Help with new Kindle touch and Calibre library

[KRT]

I've just gotten a kindle touch and need help. I have an existing calbre library where I've edited the meta data on many of my books. Now I want to get these books, with same edits, onto the touch. I understand from amazon that I have to re-download everything onto mac, a real pain. But is there any way to avoid re-editing metadata, and how do I keep the info for the two kindles separate? Please help.

[chyron8472]

Originally Posted by KRT

I've just gotten a kindle touch and need help. I have an existing calbre library where I've edited the meta data on many of my books. Now I want to get these books, with same edits, onto the touch. I understand from amazon that I have to re-download everything onto mac, a real pain. But is there any way to avoid re-editing metadata, and how do I keep the info for the two kindles separate? Please help.

First, do your Calibre ebooks still have DRM on them? Whether or not they do will determine what your next step is.

If your ebooks have been deDRM'd (which, given MobileRead's policy, we can't overtly explain how to do it), then all that is required would be to connect your Kindle via USB and upload the files to your new device from within Calibre (to include Calibre's stored metadata) and that's it. Plain and simple.

If your ebooks still have DRM on them which associates the files with your original device, then without breaking said DRM you can not use said files on your new device without re-downloading them from Amazon so as to update the files' DRM to your new device.


It is unclear to me if you are saying that you still have and use your previous device on which you had been reading your current Calibre ebooks.

If you do have separate devices and your Calibre ebooks have DRM, then you probably would need to have separate Calibre Libraries, one for each device (so you can easily keep track of which book's DRM is associated with which device). In order to do this properly, you would still need to redownload your ebooks from Amazon, and re-update the metadata again for the second (new) Calibre Library, as Amazon is unaware of your Calibre's changes.

If you do not have separate ebook reading devices and your Calibre ebooks do have DRM, then you do not need multiple Calibre Libraries (ie. you need one for each device, but having only one device you need only one library,) but you would still need to redownload your ebooks from Amazon so as to update the DRM and associate it with the new device. Again, as Amazon doesn't keep track of Calibre's metadata changes, you would have to change them again when you re-add ebooks to Calibre.

[KRT]

Oh well, that's what I thought -- since, I'm keeping both kindles, I have to download into separate libraries and re-edit the meta data. Thanks for confirming. But what a pain!

[CRussel]

Actually, your best option is to google Apprentice Alf and strip the DRM. Then you can handle everything from a single Calibre library to multiple Kindles.

The process is not hard, and is well supported. It's just one that we can't be completely explicit about on this forum. But Alf is your resource here.

[KRT]

Belated thanks to CRussel for tip re Apprentice Alf! It took me a bit of fiddling to get it working, but it did! And I am very grateful for the tip!