Quote:
Originally Posted by Hired Goon
With respect, Calibre is clunky and slow, and not particularly pretty to look at. I like functional software, but I like "pretty" software too. I've just tried Alpha Ebook manager demo, and it's fast and much more professional in it's look. It does a better job of recognizing books and authors, and I find the way it looks up ISBN numbers and allows you to pull covers from Google images. Furthermore, it simply links to my archaic folder structure, rather than takes takes over the system. Where it lacks is in conversion and in interfacing with hardware. As far as I can see you can simply copy or move books to SD cards. If I could have the best of both programs I'd be entirely content.
Am I a luddite...no. My house is wired for sound, all attached to mp3 server, controllable with portable devices, and accessible anywhere there is internet. My vehicle has portable drives with full mp3 collection controllable by voice. Movie collection is being centralized to a server also. My gaming computer/driving sim would make your eyes pop out. Love technology, but I love being in control too. I like to be the boss.
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I like "pretty" software too and I will grant you that calibre is rather plain but I place functionaltity over appearance. I tried Alfa (not Alpha, btw, a search using that spelling leads to torrent sites) a while back and just wasn't that impressed.
I suppose since you love being in control, you would prefer driving a Model T Ford over a modern day Ford. In the Model T, you had full control of the transmission (three little pedals on the floor), the engine (you had full control of the throttle plate, choke, and spark advance) and when the starter engaged and disengaged (heck, YOU were the starter). You had full control of brake adjustments, too.
Not to mention you prefer using dos to control your computer instead of an Operating System since the OS doesn't give you as much control over your computer as dos commands do.
If you like how Alfa manages your books, why do you still want to be "in control" of your files? I feel I'm in full control of my books using calibre (and the ease of achieving that control is increasing all the time). As I mentioned before, once I've put a book on calibre, I've never gone back to either calibre's libraries or the folder I keep my original book files in to access a file. It's easier and faster to do so with calibre. And, if you just have to have access to a file, calibre will navigate to the folder it is in.
You remind me of the bosses I've seen (both over me and under me) who were afraid to delegate responsibilities and tasks to subordinates. They wanted to be in full control of all processes, thus being overwhelmed and unable to progress with anything efficiently. I saw a lot of those bosses since they didn't last long. It was the ones who were smart enough to relinquish control of tasks to subordinates and merely direct the overall operation of their subordinates who were able to accomplish the most and be the most progressive.
I'm reminded of the story about the army that was training some sergeants for lieutenant. On a question, they were asked how, while engaged in battle, would they solve the problem of how to get their troops across a river. The lieutenants came up with a variety of schemes on how to get the troops across the river, all of which were feasable, many downright clever, but only one answer was correct. That was the one that said to order the sergeants to get their troops across the river.
I see little point in having a program that organizes my books, music, whatever, if I'm also going to have to directly access my books, music, whatever, to use it. I also fail to see the need to "control' where that music is stored if I can access it any time and any way I want using a program that organizes it for me. I worked in warehousing for a large electric power and irrigation water utility about 30 years. The oldtimers liked to have control of the material we warehoused by keeping everything in order by stock code. It was a simple way to find material but it was grossly inefficient because stock had to constantly be moved around to make room for new stock coming in. Storing stock based on size, frequency of use, and available space made far more sense and was less work in the long run because it dramatically reduced the amount of times stock was handled before finally going out for use. It took computer locating to make the random storage concept work. Stock locations had to be based on an alpha numeric code the computer could understand that was easily laid out in the warehouse yet the oldtimers (and a lot of the youngsters) insisted on using descriptions (like backwall) to locate stock then howled a blue streak how the system was no good when the computers would have them running back and forth to fill an order because the computers were using the order of the locator code. We had people who persisted in relocating existing stock to make room for incoming stock when all that was needed was put the overflow in unused space and tell the computer where you put it. Multiple locations reduced the amount of stock handling needed to maintain proper stock rotation (essential when stock had warranty expiration dates) anyway. Instead of having warehouses any employee from another warehouse could easily and quickly find stock in, for the longest time, it was a nightmare when an employee had to transfer to another warehouse to help out because the each warehouse was laid out differently according to the whims of the employees at each warehouse instead of using the easy to use system spelled out that would have insured uniformity. It took almost twenty years for the random storage system to become efficient because of employee (and oldtimers in lower management) resistance to the system. It wasn't until the company started promoting based on merit and the ability to manage without micromanaging that progress was made.
You talk about all technology you have embraced yet you still want to be tied to the the archaic folder/filename tree? Puh-lease! If you like Alfa better than calibre, that's fine. But to say it's better because you can still "control" outdated technology is ludicrous. Good luck with it.