Uploading a Lot of books using Calibre Companion

[Bermudagirl]

Upon checking the faqs for Calibre Companion, it says that the wireless device connection is best for a lot of books. This is what I am using as I have a new Android tablet so I want to put all of my books on it.
The app I will be using on my tablet is Aldiko. Now I certainly can transfer a lot of books quickly via the wireless device connection, but so far I have to open each one individually and then select Aldiko to open the book. Is there a way of opening a lot of books in bulk at one time in Aldiko rather than one at a time which is really slow?
I hope this makes sense!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Bermudagirl

Upon checking the faqs for Calibre Companion, it says that the wireless device connection is best for a lot of books. This is what I am using as I have a new Android tablet so I want to put all of my books on it.
The app I will be using on my tablet is Aldiko. Now I certainly can transfer a lot of books quickly via the wireless device connection, but so far I have to open each one individually and then select Aldiko to open the book. Is there a way of opening a lot of books in bulk at one time in Aldiko rather than one at a time which is really slow?
I hope this makes sense!

Did you configure CC to use Akido ?
(I am not an Akido user)

In some cases, you just tell CC to use the App
in other casees you must have CC store the books in the magic folder the app requires

[chaley]

Aldiko is one of the very few readers that insists on being the library manager and insists on "importing" books. This has 2 consequences when working with CC.

1. CC becomes a transport. Its library features (grouping, sorting, book details, etc) aren't used.
2. Metadata updates in calibre such as changing tags or correcting spelling that arrive in CC via the wireless device are not seen by Aldiko. You must resend the book, and probably reimport it.

Other reader apps don't work this way. They (can) function as a reader without importing the book. Most CC users use CC as the library manager, launching their favorite reader app from CC.

Aldiko seems to support importing from a folder. See this page, and in particular paragraph 2, for instructions.

[Bermudagirl]

Many thanks for these replies. I didn't know Aldiko was different from other reader apps. I particularly like it because of the way I can order my books in to collections. Are there any other reader apps that would be better than Aldiko to use with CC? I have to be able to have my books in their collections, just the same as in Calibre.
After I had posted my question, I remembered how to import the books into Aldiko as per the link to the instructions as provided by Chaley.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Bermudagirl

Are there any other reader apps that would be better than Aldiko to use with CC? I have to be able to have my books in their collections, just the same as in Calibre.

CC directly supports calibre "collections", whether by tag or custom column. These collections are automatically updated to match calibre's data on every connect as a wireless device. Open CC's grouping drawer and take a look.

Another advantage of using CC as the library manager you can use the "best" reading app for the format, such as different apps for PDF, EPUB, CBZ, MOBI, etc.

[Bermudagirl]

So is there a better epub reader app than Aldiko?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Bermudagirl

So is there a better epub reader app than Aldiko?

I am very much trying not to answer this question because "better" is in the eye of the beholder. People get excited about how covers are rendered, how the text is formatted, what full justification looks like, how well hyphenation works, whether UI is "acceptable", how easy it is to change color schemes, whether it supports more than one book format, and so on.

Aldiko is a good reader. It just isn't the best choice for use with calibre and CC, unless keeping calibre metadata in sync with the metadata in the reader app isn't important for you.

If you go to the Google Play store and type in epub you will get *many* results. Some choices for epub I have seen discussed are Moon+, FBReader, CoolReader, Mantano, ALReader, UBReader. I am sure I missed someone's favorite. If you read other formats such as comics (e.g., CBZ) then you will want more readers. If you read PDF then you might prefer a dedicated PDF reader.

Most (if not all) of the reader apps have free versions that you can test.

FWIW: I use Moon+ as my production reader. I test with FBReader and CoolReader.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Bermudagirl

So is there a better epub reader app than Aldiko?

Loaded Question
One that might start a War of.... The one I use..

Currently I use Moon+ (the paid version) for EPUB
Whatever PDF viewer my TAB2 has for PDF

and I currently use my K4 for Kindle books that won't convert without help , so I have not used the Kindle app with CC


There will be MANY variations on this list.
I don't read Comics so I have 'no opinion' on a viewer

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Bermudagirl

So is there a better epub reader app than Aldiko?

Like the others have stated that is a personal taste question.

I read 99% epubs with the occasional PDF manual thrown in. I use Moon+ Reader Pro for reading ePubs and I just use the Adobe app for reading the occasional PDF.

Moon+ Reader Pro has the flexibility I prefer to adjust the font type, font size, font color, background, paragraph indents, paragraph spacing, line spacing, brightness etc... It allows me to tweak things to suit my older eyes, allowing me to read without my reading glasses. It is this same flexibility that sometime drives folks crazy.

Try a few reading apps and see which you prefer. The one thing those who use CC agree on is CC is a better library organizer then any reader app.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Like the others have stated that is a personal taste question.

I read 99% epubs with the occasional PDF manual thrown in. I use Moon+ Reader Pro for reading ePubs and I just use the Adobe app for reading the occasional PDF.

Moon+ Reader Pro has the flexibility I prefer to adjust the font type, font size, font color, background, paragraph indents, paragraph spacing, line spacing, brightness etc... It allows me to tweak things to suit my older eyes, allowing me to read without my reading glasses. It is this same flexibility that sometime drives folks crazy.

Try a few reading apps and see which you prefer. The one thing those who use CC agree on is CC is a better library organizer then any reader app.

See!
Even when we use the SAME app, we use it differently

I prefer the Publishers Stylesheet (OK, it is partly mine, but it is tuned for book compatibility, and now part of the book) for overall appearance. That does not prevent font scaling.

And I totally agree with CC being the best Library Manager.

1) Because it is a Central Library, rather than handing off to individual apps and the confusion. Now where (WHAT APP) did I put War and Peace?
2) Solid integration with Calibre as a Wireless Device

[kaufman]

Just one more voice to support Moon+Reader. I've used a lot of them on a lot of different platforms, and Moon is the most configurable. I have never come across a situation where I said "I wish I could change it to do X" and have not been able to do it.

On top of which, if you are using CC anyhow, its a pity not to use all its fantastic functionality. I haven't looked at Akido in a few years, but I can't imaging that its library handling approaches the one in CC.

[mgaillard]

I Keep all my books in a BIG CC library on an SD card on my android device - And I use Moon + reader pro...me too.

I also use CC as a library browser for my pocketbook (linux based) e-reader device, in a quite crazy way : chose my book in CC - send it with CC to my (basic) DropBox account - download it with my Pocketbook from DropBox: from left pocket to right pocket through the cloud !

[crane3]

So, as an Aldiko reader user, is CC able to import the Aldiko library into CC's library/catalog? This will allow me to delete the Aldiko library & uninstall. I do have paid versions of Moon+ & Mantano along with Aldiko.

I do have Calibre on the PC but it's library doesn't have all the books in Aldiko & I don't want to take the time to add the older books into Calibre; happened because I found that DRM lied about authorizing a DEVICE to use DRM (an app is considered a "device"???).

Will be getting a new tablet & would like to use CC especially if it can have its library be on an external sdcard via a library "extension"? Nevertheless, still would like to try CC as Mantano now lets me download, read & return the public library's books.

Also, hopefully, I can just do a backup/copy of the CC library to different tablets & PC & NAS for archival & use on my other tablets.....

[chaley]

There are a lot of questions here.

Originally Posted by crane3

So, as an Aldiko reader user, is CC able to import the Aldiko library into CC's library/catalog? This will allow me to delete the Aldiko library & uninstall. I do have paid versions of Moon+ & Mantano along with Aldiko.

No. CC gets its books from calibre. It cannot import books from the device.

I do have Calibre on the PC but it's library doesn't have all the books in Aldiko & I don't want to take the time to add the older books into Calibre; happened because I found that DRM lied about authorizing a DEVICE to use DRM (an app is considered a "device"???).

If a book isn't in calibre then it cannot be correctly put into CC. It is possible using the scan on connect option, but the book metadata will most likely be wrong.

As for DRM, my understanding is that a device+app is considered a device for DRM purposes. If I am correct then it would be very easy to run out of devices. I suggest that you just strip the DRM. No book I have purchased still has its DRM.

Will be getting a new tablet & would like to use CC especially if it can have its library be on an external sdcard via a library "extension"?

CC can store books on an SD card. I don't know what you mean by an "extension".

Nevertheless, still would like to try CC as Mantano now lets me download, read & return the public library's books.

Also, hopefully, I can just do a backup/copy of the CC library to different tablets & PC & NAS for archival & use on my other tablets.....

You can backup CC's database and settings, copy that file wherever you want, and restore them. There is no guarantee that the paths to the books folder will survive the experience, but it is easy to fix them using CC's settings / Formats and folders.

It is up to you to copy your books. CC does not back them up.

It might be easier to use CC's cloud connection and a supported cloud provider (Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, and (if you are careful) Google Drive) as the common place to store books. That way CC on any device can get to them.

The thing to take away from all of this is that CC is a "companion" to calibre. It is not standalone and never will be.

[crane3]

My books have the DRM stripped when I found that the DRM applies only to a particular reader app; which is why Calibre doesn't have all the books in its catalog/library.

When I said "extension", I was wondering if CC has its library in internal storage & when "full", extend or continue the library on the external sdcard; the alternative is the library will be in the internal storage or external sdcard. This isn't a case of using the external sdcard configured as part of internal storage in the Marshmallow configure option.

When I do the ebook directory backup, I make 1 copy on the pc, then 1 copy on the nas, & then 1 copy onto an external usb3 4tb drive. The usb3 4TB drive is really for backup of the 3TB nas drive. I just do a copy of the ebook directory; don't need to copy the books individually.