Quote:
Originally Posted by cyndersk
I just wanted to let you know that Aldiko can connect to my Calibre library - the same as with CC.
I've attached 4 screen shots showing what it looks like once the connection has been made, through to a downloaded book showing in my library.
Not that I am trying to bash CC, it's an okay program if you want to do the wireless thing...but you had mentioned that you don't have access to your metadata in Aldiko and if you look at the book details you can see that it does show up - even custom fields.(read)
Now if you could modify the data related to the books, like change the rating after you have read it, mark it as read etc right from within CC, then I can see the advantage, but it would appear that you cannot do this in either CC or Aldiko. One other point - Aldiko is cheaper.
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Of course it can connect to calibre's content server and download books. I never said it could not. However, it cannot read calibre's metadata. Instead it reads any metadata available from inside the book itself, and the metadata available depends on what the book format can contain. For example, aldiko does not "see" any information in a calibre custom column such as #genre or #read. If the book is a PDF, then aldiko cannot see much more than author and title, and perhaps tags.
More important, aldiko will not see subsequent changes to calibre's metadata. For example, download a book to aldiko from calibre's content server. Now change the author name, series name, series number, a tag, or any other metadata in calibre. Even assuming that the metadata is included in the book format, Aldiko has no idea that you have made these changes and cannot know that you have made these changes unless you manually download the book again. CC will see these changes the next time you connect as a wireless device, without re-downloading the books. CC's sorting and grouping automatically will take the new information into account. To repeat, in CC there is no need to download the book again, or even to worry about whether the books with the changed metadata have ever been downloaded in the past. The metadata for downloaded books will be updated every time you connect as a wireless device.
If all you want is to copy books to your device, then CC isn't for you. There are lots of ways to do that including aldiko or fbreader or moon+ or other reader apps (many free), dropbox (especially with dropsync), windows explorer, and the like. However, if you want to be able to see a book's metadata on your device and you want the metadata on your device to track automatically what you enter in calibre, then the only solution I know of is CC. No reader app that I am aware of, including aldiko, can do this.
Summary: I am not arguing that if all you want is calibre content server integration to copy books to your device then CC is somehow superior to the reader apps mentioned above. What I am arguing is that if you actively use calibre to manage metadata for your books then CC gives you something that no other app does: direct access to calibre's metadata up-to-date as of the last connect as a wireless device, not the metadata buried inside the book as of when it was downloaded. CC also gives access to calibre features such as automatic download of news, integration with plugins like reading list, and calibre's "on device" indicators. Apps based solely on calibre's content server give you none of these.