MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Seeking recommendations for integrating Calibre database with the Pocket Pro folders

Xochipilli2012 · 03-05-2010, 12:48 PM

Hey Gang,

I prefer Calibre to manage my books on my Sony PRS-600, as it capably works with the meta-data that fuels the Sony's "collections."

I'd like a way to leave Calibre's database alone, including the nested folders, eBook files, and cover images, but be able to use it as a source for books on the Pocket Pro organized by folders (in place of "categories").

I know Calibre recognizes the PP as a Hanlin V, but as the PP will display the folders that wrap Calibre's books, I find the whole thing a bit unwieldy. I've tried the "save to file" options in Calibre, but again, even when you specify a specific format, other "files" (as in "folders") come along for the ride, and most be drilled through to access the book files.

I am by no means a Calibre "power user." Far from it. So there may well be a way using only Calibre to accomplish the following:

Add a new tag to books in Calibre I want to place on the Pocket Pro, organized with dedicated folders. Perhaps tags like "PP-Classic_Fiction" and "PP-Roman_History" for "Classic Fiction" and "Roman History" folders, respectively.
Anything tagged with a "PP-" would already be pre-converted to whatever format I like most for the Pocket Pro (it may turn out to be FB2 is the new firmware solves some of the current problems).
Then, I could use Calibre's "Save to File by Format" command, and send all the titles in one category to a dedicated folder on the PP. I can almost do this now except that each file is transferred nested within its Title and Author file structure within the Calibre DB.
I'd like to send just one file per title, the one pertaining to the eBook of that pre-determined Pocket Pro friendly format.

Can this be done with Calibre? If the command line offers more options, I'm cool with that.

If not, are there other tools that can manage my PP books in a database that can be lightly organized by author, title, and perhaps genre, that could copy from the Calibre DB into a temp folder structure elsewhere that could then be transferred all at once to the Pocket Pro? I suspect someone has already done something like this...and while I'm not much of a programmer, it seems a little app could be written in Python or Perl that could help me do this.

I've read some people using versions of Windows Search (I'm using XP at the moment), but I'd like something that is more dedicated to this kind of task.

I welcome your collective insight.

Thanks y'all!

03-05-2010, 12:48 PM	#1
Xochipilli2012 Zealot Posts: 101 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Seattle Device: Red PRS-600, Slate Blue Astak EZReader Pocket Pro	Seeking recommendations for integrating Calibre database with the Pocket Pro folders Hey Gang, I prefer Calibre to manage my books on my Sony PRS-600, as it capably works with the meta-data that fuels the Sony's "collections." I'd like a way to leave Calibre's database alone, including the nested folders, eBook files, and cover images, but be able to use it as a source for books on the Pocket Pro organized by folders (in place of "categories"). I know Calibre recognizes the PP as a Hanlin V, but as the PP will display the folders that wrap Calibre's books, I find the whole thing a bit unwieldy. I've tried the "save to file" options in Calibre, but again, even when you specify a specific format, other "files" (as in "folders") come along for the ride, and most be drilled through to access the book files. I am by no means a Calibre "power user." Far from it. So there may well be a way using only Calibre to accomplish the following: Add a new tag to books in Calibre I want to place on the Pocket Pro, organized with dedicated folders. Perhaps tags like "PP-Classic_Fiction" and "PP-Roman_History" for "Classic Fiction" and "Roman History" folders, respectively. Anything tagged with a "PP-" would already be pre-converted to whatever format I like most for the Pocket Pro (it may turn out to be FB2 is the new firmware solves some of the current problems). Then, I could use Calibre's "Save to File by Format" command, and send all the titles in one category to a dedicated folder on the PP. I can almost do this now except that each file is transferred nested within its Title and Author file structure within the Calibre DB. I'd like to send just one file per title, the one pertaining to the eBook of that pre-determined Pocket Pro friendly format. Can this be done with Calibre? If the command line offers more options, I'm cool with that. If not, are there other tools that can manage my PP books in a database that can be lightly organized by author, title, and perhaps genre, that could copy from the Calibre DB into a temp folder structure elsewhere that could then be transferred all at once to the Pocket Pro? I suspect someone has already done something like this...and while I'm not much of a programmer, it seems a little app could be written in Python or Perl that could help me do this. I've read some people using versions of Windows Search (I'm using XP at the moment), but I'd like something that is more dedicated to this kind of task. I welcome your collective insight. Thanks y'all!