Just what the heck is a collection?

Lady Fitzgerald · 01-29-2011, 05:54 AM

I've been using calibre since last summer and I have read the documentation several times (understanding it is another story) and I have yet to figure out what a collection is. Could someone help out a poor computer illiterate old broad here?

Manichean · 01-29-2011, 06:02 AM

Something to do with Kindles, from what I gather... There's no feature in Calibre that allows to create anything called a collection, but I think that collections on the kindles can be created from data in Calibre. I hope that helps, I'm not too clear on that point, either

Lady Fitzgerald · 01-29-2011, 06:17 AM

So it's device specific.

Agama · 01-29-2011, 06:18 AM

Yes, seems to be reader specific.

Collections are also a feature on Sony readers, being a top-level navigation option. The main menu on these readers has options to view books by Author, Title, Date and Collection.

Collections are created by the user and books assigned to them manually so that related books can be grouped together. You could have separate collections for Science Fiction, Classics, Biography etc.

The Sony software allows the user to manage these collections but they are more easily managed using calibre's tags/series info.

DoctorOhh · 01-29-2011, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I've been using calibre since last summer and I have read the documentation several times (understanding it is another story) and I have yet to figure out what a collection is. Could someone help out a poor computer illiterate old broad here?

Collections are a way to organize books on a ereader. My books on my reader are automatically associated in collections by my calibre tags and series info along with the standard Authors, Titles and Date.

meme · 01-29-2011, 06:21 AM

As far as the Kindle goes, Collections are a way to group your books together so that you can view the group names on the Kindle to make looking for a book easier - kind of like tags in Calibre but Collections is the term Kindle uses.

I don't know if other ereaders use them as I only have a Kindle - but they probably use folders or a similar term. Calibre seems to know about collections as it can display most of them for a Kindle, but it can't create them for the Kindle by default. I got the impression it can setup collections for other devices that are more standard, but I'm not certain.

cityzen · 01-29-2011, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meme

As far as the Kindle goes, Collections are a way to group your books together so that you can view the group names on the Kindle to make looking for a book easier - kind of like tags in Calibre but Collections is the term Kindle uses.

Okay so does that mean we can manage our Kindle Collections via Calibre?

Pinecone · 01-29-2011, 06:36 AM

Collections are like folders on your computer. They are a way of organizing your books so you can find the one you want easily.

EXCEPT that the books aren't in the actually collection, the collection just points to them. So a book can be in 20 collections, but you will only have one copy of the book.

For those who are old enough, collections are like a card catalog at the library.

So more like an index of similar books.

Manichean · 01-29-2011, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cityzen

Okay so does that mean we can manage our Kindle Collections via Calibre?

This thread might help.

cityzen · 01-29-2011, 06:45 AM

Are you stalking me??? Thanks Mate

Manichean · 01-29-2011, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cityzen

Are you stalking me??? Thanks Mate

No, I posted in this thread, so it is on my subscription list.

meme · 01-29-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manichean

This thread might help.

hmmm

HarryT · 01-29-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Collections are like folders on your computer. They are a way of organizing your books so you can find the one you want easily.

Collection are really nothing like folders. All sorts of problems arise when you think of collections as folders - it's really best not to use that analogy.

Collections are "tags" - labels you stick on a book saying "this is a science fiction books", "this is a history book" - whatever labels you choose to use. When you then look at your "history" collection, you'll then see a list of all the books that you've stuck the "history" tag onto. Because you can still multiple labels onto a book, the same book can show up in multiple collections.

Pinecone · 01-30-2011, 11:31 AM

They are similar to folders, in that you can place books in them to give a manageable structure to your library.

They are NOT like folders, in that if a book is in more than one collection, there are not multiple copies of the book.

Tags are not conceptually familiar for many people.

01-29-2011, 05:54 AM	#1
Lady Fitzgerald Wizard Posts: 2,013 Karma: 251649 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA, Earth Device: JetBook Lite (away from home) + 1 spare, 32" TV (at home)	Just what the heck is a collection? I've been using calibre since last summer and I have read the documentation several times (understanding it is another story) and I have yet to figure out what a collection is. Could someone help out a poor computer illiterate old broad here?

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01-29-2011, 06:02 AM	#2
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Something to do with Kindles, from what I gather... There's no feature in Calibre that allows to create anything called a collection, but I think that collections on the kindles can be created from data in Calibre. I hope that helps, I'm not too clear on that point, either

01-29-2011, 06:17 AM	#3
Lady Fitzgerald Wizard Posts: 2,013 Karma: 251649 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA, Earth Device: JetBook Lite (away from home) + 1 spare, 32" TV (at home)	So it's device specific.

01-29-2011, 06:18 AM	#4
Agama Guru Posts: 776 Karma: 2751519 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: UK Device: PW2, Nexus7	Yes, seems to be reader specific. Collections are also a feature on Sony readers, being a top-level navigation option. The main menu on these readers has options to view books by Author, Title, Date and Collection. Collections are created by the user and books assigned to them manually so that related books can be grouped together. You could have separate collections for Science Fiction, Classics, Biography etc. The Sony software allows the user to manage these collections but they are more easily managed using calibre's tags/series info.

01-29-2011, 06:21 AM	#6
meme Sigil developer Posts: 1,274 Karma: 1101600 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle PW, K4 NT, K3, Kobo Touch	As far as the Kindle goes, Collections are a way to group your books together so that you can view the group names on the Kindle to make looking for a book easier - kind of like tags in Calibre but Collections is the term Kindle uses. I don't know if other ereaders use them as I only have a Kindle - but they probably use folders or a similar term. Calibre seems to know about collections as it can display most of them for a Kindle, but it can't create them for the Kindle by default. I got the impression it can setup collections for other devices that are more standard, but I'm not certain.

01-29-2011, 06:36 AM	#8
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	Collections are like folders on your computer. They are a way of organizing your books so you can find the one you want easily. EXCEPT that the books aren't in the actually collection, the collection just points to them. So a book can be in 20 collections, but you will only have one copy of the book. For those who are old enough, collections are like a card catalog at the library. So more like an index of similar books.

01-29-2011, 06:45 AM	#10
cityzen Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle	Are you stalking me??? Thanks Mate

01-30-2011, 11:31 AM	#14
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	They are similar to folders, in that you can place books in them to give a manageable structure to your library. They are NOT like folders, in that if a book is in more than one collection, there are not multiple copies of the book. Tags are not conceptually familiar for many people.

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