Can you believe it? Alfa Ebooks Manager 2.0 is available!




So why did it take us so long? Because back in 2010 we decided to fully rebuild the Alfa's platform in order to make it more fast, stable and extensible. Now we will be able to add new features more often (just give us the summer vacation :).

So, what's new in Alfa 2.0?

First of all it now requires .Net Framework 4.0, but not 3.5. So, if you don't have it - download and install it from here (it's free).

Second, we have changed the database format from MDB to SDF. So, you need to create a new SDF database and import your old MDB database to it (using File -> Import From-> Alfa Ebooks Manager Database). Here is the detailed guide.

Not very interesting news, yeah? OK, here are some more interesting ones:

Multiple genres per book. Yes, we know you wanted it. From now you can assign as many genres as you want to each book. You can add/edit genres in multiple books at once using the Edit Books tool.

Tags. Now you can create any tags and add them to books. For example, you can create tag "Want to read", or "Wishlist", or "Favorites" (btw we have removed the separate Favorites feauture). You also can use tags to track loaned books (i.e. create tag "Loaned to Bill").

Custom fields. You can create up to 5 text custom fields in the book card. For example "Bought in". The custom fields are searchable, so you can quickly list the books with certaing parameter in custom field. And when you enter a value to custom field - the program shows you suggestions like when you enter addresses in GMail.

Universal search. No more separate searches by title, author, ISBN. One simple seach box will let you search-as-you-type by all these fields and custom fields at once.

New Edit Books tool. Now you can edit almost any parameter in multiple books at once (including authors, tags, custom fields...).

File Parser. Now you can retrieve ISBN, parse metadata and create cover thumbnails for the ebooks that are already in the database. And as well as the Scan tool, File Parses fully supports PDF

and more...

Besides, we introducing the new pricing model. From now we provide a FREE version of Alfa Ebooks Manager. It's absolutely enough for book lovers, that want to create a beautiful e-Library of books that they have read or want to read.

If you want to make working with this e-Library faster (i.e. automatically update books from Amazon, Google Books and other book sites, update covers and author pics from Google Images) - you can order the Lite version for $19.95

And for book collectors and academicians, that have the large ebook libraries, we recommend the Pro version with the Scan tool and File Parser, that allow to import and manage large amounts of ebooks, retrieve metadata. This version costs $39.95
Posted: July 16, 2011