Sync with ipod Touch

jfontana · 04-15-2009, 11:46 AM

I'm starting to use Calibre and I'm having some problems synchronizing my contents with my ipod touch.

I subscribed to a few news feeds using Calibre on my PC and I would like to access them with Stanza in my ipod. How do I do that? Is there any way to automatically synch all the news feeds every time you connect the ipod to the PC and start Calibre as it is apparently possible with ebooks?

I can see the entries for all the newspapers and blog rss that I subscribed to in my library and I have the server running automatically on startup. However, when I access Stanza in my ipod I can only see the books in that library and only a couple of the newspapers in the list. They are not getting updated in the ipod even though they do get updated in Calibre.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

itimpi · 04-15-2009, 11:55 AM

That is not as easy as it sounds as Apple do not give developers any access to the USB connector so that you cannot sync over the USB connector. This is the way that Calibre sync's with most eBook devices.

This scenario may get better when OS3.0 for the ITouch/iPhone is released in a few months time, but I am not sure.

pilotbob · 04-15-2009, 12:16 PM

You need to turn on the calibre content server. This will allow you to d/l ePub files to your iPod from Stanza by adding a "store" using your PCs network name.

However, this is only an atom type RSS feed so there is no way to push the content to the iPod. Also, apple doesn't want to allow for background processing. They did come up with a new push/notify service that will be out in the 3.0 firmware. I would expect Stanza will do something to leverage that and allow the new items to be pushed to your iPod.

BOb

ilovejedd · 04-15-2009, 12:22 PM

Are you saving the news feeds to epub format?

kovidgoyal · 04-15-2009, 01:28 PM

You can do push using email. Just have calibre email the downoaded news to you, access the email on your iWhatever and save the attachment. I'm not sure if it allows for saving the attachment, but if it does this should work.

pilotbob · 04-15-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You can do push using email. Just have calibre email the downoaded news to you, access the email on your iWhatever and save the attachment. I'm not sure if it allows for saving the attachment, but if it does this should work.

I didn't think the iPod allows one app to be able to access files from another app. They are all sandboxed. (Unless you jailbreak it.)

BOb

kovidgoyal · 04-15-2009, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I didn't think the iPod allows one app to be able to access files from another app. They are all sandboxed. (Unless you jailbreak it.)

BOb

Wow I knew Apple was paranoid, but this is ridiculous.

darkmonk · 04-15-2009, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Wow I knew Apple was paranoid, but this is ridiculous.

hehe... Tell me about it. I bought it because it was "here", not out there like android. The lack of functionality is insane. Saving attachments is never going to happen. It doesn't download them from the server. want to cache a page for offline viewing? not in this lifetime! Apple is trying to make a touch users move to an iphone, thus the not caring a rat's ass about us.
jfontana, I bet you are not getting your newsfeeds saved as epub - try to make that the default. I've asked the developers of stanza several times for an auto fetch feature for a feed, and a download all from a feed - but it hasn't happened yet. No, you'll never be able to download content over the USB. The files that change need to be manually updated. Delete your current news book, and download the new one. Such is a limitation of the current atom - based feed system.
Good luck.

jfontana · 04-16-2009, 04:45 AM

Thanks to everybody that replied.

This is the great paradox with Apple products. So wonderful in their design (I have never owned a handheld device that I have been so keen on using and I've owned A LOT ), yet so hampered by stupid limitations.

Anyway, everything you people said makes sense and it helps me explain why I'm having problems getting what I want. Yet, there are things that I still can't understand.

Right now there is something that the combination of Calibre and Stanza is doing right. I did manage to get full articles downloaded to my iphone Touch. Probably I downloaded them individually. The problem is that I don't remember what I did. This was the first time I was experimenting and I didn't take note of the steps I took. I don't remember whether the downloading took place via Wi-fi or when I hooked the Touch via USB. But now I can't download new articles. When I go to "Shared books" in Stanza, I can see a folder called "Books in calibre" but then I get a message saying "loading" that stays there for ever and nothing gets downloaded. Eventually, I get a message that says "Catalog Error...timed out".

I have the server activated to start every time I start Calibre and the default format is set to Epub.

Does anybody know of any manual or tutorial on how to get content to ipod Touch or iphone using Stanza and Calibre? I'm sure there is something very stupid I'm not doing properly but I cannot find good instructions anywhere. I don't know how I did it the first time.

Thanks in advance for your help. I hope that part of this pain will go away with OS3.0 for the ITouch/iPhone. After finding out that much of this pain is caused by Apple, though, I'm certainly more inclined to buy an Android based device next time.

montsnmags · 04-16-2009, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfontana

...
Does anybody know of any manual or tutorial on how to get content to ipod Touch or iphone using Stanza and Calibre? I'm sure there is something very stupid I'm not doing properly but I cannot find good instructions anywhere. I don't know how I did it the first time.
...

It sounds like you may have already referred to it, but have you seen this "101" created by user ChrisZA:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42023

If not, it and the resultant comments may be of assistance.

Cheers,
Marc

Jill75 · 04-16-2009, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I didn't think the iPod allows one app to be able to access files from another app. They are all sandboxed. (Unless you jailbreak it.)

BOb

I'd give it a try to see if it works as I know apple is so protective of their products.

jfontana · 04-17-2009, 01:07 PM

Thanks Marc. This alternative tutorial was very useful and I managed to solve my problem. Now I can download documents from the Calibre library.

itimpi · 04-17-2009, 01:24 PM

If you are using Windows, then you might find the Calibre2Web script useful in conjunction with a iTouch.

ilovejedd · 04-17-2009, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itimpi

If you are using Windows, then you might find the Calibre2Web script useful in conjunction with a iTouch.

Instructions for this can also be found on the 101...

itimpi · 04-17-2009, 01:46 PM

I had missed that!

Just a comment - I have adopted the practise that someone else suggested of always making sure the first post in the thread has the latest version of the script attached to avoid you having to look through the thread to find the latest version.

04-15-2009, 11:46 AM	#1
jfontana Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: iLiad	Sync with ipod Touch I'm starting to use Calibre and I'm having some problems synchronizing my contents with my ipod touch. I subscribed to a few news feeds using Calibre on my PC and I would like to access them with Stanza in my ipod. How do I do that? Is there any way to automatically synch all the news feeds every time you connect the ipod to the PC and start Calibre as it is apparently possible with ebooks? I can see the entries for all the newspapers and blog rss that I subscribed to in my library and I have the server running automatically on startup. However, when I access Stanza in my ipod I can only see the books in that library and only a couple of the newspapers in the list. They are not getting updated in the ipod even though they do get updated in Calibre. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

04-16-2009, 04:45 AM	#9
jfontana Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: iLiad	Re: Sync with ipod Touch Thanks to everybody that replied. This is the great paradox with Apple products. So wonderful in their design (I have never owned a handheld device that I have been so keen on using and I've owned A LOT ), yet so hampered by stupid limitations. Anyway, everything you people said makes sense and it helps me explain why I'm having problems getting what I want. Yet, there are things that I still can't understand. Right now there is something that the combination of Calibre and Stanza is doing right. I did manage to get full articles downloaded to my iphone Touch. Probably I downloaded them individually. The problem is that I don't remember what I did. This was the first time I was experimenting and I didn't take note of the steps I took. I don't remember whether the downloading took place via Wi-fi or when I hooked the Touch via USB. But now I can't download new articles. When I go to "Shared books" in Stanza, I can see a folder called "Books in calibre" but then I get a message saying "loading" that stays there for ever and nothing gets downloaded. Eventually, I get a message that says "Catalog Error...timed out". I have the server activated to start every time I start Calibre and the default format is set to Epub. Does anybody know of any manual or tutorial on how to get content to ipod Touch or iphone using Stanza and Calibre? I'm sure there is something very stupid I'm not doing properly but I cannot find good instructions anywhere. I don't know how I did it the first time. Thanks in advance for your help. I hope that part of this pain will go away with OS3.0 for the ITouch/iPhone. After finding out that much of this pain is caused by Apple, though, I'm certainly more inclined to buy an Android based device next time.

04-17-2009, 01:07 PM	#12
jfontana Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: iLiad	Sync contents with ipod Touch Thanks Marc. This alternative tutorial was very useful and I managed to solve my problem. Now I can download documents from the Calibre library.

04-17-2009, 01:24 PM	#13
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	If you are using Windows, then you might find the Calibre2Web script useful in conjunction with a iTouch. Last edited by itimpi; 04-17-2009 at 01:34 PM.

04-15-2009, 11:55 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	That is not as easy as it sounds as Apple do not give developers any access to the USB connector so that you cannot sync over the USB connector. This is the way that Calibre sync's with most eBook devices. This scenario may get better when OS3.0 for the ITouch/iPhone is released in a few months time, but I am not sure.

04-15-2009, 12:16 PM	#3
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	You need to turn on the calibre content server. This will allow you to d/l ePub files to your iPod from Stanza by adding a "store" using your PCs network name. However, this is only an atom type RSS feed so there is no way to push the content to the iPod. Also, apple doesn't want to allow for background processing. They did come up with a new push/notify service that will be out in the 3.0 firmware. I would expect Stanza will do something to leverage that and allow the new items to be pushed to your iPod. BOb

04-15-2009, 12:22 PM	#4
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,110 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	Are you saving the news feeds to epub format?

04-15-2009, 01:28 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,188 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You can do push using email. Just have calibre email the downoaded news to you, access the email on your iWhatever and save the attachment. I'm not sure if it allows for saving the attachment, but if it does this should work.

04-17-2009, 01:46 PM	#15
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	I had missed that! Just a comment - I have adopted the practise that someone else suggested of always making sure the first post in the thread has the latest version of the script attached to avoid you having to look through the thread to find the latest version.

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