Problems with the 3M Cloud Library

dkperez · 07-11-2016, 09:26 PM

I don't see a section in here (yes, I figure there is one, I just haven't found it), that talks about the 3M Cloud Library that some libraries are using with (or instead of?) Overdrive...

I've got at least two local library systems that have either supplanted their regular ebook catalog or replaced it with the #M Cloud.

My problem, ignoring all the normal stuff of content, supply, waits, and all that, is that every time I add a book to My Books, it DOWNLOADS ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN.

SO, I have an empty My Books shelf. I add a book. It downloads it. I find ANOTHER book and add it - it downloads BOTH BOOKS. Same for the 3rd on and so on. By the time I've put 5 books on the shelf I have a TON of downloaded books that are different VERSIONS of the book:

bookname.epub
bookname-1.epub
bookname-2.epub
bookname-3.epub
and on and on. I frequently have SEVEN or more versions of a book.

At home, this isn't a big problem 'cause I'm not getting charged for bandwidth, but when I'm on the road and using a cell phone, having umpteen downloads of ebooks that are going 2 - 3 MB each gets REAL OLD, REAL FAST...

Does anyone know HOW to turn this off? Once a book is downloaded, STOP DOWNLOADING IT.

OR, an actual PHONE NUMBER OR EMAIL ADDRESS for someone at whoever controls the 3M Cloud Library mess? I've tried finding things in the past but eventually I end up at one of the libraries, and of course, their people profess to "DON'T HAVE A CLUE"...

Anybody?

AnemicOak · 07-11-2016, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

OR, an actual PHONE NUMBER OR EMAIL ADDRESS for someone at whoever controls the 3M Cloud Library mess?

My library doesn't use Bibliotheca/3M, but here's what I could find for contact info...

General Contact
t : 1.800.328.0067 or 1.877.207.3127
f : 1.877.689.2269
e : info-us@bibliotheca.com

Support
t : 877.207.3127 ext 2
e : support-us@bibliotheca.com
Access our NEW Online Support Portal http://case.liber8portal.com/

Info from...
http://www.bibliotheca.com/3/index.p...our-local-team

eschwartz · 07-11-2016, 10:01 PM

I've dabbled with 3M (despite using Linux and not actually having an ereader that supports EPUB, let alone ADE, so I had to read on my laptop).

What I found is that selecting a checked-out book will try to download it, not open it for reading or anything silly like that.

It is basically a frontend for the checkout desk, but you still have to have ADE in order to read anything.

I did not witness it downloading all your books when you selected a different book, I just saw it redownloading duplicates of any book you are foolish enough to accidentally click on.

...

Overall, not impressed. And not impressed with their catalog quality either.

Froide · 07-12-2016, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

I don't see a section in here (yes, I figure there is one, I just haven't found it), that talks about the 3M Cloud Library that some libraries are using with (or instead of?) Overdrive...

I've got at least two local library systems that have either supplanted their regular ebook catalog or replaced it with the #M Cloud.

My problem, ignoring all the normal stuff of content, supply, waits, and all that, is that every time I add a book to My Books, it DOWNLOADS ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN.

SO, I have an empty My Books shelf. I add a book. It downloads it. I find ANOTHER book and add it - it downloads BOTH BOOKS. Same for the 3rd on and so on. By the time I've put 5 books on the shelf I have a TON of downloaded books that are different VERSIONS of the book:

bookname.epub
bookname-1.epub
bookname-2.epub
bookname-3.epub
and on and on. I frequently have SEVEN or more versions of a book.

At home, this isn't a big problem 'cause I'm not getting charged for bandwidth, but when I'm on the road and using a cell phone, having umpteen downloads of ebooks that are going 2 - 3 MB each gets REAL OLD, REAL FAST...

Does anyone know HOW to turn this off? Once a book is downloaded, STOP DOWNLOADING IT.

OR, an actual PHONE NUMBER OR EMAIL ADDRESS for someone at whoever controls the 3M Cloud Library mess? I've tried finding things in the past but eventually I end up at one of the libraries, and of course, their people profess to "DON'T HAVE A CLUE"...

Anybody?

I haven't used 3M Cloud Library in ages (over a year) but have never had that problem.

AnemicOak provided the developer's contact info. Perhaps, contacting the developer's already solved your problem. If not, then I suggest: if the librarians at the library systems you patronize are as tech-savvy as those at my library systems are, then they might provide a solution.

Hemmi · 07-12-2016, 08:46 AM

My library uses 3M Cloud and I've never had a book download more than once. Haven't checking anything out in about a week but it's never downloaded more than one copy of the same ebook.

bgalbrecht · 07-12-2016, 11:53 PM

I think I've seen it think that it has had download errors and try to download an ebook over 200 times. I've never bothered to report it because I usually download after hours and by the time I remember to go look to see if it downloaded, it's done, If I recall correctly, the files are all fully downloaded and identical, or, at least the same size. I haven't had it happen lately.

dkperez · 07-13-2016, 07:08 PM

It may be when it says it had an error. It was doing that a LOT yesterday... I have copies of several books where I have SEVEN copies of the book - each around 2.6 MB... Which if you get notices a couple times, and go in a couple times and download a new book and it downloads all the OTHER books again, starts to add up fast....

Anyhow, TODAY I received the notice from the Dakota County Library that as of August 15 they "will stop offering eBooks through OverDrive. We are pleased to announce that we will continue to offer eBooks, and now- eAudiobooks -through the Cloud Library, formerly known as the 3M Cloud Library."

Yes, as far as I know you need ADE, but that's not a big deal. I'm using an old version, that as far as I know, DOESN'T track what I've got on my system (I read in here a while back that the scumbags at Adobe were getting information they DON'T need)...

In any case, it appears that at least SOME of my library systems are going to the Cloud Library and leaving Overdrive. The St. Paul Library currently has both, but I'm wondering if they'll also be leaving Overdrive?

Overdrive is far from perfect, but there are a couple things about the cloud library is really dislike (aside from the multiple downloads)... One, I have NEVER been successful at getting books downloaded from the cloud library in a browser window. I have ALWAYS had to have a desktop shortcut for it to work. Two, I CANNOT have multiple desktop shortcuts that are each connected to a separate cloud library. I've tried.

My NORMAL style of getting books from libraries is to open one window for authors, a window for Overdrive, and one window each for the five library systems I use... I can jump to the author to see what's new, then go into overdrive and see if it's available anywhere near me, then jump to the individual library to put it on hold or download it...

With the Cloud Library it's a LOT slower since I can't jump from library to library in the cloud library 'cause it'll only let me be logged into one library... BUT, hopefully I can get hold of someone at the number(s) provided and see if I can get some of this improved...

I presume it's a cost thing and if the cloud library is cheaper...

eschwartz · 07-13-2016, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

Yes, as far as I know you need ADE, but that's not a big deal. I'm using an old version, that as far as I know, DOESN'T track what I've got on my system (I read in here a while back that the scumbags at Adobe were getting information they DON'T need)...

It is not that I dislike ADE... well, not any more than any other proprietary application that does weird and unpredictable things.

It is the sheer ridiculousness of requiring the user to install two separate applications and switch between them in order to use one service.

Why not include the reader software inside their application? Or just offer web-based ACSM downloads which can be opened in ADE?

birdbrainbb · 07-15-2016, 03:24 AM

I just noticed this happening this week, too! I actually keep getting error messages saying I'm disconnected and unable to access items, and then it'll reconnect and download the book again. I've got upwards of 6 copies of the same book in the My Digital Editions folder.

dkperez · 07-15-2016, 04:59 PM

Quick update............

Contacted Bibliotheca at the number provided in here..........

They aren't used to dealing directly with users, but we discussed what I was seeing and they have a person looking into what may be going on. Hopefully, I"ll hear something maybe next week...

dkperez · 09-07-2016, 03:44 PM

I was going through and cleaning out garbage the other day, and in AT LEAST one case I have TWENTY-EIGHT copies of a book... 29 actually, since the original doesn't have a number... Ridiculous...

FORTUNATELY, I was absolutely assured by the nice lady I talked to that I'd be hearing from them in a few days to let me know what they'd found and what they could do to improve the application...

'Course, that was FIVE WEEKS ago... I really don't think I'm gonna like the move away from Overdrive, mediocre as it is in favor of this major PITA 3M Cloud thing. It's ALREADY really slowing down my pulling books from different libraries 'cause I have to log out and log back in to EVERY single library EVERY TIME I want to check for a book. After about SIX of those round-the-rosie things it gets annoying, by the 20th loop it just gets stupid. And according to the nice lady, "No, you CAN'T have multiple 3M Cloud sessions open to different libraries. It just doesn't work that way."

eschwartz · 09-07-2016, 04:12 PM

I did some mumbo-jumbo with symlinks and a custom launcher script -- it allowed me to open 3M configured for different libraries, although as I recall it still didn't work for multiple instances.

You can use their web interface though, which IIRC works fine unless you want to actually borrow a book or something stupid like that.

nabsltd · 09-08-2016, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

Two, I CANNOT have multiple desktop shortcuts that are each connected to a separate cloud library. I've tried.

The Cloud Library login is stored in %APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.ini

So, what you do is open the cloud library app, log in to a library, then exit the app. Copy the INI file somewhere. Then, open the app again, use its UI to log out of the library, then log into a different library. Exit the app again, and copy the INI file.

Next, create batch file that copies the backed-up INI file for the library you want to use to the right place and then starts that Cloud Library app. My batch file looks like this:

Code:

@ECHO OFF
SET CloudUser=%1
IF "%CloudUser" == "" SET CloudUser=BPL
COPY "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary - %CloudUser%.ini" "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.ini"
START /PGM "C:\Program Files (x86)\3M(TM) Cloud Library PC App\3MCloudLibrary.exe"

Quote:

My NORMAL style of getting books from libraries is to open one window for authors, a window for Overdrive, and one window each for the five library systems I use... I can jump to the author to see what's new, then go into overdrive and see if it's available anywhere near me, then jump to the individual library to put it on hold or download it...

Use the Overdrive Link add-on for Calibre to front all this. Then, you can have it check for what's available and how long a wait at each library.

Tarana · 09-10-2016, 12:25 AM

Yes, Anoka County has dumped Overdrive in favor of 3M because Overdrive charges an annual fee that is quite high and this is over and above the books that the library had already purchased. I'm afraid to find out the state of the audiobooks, although most that I got were on CD and the library continued the series on CD.

dkperez · 09-13-2016, 09:57 PM

nabsltd, my problem isn't getting it to run, it's getting MULTIPLE sessions to run connected to DIFFERENT libraries. I tried your batch procedure and made a few mods, and it'll RUN the 3M cloud, but any time I try to start a SECOND one to a different library it just displays the original one... Even when I specify a separate memory space.

What do I need to do to this to actually get it to start MULTIPLE instances?

@ECHO Off
SET _lib=%1
echo param set to %_lib%
If "%_lib%"=="dakota" goto :sub_lib
If "%_lib%"=="hennepin" goto :sub_lib
If "%_lib%"=="stpaul" goto :sub_lib

@ECHO On
echo no valid library = %_lib%
pause
goto :eof

:sub_lib
echo You chose %_lib%
echo COPY "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\%_lib%.ini" "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.in i"
COPY "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\%_lib%.ini" "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.in i"
START "" /B/SEPARATE "C:\Program Files (x86)\3M(TM) Cloud Library PC App\3MCloudLibrary.exe"

07-11-2016, 09:26 PM	#1
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	Problems with the 3M Cloud Library I don't see a section in here (yes, I figure there is one, I just haven't found it), that talks about the 3M Cloud Library that some libraries are using with (or instead of?) Overdrive... I've got at least two local library systems that have either supplanted their regular ebook catalog or replaced it with the #M Cloud. My problem, ignoring all the normal stuff of content, supply, waits, and all that, is that every time I add a book to My Books, it DOWNLOADS ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN. SO, I have an empty My Books shelf. I add a book. It downloads it. I find ANOTHER book and add it - it downloads BOTH BOOKS. Same for the 3rd on and so on. By the time I've put 5 books on the shelf I have a TON of downloaded books that are different VERSIONS of the book: bookname.epub bookname-1.epub bookname-2.epub bookname-3.epub and on and on. I frequently have SEVEN or more versions of a book. At home, this isn't a big problem 'cause I'm not getting charged for bandwidth, but when I'm on the road and using a cell phone, having umpteen downloads of ebooks that are going 2 - 3 MB each gets REAL OLD, REAL FAST... Does anyone know HOW to turn this off? Once a book is downloaded, STOP DOWNLOADING IT. OR, an actual PHONE NUMBER OR EMAIL ADDRESS for someone at whoever controls the 3M Cloud Library mess? I've tried finding things in the past but eventually I end up at one of the libraries, and of course, their people profess to "DON'T HAVE A CLUE"... Anybody?

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07-11-2016, 10:01 PM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I've dabbled with 3M (despite using Linux and not actually having an ereader that supports EPUB, let alone ADE, so I had to read on my laptop). What I found is that selecting a checked-out book will try to download it, not open it for reading or anything silly like that. It is basically a frontend for the checkout desk, but you still have to have ADE in order to read anything. I did not witness it downloading all your books when you selected a different book, I just saw it redownloading duplicates of any book you are foolish enough to accidentally click on. ... Overall, not impressed. And not impressed with their catalog quality either.

07-12-2016, 08:46 AM	#5
Hemmi Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,459 Karma: 15987608 Join Date: Apr 2015 Device: Sonys, Nooks, Kobo Libra, Forma, Mini, Paperwhite	My library uses 3M Cloud and I've never had a book download more than once. Haven't checking anything out in about a week but it's never downloaded more than one copy of the same ebook.

07-12-2016, 11:53 PM	#6
bgalbrecht Wizard Posts: 1,806 Karma: 13399999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: US Device: Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Clara HD, Kindle 4	I think I've seen it think that it has had download errors and try to download an ebook over 200 times. I've never bothered to report it because I usually download after hours and by the time I remember to go look to see if it downloaded, it's done, If I recall correctly, the files are all fully downloaded and identical, or, at least the same size. I haven't had it happen lately.

07-13-2016, 07:08 PM	#7
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	It may be when it says it had an error. It was doing that a LOT yesterday... I have copies of several books where I have SEVEN copies of the book - each around 2.6 MB... Which if you get notices a couple times, and go in a couple times and download a new book and it downloads all the OTHER books again, starts to add up fast.... Anyhow, TODAY I received the notice from the Dakota County Library that as of August 15 they "will stop offering eBooks through OverDrive. We are pleased to announce that we will continue to offer eBooks, and now- eAudiobooks -through the Cloud Library, formerly known as the 3M Cloud Library." Yes, as far as I know you need ADE, but that's not a big deal. I'm using an old version, that as far as I know, DOESN'T track what I've got on my system (I read in here a while back that the scumbags at Adobe were getting information they DON'T need)... In any case, it appears that at least SOME of my library systems are going to the Cloud Library and leaving Overdrive. The St. Paul Library currently has both, but I'm wondering if they'll also be leaving Overdrive? Overdrive is far from perfect, but there are a couple things about the cloud library is really dislike (aside from the multiple downloads)... One, I have NEVER been successful at getting books downloaded from the cloud library in a browser window. I have ALWAYS had to have a desktop shortcut for it to work. Two, I CANNOT have multiple desktop shortcuts that are each connected to a separate cloud library. I've tried. My NORMAL style of getting books from libraries is to open one window for authors, a window for Overdrive, and one window each for the five library systems I use... I can jump to the author to see what's new, then go into overdrive and see if it's available anywhere near me, then jump to the individual library to put it on hold or download it... With the Cloud Library it's a LOT slower since I can't jump from library to library in the cloud library 'cause it'll only let me be logged into one library... BUT, hopefully I can get hold of someone at the number(s) provided and see if I can get some of this improved... I presume it's a cost thing and if the cloud library is cheaper...

07-15-2016, 03:24 AM	#9
birdbrainbb Addict Posts: 287 Karma: 2191035 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Anaheim, CA Device: Kindle Oasis, Kindle Paperwhite 5	I just noticed this happening this week, too! I actually keep getting error messages saying I'm disconnected and unable to access items, and then it'll reconnect and download the book again. I've got upwards of 6 copies of the same book in the My Digital Editions folder.

07-15-2016, 04:59 PM	#10
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	Quick update............ Contacted Bibliotheca at the number provided in here.......... They aren't used to dealing directly with users, but we discussed what I was seeing and they have a person looking into what may be going on. Hopefully, I"ll hear something maybe next week...

09-07-2016, 03:44 PM	#11
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	I was going through and cleaning out garbage the other day, and in AT LEAST one case I have TWENTY-EIGHT copies of a book... 29 actually, since the original doesn't have a number... Ridiculous... FORTUNATELY, I was absolutely assured by the nice lady I talked to that I'd be hearing from them in a few days to let me know what they'd found and what they could do to improve the application... 'Course, that was FIVE WEEKS ago... I really don't think I'm gonna like the move away from Overdrive, mediocre as it is in favor of this major PITA 3M Cloud thing. It's ALREADY really slowing down my pulling books from different libraries 'cause I have to log out and log back in to EVERY single library EVERY TIME I want to check for a book. After about SIX of those round-the-rosie things it gets annoying, by the 20th loop it just gets stupid. And according to the nice lady, "No, you CAN'T have multiple 3M Cloud sessions open to different libraries. It just doesn't work that way."

09-07-2016, 04:12 PM	#12
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I did some mumbo-jumbo with symlinks and a custom launcher script -- it allowed me to open 3M configured for different libraries, although as I recall it still didn't work for multiple instances. You can use their web interface though, which IIRC works fine unless you want to actually borrow a book or something stupid like that.

09-10-2016, 12:25 AM	#14
Tarana Wizard Posts: 3,983 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Yes, Anoka County has dumped Overdrive in favor of 3M because Overdrive charges an annual fee that is quite high and this is over and above the books that the library had already purchased. I'm afraid to find out the state of the audiobooks, although most that I got were on CD and the library continued the series on CD.

09-13-2016, 09:57 PM	#15
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	nabsltd, my problem isn't getting it to run, it's getting MULTIPLE sessions to run connected to DIFFERENT libraries. I tried your batch procedure and made a few mods, and it'll RUN the 3M cloud, but any time I try to start a SECOND one to a different library it just displays the original one... Even when I specify a separate memory space. What do I need to do to this to actually get it to start MULTIPLE instances? @ECHO Off SET _lib=%1 echo param set to %_lib% If "%_lib%"=="dakota" goto :sub_lib If "%_lib%"=="hennepin" goto :sub_lib If "%_lib%"=="stpaul" goto :sub_lib @ECHO On echo no valid library = %_lib% pause goto :eof :sub_lib echo You chose %_lib% echo COPY "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\%_lib%.ini" "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.in i" COPY "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\%_lib%.ini" "%APPDATA%\3MCloudLibrary\PC\DigitalLibrary.in i" START "" /B/SEPARATE "C:\Program Files (x86)\3M(TM) Cloud Library PC App\3MCloudLibrary.exe"

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