I’ve been looking for years, I kid you not, for a DVD cataloging product that wouldn’t make me want to poke my eyes out because it was so ugly, or wouldn’t make me want to toss my computer out the window because the functionality sucked so bad. It’s surprisingly hard to make a DVD cataloging product, apparently.

Today, I am here to tell you that I have finally reached DVD cataloging Nirvana, and it is called DVDpedia. I was unwilling to fork out the $18 for the full version until I gave it a whirl, but luckily there’s a free download version that is fully functional, except you can only put in 25 DVDs. Still, 25 is enough to convince you that you must have it now now now! And in the grand scheme of things, $18 is well worth it, especially if you’re looking for a way to make sure you have a record of your vast collection in case something happens: fire, burglary, etc.

I run a Mac, so everything I’m showing you and talking about will be re: the Mac version. I have never and probably will never try the Windows version, and it may suck (though I doubt it), so if you are a Windows person, please try it for yourself before you cough up for the full version.

So, points that make me want to hug DVDpedia:

1. The desktop client is super pretty. It looks like iTunes, only in a lot of ways, it’s better than iTunes. The graphics are swooshy and beautiful, but the load time is really good.

2. There are lots of ways to organize. I have my DVDs stored in boxes, so I made my library into two “collections” and then divided those by genre so that you can browse through them in the same order they’d be in the actual physical box. They also have Smart Collections, which can search through your DVDs and find, say, all the ones with Hugh Jackman in them. (Like 10 percent of my library… Hm.)

3. The database of DVDs is huge. There were only a few in my collection that didn’t have an entry, and those were obscure BMX ones. The obscure skiing ones were even in there!

4. There is totally an iPhone app! Yep. That was the clincher for me. And the iPhone app is free. (Side note: check me out with my awesome iPhone screenshot. I did that myself. Cool, huh?)

5. There’s also an export to web feature, so if you have some free webspace, you can export your library. This is great if you’re looking for a remote backup solution, in case, like, your house burns down and you need to put all your DVDs on your insurance claim form. (Clothes? Bah. Electronics? Bah. But of course you have to claim your DVDs.) I exported mine as an iPhone friendly page so that I can direct my friends to it to browse on their iPhones. Pretty slick. If you’re an iWeb user, you can export there too, but beware it’s sloooow if your DVD collection is big.

So there you have it! DVD catalog Nirvana. What do you think?

Oh, and just thought I should add, I didn’t get paid to say any of that stuff, so it’s really true. However, if someone from DVDpedia wants to appreciate me in the form of a linkback, I wouldn’t refuse… (What? You don’t know until you ask.)