Calibre e-media library (nice ring)

[Penru]

I found Calibre 1 week ago and fell in love! The user interface is perfect. The fact that you can grab your books from anywhere via the internet is amazing. Not to mention the fact that it also converts from one format to another in a breeze

Well all these great features I mentioned and even the ones I left out are all features I would love to be able to have for my e-movie, and e-music library as well.

E-music should work the same way as e-book, folder by author (singer), with tag replaced by maybe a genre drop down. there should also be a section for audio books.

E-movies should file by genre and sub-genre and also still have the tag section.

I would work on implementing these additions to Calibre but I can not even program my dvd player...


Post if you think this is a good/bad/silly/unreasonable idea, I would love feedback. If you have other ideas that fit into this idea, or a better way for some of my suggested features to work please speak up!

[Manichean]

I'd rather Calibre did one thing (ebook management and conversion) well than lots of things badly.

[GeoffC]

Interesting idea - but I for one would prefer Calibre stays as an e-book manager.

[Penru]

Originally Posted by Manichean

I'd rather Calibre did one thing (ebook management and conversion) well than lots of things badly.

Who said anything about doing it badly! It would still be doing the same thing it does now but have a couple tabs where it does to movies and music what it does to books...

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by Penru

-snip-
E-music should work the same way as e-book, folder by author (singer), with tag replaced by maybe a genre drop down. there should also be a section for audio books.

E-movies should file by genre and sub-genre and also still have the tag section.

-snip-

Another iTunes? Why would I want my music mixed in with my books?

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by Penru

Who said anything about doing it badly! It would still be doing the same thing it does now but have a couple tabs where it does to movies and music what it does to books...

Things tend to get done badly when the focus of a software goes too big. Do one thing well and use standardized interfaces.
Besides, the bar is way too high in at least the audio converter area. There are already several excellent programs available.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by Penru

Who said anything about doing it badly! It would still be doing the same thing it does now but have a couple tabs where it does to movies and music what it does to books...

Ever heard the expression "jack of all trades, master of none"?

These are just my opinions as a developer for many years (but only recently fiddling with Calibre)...

Calibre has way too much of it's core functionality hardcoded around concepts related to books. From the database design to the way everything is named internally. Trying to generalise all of that at this point in Calibre's development would require a horrific amount of effort and rewriting - along the way things would inevitably get "broken" that are working fine today.

Then you start restricting your future development as every decision must now take into account the requirements of other media types rather than just books. You have to start designing for the lowest common denominator.

I can see why you suggested the idea - there are a lot of similar concepts Calibre has that you could apply to other media types. And if you are loading books onto a device that supports multiple media types, you are wanting to also put your music and video on there too. So I can see the appeal in theory.

However I think you would need to start from the ground up with such a goal in mind, which I've never seen Kovid express any such desire towards - Calibre is about being the best book mgmt application. Period.

If you want an example of the abomination that can happen when you try to shoehorn multiple media types into a single application - just look at iTunes. Surely one of the worst applications on the planet.

[Penru]

Originally Posted by 1611mac

Another iTunes? Why would I want my music mixed in with my books?

not another itunes, but something to replace itunes. Picture this, right now you set up a calibre folder, well the main difference is in the main folder it will make 3 folders, books, movies, music.

Also, please do not compare Calibre to itunes... itunes is a sellout that is only interested in making money. It can do this because there is no viable alternative.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Manichean

I'd rather Calibre did one thing (ebook management and conversion) well than lots of things badly.

If I wanted i-tunes, I would have bought an i-device eek: that forced its use

I'm a Ludite.

My phone just makes calls
My book reader displays books (it will play MP3's,but it is a PITA. That is probably a side feature from the Text to Speach).
My Library manager (Calibre) does e-books.

and I pour boiling water over the grounds to make Coffee

[Penru]

Thank you for explaining to me why this idea may not work. It seams that you have a firm understanding of not on only what I want Calibre to do, but also the internal workings. could you recommend a program like Calibre for my movies?

[Penru]

Originally Posted by theducks

If I wanted i-tunes, I would have bought an i-device eek I pour boiling water over the grounds to make Coffee

I hate i everything!!! ipods,ipads,itunes,isux,iphones, all that garbage! I guess thats why I want something that has the functionally of itunes without its hand in my wallet!

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by Penru

I hate i everything!!! ipods,ipads,itunes,isux,iphones, all that garbage! I guess thats why I want something that has the functionally of itunes without its hand in my wallet!

Could you be biased? Perhaps you should take a fresh look???

I've used iTunes for years to manage my small (1631 songs) library and I love it. I've never bought a single piece of music from the store so I simply don't see your "money" issue. It is scriptable meaning that I can make it do whatever I need it to do. It syncs across computers, syncs to my iPad and iPod, etc etc.

I have also NOT enabled the social media aspect of the app (don't even remember the name).

In short... I use it to simply manage and play my music collection. Any piece of software is only as good as what you make of it and how you use.

-edit-
Let me add... I DO agree that is silly to manage books through iTunes! (desktop to iPad) They need to keep eBooks OUT of iTunes though an argument could be made to place audio books there.

[nynaevelan]

Guess I'm going to jump into this conversation after all. First let me say I am one of those people who do not care for integrated programs, while there are some that are capable of doing many things well, I find like others here have said that the functionality tends to become limited when you add too much to integrated products. I feel the same whether it is hardware or software. I prefer my phone to have phone features not internet, books, music etc.... the same for my kindle, mp3 player. With that in mind, I use the following software to manage my various databases.

music - Mediamonkey (www.mediamonkey.com). Like Calibre this program is phenomenal because it allows its users to increase it's functionality with the use of user created scripts/skins.
movies - All My Movies (www.bolide-soft.com). This is the only database that I use that has simplistic functionality, because I do not require the advance functionality with my dvds/blurays as I do with my music and books.
DTB books/audiobooks - All My Books (www.bolide-soft.com) - I know there are many here who add empty books to their Calibre database in order to maintain these types of books, but I prefer to only have ebooks in Calibre because it is also the manager of my kindle content and if it cannot be added to the Kindle from Calibre then it does not go into Calibre.

All of these programs handle my databases well as they are separately, and each has some functionality that I would not require of the other formats, which is why I would not want to have them integrated into a single program.

Nyn

[Penru]

I am not looking to database my collection. I have over 200 movies in digital format. I have backed up my DVD collection to digital and watch them on my phone (soon to be tablet). I need a program like Calibre that can sort my movies by genre and allow me to grab another movie off my desktop from anywhere!

I truly think that we are on the verge of all media going digital and would like one device to handle it all, using one program. Before I got my Droid phone I had to carry around whatever book I was reading, my cell-phone, my laptop, my mp3 player, power cord for my laptop, power cord for my mp3 player, a note pad, bus schedules (I live in the city and take the bus instead of driving), and a pedometer. Now I carry my Droid phone instead of 10 separate things. I like to streamline... I would like to find a program that could streamline, so I do not have to rely on 4/5 different programs simply to meet my needs...

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by Penru

-snip-
I need a program like Calibre that can sort my movies by genre and allow me to grab another movie off my desktop from anywhere!

-snip-

RE: sort movie by genre..
Don't know if you have Access or FileMaker Pro experience but I know that this could be setup in FileMaker in minutes.... (creating the db, not entering you info)

RE: grab movie from desktop from anywhere
A movie file is quite a bit larger than an mp3 or book so data storage and network speed become quite an issue.