MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

eboyhan · 05-09-2010, 04:56 AM

Well, I've read through all 23 pages of this, your web "frequently asked questions" page, and skimmed the user manual. I haven't found an answer to what I'm looking for; so I guess I'll just ask.

I have a Kindle DX which I've had for about seven months now -- during that time I have managed to acquire a couple of hundred e-book titles, and maybe as many personal documents of varying lengths (most in PDF format). Before I acquired the Kindle I had managed to accumulate over 1000 printed books, which I was managing using a web-based system called GuruLib.

GuruLib is based on ISBN numbers, worked well for me, but has not been very well maintained, and because many e-books (especially those acquired from the Amazon Kindle store) do not have ISBN numbers (they have Amazon internal ASIN numbers), it is not easy to keep track of an e-book library using GuruLib.

So, I have been fiddling around a bit with Calibre, and it seems to do a perfectly fine job of library management for e-books (and for that matter a whole variety of other electronic documents -- like CHM files). However, I believe that there is little or no support in calibre for keeping track of metadata only for printed books, which might be entered using their ISBN number (followed by a query to Amazon, or some electronically accessible library site to get the rest of a book's metadata). Am I right in this assumption? And would you be interested in providing support for such a facility?

I'm desirous of having a single facility that could keep track of my complete book library whether in print or electronic form.

05-09-2010, 04:56 AM	#344
eboyhan PandaMuse Posts: 104 Karma: 104 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Device: kindle dx, kindle touch SO, kindle fire, kindle fire hd8.9	Well, I've read through all 23 pages of this, your web "frequently asked questions" page, and skimmed the user manual. I haven't found an answer to what I'm looking for; so I guess I'll just ask. I have a Kindle DX which I've had for about seven months now -- during that time I have managed to acquire a couple of hundred e-book titles, and maybe as many personal documents of varying lengths (most in PDF format). Before I acquired the Kindle I had managed to accumulate over 1000 printed books, which I was managing using a web-based system called GuruLib. GuruLib is based on ISBN numbers, worked well for me, but has not been very well maintained, and because many e-books (especially those acquired from the Amazon Kindle store) do not have ISBN numbers (they have Amazon internal ASIN numbers), it is not easy to keep track of an e-book library using GuruLib. So, I have been fiddling around a bit with Calibre, and it seems to do a perfectly fine job of library management for e-books (and for that matter a whole variety of other electronic documents -- like CHM files). However, I believe that there is little or no support in calibre for keeping track of metadata only for printed books, which might be entered using their ISBN number (followed by a query to Amazon, or some electronically accessible library site to get the rest of a book's metadata). Am I right in this assumption? And would you be interested in providing support for such a facility? I'm desirous of having a single facility that could keep track of my complete book library whether in print or electronic form.