Folders While You Wait

[6charlong]

I have a Pocket Pro on order and am now waiting on US Customs. While I wait I've been downloading books from MobleRead, Feedbooks and Google Books to my PC. I've downloaded quite a few already. With all the formats the PPro supports I've downloaded ePub and Mobi books plus a few PDFs formatted for a 6-inch screen, just to see how that works out.

As you all know, the PPro supports folders, which I've never had on a book reader before. (I've never had 16GB to work with before either.) I was wondering what others are doing about organizing your folders. Do you create folders by:

A. format
B. genre
C. DRM status
D. era it was written in
E. source of the book like MobleRead, Fictionwise, B&N (OK, I'm being optomistic here about secure eReader coming soon), Books on Board, etc.

If you use big categories like "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction" (is there another that I missed?), does it display well on screen if you use just two top folders? If you use top folders like that do you break your books up in separate folders for:

A. author, or
B. into subcategories like Science Fiction, Fantasy, Children, Historical Fiction, History, Science, etc?

And if you use subcategories, how do you decide what subcategories to use? The bookstores don't always agree on which genre a book belongs in anyway and the libraries I've looked at locally use mysterious filing systems, and they're not always the same from one library to another. One college library even uses two different systems in different parts of the building. But the libraries have indexes to look things up and I don't expect the Pocket Pro to do that.

On the Sony this is simple; it doesn't work very well, but it's simple: you drop all the books in one physical location on the Reader, then create "Collections" using the Sony Library software. Next you drag-and-drop the books from their original location into the Collection you want to put them in. The device actually just creates a pointer within Categories that points to the book at its original location; I have a lot of books that I've put in more than one Category. With directories, if you want to put a book in more than one place, do you make a second copy of the book in the new folder? or do the the Hanlin devices support pointers?

Folders for my books is new territory for me. Getting this put together and copied onto an SD card while I wait seemed like a useful way to wile away the time.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

II was wondering what others are doing about organizing your folders.

I use

Genre\Author\Series\Author_Title.epub

I have Author twice (in the folder name, and the file name) so that the directory structure isn't essential. I also add the book number to the title for series. It is ok to have MOBI and ePub files with the same name but different extensions in the same directory.

For screenshots of how this looks, see File Navigation: Hanlin V3 vs OpenInkPot. Note that there are 8 entries per page.

[griffonwing]

With 8 listing per page, I will probably separate Fiction into multiple categories, in order of reading preference.

1) Fantasy
2) Sci-Fi
3) Mystery
4) Documentary
5) Classics
6) Comics
7) Religious
8) MISC

Next page of folders will have NonFiction, Music and Fonts and other genres that I won't want to access all the time.

Under 1) Fantasy, I'll probably have them listed Alpha by last name, then by series name, then book name...

Such as Fantasy / Asprin / M.Y.T.H / 1. Another Fine Myth

My only problem is where to put authors who cross genres. Asprin does the Phule series, which really isn't Fantasy, it's more Sci-Fi. Do I split the author into 2 main folders, or put the Phule series under Fantasy as well?

Decisions decisions....

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

With 8 listing per page, I will probably separate Fiction into multiple categories

Don't forget that the 1st page on the root will have "Recent files" as #1. See my screenshots.

[SDRebel]

interesting ... I should be getting mine and haven't thought much except the first book that I am going to read and already started reading it in my netbook (rising atlantis, found free here in MR).....
btw, what good books do you have ready to read? I will "need" to get books soon

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Don't forget that the 1st page on the root will have "Recent files" as #1. See my screenshots.

I can't delete the 'Recent Files' folder? What kind of crock is that? I don't want a folder with that name. Esp not on the first page.

[cvkemp]

That is a system folder that is a place holder of ebooks that you are reading or have been reading it will reference up to 8 ebooks/files.

Chuck

[griffonwing]

Hrmm.. still not sure I like it. I'd much rather have a Recent Books link come up in the menu than to have a folder specifically dedicated to recent books.

[cvkemp]

Yes this shows up like a folder but it really are links to the files. It does not have the files but the links to the files.

Chuck

[griffonwing]

Aye, still, i'd rather not have the folder there at all. I'd rather access the recent files in a menu, instead of using up a Folder slot. It's a quirk I have, I suppose.

[6charlong]

I mulled this over last night using the suggestions here, and this is my first attempt to guess an organization:

First Page:

Recent Files
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Library Books
School
Work Files
Manuals

Then under the two main categories, Fiction and non-Fiction:

1. Fiction
2. Genre
3. Author
4. Series
5. <actual book files>

I thought that I'd just put all Library Books in one folder since they expire in a few weeks anyway. As for school, I haven't taken a class for a couple years, but I've been thinking about signing up for a literature class. All my life I've tried to attend at least one class a year, even if it was just a language class or a community school offering. I guess the best way to organize school books is by making a separate folder for each Quarter/Year. I don't know if I have to put the year first to control sorting or if the order I put them stays in that same order. Probably there's no sorting? Here's how I envision it:

1. School
2. 09 Spring
09 Summer
3. <class name if there is more than one>
4. <book titles>

In Work Files I'll just make subfolders as I need them with a separate one for each task.

I couldn't decide whether Manuals belongs under non-Fiction or whether it gets a place on the front page. I decided that if I'm using the PC to organize the folders on an SD card, I can move it later if I want to.

[ekaser]

Originally Posted by SDRebel

btw, what good books do you have ready to read? I will "need" to get books soon

If you like science fiction...

A lot of folks may not be aware that the books of Daniel Keyes Moran are available for free download from:

http://www.immunityinc.com/resources-dkm.shtml

In particular, I HIGHLY recommend this tightly related series (in order):
Emerald Eyes
The Long Run
The Last Dancer

Excellent, EXCELLENT books. He has a fourth book in that series ("The AI Wars") that he's not yet released, and it's uncertain when he will. These books were published by Bantam back in the late 80s and 90s, but he has recovered publishing rights to them and is making them freely available. If you've never read them or heard of them, give 'em a try!

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by ekaser

If you like science fiction...

A lot of folks may not be aware that the books of Daniel Keyes Moran are available for free download from:

http://www.immunityinc.com/resources-dkm.shtml

In particular, I HIGHLY recommend this tightly related series (in order):
Emerald Eyes
The Long Run
The Last Dancer

Excellent, EXCELLENT books. He has a fourth book in that series ("The AI Wars") that he's not yet released, and it's uncertain when he will. These books were published by Bantam back in the late 80s and 90s, but he has recovered publishing rights to them and is making them freely available. If you've never read them or heard of them, give 'em a try!

Thanks for the heads up. I liked this series originally.
MLH

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

I can't delete the 'Recent Files' folder? What kind of crock is that? I don't want a folder with that name. Esp not on the first page.

especially if you just read little women and are letting someone else use it :P

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by ekaser

If you like science fiction...

A lot of folks may not be aware that the books of Daniel Keyes Moran are available for free download from:

http://www.immunityinc.com/resources-dkm.shtml

In particular, I HIGHLY recommend this tightly related series (in order):
Emerald Eyes
The Long Run
The Last Dancer

Excellent, EXCELLENT books. He has a fourth book in that series ("The AI Wars") that he's not yet released, and it's uncertain when he will. These books were published by Bantam back in the late 80s and 90s, but he has recovered publishing rights to them and is making them freely available. If you've never read them or heard of them, give 'em a try!

i do like science fiction, will check it out. Thanks