Switching from Sony Library to calibre

[Agama]

What is the easiest way, (most trouble-free), of switching from Sony's library manager to using calibre's? Should I use the reader's format option first? So far I have only used calibre for conversions but I prefer calibre's library manager to Sony's so I would like to use it. I do not yet use collections but would like to use the tags in calibre to become collections on the reader.

[Worldwalker]

When I switched over, I imported my books into calibre, set up my tags for collections, reformatted my 505, and transferred the books. Admittedly I only had about 100 ebooks at the time, which made the transfer a somewhat faster process.

That avatar seems to have awfully big toes for an agamid.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Agama

What is the easiest way, (most trouble-free), of switching from Sony's library manager to using calibre's? Should I use the reader's format option first? So far I have only used calibre for conversions but I prefer calibre's library manager to Sony's so I would like to use it. I do not yet use collections but would like to use the tags in calibre to become collections on the reader.

Just stop using the Sony Library to send books to or connect to your device and start using calibre exclusively. I allow calibre to automatically manage my collections from Tags and series too.

For me, this means that I disabled auto tagging during metadata downloads by going to Preferences - Plugins - Metadata download plugins and customizing each plugin by unchecking Download tags. This prevents getting 20 new tags for each book and allows me to manually choose the tags I want for each book. Some people prefer getting all of the tags downloaded.

Currently I have 301 books on my reader in 82 collections. Every book I have in a series is also in a genre too. So some books are in 2, 3 or 4 collections. That's how I do it.

[fglaysher]

If I were to reformat my Sony Reader and install Calibre, would it still be possible to read books on my laptop with the Adobe Digital Edition reader? I prefer that to Calibre's interface on my laptop.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by fglaysher

If I were to reformat my Sony Reader and install Calibre, would it still be possible to read books on my laptop with the Adobe Digital Edition reader? I prefer that to Calibre's interface on my laptop.

Reformatting your reader isn't required but can't hurt anything.

You can continue using Adobe Digital Editions for reading on your laptop. For that matter you can still use the Sony Reader to read or purchase books.

I make sure that I only connect and transfer books to my reader using calibre. Using more then one tool to manage books on a device is asking for trouble.

[Agama]

Thanks! In the end I uninstalled the Sony Library software then simply plugged my reader in whilst calibre was open. After a couple of seconds a device icon appeared and calibre identified which books on the reader were in the calibre library and which were not. I sent a few books to the reader and all worked very well. I really like the way that multiple tags cause a book to appear in multiple collections, (presumably without duplicating the book on the reader).

Do I need to send my books one by one or does calibre have an option to sync its library to the reader?

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My avatar is suffering from Gecko Jealousy Syndrome and has been wearing shoes which are much too tight, resulting in swollen toes which give him a more gecko like appearance. (I'll have a look for a better one!)

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by Agama

Do I need to send my books one by one or does calibre have an option to sync its library to the reader?

There\ is no sync operation.

You can however multi-select books and then send them all to the reader in a single operation.

[Agama]

Originally Posted by itimpi

There\ is no sync operation.

You can however multi-select books and then send them all to the reader in a single operation.

That'll do nicely.