Quote:
Originally Posted by Istvan diVega
Can I ask what makes it unusable for you? I usually use it only in the most basic way possible myself (drop in book, edit details/convert format as needed, end of story), so I can't really see what might make it unusable to someone else.
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I can't speak for EowynCarter of course, but I've seen (and heard) many discussions about Calibre go like this:
New e-reading dude: "How would I manage all these books? Is there something like Windows Media Player or iTunes that can do it?"
Old e-reading dude: "Use Calibre. It's a great e-book manager and it converts to anything you want."
New e-reading dude: *install Calibre... start program....*
New e-reading dude: WTF@#$!#%#, I can't use that! It's ugly! And it looks old!
*uninstall*
Then, after trying "alternatives" such as Kobo Desktop, ADE, Sony Reader, Kindle for PC, maybe some others, or even just folders and drag-and-drop, they (grudgingly) return to Calibre as soon as they need metadata changed, or books converted, or something must be de-DRM'd... or anything else beside reading the book.
When I started e-reading at first, Calibre was just starting out as well (2007), but it was not very powerful yet. I actually quit e-reading because there weren't any (adequate) tools tools to edit or manage existing books, at least not in my opinion.
I first looked into the software available before getting my second e-reader in 2011 (Kindle Touch this time), mainly because I wanted to de-DRM stuff, and Calibre actually surprised me a great deal. Its only disadvantage is that it doesn't look good, but that one goes for a lot of open source software IMHO... and I don't care for looks, if the software gets done what needs to be done.