Organizing your library

outlander78 · 06-30-2011, 09:11 AM

Hello.

My Sony eReader has a simple organizational method - collections. Books on the device can be added to lists, making finding a book easier than browsing a list of all of the books on the device. I wish there were more options, nesting, that kind of thing, but the basic system works well enough.

I have been looking at the Kindle and the Kobo, but cannot find any information on their options - how does one organize their books on these systems? Do they also support lists/collections?

thanks,
Andrew

AnemicOak · 06-30-2011, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outlander78

I have been looking at the Kindle and the Kobo, but cannot find any information on their options - how does one organize their books on these systems? Do they also support lists/collections?

The Kindle has collections which are fairly similar to Sony's.

AFAIK the only organization the new Kobo has is that you can tag a book as a favorite and have it show up on a favorites list, but I don't have one so I'm not 100% sure of that.

For me the best organization I've had on a reader is on the Opus (AFAIK all readers from Bookeen can be organized the same way) where you can have actual folders with subfolders and the device can browse the actual folder structure.

ProfCrash · 06-30-2011, 12:01 PM

The Kindle uses Collections. You can build your own collections and place books in multiple colelctions. It does not allow for sub collections, which is kind of a bummer.

That said, life is a lot easier with the collections then without.

outlander78 · 06-30-2011, 12:27 PM

Thanks for the answers.

Sweetpea · 06-30-2011, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The Kindle uses Collections. You can build your own collections and place books in multiple colelctions. It does not allow for sub collections, which is kind of a bummer.

That said, life is a lot easier with the collections then without.

If I had to chose between collections and folders, I'd go for folders. Unless you could make sub-collections. Now, if I want to see all books by a certain author, I need to create a collection per author. But I also want to see all books in a series, so I need a collection per series. That means I have almost too many collections to be of use...

Oh, and seeing all books in a series by a certain author isn't even possible...

HarryT · 06-30-2011, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

If I had to chose between collections and folders, I'd go for folders. Unless you could make sub-collections. Now, if I want to see all books by a certain author, I need to create a collection per author. But I also want to see all books in a series, so I need a collection per series. That means I have almost too many collections to be of use...

Oh, and seeing all books in a series by a certain author isn't even possible...

There are pros and cons, as with so many things in life

.

The benefits of folders is that they can be nested.

The benefit of collections (which are really tags, of course) is that you can apply multiple tags to the same file without having to have multiple copies of the same book on the device. Eg, you can tag a book by its author, by its genre, and so on. I might tag Isaac Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" with "Asimov, Isaac", "Mystery", and "SF", for example, and then it would show up in all three collections.

outlander78 · 06-30-2011, 02:42 PM

Exactly. In Calibre, I have books organized in series, and misc books tagged into groups for all kinds of reasons including author, genre and subseries. At this point, not supporting collections would be a deal-breaker for me.

polly · 06-30-2011, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outlander78

Hello.

My Sony eReader has a simple organizational method - collections. Books on the device can be added to lists, making finding a book easier than browsing a list of all of the books on the device. I wish there were more options, nesting, that kind of thing, but the basic system works well enough.

I have been looking at the Kindle and the Kobo, but cannot find any information on their options - how does one organize their books on these systems? Do they also support lists/collections?

thanks,
Andrew

I've grown to really like the collections, but if you prefer folders, you can install PRS+ on your Sony reader. Among other things, it allows you to browse by folders.

outlander78 · 06-30-2011, 10:25 PM

Thanks, Polly. I really like the collections too, and I'm too afraid to try PRS+.

AnemicOak · 07-01-2011, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

There are pros and cons, as with so many things in life

.

The benefits of folders is that they can be nested.

The benefit of collections (which are really tags, of course) is that you can apply multiple tags to the same file without having to have multiple copies of the same book on the device. Eg, you can tag a book by its author, by its genre, and so on. I might tag Isaac Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" with "Asimov, Isaac", "Mystery", and "SF", for example, and then it would show up in all three collections.

Very true.

Multi level tags would be the best IMO, I have no idea if such a thing is possible.

John F · 07-01-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

There are pros and cons, as with so many things in life

.

The benefits of folders is that they can be nested.

The benefit of collections (which are really tags, of course) is that you can apply multiple tags to the same file without having to have multiple copies of the same book on the device. Eg, you can tag a book by its author, by its genre, and so on. I might tag Isaac Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" with "Asimov, Isaac", "Mystery", and "SF", for example, and then it would show up in all three collections.

I disagree (at least for the Sony). On the Sony, Collections are references to Books. Or are you talking about Calibre's ability to generate collections for Sony?

HarryT · 07-01-2011, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

I disagree (at least for the Sony). On the Sony, Collections are references to Books. Or are you talking about Calibre's ability to generate collections for Sony?

I'm afraid you've slightly lost me, John. Which part of what I wrote is it that you're disagreeing with?

John F · 07-01-2011, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid you've slightly lost me, John. Which part of what I wrote is it that you're disagreeing with?

The "which are really tags, of course" part. Sorry for the confusion, I meant to italicize that part of your quote.

HarryT · 07-01-2011, 11:31 AM

Collections are indeed tags which are applied to books. The listing of books in a collection is simply a list of all the books to which that particular tag has been attached.

John F · 07-01-2011, 12:06 PM

I think I disagree, depending on your definition of "tag".

I'm only talking about Sonys (and the Reader Library) now. Each book has an ID. A collection is a list of book IDs.

For example, say you have two books on a Sony, b1 and b2. b1 would have ID id1 and b2 would have ID id2. b1 has tags t1, t2, and t3. Book two has tags t3, t4, and t5.

Let say I create a collection, c1, that contains books b1 and b2. The collection c1 would consists of a list of IDs id1 and id2. The tags are not in the collection list.

If you look at the media.xml on the Sonys, you will see a list of IDs for a collection, not a list of tags.

This is my understanding of Sony collections. I may be wrong, but I don't think so.

Books

06-30-2011, 09:11 AM	#1
outlander78 Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 263218 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Arc 7	Organizing your library Hello. My Sony eReader has a simple organizational method - collections. Books on the device can be added to lists, making finding a book easier than browsing a list of all of the books on the device. I wish there were more options, nesting, that kind of thing, but the basic system works well enough. I have been looking at the Kindle and the Kobo, but cannot find any information on their options - how does one organize their books on these systems? Do they also support lists/collections? thanks, Andrew

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06-30-2011, 12:01 PM	#3
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	The Kindle uses Collections. You can build your own collections and place books in multiple colelctions. It does not allow for sub collections, which is kind of a bummer. That said, life is a lot easier with the collections then without.

06-30-2011, 12:27 PM	#4
outlander78 Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 263218 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Arc 7	Thanks for the answers.

06-30-2011, 02:42 PM	#7
outlander78 Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 263218 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Arc 7	Exactly. In Calibre, I have books organized in series, and misc books tagged into groups for all kinds of reasons including author, genre and subseries. At this point, not supporting collections would be a deal-breaker for me.

06-30-2011, 10:25 PM	#9
outlander78 Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 263218 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Arc 7	Thanks, Polly. I really like the collections too, and I'm too afraid to try PRS+.

07-01-2011, 11:31 AM	#14
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Collections are indeed tags which are applied to books. The listing of books in a collection is simply a list of all the books to which that particular tag has been attached.

07-01-2011, 12:06 PM	#15
John F Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,873 Karma: 70186493 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo Clara 2E	I think I disagree, depending on your definition of "tag". I'm only talking about Sonys (and the Reader Library) now. Each book has an ID. A collection is a list of book IDs. For example, say you have two books on a Sony, b1 and b2. b1 would have ID id1 and b2 would have ID id2. b1 has tags t1, t2, and t3. Book two has tags t3, t4, and t5. Let say I create a collection, c1, that contains books b1 and b2. The collection c1 would consists of a list of IDs id1 and id2. The tags are not in the collection list. If you look at the media.xml on the Sonys, you will see a list of IDs for a collection, not a list of tags. This is my understanding of Sony collections. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. Books