New Kobo User

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by meeera

And yeah, I haven't opened Kobo Desktop for a long long time. I think the last time was for a book I bought from Kobo that didn't have a downloadable epub, so I had to yoink the kepub out with obok for disinfection.

There's a desktop application?

I've never installed the desktop application (first a H2O, now a One owner). I only use Calibre.

Drag&Drop would work just as well, if your really don't care for Calibre, but I like the extra's Calibre gives me, such as filling in the series information. And the ability to change the title of a book (via a plugboard) so it will sort nicely.

[Ashjuk]

Perhaps its time I stopped being a Luddite and just accept Calibre's way of working.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Perhaps its time I stopped being a Luddite and just accept Calibre's way of working.

It took me a long time too, for the same reasons as you mention. I only started using it when I got a second reader (my first BeBook Mini, my second a Sony) and I wanted to keep track on what was on where... Add an android tablet, and a windows tablet to the mix, and Calibre will really come in handy!

Edit:
Oh, and the fact that I found out I can decide exactly how the folder structure looks on my device! And I didn't have to follow Calibre's way of folders per book...

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I resisted calibre for a couple of years. It was a mistake. I love being able to quickly find all my books by an author, all the books in a series (even if by different authors), all the books I haven't read yet, all the books I bought in 2006, when I last read a particular book, how much I paid for the book and where I bought it from. (These last four via custom metadata columns.)

You are allowing habits from the time of very constrained storage to limit your use of your computer. This is not ideal.

This. I was just like you and Ashjuk. I had my directory tree and liked it that way (I remember 10MB HDs as well). Then one day (6 years ago) I took the plunge and never looked back.

Ashjuk, give Calibre a serious chance, and forget that directory tree that is the Calibre library. You won't be sorry.

[JSWolf]

Not using Calibre is doing yourself a major disservice.

[Ken Maltby]

Give KOReader a try, it uses a simple file manager, so you can use your existing file structure. Even if you decide that you want to use the calibre generated file structure, KOReader has several functions that work with calibre. Calibre is handy for preparing files for drag&dropping to my file structure on my device. I don't use Nickel or the Kobo readers anymore, but if you do, the KSM launcher program has a number of features that help with nickel.

Luck;
Ken

[Ashjuk]

Looks like my original enquiry about the Kobo desktop application has turned into a thread about why I should be using Calibre, and now it seems I should be using KOReader too!

Lots of new stuff to get my head around and all I wanted to do was read a book. :-)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Looks like my original enquiry about the Kobo desktop application has turned into a thread about why I should be using Calibre, and now it seems I should be using KOReader too!

Lots of new stuff to get my head around and all I wanted to do was read a book. :-)

The reason Calibre was suggested is because you are using some file manager to copy eBooks to your device. Then you are manually setting up your collections. With Calibre, you can do the same things much easier.

As for KoReader, I would say to install it if you plan on using PDF as it handles PDF much better than the system software.

[PeterT]

One thing to be aware of, calibre's collection management is strictly for the native Kobo reading app and not for KOReader

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Give KOReader a try, it uses a simple file manager, so you can use your existing file structure. Even if you decide that you want to use the calibre generated file structure, KOReader has several functions that work with calibre. Calibre is handy for preparing files for drag&dropping to my file structure on my device. I don't use Nickel or the Kobo readers anymore, but if you do, the KSM launcher program has a number of features that help with nickel.

Luck;
Ken

You don't need to use Calibre's internal file sctructure on your device.... The file structure on my kobo doesn't look one bit like the one in Calibre! Nicely structured by first letter of their last name, then by series...

Maybe I should look into other readers, but on the other hand, I'm lazy, so I probably won't

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The reason Calibre was suggested is because you are using some file manager to copy eBooks to your device. Then you are manually setting up your collections. With Calibre, you can do the same things much easier.

As for KoReader, I would say to install it if you plan on using PDF as it handles PDF much better than the system software.

I have found in the past that eReaders don't handle PDFs very well at all - at least my Sony ones didn't. I also have an iPad mini so if I want to view PDFs I always use that.

I'm thinking that rather than import all of my eBooks into Calibre I will pick a selection and see how I get on with those. A lot of my library I have already read, and probably the majority of those I will never read again, so what I ought to do is archive those and just work with ones I have not yet read.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Looks like my original enquiry about the Kobo desktop application has turned into a thread about why I should be using Calibre, and now it seems I should be using KOReader too!

Lots of new stuff to get my head around and all I wanted to do was read a book. :-)

If you aren't planning on reading PDFs, you probably don't need KOReader.

Kobo's own Nickle software is very nice as is.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

If you aren't planning on reading PDFs, you probably don't need KOReader.

Kobo's own Nickle software is very nice as is.

A matter of opinion, I haven't used the stock Kobo reading software for a long time now, and seldom read any PDFs. Mostly I read .epub or .pdb ebooks. KOReader provides a number of features that the Kobo software does not, and is more adaptable. (It doesn't have, as a design objective, the maximization of profit for their online store, or any requirement to "sync" to one.) Kobo's user interface (Nickel) is highly integrated with its database and spends considerable resources trying to maintain it without corruption. But as I said "it is a matter of opinion", and the good thing is that you can have both installed and working on your Kobo device at the same time. There are some of us (not those here) who have come to feel that you don't need Nickel, to enjoy your Kobo.

Luck;
Ken

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

I have found in the past that eReaders don't handle PDFs very well at all - at least my Sony ones didn't. I also have an iPad mini so if I want to view PDFs I always use that.

I keep some of my technical PDFs on my KA1 but it's more or less for emergency use. My preferred reading order is based on the display size, CPU and RAM so my laptop is the goto device followed by an iPad Pro and then my KA1. When it comes to reading for pleasure, the order reverses.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

A matter of opinion, I haven't used the stock Kobo reading software for a long time now, and seldom read any PDFs. Mostly I read .epub or .pdb ebooks. KOReader provides a number of features that the Kobo software does not, and is more adaptable. (It doesn't have, as a design objective, the maximization of profit for their online store, or any requirement to "sync" to one.) Kobo's user interface (Nickel) is highly integrated with its database and spends considerable resources trying to maintain it without corruption. But as I said "it is a matter of opinion", and the good thing is that you can have both installed and working on your Kobo device at the same time. There are some of us (not those here) who have come to feel that you don't need Nickel, to enjoy your Kobo.

Luck;
Ken

I have looked at KOReader and to be honest it seems like a lot of work just to read a book.
As I normally only have about 10 books on my device at any one time I don't have a problem with keeping track of what is on there, and what I've read. I normally read two or three books and then replace them with a few more removing the read ones.
Also as I am unlikely to ever view anything other than an epub on my Kobo I think the standard reader is going to be fine for me.
I'm a great believer in the old adage 'If it ain't broke - don't fix it!'