[unboggling]

@travger, thanks for the clarification. The main reason I usually didn't take much information off the download site was the lack of standards for metadata across all the various sites - I'd rather have metadata that's more standard and consistent. So why spend time getting it from download site if I'm just going to change it later?

@all. The main reason I liked using a separate library for metadata and format clean-up was the potential to set the books into a relatively static state when they transferred to the "real" library, leaving the unstatic ones behind. But as I said before, more than one library had disadvantages too. That also applies to the method of leaving books out in the operating system rather than a separate library.

I'll try just one library for awhile, and I'll probably stick to using just one library for overall KISS purposes, at least until calibre can have more than one library open simultaneously. I'll try using Goodread's metadata for awhile, and may end up continuing that, or switching to Fantastic Fiction or somewhere else that has tags, in conjunction with Amazon or Barnes & Noble for other metadata, or just go back to creating my own tags in conjunction with format evaluation.

It's difficult to find the grain in the chaff, when so many people do things so many different ways, and each way has pros and cons, and each person has particular needs, and each person - including myself - posting about their particular way has some investment in it so defends it, and (let's say) I am a beginning new user who doesn't fully understand my own eBook needs yet, or the options and potentials in calibre yet, or that there may be golden nuggets of info floating around in the Mobile Read or even wider ocean of noise, but there are also some nuggets floating around that aren't so golden and I'm not an experienced enough farmer or fisherman or miner to know which is which (/let's say).

Sorry about mixed metaphors.