The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I love Kodi,

Yay!!

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

but the fact that it needs that strict '[Show Name] (Year) - S01E01' file-pattern to work properly is still a PITA.

It doesn't. All the episode file name needs is SxxExx. The show name and year are superfluous. The TV Show folder still needs the name and year. It's the tv show that is scraped, not the episodes.
You could just name the files S01E01.mkv or S01E01 - Reacher.mkv

I still add the show name and year, purely out of years of habit and I like adding the SxxEyy first so the regex doesn't have to work too hard.

For bulk file renaming I use Bulk Filename Utility... https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/
Unfortunately there is no Linux version.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Karellen

Yay!!

It doesn't. All the episode file name needs is SxxExx. The show name and year are superfluous. The TV Show folder still needs the name and year. It's the tv show that is scraped, not the episodes.
You could just name the files S01E01.mkv or S01E01 - Reacher.mkv

I'll keep that in mind moving forward, thanks. I do want the title to remain in the filename just to help catch mismatches, as I've sometimes seen the order change depending on whether the show is set to Airdate Order/DVD Order/Absolute Order.

[BetterRed]

I wish software vendors would issue a warning when they decide to break something. M$ broke File History in the September Patch Tuesday Update.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Was recently trying to cleanup some TV show episodes downloaded from The Internet Archive in the time-honored '[uploader_name]the.show.name.episode.01.title.of.the.episode.[extraneous_crap].mkv' naming scheme, and get it into a format that my Kodi media player would properly recognize and scrape metadata for. I love Kodi, but the fact that it needs that strict '[Show Name] (Year) - S01E01' file-pattern to work properly is still a PITA.

I spent several hours searching online in vain for a tool that was free, Linux compatible, and didn't have some stupid restrictions on the 'free' tier (like '15 renames per day') in favor of a paid/subscription tier.

Finally I threw up my hands in frustration and just asked had Gemini help me write a short, bespoke shell script to do the renames via perl or sed. It's not highly reusable, but, screw it--I'm not gonna pay $XX/mth for a glorified file-rename-as-a-service that I'm gonna use maybe twice a year.

Have you tried Jellyfin?

[madelonw]

I recently became aware that Amazon was no longer supporting eBooks in MOBI format. I thought nothing of it at the time. Now, after the multiple changes in Amazon's format of choice—KFX or maybe KFX-ZIP—I notice that some of my Kindle books are being offered again without the green button of ownership (of the license, of course). I've been updating my Calibre library using Epubor software to convert all my Kindle books into EPUB format because I don't trust Amazon to stick to supporting this newest format. I'm also considering getting a different eBook reader (suggestions welcome). In going back and forth between my Calibre database and Contents and Devices, I see that many of the old books being offered as new no longer have covers in Contents and Devices. Is it my imagination, or are authors re-uploading books that were MOBI in the latest Kindle format?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by madelonw

I recently became aware that Amazon was no longer supporting eBooks in MOBI format. I thought nothing of it at the time. Now, after the multiple changes in Amazon's format of choice—KFX or maybe KFX-ZIP—I notice that some of my Kindle books are being offered again without the green button of ownership (of the license, of course). I've been updating my Calibre library using Epubor software to convert all my Kindle books into EPUB format because I don't trust Amazon to stick to supporting this newest format. I'm also considering getting a different eBook reader (suggestions welcome). In going back and forth between my Calibre database and Contents and Devices, I see that many of the old books being offered as new no longer have covers in Contents and Devices. Is it my imagination, or are authors re-uploading books that were MOBI in the latest Kindle format?

Some eBooks were made using Kindle Create and they can only be in Mobi and some don't convert the KFX. So they stay as Mobi. Converting to ePub and then reposting so it can be KFX is probable what some are doing.

As for converting KFX to ePub, calibre with the from KFX plugin is your best way to go from KFX to ePub.

I cannot see Amazon moving away from KFX. That would cause too much hassle. I think KFX is it. So if you're worried about Amazon adopting a new eBook format, don;t worry. They won't do that.

Not having a cover in Content and Devices could just be a glitch on Amazon's side of things. I've never seen an eBook from Amazon that didn't have a cover.

But if you want a new Reader, you could go with Kobo.

[madelonw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some eBooks were made using Kindle Create and they can only be in Mobi and some don't convert the KFX. So they stay as Mobi. Converting to ePub and then reposting so it can be KFX is probable what some are doing.

As for converting KFX to ePub, calibre with the from KFX plugin is your best way to go from KFX to ePub.

I cannot see Amazon moving away from KFX. That would cause too much hassle. I think KFX is it. So if you're worried about Amazon adopting a new eBook format, don;t worry. They won't do that.

Not having a cover in Content and Devices could just be a glitch on Amazon's side of things. I've never seen an eBook from Amazon that didn't have a cover.

But if you want a new Reader, you could go with Kobo.

I've seen others suggest Kobo, and I do plan on looking into it.

About the missing covers... Not only are the covers missing, but clicking on the title brings up one of Amazon's dogs saying that page can't be found. I have quite a collection of freebies going back to 2010. A lot of these are the ones being uploaded anew.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by madelonw

I've seen others suggest Kobo, and I do plan on looking into it.

About the missing covers... Not only are the covers missing, but clicking on the title brings up one of Amazon's dogs saying that page can't be found. I have quite a collection of freebies going back to 2010. A lot of these are the ones being uploaded anew.

Self-published and either rewritten or had to be fixed due to errors.

I didn't think of the listing changing being the reason for no covers. But yes, that will do it.

You should ask Amazon if they can update you with the new versions.

[madelonw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Self-published and either rewritten or had to be fixed due to errors.

I didn't think of the listing changing being the reason for no covers. But yes, that will do it.

You should ask Amazon if they can update you with the new versions.

=====

Have you ever tried to ask Amazon to do anything, especially anything to do with books? You might as well ask your bathroom wall. To wit https://observant-madaboutbooksmw.wo....com/about-me/

[Hemmi]

I highly recommend Kobo ereaders. Love mine.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

I highly recommend Kobo ereaders. Love mine.

I've been pleased with my Nook Glowlight 4 and would recommend it. Easy to use, load ebooks via Calibre, and it supports the following formats: EPUB, Reflowable PDF, and Non-Reflowable PDF. About the only negative is that it doesn't have an SD/MicroSD card slot, so you are limited to 29.19gb of available internal storage (although it appears you can move ebooks to the Cloud).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I've been pleased with my Nook Glowlight 4 and would recommend it. Easy to use, load ebooks via Calibre, and it supports the following formats: EPUB, Reflowable PDF, and Non-Reflowable PDF. About the only negative is that it doesn't have an SD/MicroSD card slot, so you are limited to 29.19gb of available internal storage (although it appears you can move ebooks to the Cloud).

Does the current firmware for the GL4 have hyphenation for ePub?

[Ricky D'Angelo]

I have several different kindle fire models and each one seems to have a different layout of power button and volume buttons. It makes it frustrating to reach out to adjust the volume and instead hit the power button because one kindle has the volume at the top while another has the power button there or vice versa.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does the current firmware for the GL4 have hyphenation for ePub?

I haven't noticed a hyphenation setting on my Nook GlowLight 4. I haven't worried about it because it is not that important to me on the whole. Still, when I'm formatting my own stories I insert soft hyphens to ensure that, when needed, the words are hyphenated correctly.

I use LibreOffice and one feature I hope they add to the spell checking is a hyphenation dictionary, which will insert soft hyphens (ones for words where I've previously inserted them) when needed.

[JSWolf]

The calibre plugin Hyphenate This! will uses a hyphenation dictionary to insert soft hyphens into ePub or KF8.