Metadata download - does it automatically search isbndb and Google books?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Seanette

Now that I figured out generating the darn thing , is there a way to enter it into Calibre and have the program remember that information, or am I re-entering it each time?

Enter once and forget it.

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Enter once and forget it.

And sure enough, that works. I think I'm at the "must get sleep soon" point of (lack of) brain function.

[bigpallooka]

Originally Posted by Starson17

The term "aggregator" just means Google Books, or Amazon or ISBNDB, etc. where this type of info is stored for lots of books.

That makes sense. Kovid must have used the term to deflect me from the my issue with the absence of metadata from online publishers thinking I was expecting calibre to search publishers sites for metadata. The only issue I have is with the publishers not submitting their data to ISBNDB. At least that is what I presumed until I went to the site.

From ISBNDB.com/faq.html

"ISBNdb.com gets the data in a unique way - it scans libraries all across the world for book information. The scanning is random and similar in a way to how general purpose web search engines scan web sites. "

Now I know why the data for books only published in electronic form is missing if it isn't sold on Amazon.

[OakIris]

I didn't realize it searched 5 sites, either. After all, at the top of the metadata page it says "calibre can find metadata for your books from two locations: Google Books and isbndb.com." One of the plug-ins, for Douban books, is apparently for books in Chinese, as I found when I enabled it. I disabled it after finding this out as I can not read, write or speak the language/s.

Holly

[bigpallooka]

Now if only there was an online database for ebooks a plug-in could be written to access it right? That's my "Field of Dreams".

[OakIris]

Originally Posted by bigpallooka

Now if only there was an online database for ebooks a plug-in could be written to access it right? That's my "Field of Dreams".

That indeed would be nice. Maybe Kovid could work on this in his spare time.

We just need some sort of Web crawler that would search the Internet and gather up data for all of the eBooks out there in space, including, of course, the ones formatted here by MobileRead members.... Perhaps relatively simple for someone who knows how to program such a thing. That would not be me, though. Sigh.

Holly

[bigpallooka]

I think it is safe to say the content from online ebook only publishers has limited appeal or more precisely, specific appeal rather than general and therefore may not be a source that inspires the extra work from anyone capable enough to accomplish anything useful.

[OakIris]

Originally Posted by bigpallooka

I think it is safe to say the content from online ebook only publishers has limited appeal or more precisely, specific appeal rather than general and therefore may not be a source that inspires the extra work from anyone capable enough to accomplish anything useful.

Indeed - but one can only hope!

Holly