Two branches, audio and e-books

[brucepascal]

As it worked so wonderfully quick last time, another question.

I have 2600 e-book and about 2600 audio books, is there a way to have two branches in one calibre, or is it wiser to use two completely separate setups?


few minutes later: I just checked the "similar questions" below.... do the answers there mean calibre cannot be used for audio books?

[theducks]

You can DOCUMENT any collection in Calibre with a Tag:
<in paper Library>, Audio book, DVD, LP

In those cases, there will not be conversion and media delivery, but your data record is in a single place.

There are tricks to get Calibre to store Audio Books, (video clips,) but remember that those are a HUGE file and Calibre Libraries are on a single Path branch (Ya might need a bigger drive). The other, is calibre stores each book format in a single container (It Zips a group of HTML) and there can only be ONE of any type container per book. 1 Single MP3 , 22 of them

[BetterRed]

Sure you can, if you have books that have multiple MP3s leave them where they are, even on a server, create an m3u playlist files for the MP3s add them as a book by dropping them into the book list

On Windows I add books via File Explorer's Send To, you'll need to add a shortcut to calibre.exe to the Send to folder -- WinKey+R shell:sendto.

If you have text formats (ePub, PDF whatever) and audio of same book you can put the m3u playlist in the same book as the text formats - videos too if you like - they're just another format file.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Sure you can, if you have books that have multiple MP3s leave them where they are, even on a server, create an m3u playlist files for the MP3s add them as a book by dropping them into the book list

On Windows I add books via File Explorer's Send To, you'll need to add a shortcut to calibre.exe to the Send to folder -- WinKey+R shell:sendto.

If you have text formats (ePub, PDF whatever) and audio of same book you can put the m3u playlist in the same book as the text formats - videos too if you like - they're just another format file.

BR

So Simple

[stumped]

what I don't think you get for audio books, unless you DIY it all, is the same level of smart metadata. e.g. The "get metadata" option in the edit metadata tab is designed for books

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by stumped

what I don't think you get for audio books, unless you DIY it all, is the same level of smart metadata. e.g. The "get metadata" option in the edit metadata tab is designed for books

Not necessarily, check these plugins ==>> Read MP3 AudioBook metadata and ==>> Media File Importer

I've never used either of them.

BR

[Bluebonnet]

Those plugins above are constantly brought up anytime someone mentions audiobooks. However, neither one do anything to help you get real metadata for an audiobook. I have both and have studied them. Both only really help IMPORT the files for creating the records in Calibre.

Calibre is sorely lacking any support to get audiobook metadata. There is no Audible metadata plug-in, even though my searches in this forum show it has been requested many times. Amazon is frequently mentioned as a supported source, but there is no way I have found to make it show the audiobook version. Same with Goodreads. It's not that they don't have the audiobooks, but there is no way to tell either plugin that you want the audiobook version of data.

Even though this is my first post, I have been following this topic for years. I have been using Calibre for a decade, and have very large ebook and audiobook libraries. I keep mine separated because I need to "serve" the libraries using different interfaces (calibre-web for ebooks, booksonic for audiobooks).

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Bluebonnet

Those plugins above are constantly brought up anytime someone mentions audiobooks. However, neither one do anything to help you get real metadata for an audiobook. I have both and have studied them. Both only really help IMPORT the files for creating the records in Calibre.

Calibre is sorely lacking any support to get audiobook metadata. There is no Audible metadata plug-in, even though my searches in this forum show it has been requested many times. Amazon is frequently mentioned as a supported source, but there is no way I have found to make it show the audiobook version. Same with Goodreads. It's not that they don't have the audiobooks, but there is no way to tell either plugin that you want the audiobook version of data.

Even though this is my first post, I have been following this topic for years. I have been using Calibre for a decade, and have very large ebook and audiobook libraries. I keep mine separated because I need to "serve" the libraries using different interfaces (calibre-web for ebooks, booksonic for audiobooks).

All of the plugins in Index of plugins were first developed by people who had a need for them - and subsequently enhanced as a result of plugin user suggestions.

Given this is your first post I can assume you haven't requested an enhancement to either of plugins I suggested, nor the Goodreads plugins you mention, or chimed in when relevant requests have been made in the Plugin ideas thread. AFAIK no one here claims to be clairvoyant

Plugins are shipped as python source code. So, many calibre users with a specific need 'hack' existing plugins to provide additional functionality for their own private use. You can do the same with the calibre core.

BR

[brucepascal]

I was looking for a "simple" solution, like a second installation of calibre to completely separate audio books. All the descriptions look rather complicated and it will be 188GBs to sort and transfer.
I have just three audio folders, books, classical and rock.music, and it is easy to find things there

For e-books I find calibre extremely practical, as I have over 1000 medical books which can be found over the tabs list easily. That is really great.

So, once again: Thank You

[retro]

You could create a separate library for audio.

Since I often have both epub and audio of the same book, I have a column I mark as audio plus a virtual library to see only audio. For audio only, I add add an empty book and then download metadata and cover.

You can create a list of your audio folder with something like DirectoryListPrint, save it as a .cvs and import with the Import List plugin. That works very well after you tweak your .cvs to match what the plugin uses. Best to create an empty library to import and play around with. It can be combined into an existing library when you're finished.

I do not link the book to the mp3s, the books are to keep up with what I have and what I've finished.

[stumped]

Best solution partly depends on overlap. I.e. do you have many cases of owning both an e book and an audio book version of same titles, and thus would you want them grouped with the audiobook showing as an additional format?

Or are they different , not overlapping collections ?

[Tarana]

I have a separate library for audiobooks. I just create a book and download the metadata. I use the Publisher section to indicate where I bought it. I also edit the info section to include the narrator, which is useful as I have several versions of some books by different narrators. Initially, I was going to include cost, but since I already do that in my TBR spreadsheet, I didn't bother. I don't care about the cost once I've listened to it. I did this when I only had about 300 audiobooks (and now have 1,000 more than that). Don't make it too complicated - you just waste time when you could have been listening.

All my audio is sorted on a hard drive and backup hardrive - Genre, Author, series. Even though some of my authors write both scifi and fantasy, I just pick the one that best fits what I put them in. I don't buy it unless I can archive it somehow or unless it is very cheap with one time listen in mind (think Marie Kondo - $1.99 at Chirp).

[brucepascal]

Originally Posted by retro

You could create a separate library for audio.

Since I often have both epub and audio of the same book, I have a column I mark as audio plus a virtual library to see only audio. For audio only, I add add an empty book and then download metadata and cover.

You can create a list of your audio folder with something like DirectoryListPrint, save it as a .cvs and import with the Import List plugin. That works very well after you tweak your .cvs to match what the plugin uses. Best to create an empty library to import and play around with. It can be combined into an existing library when you're finished.

I do not link the book to the mp3s, the books are to keep up with what I have and what I've finished.

Thank you, no, I want it totally separated. I am either looking for audio or for mp3. And I always know which one I want.
I was hoping that two installations of calibre would be possible, but as the answers showed, that is not possible. Calibre makes books easier to find, in particular with medical books, but in audio I usually know exactly what I am looking for and where it is..

[brucepascal]

Originally Posted by stumped

Best solution partly depends on overlap. I.e. do you have many cases of owning both an e book and an audio book version of same titles, and thus would you want them grouped with the audiobook showing as an additional format?

Or are they different , not overlapping collections ?

Thank you, no, I have no reason to want them to overlap...

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by brucepascal

Thank you, no, I want it totally separated. I am either looking for audio or for mp3. And I always know which one I want.
I was hoping that two installations of calibre would be possible, but as the answers showed, that is not possible.

You can install as many instances of calibre as you want, on Windows install the portable version.

But 'we' doubt you need to do that. Either have one physical library with two virtual (subset) libraries, or two physical libraries.

One scenario for having multiple installs is because you need different global settings for different libraries. And the settings you want to vary are not covered by the JobSpy plugin's existing Library Specific Tweaks, and cannot be added as additional Library Specific Tweaks. But you'll never ever know if you don't ask the JS plugin developer to provide them. I suggested a change to one of his plugins yesterday morning, it was there when I got up the next morning.

Another situation might be because you want to run different versions of calibre, as I do via the Windows portable install:



I have them so I can respond to user issues on old versions.

BR