[Rob_E]

I don't like having all of my books spread out into different apps, either. Basically I have been trying to settle on the best, non-DRM, epub reader and put all my non-DRM books into that. Then, when buying ebooks, I first try to find a non-DRM source, which can be difficult, and, failing that, I buy from Amazon because they have the biggest selection and they seem to have software to support just about any platform. Also, if you really want to, and you don't mind stepping into a legal grey area, you can convert your Kindle books into a DRM-free epub. I figure if I go with any other vendor, they will not have the selection that Amazon has, and, as a result, some titles are going to end up being Amazon titles anyway, giving at least two DRM formats to deal with. Whereas if I with Amazon, I may get away with not having to deal with anyone else's DRM, and might be able to avoid adding yet another ebook app.

Even if you can free all of your books from DRM, though, I still find that different formats work best in different applications. I know that many ebook readers have pdf support, but on iOS devices, I haven't seen any pdf support that works better than GoodReader. As a result, my ebooks are spread out over three iOS apps: Kindle, Stanza (which could switch to iBooks, but right now I'm sticking with Stanza), and GoodReader.

I use Calibre to manage my epub and pdf books, and I let my Kindle books just live on Amazon's server and on the individual devices that have Kindle aps. I could, and perhaps should, download the actual files via the desktop app, so that I have backups, but I haven't done that yet.

So Calibre organizes the actual files, and does format conversions when necessary, and Stanza and GoodReader receives those files on the iPad. I usually use Calibre's server capabilities to get books into Stanza, and I usually just add files manually to GoodReader via iTunes. It's not elegant, and it does leave your books in separate piles based on format.

To keep track of all of my books? I use Librarything.com. When I add a book, print or electronic or audio (oh, yeah, audio books are managed solely by iTunes, but also accessible via the Audible app on the iPad if that's where I purchased them from), I add it to the appropriate collection based on general format (print, electronic, audio), and then I add tags to pin down a more specific format or proprietary DRM (epub, kindle, audible, pdf). That way, if I want to find a book and don't remember the source, Librarything will tell me where it's hiding. I haven't tried using Calibre to organize books by source/format, preferring to use it just for non-DRM books, but it's possible you could use Calibre the way I use Librarything if Calibre has any kind of support for collections, lists, or tags. But I do not know if Calibre is capable of feeding your files into different apps based on content.

It's not a nice, clean, solution, but it's been working for me so far. I am curious to see how others are dealing with this issue, too.