Calibre - An excellent program, but no thanks

[RobbieClarken]

Firstly calibre is an excellent program and I cannot thank Kovid and the other contributors enough for their hard work. However I do think allowing users to use their preferred folder structure has its benefits. The idea you can continue using your own folder structure alongside calibre doesn't work for me because I like to frequently edit my ebooks and if I used the two systems simultaneously it would involve copying and renaming books each time I made an edit and that is too much work.

Secondly, I would like to synchronise my ebook library with my SD card to read on my DR1000. However the calibre folder structure is unsuitable for the DR as it involves way too many clicks to navigate. (My solution was to write a second program that synchronises my calibre DB with my DR1000.)

I'm not suggesting Kovid changes calibre - I have no doubt he knows full well the most beneficial system for his program. But it disappoints me that people think the OP was wrong to share his experience with calibre considering he did so in a respectful manner.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by epiphany

I'm not suggesting Kovid changes calibre - I have no doubt he knows full well the most beneficial system for his program. But it disappoints me that people think the OP was wrong to share his experience with calibre considering he did so in a respectful manner.

When a person declares they are "boycotting" a product without ever having communicated they were having problems or asking for help, I tend to think they handled expressing their issue poorly.

There have been many times someone has expressed a desire for a feature or a better way to do something with Calibre and Kovid or one of the other developers has jumped on it to at least *try* to make it happen (it took a long time for Kindle support to come about but in time it did). Patience and communication will go a long way in getting what one needs (or at least closer to what one needs).

[kelly1010]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I sympathize with the OP because Calibre is a sacred cow around here.

It's not for everybody; there's no need to get defensive if someone finds it doesn't meet his needs, is there? (rhetorical question, lest there be some doubt).

I agree! I personally don't use Calibre (Sony elibrary software works just fine for me *gasp*) ....I downloaded it, and later decided it wasn't for me. But if I had tried more thoroughly to use it and had trouble, and then stopped using it, I'd most likely voice my opinions too. So he made some false assumptions...maybe he could use some guidance then.

[RobbieClarken]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

When a person declares they are "boycotting" a product without ever having communicated they were having problems or asking for help, I tend to think they handled expressing their issue poorly.

There have been many times someone has expressed a desire for a feature or a better way to do something with Calibre and Kovid or one of the other developers has jumped on it to at least *try* to make it happen (it took a long time for Kindle support to come about but in time it did). Patience and communication will go a long way in getting what one needs (or at least closer to what one needs).

The term boycott has the negative connotation of making a demand. I don't think this is what stisev intended. I believe he was expressing the fact he's going to refrain from using calibre unless a change is made - not that he is expecting it to be made just for him.

Kovid is well aware that some people dislike calibre's file structure and has made it clear that this isn't going to change any time soon. So if preserving your library structure is crucial to you then at this stage calibre is out of the question. Still, I think it is preferable that people express this fact so that calibre's developers are aware of how important this aspect is to people and can decide whether it is worth changing their program.

[hannah]

Originally Posted by WayneD

It's easier to use calibre itself for such things instead of rummaging around in the directories manually. For instance, click the author field to enable author sorting, and scan down the list looking for inconsistencies. If your books don't sort consistently by the author's last name, you can usually select all books, click the "Edit meta information" button, and use the "Automatically set author sort" checkbox in the dialog (with no other changes) to ensure that all your books sort by last name first (though multi-author books will sort by the last author's last name instead of the first author's last name, as some might expect).

I really feel stupid now, but this doesn't work as you explain. In the meta information from books the author field shows "first name last name", and the author sort field "last name, first name", just as you mentions.
But when I browse by author field it shows "first name last name", and the same happens with the author tags.

For example with Poe again :
I have a book named "The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe [Volume 1]"
In the meta data Author(s) is 'Edgar Allan Poe', Author Sort 'Poe, Edgar Allan'.
When I browse the Author(s) field or search the authors tags, it shows 'Edgar Allan Poe' .

So what am I doing wrong ?

[itimpi]

I think that he may be refering to the fact that clicking on the Author(s) column heading sorts by the value in the Author Sort field.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by WayneD

It's easier to use calibre itself for such things instead of rummaging around in the directories manually. For instance, click the author field to enable author sorting, and scan down the list looking for inconsistencies. If your books don't sort consistently by the author's last name, you can usually select all books, click the "Edit meta information" button, and use the "Automatically set author sort" checkbox in the dialog (with no other changes) to ensure that all your books sort by last name first (though multi-author books will sort by the last author's last name instead of the first author's last name, as some might expect).

I personally find looking in my directory structure easier, as that is not flat but has levels. And I also like to differentiate between the various sources where I got my books (so, the MR books are in a folder MR, the fictionwise books in a folder fictionwise, etc).

But, Calibre is more than just a library. It also has some excellent tools I do use to convert my books. And I know how hard it is to create a piece of software that does everything you want, let alone everything that everybody wants...

[hannah]

I think I understand. The author names are showed as first name - last name but sorted last name -first name.

Surely there is a valid reason for this but I cannot see which. Isn't it more logical to also show the authors last name first?

Thanks to itimpi and WayneD for answering.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by hannah

I think I understand. The author names are showed as first name - last name but sorted last name -first name.

Surely there is a valid reason for this but I cannot see which. Isn't it more logical to also show the authors last name first?

Thanks to itimpi and WayneD for answering.

That's what's part of my problem with it as library I like to show and order my authors the same way: [Lastname], [Firstname]... I would have to manually update each book (unless there are more from the same author) to make it work...

[tompe]

Originally Posted by epiphany

Firstly calibre is an excellent program and I cannot thank Kovid and the other contributors enough for their hard work. However I do think allowing users to use their preferred folder structure has its benefits. The idea you can continue using your own folder structure alongside calibre doesn't work for me because I like to frequently edit my ebooks and if I used the two systems simultaneously it would involve copying and renaming books each time I made an edit and that is too much work.

Secondly, I would like to synchronise my ebook library with my SD card to read on my DR1000. However the calibre folder structure is unsuitable for the DR as it involves way too many clicks to navigate. (My solution was to write a second program that synchronises my calibre DB with my DR1000.)

These are the kind of issues that causes me not to test the Calibre GUI (I have used the command line programs). I also want to use other programs to edit meta data and I do not see how that would work conveniently when you have copies of your book.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by epiphany

Secondly, I would like to synchronise my ebook library with my SD card to read on my DR1000. However the calibre folder structure is unsuitable for the DR as it involves way too many clicks to navigate.

There is a feature of Calibre that is less widely advertized that it should be. Tags starting with "/", allow using folders via Calibre for export, see Sorting the books on the cybook. I think this is now available for most devices.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by stisev

That is why I have decided to "boycott" Calibre until the user the is given the choice. I hope the author considers these pleas.

You could always contribute and submit a patch for these changes... Then again the whole point of the GUI if for you to organize your books using tags and search criteria instead of a flat directory structure.

Originally Posted by wallcraft

There is a feature of Calibre that is less widely advertized that it should be. Tags starting with "/", allow using folders via Calibre for export, see Sorting the books on the cybook. I think this is now available for most devices.

0.6 will put the book into Author/Title/Book.ext on most devices (should be every device except the PRS-500) if no / tag is found. This is instead of just dumping the books into the root ebook directory. Oh, and news will go into News/Title/book.ext.

Originally Posted by tompe

These are the kind of issues that causes me not to test the Calibre GUI (I have used the command line programs)

That's precisely why they are separate. The GUI is an organizer. If you don't need it you can still use the command line tools for things like conversion and modifying metadata.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by epiphany

The term boycott has the negative connotation of making a demand. I don't think this is what stisev intended. I believe he was expressing the fact he's going to refrain from using calibre unless a change is made - not that he is expecting it to be made just for him.

Kovid is well aware that some people dislike calibre's file structure and has made it clear that this isn't going to change any time soon. So if preserving your library structure is crucial to you then at this stage calibre is out of the question. Still, I think it is preferable that people express this fact so that calibre's developers are aware of how important this aspect is to people and can decide whether it is worth changing their program.

I don't have a problem with the OP not liking Calibre or not wanting to use it. That's his/her choice. If he/she stated that they could not use Calibre because they had issues with the directory structure and asked for a workaround (it seems from this thread there are some) or even submitted a "bug" ticket (even though it's not a bug) it would be one thing but the OP chose to "boycott" (their word not mine).

I personally am a light occasional user... I'm just not that anal about organizing books that I'll only read once. As I sated previously for a long time there was no Kindle support and Kovid wasn't keen on adding it, so another developer jumped on it because Kindle owners kept asking for it (no boycotts here). Now Kovid owns a Kindle 2 and has been able to add more Kindle and smart phone friendly features.

Rather than "boycott" a developing (FREE) piece software, maybe keeping one's own system intact while having a separate directory with just a few books for Calibre release testing is the way to go. The OP may never like Calibre or 6 months for now it could be their *must* have software for ebook management.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

That's what's part of my problem with it as library I like to show and order my authors the same way: [Lastname], [Firstname]... I would have to manually update each book (unless there are more from the same author) to make it work...

I bet Kovid or someone can give you a SQL update statement to run that will copy your Author Sort field to the Author Name field so you won't have to edit them one at a time.

You should possible start a new thread to ask for help.

BOb

[doreenjoy]

A "boycott" of one person is hardly worth getting bent out of shape about. IMHO.