Sending metadata to iTunes

[paulfiera]

Hi guys

First post in this forum and I'd like to start by giving a big thanks to Kovid for calibre, GRiker for the integration with iTunes and mobileread for the forum.

I must admit thet after using calibre for about one month I've nearly stopped playing computer games. There's much more fun in this and a better reward

If you are into eBooks, this is the killer app.

Fantastic feature that you can see you book series in iTunes when you send EPUBs to the device. What I haven't figured out is, how to send also the book order in the series? Is this something I can configure in Preferences?

Many thanks

[kovidgoyal]

Yeah ever since I started working on calibre (almost 4 years ago now) my computer gaming has been drastically reduced, now if I ever play a game I just try to get through it as quickly as possible so I can get back to work

I vaguely remember GRiker saying something about not being able to send series index to iTunes, but I'm not a 100% sure. You'll have to wait for him to return, I believe he is travelling at the moment.

[GRiker]

@paufiera, thanks for the kind words.

Take a look at Calibre + iPad: Start here, in particular Title transformations in the Transforming metadata using calibre's Metadata plugboard feature section.

Using plugboard transforms, you can have your books retitled to include the series number. Is that what you meant?

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

Using plugboard transforms, you can have your books retitled to include the series number. Is that what you meant?

G

Many thanks, GRiker.

That's exactly it. But I must admit I'm a bit - well, completely - lost about what I need to change in that config.

[GRiker]

The instructions are contained in the link I provided:

Title transformations

A common use of plugboards is transforming a book's title when it is part of a series. For example, consider 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson, book 1 of the Millenium series. By default, iBooks would list it as simply 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

To have the book listed in iTunes/iBooks as 'Millenium 1: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo':

* Open the Metadata plugboards dialog - Preferences|Import/Export|Metadata plugboards.
* Select any format, epub or pdf from the Format dropdown list, then APPLE from the Device dropdown list.
* In the Source template field, add this template:

{series}{series_index:| |: }{title}

This tells the templating engine "If there is a series_index for the book, prepend the series name, a space, the series_index, then a colon and a space before the book's title."
* Select title from the Destination field dropdown list.
* Click the Save plugboard button, then Apply (upper left corner of the dialog) to save and close.
* All books matching the specified formats sent to iTunes/iBooks will have this plugboard transform applied.

If there's something unclear about these directions, let me know where you're having problems.

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

The instructions are contained in the link I provided:



If there's something unclear about these directions, let me know where you're having problems.

G

Many thanks, GRiker.

I don't really want to change the title of the books by adding the series and the series index, but rather, send the series index to an iTunes field that can be displayed in the iTunes UI.

Series are sent to iTunes as Episode ID and I would like to send series index to, maybe Episode Number, which can be selected in the iTunes UI as a column.

Series index is already sent to iTunes to the field Sort Name, but is being sent along with the series name and in a strange format.

Lets say I have:

Iain M. Banks - Inversions - The Culture - 6

is shown in iTunes' Sort Name as: Culture 0006.0000.

It'd be great if I could customize the plugin to just send "6" to iTunes Sort Name.

Many thanks for your help.

[GRiker]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Series are sent to iTunes as Episode ID and I would like to send series index to, maybe Episode Number, which can be selected in the iTunes UI as a column.

The series index is already being sent to Episode Number in its plain format. Enable that column in iTunes and you'll see it.

I won't change the iTunes sort name, as that format was evolved with much trial and error.

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

The series index is already being sent to Episode Number in its plain format. Enable that column in iTunes and you'll see it.

I won't change the iTunes sort name, as that format was evolved with much trial and error.

G

There is nothing in Episode Number in iTunes. Not enabling the column and not in the Get Info -> Video tab.

All the other fields are correct.

[paulfiera]

Just to make sure we are talking about the same field.

[GRiker]

The episode number is mapped to the series number when 'Use Series as Genre' is selected in the device drivers preferences.

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

The episode number is mapped to the series number when 'Use Series as Genre' is selected in the device drivers preferences.

G

These are my settings in the device preferences - have always been like that.

And the results in iTunes. As you can see, the series are sent to Episode ID, but Episode Number is blank.

Calibre version 0.7.33

My way of adding books to iTunes is right clicking in the books, and choosing:
Send to device -> Send to main memory. Maybe I'm doing this wrong?

[GRiker]

I just looked at my development notes, and noticed that you're running windows. There's a bug in the Windows iTunes automation interface that prevents Episode Number from being set. It works on OSX, but not Windows. Unfortunately, that code is maintained by Apple, so there's not much I can do about it. Kovid's original recollection was correct.

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

I just looked at my development notes, and noticed that you're running windows. There's a bug in the Windows iTunes automation interface that prevents Episode Number from being set. It works on OSX, but not Windows. Unfortunately, that code is maintained by Apple, so there's not much I can do about it. Kovid's original recollection was correct.

G

That explains it.

Many thanks for using your time debugging this issue.

Best Regards

[GRiker]

What if Episode ID were a combination of Series Name + Series Index?

For example, 'The Culture: 6'

Would that be acceptable?

G

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by GRiker

What if Episode ID were a combination of Series Name + Series Index?

For example, 'The Culture: 6'

Would that be acceptable?

G

Absolutely.

That would be the only way, as far as I know, to get the series in order - or, at least, to see which book comes first.

That's more or less how I see the series in the calibre UI: The Culture [6]

You are already sending this information to the iTunes field Sort Name, but as: Culture 0006.0000