot like comparing apples to oranges because each program is geared for a different person. Unless otherwise noted, I am comparing the two products as base products.

Cost: For a base price of $629.95 ($440.95 for students), you receive over $6,000 in print resources with Logos. For $349.00 ($250.00 if you take advantage of a group discount), you receive the best exegetical tool money can buy in BW7.
Advantage: Logos

Resources: Logos has digitized thousands of dollars worth of print books consisting of millions of pages that fit nicely onto your laptop. BW7 has made language, diagram, and exegetical work so quick and easy that one is able to wrestle with the text itself longer before reading what others have said about it.
Advantage: Depends

Bible Study: Logos has similar functions in terms of exegesis and bible study tools that BW7 has. Logos certainly has more study tools about the bible than BW7. However, I personally believe that if one is studying the Bible, he or she should wrestle more with the text rather than seek another’s understanding of what the Bible is saying. BW7 is much more equipped for intense Bible study than Logos.
Advantage: BW7

Add-Ins: Logos is always adding new products to their ever expanding library. They also run sales from time to time and offer what they call pre-pub sales in which you can purchase new titles for a much cheaper price than what the product will regularly run. BW7 only offers a handful of add-ins because their subject matter is much smaller than what Logos is.

If you compare the add-ins that they have in common, the base price is cheaper at BW7. If you factor in the 30% discount, if you qualify, on Logos, then they are almost dead even. Head-to-head, I would give the advantage to BW7, but because of the wider audience that Logos appeals to, and thus the quantitatively more add-ins overall, I would have to say:
Advantage: Logos

Usability: At first, BW7 is difficult to use and Logos is pretty much ready to go. However, there is a learning curve to both. This again boils down to what you want and are looking for in Bible Software. I would give the early advantage to Logos and the learned advantage to BW7.
Advantage: Even.

Conclusion

I realize this is not as detailed as many were looking for, but this only serves as an introduction to both programs. As I said earlier, in many ways, this was comparing apples to oranges because Logos has a completely different overall market than BW7. I would think if you were going into missions or were the pastor of a small church, then I would recommend Logos because of the digitized print feature. You can build your library in a very cost effective manner.

However, if are a serious student of the Bible, and the languages are appealing to you, then I would recommend BW7 over Logos. BW7 is more than worth the investment if you are looking to work with the original languages as you prepare your sermons and lessons. There is so much more that can be done at an exegetical level with BW7 that you are truly able to wrestle with the Word of God much more.

Depending on what you are looking for, both of these bible software programs are loaded with features that are appealing. If you can swing the cost, you might be best served to own both. I do not think that you can say one is better than the other without qualifying that statement with a “for ____.” The only thing that ultimately matters is what features you are looking for in bible software.

What do you think? If you use one what do you find so nice about it? If you use both, how would you rank them?

Installation

After learning from an install snafu on a previous Bible software installation, I allowed this one to run its course and prompt me when to do things. Instead of the optional DVD download, I had the 7 disc download where it would prompt me every so often to insert a new disc and press OK. The installation took about 35 minutes and I did have to restart my computer. Once the installation was complete and the computer was rebooted, I opened the program and was immediately greeted with a “Getting Started” page. This page proved to be extremely helpful.

I am not able to comment on the customer support because I didn’t mess this one up, but I can say that BibleWorks offers various elements of free technical support.

Getting Started

The “Getting Started” window is an essential tool for understanding how to let your software work for you instead of it working against you. There are five tutorials that you can “sit” through that introduce the major features of BibleWorks. These take approximately 30 minutes to sit through but are extremely helpful. There is also a .pdf file that can be read entitled, “First Things First” which helps to explain in a little more detail the features of BibleWorks.

Of much importance in the explanations is the way in which one does a search. You need to use various characters to “and,” “or,” or phrases. You can also do searches that include some words but not others. Obviously there is a learning curve here, but BibleWorks has put together the tutorials and .pdf files to help in the learning process of their software.

Another extremely helpful feature to learn the software is the Study Guides they offer on the “Getting Started” page. These enable the user to systematically work through the many features of BW7. This takes much more time but is worth the investment of your time for future bible study using this software. There are 37 different study guides that can be used which is perhaps the best way in which to train you to be better equipped to use this program.

Training Seminar

Jim Barr, the seminary and pastors relations manager for BibleWorks, will be on the SBTS campus at the end of September offering a free training seminary. This would be a great opportunity to see how this software works by someone who has used it for quite some time.

Usability

At first, the usability on this software is almost not user-friendly. However, this is actually a positive quality of the software. There is so much that this program can do that one cannot help but feel overwhelmed with the possibilities. The tutorials quickly become your best friend.

However, with just a little bit of trial and error in addition to the tutorials, the software is an immediate improvement on your previous Bible study. For example, one can quickly use the diagramming tool to show verses and pericopes in their diagram to help the student or pastor or teacher better understand how a certain passage relates to the surrounding context.

It must be noted that BibleWorks is necessarily rooted in just the Bible. Unlike other computer software programs that specialize in literature about the Bible, BW7 specializes in studying the text of the Bible using lexicons and grammatical resources. Consequently, there are very few commentaries and other reference resources-the only true commentary I could find is the Matthew Henry Commentary. In other words, you are left to wrestle with the Bible alone which is a good thing for any serious student of the Bible. Ultimately, BW7 is user-friendly – once you grasp the basic functions of the program.

Counting the Cost

To be honest, I would expect to pay significantly more for this software than what it does cost. If you were to purchase this software alone, it would run you $349.00 + S&H. However, if you were able to purchase with a group of ten others through their Institutional Promotional Program, you would be able to purchase BW7 for $250.00 + S&H. I know the campus LifeWay on the campus of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary offers this discount at the beginning of each semester. They also have various lexicons (think BDAG and HALOT) for fairly reduced prices that can be added into the software.

Recommendation

If you are in seminary or are a serious student of the Bible-either pastorally or in lay-leadership-then you need to get this software. This software truly can cut your exegetical work in half. Everything that you use to diagram and pick a part a passage or text is literally at your fingertips with the click of a mouse. If you installed this on a laptop, you would be able to prepare your messages or exegesis work anywhere. You would no longer need volumes of print books on your desk nor would you have to flip through all of them to find everything on a different page in a different book and then compare the two or three together. Simply by clicking on a word, you would be able to bring up all of that information in one window and look at it all side-by-side.

Things like diagramming and parsing words takes much less time. If you prepare your sermons or bible lessons using the original languages, then I would submit that this software would increase the time you spend on exegetical work by a noticeable margin. It cannot be understated how much help this software is for preacher and/or student of God’s Word.

If you are a Southern Seminary student, I would utilize the offer that LifeWay has that enables you to get the software for $250.00. Even if you are not able to take advantage of that price, the $349.00 is still an excellent price for this resource.

While I am familiar with some of Logos’ software, I will be writing this review from a very non-technical perspective and sharing what I have found as I learned how to operate the system and use it to my advantage. 

Installation

I installed the DVD version of the Scholar’s Library Logos Bible Software 3.0e.  The DVD is nice if you have a DVD drive on your computer because it is only one disc.  If you have to go with the CD-ROM’s, then you will have to deal with seven discs.  In my opinion, the less I have to keep track of, the better off I am.  The price is the same regardless of which type of discs you use.

The installation began easy enough.  All you have to do is insert the DVD into your DVD-ROM drive and let it do its thing.  Easy enough…unless you are me.   I figured because the disc had been “discovering resources” for 30 minutes, and was seemingly frozen on one discovery, that it had frozen in the process.  Either that or it was finished.  Well, I went ahead and closed the window to “help it along” thinking it was finished  Don’t ever do that!  I later found out that because it is a DVD, there are over 2,000 total resources that have to be discovered and that it might take a while to do so (upwards of 45 minutes).

It turns out that the error occurred between the screen and the chair.  I had greatly messed up the downloading process when I attempted to “help it along.”  However, this wound up being a blessing in disguise.  Because of my mistake, I am able to include in the review the Customer Support service.

Customer Support

I spoke with Deborah and Don of the customer support team to try and figure out my problem.  Deborah worked through her trouble-shooting plans and was able to figure out what the problem was but was unable to fix it.  I joked with her that it was above her pay-grade.  She then sent me over to Don, who was apparently within eye-shot of her.  Anyway, Don was actually able to log onto my computer, with my permission, and control my computer from his office.  That was pretty cool.

Anyway, he had it all working in no time and had everything fixed and completely downloaded in a matter of ten minutes.  During the time I spent on the phone with them, I learned that the latest version of the software, the version I own, is compatible with Window’s Vista.  Also, whenever an update comes out for your particular software, you can easily download it from the Logos website.

I was amazed at their patience and willingness to work on my problem until it was fixed.  I realize that this is the job of the customer support team, but most of the time you can hear a hint (ok, sometimes it is not even subtle) of exasperation and annoyance in the voice on the other end of the line.  I never heard that.  As a matter of fact, Deborah was all about the small talk while the computer would have to re-boot and re-start and everything.  Don would explain what he was doing as well as give tips on how to not crash the system again.

Tutorial

If you go to the video page on the LOGOS website, you can download and watch numerous video tutorials to help you get started with your Bible Study software.  Trust me, it is much easier to watch the videos for a few minutes rather than try to “get a feel” for the program by yourself.  Each video is what I would call “idiot proof” because I am an idiot and I could follow them with no problems whatsoever.  Because each software package comes with different features, using these tutorials will help you to learn what your specific software can do as well as help you to learn what exactly you have in your digital library.

You can always play around with your software and learn by trial and error, but that is almost self-defeating.  You would be doing yourself a great disservice by not using the tutorial videos provided at the website.  I noted in the tutorials that they promote the English Standard Version of the Bible in all of their videos.

Usability

After you have become acquainted with your library and what your software can do, you are ready to begin taking advantage of the resources you now own.  The particular edition I am reviewing, the Scholar’s Library, has over 330 resources unlocked at the time of purchase (a locked resource is one that can be purchased at a later time).  As you can see, it is very important to become familiar with your resources.  You have basically just added an entire library in one-felled swoop.

The usability of the software will depend upon a couple of factors.  First, did you watch the tutorials?  If that answer is yes, then you are truly ready to start studying passages, words, or topics found in the Bible.  If the answer is no, then there will be much more of a learning curve to the the usability.  In either case, it will take time to become completely comfortable and familiar with the product and its features.

One of the nice features to the Scholar’s Library is the ability to diagram sentences on the computer.  For those who are studying Greek and Hebrew, this is a nice feature.  However, it must be noted that the program does not have any ready made diagrams.  All of the diagramming must be done by the user.  But, once you do a diagram, and save it, it will come up whenever you want to do a study of that passage again in the future.

Simply typing in a passage, you are able to bring up commentaries (turned to the exact pages you need), parallel passages, key words found in the passage, sermons from SermonCentral.com and even power point presentations (if any exist).  You can also get a list of hymns and worship music that are based from the passage as well as a list of all of the topics that can be discussed.  In other words, this could be your one-stop shop for your sermon preparation.

Another positive with the software is that you can carry an entire library on your laptop wherever you may go.  Let’s say you are doing missions work overseas.  If you bring your laptop with you, regardless of Internet service, you have access to your entire library in the space your laptop takes up in your luggage.

Counting the Cost

Obviously, there is going to be some financial investment into this software.  In all honesty, it does not come cheap.  However, it is arguably the best “bang for your buck” when it comes to spending your money on building a library quickly.  For example, the Scholar’s Library, has a base price of $629.95, but you get over $6,100.00 worth of print material for your money.  The Scholar’s Library Gold has a base price of $1,379.95, but that includes $11,700.00 worth of print material (over 700 volumes!).  As you can see, it is much cheaper to buy the software than the books.

Before you shut down the computer in frustration over the cost of the software, please read on.  Because they are in the business of equipping the saints, LOGOS offers many different discounts for their programs as well as various payment options.

First, they have payment plans whereby you can pay for your software over a 12-month period.  There is a monthly $5.00 service fee for choosing this option which means you pay a total of $60 more for your product.  Still, it is a nice option to have if you are really wanting to own this software and do not have the money upfront.

Second, they offer an academic discount for seminary students and faculty and staff.  The faculty and staff of a seminary receive a 50% discount while the students receive a 30% discount.  This discount is off any of the base packages that LOGOS offers. They also offer various discounts on other titles for seminary students, faculty and staff, but you will have to search for these because the discount differs from product to product.

Recommendation

The LOGOS software offers a very economical and compact storage system to greatly enhance one’s library and study of the things of God.  It offers the ability for word study, topical study and passage study.  One can prepare a sermon using only the services provided in the Scholar’s Library base package and still do justice (insofar as a human can do justice to the exhortation of God’s Word) to the message that God has laid on his heart for a particular week or message.

There are also many levels of base products, ranging in price from $149.95 to $1,379.95, depending on what you are wanting.  If you are going into the ministry at any level I would highly recommend the Scholar’s Library as a great start to your preparation and study.  The books that are included will enrich your understanding of the Bible.

You have attended Dr. Whitney’s “seminar” on how to organize your books and you are thinking to yourself, “Man, I wish I had a secretary who can copy my title page and file my books for me the way Dr. Whitney showed me.  Well,” you go on, “I might as well start cataloguing my books as I go.  I might not have the time to get them as well organized as Dr. Whitney, but I can at least get started in that direction.”

That is the conversation I had with myself and others after Dr. Whitney took some of us into his office and showed us the wall-to-wall file cabinets full of files with book titles and news clippings in them organized by topic.  I loved how he had it set up and I loved that he had a running record of all the books in his library.  I also knew that I had over 2,000 books in my own personal library and that I was in seminary full time, working full time, fathering three children full time and being a husband full time.  In other words, this was not going to happen any time soon.  There was also the issue of getting my secretary wife to organize my books, though she has threatened to put them in Dewey decimal order!

Introduction

If you have had this thought and have been unable to get your library catalogued the way you wanted, then I have some excellent news!  Collectorz.com has a computer program that will catalogue your books quick, fast, and in a hurry as my drill sergeants used to say.  Book Collector is designed with ease and quickness in mind. 

I admit that at first, I was highly doubtful that this product could be that easy.  However, when I downloaded the evaluation version and started tinkering, I discovered that it was that easy.  Once I downloaded the full product, I sat down to see how quickly I could enter books.  Because I had a laser scanner on the way, I began with some books that did not have a barcode.  These particular books in my library were also more than 100 years old.  I figured I would play “stump the software” to really test it.

Usability

It passed with flying colors!  There was only one book that it could not find of the forty-one I entered into the system in less than 30 minutes.  I could have entered many more books, but I had to go slowly because I was entering title and author (books before 1966 did not have an ISBN-International Standard Book Number).  However if your book was published or re-published after 1970, when the ISBN became standard, it will have this number.

Anyway, if you have an ISBN, all you do is type in that number, it will either be 10 digit number or a 13 digit number depending on when it was published, and then select your book from a list.  If you type in the ISBN, the list is usually only one book.  If you type in the title and author, you can pull from a list of up to like 10 books-it depends on how popular the author was, how popular that title was, or how many editions of that book exist.  This selection is based upon Amazon.com database of books.  If the book does not come up, it will tell you to click on “Previous” and either give a fuller title (which usually made the difference) or make sure you typed in the information correctly.

Once you have your information correct and you have a book selected, you click “Next” and select your book from the Library of Congress’ catalogue.  Clicking “Next” will then add your book to your collection complete with the author’s name, the title of the book, the ISBN (even books before 1966 have an ISBN assigned to them), the year your book was published (this can be tricky if you have a particular edition), the publisher’s information, and in many cases, the number of pages in the book as well as the cost of the book.

There is a second option that allows you to manually add the book which is what I had to do for one book because it could not be found by the “Add Book Automatically” feature.  In this case, you simply enter title, author, and as much other information as you want from that particular book. Through this feature, you can add your personal notes about a book, when and where and how much you paid for the book, as well as downloading the exact cover of your book rather than the “standard” cover of the more recent edition from Amazon.

There are so many more features to this product that I do not have the time to share in this review.  Suffice it to say that once your books (or other media) are entered into your computer, the manner in which they are stored and organized is limitless.

Using the Laser

If you are married or have kids, did your spouse (assuming you are a male) let you play with the “gun” when you registered for the wedding or the baby shower?  If so, you can relive those moments with the optional CueCat or Laser scanner.  If not, then you can create those moments with the scanner!  Not only do you get to play with your toy, you literally cut the entry level time of your library into the database to mere seconds per book.

I have been using the Laser scanner and have learned a few things in doing so that are not necessarily stated on the product page.  First, your computer will not recognize the scanner unless you have the Book Collector software open and have already downloaded the small file necessary to run your scanner.  What this means is that it is not plug-and-play like so many usb-port attachments are.  Also, you have to download a small file from the collectorz website in order to use your scanner.

Second, it does require 3 AAA batteries.  They do mention this, but it is easy to forget.  This is actually a nice feature because it enables you to take the scanner off the computer, scan your books on the shelf, then sit back down at your computer and plug it in.  You then do a search in the advanced mode of the add books screen.  Finally, you simply click “add” and everything that was in the scanner is then added to your collection.  I did like 100 books in 5 minutes or so.  It is truly ridiculous how easy and quick this is!

Other Products

I only used the book database software because, as most seminarians know, your library is your life.  However, you can purchase software to organize your movies, music, games, or your photos (also, you can organize comic books and mp3′s) with the same ease as your books.

Counting the Cost

They do have the option to download the Book Collector basic edition of each software program for $29.95 via email or for “free” if you take advantage of one of the special offers.  You can order the Book Collector Pro edition via email for $49.95 or have the CD-ROM delivered to your door for $69.95.   Here is a list comparing the Basic and Pro editions of Book Collector.

There is an optional scanner which is an excellent investment if you have a larger library.  You have the option of purchasing the CueCat scanner for $24.95 or the Laser scanner for $134.95.  There are pluses and minuses to each, so, if you decide you want a scanner, it is up to you as to which one would be the best.  If you scroll down the comparison list, you can see what each one is capable of doing.

Recommendation

Basically, the sky is the limit for how you can organize your books in your library.  The easiest (and funnest) part is the entering of the book (with or without the scanner) into the database.  The hard part is pulling yourself away from your database as you organize and re-organize your library.  Even if you “only” purchase the Book Collector basic edition, you will be doing yourself a huge favor-one which only increases when you purchase the Book Collector Pro edition.  The ease and quickness of this software makes the investment well worth your money and time.

I have actually learned that the company is impressed with the fact that the theology books have been easily found and recognized by the program.  They were somewhat doubtful about that because it is not a wide genre of books in terms of the rest of the world.  However, I can say that less than 10% of my books were not found and all but one of those was before 1940.  Therefore, you can be rest assured that your library will be painless to catalogue and there will be very few you will have to enter in manually.  I do not think I can recommend a cataloging software program any more emphatically than this one.

One final note is that while this is a great way to catalogue your books, it also makes for an excellent resource if you look to insure your collection.  You have a ready-made list to present to your insurance provider who can then help you select how much to insure your library for.  This is not something we always think about, but it is an excellent by-product of the software and one that cannot be understated.