MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Calibre

skally · 08-29-2009, 07:20 AM

I have just been digging throught this thread as I have just ordered a Sony PRS 600 (awaiting anxiously) and I started looking for an Ebook library manager when I found Calibre. Generally Calibre does everything I want and more. Not to put down the author of Calibre as it is an excellent program, especially for free, but I have a number of issues with his comment:

"And I defy anyone to give me a single use case where having calibre support their pet folder structure is better."

Here is my view on the subject

1. People have different preferences. File structure is how I organise my computer and the structure I use is logical to me. I like to have software to assist in organisation, but I also like to know how to do things 'by hand'.

2. I also have multiple programs that use the same data. The option to use a common file structure makes this simpler. If every program reorganised or used a separate copy of that data, my system would be in a complete mess.

As an example, here is how my data folder is organised (I squashed it up a bit). I expect some people will find this horrible, but it works for me.

Applications +
Downloads +
Projects +
Media ->
AudioBooks -> [Fiction/NonFiction] -> Author -> <files>
Ebooks -> [Fiction/NonFiction] -> Author -> <files>
GuitarTabs -> Artist -> <files>
Movies
Music -> Artist -> Album -> <files>
TV Shows -> Show Name -> Season -> <files>
Work +

From this you can probably see they are all a variation on a theme. (Audio)Books initially separated Fiction/NonFiction (that seems logical to me), then by author. I may subivide that again if I feel the need and there is a logical, consistent way to do it (such as music being in artist/album format, TV being Show/Season).

3. From a technical standpoint, I have experience in writing software to trawl through directory structures. Once you have initially parsed the structure (using any arbirtary ruleset), reading files can really slow down if I have to change directory frequently (I am speaking of CAD/CAE datasets in the region of several hundred Gigabytes here).

My point here is that having every book in its own folder IS going to create an overhead. Conversely, having 10,000 files in one folder is not a good idea if you want to maually browse the file structure.

Despite this, I will be using Calibre for my ebook collection, I don't feel the need to boycot it and I have'nt found anything better. The featureset far outweighs any qurks and there are always workaraounds.

Hope to post more positively in the future, especially when I have recieved my PRS 600.

BTW, anybody know of any tools to convert guitar tab, chord/scale diagrams, other music notation files into Ebooks? I specifically prefer the epub format for my books and would like to convert plain text, guitar pro, power tab files for use on my reader. Maybe a Calibre stylesheet for plain text ones, an import plugin for the binary ones?

08-29-2009, 07:20 AM	#147
skally Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS 600 silver	..a single use case where my folder structure is better I have just been digging throught this thread as I have just ordered a Sony PRS 600 (awaiting anxiously) and I started looking for an Ebook library manager when I found Calibre. Generally Calibre does everything I want and more. Not to put down the author of Calibre as it is an excellent program, especially for free, but I have a number of issues with his comment: "And I defy anyone to give me a single use case where having calibre support their pet folder structure is better." Here is my view on the subject 1. People have different preferences. File structure is how I organise my computer and the structure I use is logical to me. I like to have software to assist in organisation, but I also like to know how to do things 'by hand'. 2. I also have multiple programs that use the same data. The option to use a common file structure makes this simpler. If every program reorganised or used a separate copy of that data, my system would be in a complete mess. As an example, here is how my data folder is organised (I squashed it up a bit). I expect some people will find this horrible, but it works for me. Applications + Downloads + Projects + Media -> AudioBooks -> [Fiction/NonFiction] -> Author -> <files> Ebooks -> [Fiction/NonFiction] -> Author -> <files> GuitarTabs -> Artist -> <files> Movies Music -> Artist -> Album -> <files> TV Shows -> Show Name -> Season -> <files> Work + From this you can probably see they are all a variation on a theme. (Audio)Books initially separated Fiction/NonFiction (that seems logical to me), then by author. I may subivide that again if I feel the need and there is a logical, consistent way to do it (such as music being in artist/album format, TV being Show/Season). 3. From a technical standpoint, I have experience in writing software to trawl through directory structures. Once you have initially parsed the structure (using any arbirtary ruleset), reading files can really slow down if I have to change directory frequently (I am speaking of CAD/CAE datasets in the region of several hundred Gigabytes here). My point here is that having every book in its own folder IS going to create an overhead. Conversely, having 10,000 files in one folder is not a good idea if you want to maually browse the file structure. Despite this, I will be using Calibre for my ebook collection, I don't feel the need to boycot it and I have'nt found anything better. The featureset far outweighs any qurks and there are always workaraounds. Hope to post more positively in the future, especially when I have recieved my PRS 600. BTW, anybody know of any tools to convert guitar tab, chord/scale diagrams, other music notation files into Ebooks? I specifically prefer the epub format for my books and would like to convert plain text, guitar pro, power tab files for use on my reader. Maybe a Calibre stylesheet for plain text ones, an import plugin for the binary ones?