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Originally Posted by soulfuldog
Why does it matter that all your books start from the same format?
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Technically, it doesn't really matter, but IMHO, it makes things easier.
In calibre, there is no obvious way to see which was the original format; you'd need to add a custom column or something. When you put your entire library in the same format from the start, and then never touch that format again except to fix errors and/or enhance metadata, you can ensure for 100% that you're not converting from FormatA to FormatB, then from FormatB to FormatC and so on, ending up with FormatA again in 5 years... which will then have *really* mangled code.
It's also an easy way to convert your entire library in one go if you want, without being worried that you're overwriting a format for this or that book.
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Originally Posted by rstrube
Thanks for the advice and information. This definitely helps. I do always try to hold on the "original" ebook file - mostly because I get the impression that converting and then converting again is akin to making a copy of a copy.
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It is. That is the reason why I put everything into the library as EPUB (but still saving the originals somewhere else), clean the files with Modify EPUB, fix them where needed with the Editor, add metadata, and then Polish them. Then I use them to convert to any format I'd need; MOBI for my Kindle Touch back in 2011, AZW3 for the Paperwhite 1, and now KEPUB for the KA1. If I ever need to, I can also send the EPUB straight to the reader.
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I added an additional column to my Calibre library that records the "Original Format". This way I can always be sure what to start with when converting.
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That is also possible, of course. But I like all base files to be the same format. Therefore I've also ripped all of my CD's again, in FLAC format, which is lossless, so I can convert to any other lossless format I need to in the future. (Or convert to MP3 for other uses, if I want.)