08-29-2011, 09:17 AM | #166 | |
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Separate cleanup library seems now for me more convenient, maybe in the year or two it changes. Still, it's easier then to merge them than to separate unclean entries from the main. |
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08-29-2011, 10:06 AM | #167 |
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@travger - it is less of a problem if you only have one unique variation of a format - e.g. an RTF and an EPUB. The real problem is when your two variations are of the same format - e.g. two EPUB of the same book. What do you do then? Either you have to have duplicate book entries (so your Calibre library starts to degrade quickly in quality, usability and performance) or you have to decide on only one to keep, which you can only do by visual inspection, which is very time consuming.
So if I am going to be spending the time opening book formats to compare and decide a winner, I don't want to have to do it yet again down the track to compare with other formats when I come to cleanup the book. Hence I only do it "once" at the time I pick a format to add to Calibre. As for seeing what books I have - it is just as easy to type in my search box in windows explorer "name:xxx" as it is to do a lookup in Calibre. Of course I would love it if every book I had was in Calibre, but I've resigned myself to only having the books I really care about/intend to read in there instead. Everyone has their own way - I am another who cannot bear to read from .txt converted books but whatever you are happy reading with then go for it. |
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08-29-2011, 10:42 AM | #168 |
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Actually I had more in mind my practices now with new downloads. I do have loads of duplicates in the books folder, those get whittled away very-very slowly. Maybe I'll get decent epub/mobi 5 years from now, then I don't have to choose between pdf and rtf. But if said epub/mobi has some dubiosities, I can check other formats.
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08-29-2011, 12:10 PM | #169 | |||
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Last edited by unboggling; 08-29-2011 at 02:02 PM. Reason: added phrase about content server not good for seeing 2 different libraries at once |
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08-29-2011, 12:55 PM | #170 |
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Oops, I missed the last 3 posts.
@travger, regarding your strategy of entering the metadata from download site right away. Problem is when the download site has little or poor metadata, so I also use ISFDB or other sites for that. I like the idea of doing as much as possible of that as "feasible" at download time. Last edited by unboggling; 08-29-2011 at 02:47 PM. Reason: added: as "feasible" |
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08-29-2011, 02:08 PM | #171 | |
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The bottom line is that I was unwilling to restrict my library to only the books I'd reviewed - I want access to them all. I knew I would never finish the job of reviewing them all. My library is for reading, and I never know how my reading interests will turn. As far as I'm concerned, two libraries is equivalent to one library with a subset of the books tagged and I find it easy to tag my books once they've been processed. It's not unusual for me to read far enough into a book in my library to decide I hate it, and rate it accordingly, or to decide I like it, which triggers me to clean it up (and usually most of the other books in that series or by that author). Sometimes I find that one format is bad, but I have another format that is fine. I'd love to have all my books "perfect," but I find that my definition of perfection changes over time, so even my processed books sometimes have to be reprocessed. |
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08-29-2011, 09:08 PM | #172 | |
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Yes, dl site may have little metadata, but I don't care at that stage. Even series - if I know or if dl site mentions, then I enter it, otherwise it has no importance until I want to read it and go looking for the reading order. Anyway, I try to avoid starting unfinished series (main culprit - The Game of Thrones). I imagine that sometimes when I feel like it I'll do some cleaning and those books will be then on top of the TBR. Also I can experiment more boldly with bulk download of metadata when I know that everything will get one-by one inspection before transfer to main library. |
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08-30-2011, 01:02 AM | #173 |
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@travger, thanks for the clarification. The main reason I usually didn't take much information off the download site was the lack of standards for metadata across all the various sites - I'd rather have metadata that's more standard and consistent. So why spend time getting it from download site if I'm just going to change it later?
@all. The main reason I liked using a separate library for metadata and format clean-up was the potential to set the books into a relatively static state when they transferred to the "real" library, leaving the unstatic ones behind. But as I said before, more than one library had disadvantages too. That also applies to the method of leaving books out in the operating system rather than a separate library. I'll try just one library for awhile, and I'll probably stick to using just one library for overall KISS purposes, at least until calibre can have more than one library open simultaneously. I'll try using Goodread's metadata for awhile, and may end up continuing that, or switching to Fantastic Fiction or somewhere else that has tags, in conjunction with Amazon or Barnes & Noble for other metadata, or just go back to creating my own tags in conjunction with format evaluation. It's difficult to find the grain in the chaff, when so many people do things so many different ways, and each way has pros and cons, and each person has particular needs, and each person - including myself - posting about their particular way has some investment in it so defends it, and (let's say) I am a beginning new user who doesn't fully understand my own eBook needs yet, or the options and potentials in calibre yet, or that there may be golden nuggets of info floating around in the Mobile Read or even wider ocean of noise, but there are also some nuggets floating around that aren't so golden and I'm not an experienced enough farmer or fisherman or miner to know which is which (/let's say). Sorry about mixed metaphors. Last edited by unboggling; 08-30-2011 at 01:52 AM. Reason: clarify |
08-30-2011, 08:51 AM | #174 |
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I'd suggest following your own advice - keep it simple and stick to the basics. Let each user become familiar with Calibre's options and eventually they'll find what works best for them.
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08-30-2011, 09:58 AM | #175 | |
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Harder to practice it than preach it. Sorry about the mini-rant. Last edited by unboggling; 08-30-2011 at 10:01 AM. |
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08-30-2011, 02:41 PM | #176 |
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@unboggling - (So why spend time getting it from download site if I'm just going to change it later?)
If nothing else, then at least edition and/or version info. For example, if book came out in 1960 and had ~15 editions, metadata download gives 3 options... May be nitpicking, but I like to have right pubdate. And while I'm at it, I'll grab other stuff also. Of course I have to try it for several months to see how it works out and if I keep it up. |
08-30-2011, 09:15 PM | #177 |
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@unboggling,
I recommend you make the "Newer version at post #" at the top of your first draft include a link to the post. Preferably make the #154 a link to post #154. All of the post numbers are links to themselves. This makes it much easier to find and read you're latest revision. Otherwise someone (me) has to spend time jumping around trying to figure out what page the post is on to read it. |
08-31-2011, 01:57 AM | #178 | |
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08-31-2011, 02:23 AM | #179 | |||
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Is there a way to insert a new first post I could keep updated before the original post, in order to preserve thread continuity and documentation in case anyone wants to spend time slogging through all of the thread? Last edited by unboggling; 08-31-2011 at 03:08 AM. |
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08-31-2011, 02:38 AM | #180 |
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