Since we're all living in the age of computers, the classic books we used to read are starting to be forgotten. Still, with a busy schedule in which you have to fit going to work, watching some TV, reading the news and maybe playing a game on your computer, you may be able to find some time for reading a good book. If you have read all the books in your library at home and you don't want to go and buy a new one or if you're just in the mood for a different book, Voluminous brings you a very efficient solution. Developed by Wooji Juice, Voluminous is the perfect Internet librarian.

Voluminous gives you access to a huge catalog of free books that are available on the internet. You can search for a specific title, choose one from the given categories or filter by either language or topic. At the moment, Voluminous offers more than 23,000 books, 85% of them written in English and updates its database weekly.

The Looks

Voluminous has an easy to use interface, allowing you to access all the program's features from its main window. The application doesn't open any unnecessary windows or complicated menus. Its main window is divided into 2 panels, one showing the book catalog and your downloaded books and the main panel from where you can choose your books and read them. Basically, the interface of Voluminous is as simple as it gets, still offering all the needed functions.

The Works

In order to run Voluminous on your Mac, you should have Leopard installed and an Internet connection allowing the software to retrieve the chosen books. Its requirements also include about 50 MB of hard-disk space and then some needed to store your downloaded books.

Although it puts at your disposal more than 23,000 books, Voluminous doesn't take up your hard-disk space by storing all of them on your hard-drive. It only downloads the books that you choose to read. When you finish reading a book, you are free to delete it from your Mac, or on the contrary, store it for later reference.

The Main Catalog is the place where you can see the entire list of books available for the selected language. Since a list of more than 20,000 books is not easily covered, Voluminous provides a very useful Search feature that enables you to find the book you want in a matter of seconds. The developers of Voluminous have thought of a solution for the undecided as well. If you're not looking for a specific book, you can get an idea by looking at the topics that keep the book database organized. The Starting Points category catches your eye immediately by showing some famous authors and their works, the novel classics, several books made into movies and other attractive volumes. As I was saying, Voluminous updates its database weekly and shows the recently added books in the Latest Additions panel.

If you decide on the book that you want to read, all that's left to do is download it and start reading. By double clicking the chosen book, you will see some information about its author, its subject and the date of its addition to the database. The books are placed into different groups according to their current state: a book that hasn't been opened after download is in the Unread category, while the ones you already started to read are in the Now Reading group. When you get to a book's end, it will be automatically categorized as finished, but there's nothing to stop you from reading it again.

Voluminous aims to please different types of readers. We can't say that people who like to read about Philosophy or Psychology have the same taste as the readers of Science-Fiction. Although a strict classification of the users can't be done, Voluminous offers 9 layout and writing styles, allowing you to select the one that best suites you. Since nobody expects you to finish a book in a single reading session, Voluminous remembers where you left off, fulfilling the task of a normal bookmark.

Reading is usually an activity that requires all your attention and concentration. To help you focus on the book you have in front, Voluminous has a Full Screen option that saves you from other distractions and can be accessed with a simple key shortcut. Another interesting feature provided by Voluminous is the fact that you can send a report to the developers if you find a problem with the book you're reading. You can choose from the list of standard problems and include some additional information about the issue at hand.

If you want to know more about the writer whose work you are enjoying, you can easily access the author's online biography at Wikipedia from the Book Information window. Furthermore, Voluminous lets you share your favorite books with your friends by sending a plain text email to inform them.

The Good

Voluminous is an interesting piece of educational software, a true Internet librarian that gives you quick access to free books available online. Just think of the time you'd have to waste searching for these books on the web. This application gathers them all in a single database and offers an intuitive interface, helping you to easily find and read the book you want, everything for a reasonable amount of money.

The Bad

Voluminous doesn't provide more advanced features like making annotations on the book you are reading. Still, the program's first version was released recently, so you can be sure that the developers will add more interesting functions along the way.

The Truth

If you are a passionate reader and you are satisfied with the large variety of books offered by Voluminous, you can realize that the $30 you need to pay for a license would be well spent. The application is definitely worth the money; just think that this is the price you would usually pay for two, maybe three good books in a bookstore.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: