metadata query

turbotoes · 12-27-2010, 05:34 AM

Hello all,

I've bought a Sony PRS-350 to complement my iphone as an e-reader and have rapidly dumped the sony software in favour of Calibre, but I do have a problem with some of my e-books (all epubs, picked up here and there), in that, I can tidy up the metadata (by right clicking on the book in the main window and choosing "edit metadata individually" and all changes show up as you would expect.

However, if I then double click on book to view in the built in viewer, then click on the "i" metadata button, then my changes do not show up, and this appears to be the metadata that my reader uses, as I have a lot of books where this hidden metadata is "author and title unknown" Makes finding the book on the device a tad tricky

Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?

PS, great and helpful forum by the way I have learnt bucket loads whilst lurking!!

Tara

chaley · 12-27-2010, 05:55 AM

Changing metadata in calibre changes the information in calibre's database, not in the books themselves. That is why you are seeing the old info in calibre's viewer.

When you send an epub book to your Sony using send-to-device, the metadata in the copied book will be updated to what is in calibre's database. The same thing happens when you use save-to-disk. In both cases you can modify this behavior using plugboards.

If you want to update the metadata in calibre's stored copy, then do one of the following:
1) Convert the book from epub to epub. This will update the metadata, and will also change the cover and (optionally) add a jacket page. However, it might change the formatting of the book, which you may or may not want.
2) Send the books to disk, then use edit metadata to replace the existing format (old metadata) with the book in the 'sent to' folder (new metadata). This changes only the metadata.
3) Same as 2, but after sending to device. Get the new copy from your device.
4) Use 'tweak epub' and manually make the changes to content.opf (not an option I would choose.

)

There might be a way to use connect to folder and merge to make the copy-back process easier. The idea is to send the books to the folder device, then add the books back from that folder device. I haven't used merge enough to comment with any authority about how this would work.

There has been discussion of adding a feature/command to update metadata for epubs in place, but to my knowledge no one has yet done the programming. I know that I haven't.

turbotoes · 12-27-2010, 06:19 AM

Chaley, thanks for that comprehensive answer!!, the convert epub to epub seems to have done the trick.
When I dumped all the books on the sony I cheated and copied the calibre library (drag and drop) directly, as the "send to device" kept failing (comms error) and that is why the metadata did not update I guess.

Tara

12-27-2010, 05:34 AM	#1
turbotoes Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: France Device: iPad mini, galaxy A5	metadata query Hello all, I've bought a Sony PRS-350 to complement my iphone as an e-reader and have rapidly dumped the sony software in favour of Calibre, but I do have a problem with some of my e-books (all epubs, picked up here and there), in that, I can tidy up the metadata (by right clicking on the book in the main window and choosing "edit metadata individually" and all changes show up as you would expect. However, if I then double click on book to view in the built in viewer, then click on the "i" metadata button, then my changes do not show up, and this appears to be the metadata that my reader uses, as I have a lot of books where this hidden metadata is "author and title unknown" Makes finding the book on the device a tad tricky Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong? PS, great and helpful forum by the way I have learnt bucket loads whilst lurking!! Tara

12-27-2010, 05:55 AM	#2
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,734 Karma: 6690881 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Changing metadata in calibre changes the information in calibre's database, not in the books themselves. That is why you are seeing the old info in calibre's viewer. When you send an epub book to your Sony using send-to-device, the metadata in the copied book will be updated to what is in calibre's database. The same thing happens when you use save-to-disk. In both cases you can modify this behavior using plugboards. If you want to update the metadata in calibre's stored copy, then do one of the following: 1) Convert the book from epub to epub. This will update the metadata, and will also change the cover and (optionally) add a jacket page. However, it might change the formatting of the book, which you may or may not want. 2) Send the books to disk, then use edit metadata to replace the existing format (old metadata) with the book in the 'sent to' folder (new metadata). This changes only the metadata. 3) Same as 2, but after sending to device. Get the new copy from your device. 4) Use 'tweak epub' and manually make the changes to content.opf (not an option I would choose. ) There might be a way to use connect to folder and merge to make the copy-back process easier. The idea is to send the books to the folder device, then add the books back from that folder device. I haven't used merge enough to comment with any authority about how this would work. There has been discussion of adding a feature/command to update metadata for epubs in place, but to my knowledge no one has yet done the programming. I know that I haven't. Last edited by chaley; 12-27-2010 at 06:25 AM.

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12-27-2010, 06:19 AM	#3
turbotoes Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: France Device: iPad mini, galaxy A5	Chaley, thanks for that comprehensive answer!!, the convert epub to epub seems to have done the trick. When I dumped all the books on the sony I cheated and copied the calibre library (drag and drop) directly, as the "send to device" kept failing (comms error) and that is why the metadata did not update I guess. Tara

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