Using Calibre & Sony Ebook Library?

[Gfinch]

I am new to the Sony and I would like to know if there is a way or anyone out there using Calibre to manage and convert your library and also using the Sony software to make sure it is formatted before loading on the reader.

Any suggestions or help, procedures or processes?

[Madam Broshkina]

I use Calibre to format some of my books but I always import them into the Sony Software and then transfer them to my reader. People always complain about the software and while I agree the ebook store needs some serious work, the rest of it works fine for me. Also I have found that if it looks good using the view function in Calibre it looks good on my reader.

[acidzebra]

"using the Sony software to make sure it is formatted before loading on the reader."

Why bother as formatting on the reader itself takes mere seconds for most books? I just dump them on by copying to the reader mount point.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Gfinch

I am new to the Sony and I would like to know if there is a way or anyone out there using Calibre to manage and convert your library and also using the Sony software to make sure it is formatted before loading on the reader.

Any suggestions or help, procedures or processes?

Yes, that is exactally how I did it when I was using Windows and my Sony. I would d/l a book, put it into Calibre and convert if needed. Then I would save to disk with the new book(s) selected. I had a calibre folder in my eBooks folder in My Documents. Calibre organizes them nicely by Author/Title in folders.

Once I saved the book to disk I would open ebook library and import then new book/books into it. Then, use eBook Library to transfer the books to the Sony. It worked out well, since eBook Library just links to the file and doesn't move it anywhere like Mobipocket software does.

BOb

[Gfinch]

Originally Posted by acidzebra

"using the Sony software to make sure it is formatted before loading on the reader."

Why bother as formatting on the reader itself takes mere seconds for most books? I just dump them on by copying to the reader mount point.

The reason I was asking was That I had read on multiple threads that the formatting the reader does is CPU and battery intensive and thus shortens battery life. Granted I am used to a REB1100 and a much shorter battery life, but a longer battery life is one of the trade-offs I took in exchange for a backlight.

[acidzebra]

I've had no problems with battery life, but if you're hellbent on getting maximum life from each charge, then your strategy seems reasonable

I would still recommend regular "top-ups" of your battery instead of deep drain/charge cycles.

[jedavis1]

PilotBob: What is the advantage of using the Sony software to transfer the book vs. Calibre?

[dordale]

I'm not PilotBob, but I use the Sony Software to transfer books because it "pre-processes" the files--meaning that the book opens much faster on the reader when initially opening it and changing the font size for the first time is much faster.

dordale

[a924001]

Hello:
I use calibre and it works out fine. Still I have a problem: You have a book in RTF that takes a lot of space. You convert it to LRF, all the text is OK but the images (Maps, schemes,etc) are so small that you cant use them in your reader. Anyone knows how to solve this?

Tks in advance

[Worldwalker]

You might want to ask this in the Calibre section, instead of attaching it to the end of an unrelated thread from years ago.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by a924001

Hello:
I use calibre and it works out fine. Still I have a problem: You have a book in RTF that takes a lot of space. You convert it to LRF, all the text is OK but the images (Maps, schemes,etc) are so small that you cant use them in your reader. Anyone knows how to solve this?

Tks in advance

One way to handle it is to use OpenOffice.org to save the file as an OpenDocument file, then format that file (setting the page size to the same size as your ereader's screen), export it as a PDF, and load the resulting PDF on your ereader.

If you set the view to "Print Layout" while editing the OpenDocument file the ebook on screen will look the same as it will on your ebook reader. This includes ensuring that the graphic file(s) look exactly the way that you want.

I'm not sure how much space the resulting PDF will take, but my understanding of RTF is that it stores pictures in a way that greatly increases the file size (please correct me if I'm wrong on this). Because of this, it is possible that the final PDF might be smaller than the RTF original.

I hope this helps.