Readers, Filenames and Metadata

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And which cannot be saved or backed up.

Why, yes, I did lose all my Nook "bookshelf" data during a firmware update.

Oh yeah, I had that happen too. After I got it all setup with books, gave it to my mom for Mother's day, set it up on her wireless connection, and let it update when it it wanted to. When it was done, I saw that all of the shelves I spent time making were no more.

[afa]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I'm wondering the same thing afa. What's especially weird is that Sony isn't marketing the heck out of this relatively unique and VERY powerful feature on their models.

I seriously believe that the people making and marketing eReaders are not heavy users of same. Because this is obvious stuff to you and me.

I agree completely. Everyone keeps on emphasizing the battery life and outdoor legibility, but these are features that are inherent in all eInk devices. There's nothing unique about them. What's the point of marketing your products as, "Hey, you know that feature that the Kindle has? Well, we can do it too. Not any better, if we're being honest, but just as good. So why don't you buy ours? Cuz, er... you know, it can do that. Wouldn't you like to own the 671st device that has an eInk display and its associated benefits (that are common to all)?"

Someone should tell all these manufacturers that rather than relying on their ereader division to "brainstorm" new ideas, they should just pop over to MobileRead and see what the actual consumers want and need. Then try to make a device that comes as close to that as feasible.

[anamardoll]

Well, and the thing is, you look at Kindle (I think) and Nook and Kobo and they all seem to follow the "dump everything into the same library and provide a few sorting options" philosophy.

That's great if you have a small library. Or if you only sideload a few books at a time and delete as you go. But as your on-device library grows, that method eventually that becomes HIGHLY unmanageable.

I have a library of 1,400+ books and I keep them on my Sony 950 all the time. You simply cannot support that with a big "bucket o' books" and a few sort options. The Sony collections are mandatory in order to use my device meaningfully. (Seriously, I can't even remember the titles of half the books, so the Search function is equally useless. Tags! TAGS, PEOPLE! )

Somehow, Sony managed to get it right and the Calibre people filled the gap. (Also the PRS+ lets you browse by folders, if that's your thing.) But for reasons I can't understand, the newest and cheapest readers still don't support metadata meaningfully.

That, incidentally, is why I bought a $200+ PRS-950 the week the Nook2 came out.

And I really REALLY do not understand why B&N et al don't hire a few heavy users as consultants. Most of the people here would consult for "free" if they got a free Nook out of the deal. It's not rocket science.

[RedCanyoneer]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

You can set up plugboards in Calibre that insert the series title and number from the metadata into the title field ahead of the book title when it goes to your reader. So, for example, Storm Front, by Jim Butcher, would appear as "Dresden Files 01 - Storm Front." Then, if you sort by title, it's all in order......

I like your sugggestion. To be sure I understand, this "plugboard" changes the Title field in the metadata to include the series name. And then the Nook looks at the Title metadata and displays the information the plugboard inputs.

Also, "plugboard" = macro of some sort within Calibre? I haven't used them yet.

[Pinecone]

Now you see why Sony buyers are willing to pay more for a Sony reader.

I have my books organized in to various collections. If the book is in a series, there is a collection for the series, and the books show up in the series order.

If the book is also in a sub series of that series, it will show up in a collection named for the sub series, also in sub series order. As well as being in the main series in series order.

Most of my books also show up in collections based on the authors name. Depending on the author and other considerations, the books in the Author's Name collection will appear in order of publication or grouped as series with the books in series order. I usea custom series like column for this, rather than the actual authro column in Calibre.

I cannot imagine trying to deal with over 1000 books without a way of grouping them into collections.

[Catlady]

Reading this thread makes me so happy I have a Jetbook Lite. I can set up folders and subfolders just the way I like them to organize my library. I don't have to deal with metadata or with Calibre (which I use only for conversions). I have total control.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Reading this thread makes me so happy I have a Jetbook Lite. I can set up folders and subfolders just the way I like them to organize my library. I don't have to deal with metadata or with Calibre (which I use only for conversions). I have total control.

I did that for awhile on my Pocketbook, but the subfolders got tedious for me. They were nice when I needed them but not when I didn't. I actually think my Sony + Cailbre gives me MORE control, but that's just my opinion.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Well, and the thing is, you look at Kindle (I think) and Nook and Kobo and they all seem to follow the "dump everything into the same library and provide a few sorting options" philosophy.

That's great if you have a small library. Or if you only sideload a few books at a time and delete as you go. But as your on-device library grows, that method eventually that becomes HIGHLY unmanageable.

I totally agree. I don't understand why the device manufacturers don't see that if they sell you lots of books, you need a way to organize them. And conversely, if you don't have a way to organize them, you might find yourself buying fewer ebooks over time as you become disenchanted. I suppose of course, this doesn't apply to the read once and never again crowd, which is probably who Amazon and BN and Kobo are catering to. But for those who read and re-read, organization is highly necessary.

I have a library of 1,400+ books and I keep them on my Sony 950 all the time. You simply cannot support that with a big "bucket o' books" and a few sort options. The Sony collections are mandatory in order to use my device meaningfully. (Seriously, I can't even remember the titles of half the books, so the Search function is equally useless. Tags! TAGS, PEOPLE! )

Same here, though I am around 1000+. And yep, there is no way I can remember all the titles or authors of that many books. Tags works very well though.

That, incidentally, is why I bought a $200+ PRS-950 the week the Nook2 came out.

I had plans to buy the Sony 950 right before the Nook2 announcement. I planned to wait, just in case B&N got some sanity and provided a new device with real organization, but then came the Best Buy clearance sale. Hubby bought my 950 the day before the Nook2 announcement. He did the right thing, because I was quite certain B&N wasn't likely to provide what I needed. If he hadn't bought then, I'd have pulled the trigger the day after the Nook STR announcement.

And I really REALLY do not understand why B&N et al don't hire a few heavy users as consultants. Most of the people here would consult for "free" if they got a free Nook out of the deal. It's not rocket science.

Wouldn't be a bad idea for ANY manufacturer to do this. Get an idea of what someone who really reads a lot might actually want in their reader.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Now you see why Sony buyers are willing to pay more for a Sony reader.

That's it in a nutshell. I admit, I also wanted the lovely 7" screen and I loved the aluminum casing and improved battery life, but the organization was what I was willing to cough up $300 for if I'd had to. Worth it.

[afa]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And I really REALLY do not understand why B&N et al don't hire a few heavy users as consultants. Most of the people here would consult for "free" if they got a free Nook out of the deal. It's not rocket science.

When it comes to the metadata thing, they don't even need to do that. Surely, there must be a few people among the Nook development team who have MP3 players. Didn't any of them, at any point, realise, "Gosh, it sure is easy to navigate my way through 8000+ songs on my iPod, thanks to this metadata and tags. Maybe we should add that to the Nook..."

And while the use of heavy users would benefit, they don't even have to hire them as consultants. Why pay, when you can have the information for free? Isn't that one of the great benefits of Internet forums?

Maybe 20 years ago they really would need to hire consultants to advise them on the needs and desires of consumers. Nowadays, simply having their people regularly visit forums such as these could likely do the job. Sure, there is a fair amount of irrelevant stuff here, too, but there's also a ton of information about what we, as users, like and/or dislike about our devices.

[RedCanyoneer]

So I'm seeing that out of all the readers out there, the Sony is the leader in terms of organization. Makes me wish I would have researched more when I got my Nook. And I usually do research pretty well, I just didn't know the questions to ask. I "assumed"....

And there are no software readers (iPad apps) that organize worth a darn.

And I'm seeing that the Sony 950 is nearly $400. Maybe I can convince the wife she wants my Nook....

[anamardoll]

afa, I honestly think that the developers don't expect users to read the way that some of us do. I think THEY think that we buy one book at a time on B&N.com, read, archive, repeat.

But, yes, they could listen to the people on their own freaking forum. That'd be a start.

RedCanyoneer, I don't know, but I *assume* the new Sonys will also have this feature and they will be priced significantly lower than $400. So you might wait for those. (There's a thread around here somewhere.)

And don't feel bad -- I bought the Nook first by mistake myself. As I said, Sony really isn't advertising this difference like they should and could.

If you're using iPad, and therefor Stanza, you can at least organize your stuff in Calibre and see the organization through a Dropbox cloud library:

http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/03/er...-in-cloud.html

Once you download the book from your cloud storage, it would get dumped into the big pile, but this might help.

[Nahgem]

Originally Posted by RedCanyoneer

I like your sugggestion. To be sure I understand, this "plugboard" changes the Title field in the metadata to include the series name. And then the Nook looks at the Title metadata and displays the information the plugboard inputs.

Yes, but only for the files that are sent from Calibre to your device. The metadata in your Calibre files doesn't change.

Also, "plugboard" = macro of some sort within Calibre? I haven't used them yet.

I think so? Someone who actually knows what they're talking about should probably confirm or deny that though. I'm just following directions someone posted on another forum.

[anamardoll]

They're called Plugins in my version of Calibre. Very easy to setup -- took me about 10 minutes starting with zero knowledge.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by RedCanyoneer

And there are no software readers (iPad apps) that organize worth a darn.

Stanza works pretty decently enough at organizing as long as you have your ebooks properly tagged.

Actually, one reason I like Stanza so much is because I can just use it in conjunction with the Calibre OPDS server. I just have to organize my books in Calibre and when I open the Calibre content server from Stanza, I can traverse my library using the myriad of categories available in Calibre or just use the search function (which will search all available metadata in Calibre and is not just limited to title/author).

However, I do find it interesting that Sony is the only one with decent organization capabilities. Never realized just how bad the others were.