Neo How to manage ebooks?

[ivanm]

Hi all,

I just bought a BeBook Neo, and have already run into a problem I'm hoping you can help me with: how do you manage your library of ebooks on the device (more specifically on the SD card)?

I've tried using Calibre to use its default save-to-disk settings (since I had a bug at the time where Calibre couldn't detect the device itself; turned out to be a kernel config issue), but IMHO that makes it difficult to navigate (especially since I started out by getting a whole bunch of books off of http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ so I have a lot of books by a few authors).

Does the Neo have any actual library management functionality, or is it up to me to just create a good directory structure to start with and stick with it? Is there also any way of indicating which books have been read or not (without looking at the "recently read" section of the menu)?

[mathias]

• You could use the rating system and then sort the books by their rating
• Sort by access time, so books that you haven't read should be at the bottom of the list
• Rename the files to start with the author's name and then sort by name

Other than that I guess it's up to you to create (sub)folders after your liking.

I have ca. 70 book, and they are all in one folder. Since I don't read all of them at once navigating is not an issue. The only subfolder I have is for the bible which came in 66 single html files ...
Personally, I don't use Calibre to organize my books. Just drag and drop stuff directly onto the device or the sd card.

[Delta Tango]

I also use Calibre.
In Calibre's preferences you can set how you wish your books to be arranged. I opted for this
{authors}/{series} {series_index} - {title} - {authors}
Basically, it means that each author has his own folder and all books are in that folder.
Names of files are:
If a book is part of a series, the name of the series is placed in front, followed by the number in order, then goes "-", after that is the title of the book and author once again.
If the book is not part of a series then the name of the file starts with "-", the rest is the same.

As for indicating what you've read, there is the star rating system. Just put a star after you read it.

[ivanm]

Originally Posted by Delta Tango

I also use Calibre.
In Calibre's preferences you can set how you wish your books to be arranged. I opted for this
{authors}/{series} {series_index} - {title} - {authors}
Basically, it means that each author has his own folder and all books are in that folder.
Names of files are:
If a book is part of a series, the name of the series is placed in front, followed by the number in order, then goes "-", after that is the title of the book and author once again. If the book is not part of a series then the name of the file starts with "-", the rest is the same.

My initial attempt did something similar, but I didn't like having the "non-existant" series there...

As for indicating what you've read, there is the star rating system. Just put a star after you read it.

How do you rate a book on the Neo?

[Delta Tango]

Actually I have Boox (same hardware, maybe different firmware), so I can't be sure about Neo, but on Boox firmware you have the option to set the amount of stars in the details view.

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by ivanm

My initial attempt did something similar, but I didn't like having the "non-existant" series there...

I just use different preferences when sending series books to device, tagged books or neither. I have to change them between the three.

For series books I send to device like this:

{author_sort}/{series}/{series_index:0>3s} - {title} - {authors}

For tagged books this:

{author_sort}/{tags}/{title} - {authors}

And for books without series or tags:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

Changing between is a minor annoyance, but certainly livable to have my books arranged the way I like. I put a ticket in calibre's requests, to be able to change the send to device template on the fly instead of having to enter preferences each time.

-Marcy

[ivanm]

Originally Posted by Marcy

For series books I send to device like this:

{author_sort}/{series}/{series_index:0>3s} - {title} - {authors}

For tagged books this:

{author_sort}/{tags}/{title} - {authors}

And for books without series or tags:

{authors}/{title} - {authors}

Changing between is a minor annoyance, but certainly livable to have my books arranged the way I like. I put a ticket in calibre's requests, to be able to change the send to device template on the fly instead of having to enter preferences each time.

I've been doing this approach for a bit now, and am definitely finding it irritating having to go and keep going into the plugin section of the preferences to change the sending format (especially since it doesn't keep a list of possible options like the main send to device option does). Which bug number is this on calibre's bug tracker so that I can follow the progress as well?

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by ivanm

I've been doing this approach for a bit now, and am definitely finding it irritating having to go and keep going into the plugin section of the preferences to change the sending format (especially since it doesn't keep a list of possible options like the main send to device option does). Which bug number is this on calibre's bug tracker so that I can follow the progress as well?

You don't have to go into the plug-in section, but do have to go into the "Send to Device" preferences section. At the plug-in level you should leave the default "Send to Device" format blank, that way you don't have to go as deep into the preferences.

-Marcy

[ivanm]

Originally Posted by Marcy

At the plug-in level you should leave the default "Send to Device" format blank, that way you don't have to go as deep into the preferences.

Oh cool, didn't know about that bit. Thanks Marcy!

[snorklefish]

I have been using this option in Calibre:

{author_sort}/{series}/{series_index} {title}

If you just put a space between series_index and title you get the number for the series books and the filename for non series books just starts with title. Calibre does not put the space in.

Single option works well for all books in my library.

[ivanm]

Huh, I think I tried something like this once and Calibre did put extra spaces in...

Also, I prefer not to put the series directory within the author_sort directory, in case an author gets added to a series later on (I also do some manual tweaking in some cases later on to group related sub-series together, etc.).

[simplyparticular]

Originally Posted by snorklefish

I have been using this option in Calibre:

{author_sort}/{series}/{series_index} {title}

If you just put a space between series_index and title you get the number for the series books and the filename for non series books just starts with title. Calibre does not put the space in.

Single option works well for all books in my library.

Thank you - I'll give this a try with my Opus.

Also, I prefer not to put the series directory within the author_sort directory, in case an author gets added to a series later on (I also do some manual tweaking in some cases later on to group related sub-series together, etc.).

Good point, although my genres (romance, suspense, mystery) pretty much never have multiple authors. That seems to be more common in science fiction or fantasy, though.