Zoomii.

June 19, 2008 1:51 PM

Zoomii. An interesting interface for Amazon.

From the about page:

Because I love bookstores. Spending afternoons wandering the shelves. Happening across great books I didn't even know existed. But it's an experience I never found online. Online bookstores are wonderful. They've got amazing prices, huge selections, and they're open all the time. If you know exactly what you want, they're perfect. But somehow I kept coming back to the bookstore just to browse. Zoomii is my attempt to bring online as much of the real bookstore experience as possible.

posted by chunking express (31 comments total)

From the FAQ: Why is Zoomii so slow on Firefox 3.0?
posted by box at 1:57 PM on June 19, 2008

Zoomii, taking the convenience out of online shopping.

I can't wait for DriveMii, where I actually have to drive to a store, pick what I want off the shelf, and then hand it to a cashier who will scan the barcode in order to place an order for me at amazon.com which will then be shipped to my house.
posted by shmegegge at 1:59 PM on June 19, 2008 [5 favorites]

And just a real bookstore, many titles seem to be misshelved. It's probably those good-for-nothing kids who hang out in the coffee shop and never buy anything.
posted by echo target at 2:04 PM on June 19, 2008

I really like how I had to resize my window in order to close the little demo video thingy because I couldn't scroll and it was perfectly centered, only I didn't really like it.

To tell the truth, I'd be in here bitching if it had resized my window automagically, too, though.
posted by owtytrof at 2:04 PM on June 19, 2008

Oh come on. I can't believe the first four replies are haters. It's neat!
posted by Perplexity at 2:07 PM on June 19, 2008

I can't believe the first four replies are haters.

You must be new here.
posted by chunking express at 2:15 PM on June 19, 2008 [3 favorites]

I like it. Feels like bookstore browsing to me.
posted by StarForce5 at 2:15 PM on June 19, 2008

I'm with Perplexity. I really like this, despite its flaws. It's funny that looking at "fake" bookshelves gives me a sense of peace. I've never been able to get that same feeling by browsing the normal Amazon site. I've already added a couple of books to my "to read" list I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
posted by Nattie at 2:16 PM on June 19, 2008

It's slow, with a slightly clunky interface, and I'll probably never use it, but I thought it was nifty. Feels like browsing the shelves of a book shop to me too.
posted by esilenna at 2:28 PM on June 19, 2008

It's cute, but I need to be able to swoosh around the shelves by making hand gestures in the air. Like, I really really need that. NOW.
posted by nowonmai at 2:29 PM on June 19, 2008

I usually hate the flash/cloud browsing interfaces to websites, but I really like this.

They need to take the next logical step and render this in 3D in the Half-Life 2 engine, so we can actually walk around the store.
posted by Pastabagel at 2:33 PM on June 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I need virtual reality googles, a Nintendo Power Glove, and a 3D interface.

Actually, this is kind of fun.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:36 PM on June 19, 2008

too clunky for me but I do like the attempt. Especially like how the back button means something.
posted by cell divide at 2:44 PM on June 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

The really awesome companion to Amazon is LibraryThing. Of course, it's not so much an interface to Amazon as a fully-featured utility of its own, but it's very useful for finding new books to read.
posted by sonic meat machine at 2:55 PM on June 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is actually not too bad despite being a bit clunky.
posted by sveskemus at 3:05 PM on June 19, 2008

This makes me have to take a dump.

Hey, it IS just like a real bookstore!!!
posted by poppo at 4:18 PM on June 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Neat idea, although is it really an interface to Amazon. Seems like a smallish selection. And Amazon does let you "browse" to the extent that knowing what similar books people bought is "browsing".
posted by DU at 4:28 PM on June 19, 2008

DU, you can browse perfectly well on Amazon--it's just that its catalog is so vast that this browsing is of questionable utility. Here, for example, is "listerary fiction." Have fun never finding anything!
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:31 PM on June 19, 2008

Now, if they could give me the time to read new books...

Finding new ones ain't a problem.
posted by ersatz at 4:34 PM on June 19, 2008

Listerary. Hmm.
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:35 PM on June 19, 2008

The really awesome companion to Amazon is LibraryThing. Of course, it's not so much an interface to Amazon as a fully-featured utility of its own, but it's very useful for finding new books to read.

Thanks a lot, smm. I've just spent the past 30 minutes updating the book covers in my Library Thing account ... I agree though. Library Thing rocks. I bought a lifetime membership as soon as I found it.

me on library thing: mrgrimm.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:02 PM on June 19, 2008

Thanks - this is pretty cool - especially for browsing kids' books. Cookbooks would be a good fit, too.
posted by ericbop at 6:47 PM on June 19, 2008

This makes me have to take a dump. Hey, it IS just like a real bookstore!!!

Another reason e-books will never take over real books - constipation.
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 PM on June 19, 2008

If by interesting interface you mean completely black screen. Apparently it doesn't work in Opera.
posted by DenOfSizer at 7:45 PM on June 19, 2008

I love it.
posted by jacalata at 7:52 PM on June 19, 2008

I like.
posted by fungible at 8:01 PM on June 19, 2008

Shelves stocked with books "coming soon" is like MAGIC.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:11 PM on June 19, 2008

It would be great if the selection of books presented could be filtered based on books you own, creating your own personal bookstore. Does Library thing have an api? I like the idea of browsing shelf after shelf of books that I'm likely to find interesting.
posted by lucidprose at 10:49 PM on June 19, 2008

It's cute, but I need to be able to swoosh around the shelves by making hand gestures in the air. Like, I really really need that. NOW.

Hmm.... I wonder if you can look at this site on the Wii, using the controller (eg hand gestures) to browse.
posted by inigo2 at 7:10 AM on June 20, 2008

This is pretty cool, good post.
posted by tadellin at 8:38 AM on June 20, 2008

It's a good interface but it ain't quite there yet I think. Browsing books on Amazon is a nightmare, which is why I don't do it, and Zoomii goes someway to solving that. Luckily I live somewhere which has a number of excellent bookshops where I can browse to my heart's content so I'm not sure if I'll use Zoomii.
posted by electricinca at 9:17 AM on June 20, 2008