Calibre discussion on BBC Radio 4

Varley · 11-11-2011, 07:38 AM

Theres just been a nice bit of coverage on Calibre on BBC Radio 4 in today's 'You and Yours' program.

They were talking about ebook devices and converting formats, and they talked about Calibre for a couple of minutes - not bad for a national radio station.

kovidgoyal · 11-11-2011, 10:36 AM

Cool

meme · 11-11-2011, 11:18 AM

The brief segment is available for those in the UK (and elsewhere?) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qps9 - 11 Nov's programme at 29:26-32:14, right after a segment on video game piracy.

It was in response to a programme last week when a listener said she didn't know what ereader to buy and was considering Kindle until she learned it can't be used to download from libraries (this is the UK, so no OverDrive).

"technically minded" listeners wrote in to say she could use a free piece of software called calibre (pronounced caliber

)

They called it free software by generous programmers; a powerful converting tool, but not pretty

They also said calibre was not really aimed at library books and libraries would prefer you didn't convert them because they keep track of costs/devices, etc. A bit confusing given that I imagine the library books here are locked with DRM so calibre - by itself - can't convert them. But I could be wrong as I haven't actually tried to borrow an ebook from the library - I think I might look into it to see how its handled.

ilovejedd · 11-14-2011, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meme

They also said calibre was not really aimed at library books and libraries would prefer you didn't convert them because they keep track of costs/devices, etc. A bit confusing given that I imagine the library books here are locked with DRM so calibre - by itself - can't convert them. But I could be wrong as I haven't actually tried to borrow an ebook from the library - I think I might look into it to see how its handled.

Some library books are DRM-free and you can keep them for as long as you like (basically, Project Gutenberg stuff). However, for obvious reasons, the latest bestsellers would have DRM and like dead tree books, you can only keep them for a limited amount of time before you have to "return" them. I reckon most of the folks who commented use the "Vacuuming Tools" and there are probably a few who are not aware that the vacuum doesn't come stock with calibre (perhaps some techie friend or relative set it up for them).

11-11-2011, 07:38 AM	#1
Varley Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Gen3	Calibre discussion on BBC Radio 4 Theres just been a nice bit of coverage on Calibre on BBC Radio 4 in today's 'You and Yours' program. They were talking about ebook devices and converting formats, and they talked about Calibre for a couple of minutes - not bad for a national radio station.

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11-11-2011, 10:36 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,849 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Cool

11-11-2011, 11:18 AM	#3
meme Sigil developer Posts: 1,275 Karma: 1101600 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle PW, K4 NT, K3, Kobo Touch	The brief segment is available for those in the UK (and elsewhere?) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qps9 - 11 Nov's programme at 29:26-32:14, right after a segment on video game piracy. It was in response to a programme last week when a listener said she didn't know what ereader to buy and was considering Kindle until she learned it can't be used to download from libraries (this is the UK, so no OverDrive). "technically minded" listeners wrote in to say she could use a free piece of software called calibre (pronounced caliber ) They called it free software by generous programmers; a powerful converting tool, but not pretty They also said calibre was not really aimed at library books and libraries would prefer you didn't convert them because they keep track of costs/devices, etc. A bit confusing given that I imagine the library books here are locked with DRM so calibre - by itself - can't convert them. But I could be wrong as I haven't actually tried to borrow an ebook from the library - I think I might look into it to see how its handled.

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