calibre + iTunes = frustrating disaster

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by GRiker

@Marcy:
Here's what I would recommend at this point.

In addition to dwanthny's suggestions, I would suggest that you disable the automatic syncing when the iPad is connected so you can get a better sense of how and when your books are disappearing. If you control when the sync is done, you'll be able to inspect the conditions before and after the sync.

G

I did doublecheck the plug-in was greyed out before I posted. It is.

Syncing disabled. We'll see what happens. The grand disappearance seems to happen every 3-5 days.

Edit: Actually I lied. Syncing was set to be disabled, but when I chose to disable sync then all the books are removed from my iPad. I've spent the best part of a week getting them there and couldn't bear to have them all deleted.

-Marcy

[GRiker]

When I recommended disabling automatic syncing, I meant iTunes|Preferences|Devices|Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically should be checked.

G

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by GRiker

When I recommended disabling automatic syncing, I meant iTunes|Preferences|Devices|Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically should be checked.

G

Okay, done.

-Marcy

[galligaskins]

I can contribute a bit more information:

I have been having very similar problems with my iPad and iPhone sync, so I removed the entire calibre library from iTunes, then connected calibre to iTunes using the Share button and transferred the entire library to iTunes (no device was connected, but the Apple device plugin was enabled). I then connected my iPhone for a routine sync, and immediately saw almost all the calibre library disappear from iTunes. The few books that remained (with one exception) were all marked with an ! sign, indicating that the entry remained in iTunes but the file itself was missing. I repeated these steps with the plugin diabled, and the iTunes library remained intact.

I would add that calibre does not detect that a book is already in iTunes when transferring, so multiple entries can appear in the iTunes book list for each book; whether this indicates multiple files, I don't know, but I suspect so.

Regards

-gallygaskins-

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by galligaskins

I have been having very similar problems with my iPad and iPhone sync, so I removed the entire calibre library from iTunes, then connected calibre to iTunes using the Share button and transferred the entire library to iTunes (no device was connected, but the Apple device plugin was enabled). I then connected my iPhone for a routine sync, and immediately saw almost all the calibre library disappear from iTunes. The few books that remained (with one exception) were all marked with an ! sign, indicating that the entry remained in iTunes but the file itself was missing. I repeated these steps with the plugin diabled, and the iTunes library remained intact.

Good information, and it makes sense. It sounds like a feature not a bug, but I'll let Griker explain or correct me since it is his baby and I don't even use a Mac device.

It sounds like you either have calibre actively manage your device through iTunes using the device interface plugin or you have iTunes manage your device using books populated in iTunes from various sources including calibre's connect to iTunes feature.

If you choose to use the connect to iTunes vice allowing calibre to manage your device through iTunes then you should disable the device interface plugin for your Apple device.

[GRiker]

I've revised the FAQ in Calibre + iPad: Start here to recommend restarting calibre after disabling the device driver. I found that disabling the driver and then Connecting to iTunes in the same session could cause the problem.

Using the 'Connect to iTunes' approach is simpler than using the device driver, requiring far less fiddling with iTunes settings. Mixing the two approaches can lead to unpredictable and unintended results.

G

[itimpi]

Bearing in mind the number of times that users have fallen foul of having the Apple Fevice driver enabled and then fail to find another e-reader device if their iDevice is also plugged I wonder if:

• The Apple Device Driver should be disabled be default on new Capibre installations
• The Apple Device driver should be amongst the last in the Device Driver list so that other devices get precedence if multiple devices plugged in.

The second point may make the first redundant?

[kovidgoyal]

The apple driver is last in the list in newer calibre releases, however that doesn't guarantee that the iDevice wont block finding another device, since the idevice could have been connected before the other device.

As for disabling it by default, that's GRiker's call.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal;

The apple driver is last in the list in newer calibre releases, however that doesn't guarantee that the iDevice wont block finding another device, since the idevice could have been connected before the other device.

good point - I had forgotten about that

As for disabling it by default, that's GRiker's call.

now that he is promoting the "Connect to iTunes" as the preferred method maybe he will be amenable to this suggestion?

[GRiker]

When we first implemented 'Connect to iTunes', we discussed disabling the device driver, but opted not to do so because of a concern that users who don't follow this forum would suddenly find their updated calibre app no longer works with their connected iDevice. The mode of connecting directly to an iDevice is still functional, it's just trickier to configure.

I'm willing to make the changes to simply not recognize connected iDevices, but we still need a means of setting options for the driver. I need to discuss how this change would be implemented with Kovid.

I'm about to travel for a couple of weeks, so this change won't happen immediately.

G

[itimpi]

I was only suggesting that it should be disabled for NEW installations. However how one might detect that an installation is new rather than an upgrade I have no idea.