Is it possible to have too many ebooks.

[pidgeon92]

There was a lengthy discussion of this topic a couple of months ago....

Permanently deleting about 1,000 Indie titles...how about you?

[elemenoP]

You know, Amazon will happily store your Kindle books for you, no matter how many you have! You don't even have to download them.

So, no.

Cheers,
eP

[crich70]

How can you have too much to read?

[exscentric]

alanHd: Back in the 5 1/4 floppy days I had worked for about four hours on a study and was so into it that I had not backed up at all. They were remodeling the library and an electrician did not know which breaker he needed to pull so popped the main :-(

Since that day backing up in three places is never enough :-) I try to keep about five in several different locations. House, car trunk and garage, if all three go I've had it.

[jersysman]

In my opinion, one can never have too many books. You should however, use a good library management program, such as Calibre, to manage your collection. I have about 2000 books in my Calibre library and I am very good into keep that up to date. I use the various plugins available for it (Reading List, Goodreads Sync) to manage my TBR list. I also use the Goodreads site itself. I have about 20 ebooks on my reader at this time, my average number is usually around 50. I used to keep all of my books on my reader, but even with Sony Collections it became too unbearable.

I have discovered that Calibre and all the plugins associated with it is really my friend!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

You know, Amazon will happily store your Kindle books for you, no matter how many you have! You don't even have to download them.
eP

And if Amazon decides that your account has to be blocked for one reason or another, you lose everything.

You can use Amazon as your main storage, but I'd strongly advice to also put your books onto your computer and an external hard drive.

[issybird]

I don't think people are putting enough value on their time and are overvaluing something that was free to start. This is JMHO, of course.

Freebies take time, cataloguing them, organizing them, stripping them if that's what you do, and then having to read a precis when you're looking for something to read, because who could remember what thousands of freebie titles represent? I don't see the point. Far better to decide up front what one's tolerance for freebies is, in the sense of which books resonate sufficiently that you're likely to read them, and keeping a fairly close watch on amounts and proportions--as well as acknowledging that freebies aren't going anywhere in at least the near future.

I'm squarely in the time is precious camp; I don't have enough time to read the books I really do want to read. Why spend some of it tending a massive library of books that I never wanted to read and never will?

[pagansoul]

I'm still in the process of removing DRM from my Amazon purchases. Have about 200 to go. I put all my ebooks on CDs that I update every couple of years. I have thousands of books and comics that I know I will not finish but I don't only buy for myself. I save everything on disc.

[theinfamousj]

Someone once said on this forum that s/he was hoarding books for a time in the future when his/her income would be restricted (retirement, I believe). When retired, I know that I will have more time to read the books I have acquired, but also less money to buy them.

I view building up my collection now as a way of saving for my retirement. I don't keep the books on my reader, and I don't stress myself out in trying to organize them now. I just dump them all on to backup media. I know that I will have free time in my distant future to deal with the organization.

So in short: no, never too many books, but it is entirely possible to have too many on your active reader.

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

And if Amazon decides that your account has to be blocked for one reason or another, you lose everything.

You can use Amazon as your main storage, but I'd strongly advice to also put your books onto your computer and an external hard drive.

Yes, I put books I actually pay for in Calibre right away, and I use a Time Capsule back up. Amazon can keep all my freebies for me; if I lost them all tomorrow, I would cry for five minutes, and then start amassing a new freebie collection. That's how much they mean to me.

eP

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by issybird

I don't think people are putting enough value on their time and are overvaluing something that was free to start. This is JMHO, of course.

Freebies take time, cataloguing them, organizing them, stripping them if that's what you do, and then having to read a precis when you're looking for something to read, because who could remember what thousands of freebie titles represent? I don't see the point. Far better to decide up front what one's tolerance for freebies is, in the sense of which books resonate sufficiently that you're likely to read them, and keeping a fairly close watch on amounts and proportions--as well as acknowledging that freebies aren't going anywhere in at least the near future.

I'm squarely in the time is precious camp; I don't have enough time to read the books I really do want to read. Why spend some of it tending a massive library of books that I never wanted to read and never will?

I agree with this. I spend quite some time on metadata and book layout, to get it just the way I want it. If I decide to fill out the metadata for a book correctly (in my "Workspace"-library in Calibre, and then export it), fix the cover image, and fix the layout so it's the way I like it best (both in Sigil), you can be pretty sure that this book is one that I'm going to read in the near future.

I'd never do this for a book that I'm not 100% sure of reading.

While I spend quite some time on making ebooks exactly the way I want them, both with regard to metadata and even markup, I would NEVER do this for even one book that I'm not 100% sure of reading in the near future.

Originally Posted by theinfamousj

Someone once said on this forum that s/he was hoarding books for a time in the future when his/her income would be restricted (retirement, I believe). When retired, I know that I will have more time to read the books I have acquired, but also less money to buy them.

I view building up my collection now as a way of saving for my retirement. I don't keep the books on my reader, and I don't stress myself out in trying to organize them now. I just dump them all on to backup media. I know that I will have free time in my distant future to deal with the organization.

So in short: no, never too many books, but it is entirely possible to have too many on your active reader.

Interesting points... my retirement is still decades away (30-35 years or so). I'll not be rich I assume, and my retirement won't net me huge amounts of money, but I do hope to be able to afford 1 or 2 books a week. If not, that'd mean that I would need to save up for WEEKS only to be able to buy myself a new computer keyboard if I spill coffee into it, and I hope that that's not going to be the case.

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Yes, I put books I actually pay for in Calibre right away, and I use a Time Capsule back up. Amazon can keep all my freebies for me; if I lost them all tomorrow, I would cry for five minutes, and then start amassing a new freebie collection. That's how much they mean to me.

eP

Ah, ok. As long as you download, un-DRM and backup your paid-for books, then all is fine. I can imagine leaving the freebies online, if you don't really care about them and only search them if you really haven't got anything else to read.

[Sydney's Mom]

I have about 6000 in my TBR pile. They are all in Calibre, with tags and with descriptions. When I feel I want suspense, I search for Suspense and Thrillers. If I want to find a recent bestseller, I sort by publication date

[Katsunami]

6.000 books, and you'll be adding to them no doubt

I expect to have read about 2500-3000 at the end of my life (+/- 1 book of 500 paperback pages a week at my current leisurely pace, reading only in public transport), assuming I live another 50 years or so. OK, make it 4.000 because I'll be reading more after retirement.

I'm not going to take the trouble to put 6K books neatly tagged and fixed into Calibre beforehand; I'll leave them in a pile on my HDD and add them when I (expect to) read them

[pagansoul]

Just checked my numbers, transfered from Amazon to Calibre about 380. Added my Mobilereference collection (2,000 classic collection for $20). Moving my ebook collections from 5 years worth CDs (thousands of ebooks both Public Domain and current in different genre). I just made my 4,000 mark. Anybody know how many ebooks can be loaded into Calibre before it starts to get wonky?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by pagansoul

Just checked my numbers, transfered from Amazon to Calibre about 380. Added my Mobilereference collection (2,000 classic collection for $20). Moving my ebook collections from 5 years worth CDs (thousands of ebooks both Public Domain and current in different genre). I just made my 4,000 mark. Anybody know how many ebooks can be loaded into Calibre before it starts to get wonky?

I have two Mobile Reference Classics, and I like the layout. Is there any place where I can get all of those classics for $20? It would save me quite some time, looking for a version I like when I want to read one.

Why should Calibre get wonky? It just uses a database to save all its stuff. Each book has its own ID, but I expect that it's at least a long integer, which means you'd be able to load roughly 4 billion (4.000.000.000) books.

I expect that your computer will run out of required storage and speed before Calibre runs out of ID's to handle the books. (Except when you add and remove books a lot. I don't know if it re-uses ID's of deleted items. Most database programs don't.)