Does Marvin 3 need Calibre Companion for iOS?

[chrisridd]

As far as I can see, all the new Calibre Companion for iOS does is talk to Calibre's OPDS (?) server.

So does Marvin 3.

Is CC of any use to Marvin 3 owners? Does it add the missing "sync with Calibre" functionality, in other words?

[Terisa de morgan]

CC not only talks to OPDS. In fact, I don't use for it at all. It talks to calibre as a wireless device, and syncs the libraries (but CC library, not marvin library). And it connects to dropbox too, so if you have your library in dropbox, you can see if you haven't downloaded a book and do it.

Anyway, if you're thinking in terms of library management, I think at this moment they are more or less similar, perhaps a bit behind CC as it is new. But comparing with android CC, if your library is in calibre and you use columns to define different groups, CC library management is better IMHO.

But, needing it? No, like other apps in android. It depends on how you want to manage your library.

[chrisridd]

I'm still confused :-)

So does CC sync anything (notes? reading positions?) back to Calibre?

Do CC and Marvin communicate in any way - e.g. CC provides Marvin with a set of books, or does Marvin copy the books from CC, and does the reading position sync between CC and Marvin?

I think what I'm trying to figure out are workflows using the 3 programs.

The CC docs don't mention Marvin and don't seem to say what it even does, and the Marvin docs don't talk about CC at all.

What I'm basically trying to work out is whether Marvin on an iPad is a viable alternative ereader to a KA1, given that I manage my books on my Mac with Calibre.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I'm still confused :-)

Not so strange, usually a closed book gives more information than myself

Originally Posted by chrisridd

So does CC sync anything (notes? reading positions?) back to Calibre?

No, the sync is from calibre to CC, the only thing that goes back from CC to calibre is if you mark a book as read.

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Do CC and Marvin communicate in any way - e.g. CC provides Marvin with a set of books, or does Marvin copy the books from CC, and does the reading position sync between CC and Marvin?

Reading position is not synced. Marvin is only another app where CC can send the book for being read (it is copied in Marvin library).

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I think what I'm trying to figure out are workflows using the 3 programs.

Forget it, the only interaction between CC and marvin is when CC sends the book to marvin for reading it there. And calibre send books and metadata to CC.

Originally Posted by chrisridd

The CC docs don't mention Marvin and don't seem to say what it even does, and the Marvin docs don't talk about CC at all.

Because there is no special interaction between them. If you manage all your library with marvin and you're happy with how it does, I don't think you have a really need for CC. For me, for example. I don't like marvin library, I prefer CC, so I won't keep all my books in marvin, in the same way I don't keep all my books in gitden when I'm reading at my android devices.

Originally Posted by chrisridd

What I'm basically trying to work out is whether Marvin on an iPad is a viable alternative ereader to a KA1, given that I manage my books on my Mac with Calibre.

KA1 as Kobo Aura One? I don't think so. You cannot handle your books with marvin in the same way you do with a Kobo device. It was possible in previous iOs versions, but not from 8, I believe. For me, the way to do it is marvin, although I cannot sync annotations and ratings (that's what I miss more with CC).

[pwalker8]

As with all things, it just depends on what you are looking for and how you like to work. The issue with Calibre and Marvin at the moment is that they don't sync. You copy from Calibre to Marvin and that's the end of the matter.

CC does sync, so if you use Calibre to organize your ebooks, then every time you change in Calibre is synced down to CC.

I have two reading devices, an iPad pro that I do most of my reading on and a iPad mini that I use for reading on the go. My current work flow is sync both devices via the wireless connection and send any new books to the devices (with the wireless connection, you have to send from Calibre to the device, not pull on the device). When I check to see what books I want to read, I use CC to select them and then read them (i.e. CC sends them to) in Marvin. I use Marvin to keep where I am in a book synced between the iPad Pro and iPad mini. It works for me. I have a reading list selected in Calibre, which gets synced down to the two iPads. That's my over all to be read list. I have the books that I'm actively reading (or plan to read next) in Marvin. When I complete a book, I just remove it from the reading list in Calibre (it's already marked as read). I update the reading list about once a week.

Right now, that seems to work well enough for me.

[chrisridd]

Thanks both!

It sounds like having the CC functionality built into Marvin is what I'm looking for.

So maybe I need to go back to waiting for the KA1 (Kobo Aura ONE) to be available...

Actually now that a lot of other stores have closed and transferred to Kobo, quite a big chunk of my library is from Kobo. So I'll investigate the Kobo app as well.

[MartyTX]

I was on track until I got here, then I derailed:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

When I complete a book, I just remove it from the reading list in Calibre (it's already marked as read). I update the reading list about once a week.

How does the completed book in calibre get "already marked as read"?

Do you manually mark it as read in Marvin and also manually mark it as read in CC which then syncs with calibre?

Thanks!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by MartyTX

I was on track until I got here, then I derailed:


How does the completed book in calibre get "already marked as read"?

Do you manually mark it as read in Marvin and also manually mark it as read in CC which then syncs with calibre?

Thanks!

When you send a book from CC to Marvin, the book is marked as read in CC. When you sync CC with Calibre via wireless, the book gets updated to read in Calibre. It doesn't mean that you have finished the book in Marvin, just that it's been sent to Marvin.

That last little percent read and final book finished in Marvin is what is currently missing. The old Marvin plugin provided that, but that plugin doesn't work and it doesn't really seem to be a priority for Marvin's developer at the moment.

My current work flow isn't perfect, but it's good enough. If something better comes along (i.e. they get the functionality in the old Marvin plug in working), then I'll certainly take a look at it, but as they say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

[MartyTX]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

When you send a book from CC to Marvin, the book is marked as read in CC. When you sync CC with Calibre via wireless, the book gets updated to read in Calibre. It doesn't mean that you have finished the book in Marvin, just that it's been sent to Marvin. Got it, thanks!

That last little percent read and final book finished in Marvin is what is currently missing. The old Marvin plugin provided that, but that plugin doesn't work and it doesn't really seem to be a priority for Marvin's developer at the moment.

My current work flow isn't perfect, but it's good enough. If something better comes along (i.e. they get the functionality in the old Marvin plug in working), then I'll certainly take a look at it, but as they say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

Your workflow using CC is definitely more than just "good enough" IMHO!
My workflow to mark a book "read" is totally manual in Marvin and calibre.

I also miss the "good old days" when iOSRA and MXD and iOS played well together.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by MartyTX

Your workflow using CC is definitely more than just "good enough" IMHO!
My workflow to mark a book "read" is totally manual in Marvin and calibre.

I also miss the "good old days" when iOSRA and MXD and iOS played well together.

I used Marvin and Calibre up until CC came out. It got the job done and I have no complaints about Marvin. I was glad to pay for it and consider it the best ereader on iOS, at least for me. I love being able to stay in sync with the book that I'm reading between the two iPads. It's just that adding CC to the work flow seems to be a bit closer to the way I like to do thing. I'm an old UNIX hand and having multiple tools feed into each other is very natural to me.