how to organize books?

[ns66]

i was hoping to put hundreds or even thousands of books on sd card so carry a library with me, but unfortunately can't create directory structures in reader to organize them, flipping through list is just impossible

any idea?

[HarryT]

Organise them on your hard disk. Just carry with you what you're reading, or planning to read soon. Works for me.

[athlonkmf]

I (re)named my books with tags in the title.

[dhbailey]

Since I've got mainly PG books, I simply rename the files with the author's last-name, 2 hyphens and then title, so that it's easy to find them.


Example: Dickens -- A Tale of Two Cities.txt

Always easy to find, since I remember authors or go searching for authors rather than actual titles. Then having found the author, I enjoy browsing the titles.

However, I've really appreciated the speed of not having the SD card or Memory Stick in the Reader and only carry around about 180 books (whatever will fit into the Reader's built-in memory) at a time, removing what I've read and replacing it with books I'm likely to want to read soon.

[MacBeezle]

Why would anyone want to have his complete library on his/her Reader?

I mean .. it's not like having your whole mp3-library on your iPod.
On your iPod you may want to listen to one particular song - so it's convenient having all your songs with you.

But I cannot imagine someone wanting to read "this particular chapter" of a specific book ...

I have 3 books on my Reader:
A manga for "light reading" when I'm still tired on my way to work.
A fantasy book for longer bus/train trips (>8min).
"Bastard Operator from Hell" for very short bus/train trips (<=8min).

[Dr. Drib]

I have about 300 on the first one and about 10 on the second Reader.

I like the idea of being able to switch from book to book. (I read about 6 books at the same time.)

I have these created Collections on the first Reader:

1) Purchased (about 30 books)
2) Purchased - Classics (about 4 books)
3) Noir Paperbacks (about 30 books)

I still have just over 30 megs of memory on this Reader.

I have yet to really utilize the second Reader. It just sits there on the coffee table.

Remember, for those who bought a second Reader, the deadline to use all that credit is the end of next month, I think. Because of that - 50 classics titles - I wanted to create a Collection for these titles on the Reader.

Everyone has indiosyncratic and personal tastes, in variance with temperment, disposition, time, irritable bowel movements, and what-have-you -- that it strikes me as very amusing when anyone begins or ends a statement with comments to the effect, "Why would anyone want to _____ [fill in the blank]."


Remember, we take ourselves [me included!] and our brand of toilet paper very seriously. When you think about it, why would anyone want to think otherwise ......hahahahah

Don

[ns66]

yeah i 2nd that

i read different books depending on the mood atm, the biggest benefit of electronic device over paper books is you can carry many, otherwise get a couple paperbacks and not worry about damage/battery etc. why bother getting a ereader? paper is still way better than the eink

i especially like to have a few reference books (like encyclopedia, lonely planet travel guides etc) in ereader so all the info is right at your finger tips, but sony really has done a poor job maximizing its potential, with flat file structure and no seach ability (i guess all copied from the worst part of ipod lol), and really no good reference books to talk about

[Dr. Drib]

I agree, as do most people here, that the flat file system is really a crippling impediment to maximizing the full joy and use of the Reader.

Another topic - one seemingly ignored like a person who has various, leaking pustules on every centimeter of one's body - is the audio capability of the Reader. I would like to see this perfected on the Reader so that I can enjoy audio books and Old Time Radio shows [OTR] more fully.

Has anyone yet to do a test [read "real world" here] on how long the battery lasts as an audio device?

Don

Originally Posted by ns66

yeah i 2nd that

i read different books depending on the mood atm, the biggest benefit of electronic device over paper books is you can carry many, otherwise get a couple paperbacks and not worry about damage/battery etc. why bother getting a ereader? paper is still way better than the eink

i especially like to have a few reference books (like encyclopedia, lonely planet travel guides etc) in ereader so all the info is right at your finger tips, but sony really has done a poor job maximizing its potential, with flat file structure and no seach ability (i guess all copied from the worst part of ipod lol), and really no good reference books to talk about

[Lov2Read]

As my Sony reader has yet to arrive, and as I will just play with it for a bit and then give it to my spouse (I am awaiting the Cybook!), I don't know a lot about it. My question is, is there any way at all to categorize books on the reader or on the SD card? Can you place them in folders on your SD card and will that file structure/organzing work on the reader?

That's a bummer if you can't organize books on it. I like having a filing system for them. I hope the Cybook doesn't have this same flaw.

[Dr. Drib]

The problem is that that Folders (full of whatever YOU choose), can only be maintained on the Reader itself and not on a card. That means that books in Folders have to be on the Reader and not on the card for this to happen.

This only becomes a problem when/if one encounters a physical limitation of the RAM on the Reader.

There are some here, however, who like to put 100s of books on their SD card. (I'm one of those individuals; some individuals choose not to do this.)

I would like to put all my Charles Dickens, Edgar Wallace, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, etc. in their own individual folders for quicker access. At present, on an SD card, this is not possible.

Many of us here on this board are looking forward to a purported upgrade that may hopefully address this limitation. I should point out this is not - in my opinion - a crippling plight.

I hope this helps.

Don

[ns66]

on internal memory you can create folders? how?

sd card is the big one, so should be the other way around

[Dr. Drib]

I miswrote: The folders are called Collections, but they act as folders. Still, this is a flat file system. You create a Collection using Connect, then give this Collection a name.

Because the Reader actually uses a flat file system, the entire contents on the Reader are accessed by the usual methods; but, if you go only to Collections - and if you have put anything in one of these named Collections - then you'll see ONLY the books you put in that Collection.

Don

Originally Posted by ns66

on internal memory you can create folders? how?

sd card is the big one, so should be the other way around

[ns66]

yeah that's the ipod's playlist

[HarryT]

Note that you can store books in folders on an SD card, but the Reader will display the contents of the SD card as a "flat" list. So you can certainly use the SD card's folders to "organize" your content from a storage point of view, even if not from a display point of view.

[ns66]

really? will the reader list all the files in the folders no matter how deep they are? i thought only the root level will show

also, if i prefix book title with category to organize, is there a tool to modify the book title? it seems lrf book title is not the file property under windows, rather some internal data?