Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
While in the FAQ is stated that the Calibre "search/tagging based interface is superior to folders" I dare to disagree. In reality I think it's a huge misconception!
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The misconceptions and limits you infer in your post are your limits and misconceptions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
This argument may hold some water for normal books (sci-fi, etc.) which you just read once. But it fails horribly,
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It only fails horribly because in your ignorance you are limiting your thinking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
when (like me) you have a library of 20k books on diverse subjects, mostly scientific, you NEED a folder structure like in a normal library!
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The "
normal library" is in fact moving toward digital storage and ebook access. The "
normal library" has decided that tags verses folders are the way to format their collections for easiest access. The "
normal library" is progressing forward, expanding and changing with the medium they are working in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
#1 you rarely look for an author, you look for Science ->Chemistry->inorganic chemistry-> intermetallic phases, not for "J. H. Westbrook" who I don't know and I don't really don't want to know.
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Your point is what? That every book in this folder would have to be tagged with Chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and intermetallic phases to mimic your folder structure? OK, so do it. Oh the horrors the book would also be tagged by Author and Title just in case you read a paper by "J. H. Westbrook" and wanted to know what else he wrote it would be easy to find.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
#2 When you use reference books... you read them more than once!
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Wasting space now aren't you, I know I am responding to this point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
#3 It becomes really helpful to have a structure when most of your metadata is wrong or missing.
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Your right fixing your metadata could be a bitch. I am sure though that there are smart people here who could help with guidance on the import so that each book at least would be tagged by each folder level from the start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
#4 For sake of OCD people and for the eventuality that you want to give part of your library to someone... it is good to keep libraries separated from each other! I don't want to literally hunt for every author for 30 books on "catalysis" if I want to give it to a colleague!
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Again you are limiting yourself by your ignorance of the flexibility of the tagging system. It would take almost no time to select/search on "catalysis" select the titles, then click save to disk and be done with it. It would be hard for me to imagine that every book covering "catalysis" would be in the same folder, seems to me your example is an argument for a tag structure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
#5 I don't think it's difficult or impossible to implement. Calibre does the same as iTunes but iTunes can keep the folder structure.  |
This would also entail accepting the limits and insecurity of iTunes. Having books indexed all over the disk allows users to be their own worst enemy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darknessangel
Ok, perhaps I'm overreacting a little, perhaps I'm just absolutely horrified at the prospect of my Library being thrown in a heap after I carefully organized it.
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First if you do this right your library is untouched. When you start Calibre
do not point it to your library.
Point it to an empty folder. This way all books imported into Calibre go into the new folder and your library/folder structure is untouched. The best of both worlds.