What I don't like about ebook omnibus editions - Page 3

Victoria · 12-02-2013, 07:33 PM

I have a few, and haven't minded them. I read one book at a time, and don't feel an obligation to read the next book, unless it's where i want to go next. Also, it's a great way to receive a discount. It does screw up automatic numbering in Calibre, so I've had to develop a workaround.

cromag · 12-02-2013, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not true. The time taken to load ePub books is independent of their overall size, since only a single "flow" is loaded into memory at any given time. A similar thing applies to Kindle books.

At the dawn of time there were readers like the Sony PRS-505 which would "paginate" a book when it was first opened, and the time taken to do that was dependent on the size of the book, but I don't know of any current reader which does anything similar.

Do you have any evidence to support your assertion that large books take longer to open?

Still true for the JetBook Mini -- a very small part of the market, but still available and I suspect most of the ones that were sold are still operational.

My JetBook Lite has few problems with Omnibuses (Omnibi?) -- as long as they're well made. I have had a couple that caused problems, but running them through Calibre with the add-on to split them worked just fine.

For the ones that worked, I prefer the Omnibus edition, since then the ereader keeps track of what book and page I'm on.

susan_cassidy · 12-03-2013, 01:35 PM

Sometimes when you buy a set from Baen books, they come as a zip file, and you just unzip the file, and multiple books are there.

HarryT · 12-03-2013, 02:26 PM

Baen's monthly bundles are always zip files if you download the whole bundle.

Little.Egret · 12-03-2013, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Baen's monthly bundles are always zip files if you download the whole bundle.

Baen non-monthly bundles also offer that option.

http://www.baenebooks.com/c-89-book-bundles.aspx
for example
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1725-ben...me-bundle.aspx

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1565-cha...-volume-i.aspx
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1585-cha...volume-ii.aspx
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1606-cha...olume-iii.aspx

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-574-codo...ry-bundle.aspx

Katsunami · 12-03-2013, 05:19 PM

If you think that 4500 pages for an omnibus is big, then get some stuff at Delphi Classics. At 2400 characters per page (average paperback in my book case), some of those omnibuses are close to 20.000 pages.

They're so big, that Calibre is not able to convert them from EPUB to AZW3. Therefore I use KindleGen and the commandline version of KindleUnpack to first convert the EPUB to MOBI/KF8 combo-format, and then extract the AZW3 from that.

In the beginning, I was thinking about splitting up these omnibuses, but I've decided against doing that. While their books are very good, there are bound to be some errors with books of this size. (Often encountered: an HTML ToC in which a link is actually not a link.) Therefore, they update their books, and I'm unwilling to resplit the books after an update. Way too much work.

The two things I don't like about omnibuses is (this is general, and by no means a Delphi gripe):

First: You can't mark a part of it as "Read". I'm probably never going to read everything; for example, I have the "Homer" omnibus, but I'm going to read just ONE translation of The Iliad, and ONE of The Odyssee (probably the prose ones). There are 6 of each in there, some incomplete works, some works attributed to Homer (but it's not certain he actually wrote them), and the original greek versions.

I've resolved this by just creating an empty book in Calibre, filling the metadata, sticking a nice cover onto it, and then mark it "Read"; the description will have a line at the top saying "Book contained in Homer Compilation by Delphi Classics". (I actually fill out the page number, by looking up the start and end page of the book on the Kindle.)

Obviously, I do the same thing for other books.

Second: Many omnibuses are huge. If there is something I don't like, it's almost impossible to open them in Sigil. Often the "Tweak Book" function in Calibre is enough, but for some stuff, Sigil is easier. (I know Kovid is working on a Sigil-like Tweak Book function. YAY!)

I think that the size of the books is a matter of pride for Delphi. As they are all public domain works, and they all have no DRM and are all downloaded through the Delphi website, there is NO reason to sell an omnibus that's 20.000 pages in size. They could just as well sell a zip-file.

Maybe they still do it this way because they are also in the Amazon and Kobo stores, where zip-files are a no-go; but then again, I think they should provide the option for people who buy through their website.

If I buy an onmibus of a series, with 2-6 books in it or so, one that will probably never be updated, then I'll probably split it up. Splitting it up is not going to take much more time than creating the empty book.

I'm not going to bother doing that with something like the Delphi Classics. I'm not going to split up 31 novels, 73 short stories, 18 plays, 4 opera's and 8 biographies, if I don't know yet what I'm going to read, exactly.

For example, I've bought the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle omnibus (~12K pages) because I want to read the Sherlock and Challenger stuff, and I'm interested in one of the non-fiction book "Through the magic door", but I don't know (yet) if I'm going to read all his other stuff. The opera is definitely out. The reason why I didn't look for the Sherlock and Challenger stuff (and that one book) seperately is because Delphi gave me the option to have everything at once, and illustrated and all, for almost nothing, because of their last 25 and 50% sales.

The same holds true for all other Delphi books I've bought (I've got 23 of them now).

mcrow · 12-03-2013, 05:49 PM

Never liked Omnibus books. I really like seeing the covers of each book and that my progress being tracked is for one book, not the whole set.

Little.Egret · 12-04-2013, 10:19 AM

Plenty of Omnibuses that originally came out as singles for paper printing, contractual or marketing reasons. Charlie Stross reported being told his contracted ms would be split only when it was delivered. Translations into German often become two volumes.

Lois McMaster Bujold's _Cordelia's Honor_ makes more sense as a 2 in 1

eschwartz · 12-04-2013, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Plenty of Omnibuses that originally came out as singles for paper printing, contractual or marketing reasons. Charlie Stross reported being told his contracted ms would be split only when it was delivered. Translations into German often become two volumes.

Lois McMaster Bujold's _Cordelia's Honor_ makes more sense as a 2 in 1

Well, those omnibuses make a little more sense.

A Game of Thrones 4-Book Boxed Set does not make sense, as one ebook, and as a personal gripe, it has page numbers from the first book only, unlike, say, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Tarana · 12-04-2013, 04:09 PM

Just a note. I was talking to my sister about this thread and what she does when she gets an Omnibus. First, she finds out what the order of the books are supposed to be. Then she goes through and uses the search to find the titles. Then she uses highlights or notes to indicate the book and the numbered of the order of the book. She does this during commercials so that she can go right to reading when her husband's football game comes on.

12-03-2013, 05:19 PM	#36
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	If you think that 4500 pages for an omnibus is big, then get some stuff at Delphi Classics. At 2400 characters per page (average paperback in my book case), some of those omnibuses are close to 20.000 pages. They're so big, that Calibre is not able to convert them from EPUB to AZW3. Therefore I use KindleGen and the commandline version of KindleUnpack to first convert the EPUB to MOBI/KF8 combo-format, and then extract the AZW3 from that. In the beginning, I was thinking about splitting up these omnibuses, but I've decided against doing that. While their books are very good, there are bound to be some errors with books of this size. (Often encountered: an HTML ToC in which a link is actually not a link.) Therefore, they update their books, and I'm unwilling to resplit the books after an update. Way too much work. The two things I don't like about omnibuses is (this is general, and by no means a Delphi gripe): First: You can't mark a part of it as "Read". I'm probably never going to read everything; for example, I have the "Homer" omnibus, but I'm going to read just ONE translation of The Iliad, and ONE of The Odyssee (probably the prose ones). There are 6 of each in there, some incomplete works, some works attributed to Homer (but it's not certain he actually wrote them), and the original greek versions. I've resolved this by just creating an empty book in Calibre, filling the metadata, sticking a nice cover onto it, and then mark it "Read"; the description will have a line at the top saying "Book contained in Homer Compilation by Delphi Classics". (I actually fill out the page number, by looking up the start and end page of the book on the Kindle.) Obviously, I do the same thing for other books. Second: Many omnibuses are huge. If there is something I don't like, it's almost impossible to open them in Sigil. Often the "Tweak Book" function in Calibre is enough, but for some stuff, Sigil is easier. (I know Kovid is working on a Sigil-like Tweak Book function. YAY!) I think that the size of the books is a matter of pride for Delphi. As they are all public domain works, and they all have no DRM and are all downloaded through the Delphi website, there is NO reason to sell an omnibus that's 20.000 pages in size. They could just as well sell a zip-file. Maybe they still do it this way because they are also in the Amazon and Kobo stores, where zip-files are a no-go; but then again, I think they should provide the option for people who buy through their website. If I buy an onmibus of a series, with 2-6 books in it or so, one that will probably never be updated, then I'll probably split it up. Splitting it up is not going to take much more time than creating the empty book. I'm not going to bother doing that with something like the Delphi Classics. I'm not going to split up 31 novels, 73 short stories, 18 plays, 4 opera's and 8 biographies, if I don't know yet what I'm going to read, exactly. For example, I've bought the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle omnibus (~12K pages) because I want to read the Sherlock and Challenger stuff, and I'm interested in one of the non-fiction book "Through the magic door", but I don't know (yet) if I'm going to read all his other stuff. The opera is definitely out. The reason why I didn't look for the Sherlock and Challenger stuff (and that one book) seperately is because Delphi gave me the option to have everything at once, and illustrated and all, for almost nothing, because of their last 25 and 50% sales. The same holds true for all other Delphi books I've bought (I've got 23 of them now). Last edited by Katsunami; 12-03-2013 at 05:28 PM.

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12-02-2013, 07:33 PM	#31
Victoria Wizard Posts: 1,017 Karma: 19767610 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Nova Scotia Canada Device: ipad, Kindle PW, Kobo Clara; iphone 7	I have a few, and haven't minded them. I read one book at a time, and don't feel an obligation to read the next book, unless it's where i want to go next. Also, it's a great way to receive a discount. It does screw up automatic numbering in Calibre, so I've had to develop a workaround.

12-03-2013, 01:35 PM	#33
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	Sometimes when you buy a set from Baen books, they come as a zip file, and you just unzip the file, and multiple books are there.

12-03-2013, 02:26 PM	#34
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Baen's monthly bundles are always zip files if you download the whole bundle.

12-03-2013, 05:49 PM	#37
mcrow Zealot Posts: 145 Karma: 1486256 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kindle 4/Kindle Fire HD/Kindle Fire HDX 7"	Never liked Omnibus books. I really like seeing the covers of each book and that my progress being tracked is for one book, not the whole set.

12-04-2013, 10:19 AM	#38
Little.Egret Wizard Posts: 3,168 Karma: 37800000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G, Kindle Fire 2, NOOK ST, Kindle HDX, Fire 7"	Plenty of Omnibuses that originally came out as singles for paper printing, contractual or marketing reasons. Charlie Stross reported being told his contracted ms would be split only when it was delivered. Translations into German often become two volumes. Lois McMaster Bujold's _Cordelia's Honor_ makes more sense as a 2 in 1

12-04-2013, 04:09 PM	#40
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,038 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Just a note. I was talking to my sister about this thread and what she does when she gets an Omnibus. First, she finds out what the order of the books are supposed to be. Then she goes through and uses the search to find the titles. Then she uses highlights or notes to indicate the book and the numbered of the order of the book. She does this during commercials so that she can go right to reading when her husband's football game comes on.

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