Choosing which ISBNdb.com number to use?

erikk · 02-26-2008, 11:34 AM

OK whenever I am tagging my books in libprs500 I seem to find multiple options in ISBNdb.com for the same book. Some are different publishers, some are different copyright dates. Some are hardcover versus softcover. Some are audiobooks. Some I don't even know what are.

How do you choose which one to use? Does it even really matter? I've been basically trying to choose the one with the earliest date or ISBN number thinking the original one or first one is best.

But is that the best practice? Or the worst? Should I be using the most recent on the assumption that it'll have the most up to date information? Or be most likely to correspond to a book still in print? Or and this might be the most important of all, the most likely to have a good image for the cover?

Anyway any input appreciated; even if it's to tell me not to worry about it and pick any one that you know is the right book.

kovidgoyal · 02-26-2008, 12:14 PM

I typically pick the one that has the title and author metadata that is closest to what I want and I also make sure not to pick non numeric ISBNs

erikk · 02-26-2008, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I typically pick the one that has the title and author metadata that is closest to what I want and I also make sure not to pick non numeric ISBNs

What do you mean by non-numeric ISBNs? Is there something wrong with an ISBN that includes alpha characters?

kovidgoyal · 02-26-2008, 12:41 PM

http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/i.../isbnqa.asp#Q3

erikk · 02-26-2008, 01:04 PM

ok the only ones I were worried about included an X at the end and that seems to be ok.

VillageReader · 02-26-2008, 01:28 PM

I've been told the last character is a checksum - and that it is sometimes an x.

02-26-2008, 11:34 AM	#1
erikk Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Lorton, VA Device: Sony Reader PRS-505	Choosing which ISBNdb.com number to use? OK whenever I am tagging my books in libprs500 I seem to find multiple options in ISBNdb.com for the same book. Some are different publishers, some are different copyright dates. Some are hardcover versus softcover. Some are audiobooks. Some I don't even know what are. How do you choose which one to use? Does it even really matter? I've been basically trying to choose the one with the earliest date or ISBN number thinking the original one or first one is best. But is that the best practice? Or the worst? Should I be using the most recent on the assumption that it'll have the most up to date information? Or be most likely to correspond to a book still in print? Or and this might be the most important of all, the most likely to have a good image for the cover? Anyway any input appreciated; even if it's to tell me not to worry about it and pick any one that you know is the right book.

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02-26-2008, 12:14 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I typically pick the one that has the title and author metadata that is closest to what I want and I also make sure not to pick non numeric ISBNs

02-26-2008, 12:41 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/i.../isbnqa.asp#Q3

02-26-2008, 01:04 PM	#5
erikk Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Lorton, VA Device: Sony Reader PRS-505	ok the only ones I were worried about included an X at the end and that seems to be ok.

02-26-2008, 01:28 PM	#6
VillageReader Evangelist Posts: 430 Karma: 2718 Join Date: May 2006 Device: Iliad	I've been told the last character is a checksum - and that it is sometimes an x.