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Old 06-24-2010, 04:33 PM   #136
chaley
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Originally Posted by tponzo View Post
Okay so I checked and I have version 0.7.4 of the program. Now how do I get my stuff into collections for the Sony PRS900. I don't see Plugins in the Preferences.
Plugins is the green puzzle piece at the bottom of the left-hand column of preferences. You may need to scroll to see it.
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Also what if I want books to be listed in more than one collection e.g. genre as a collection with author as a sub collection and series as a another.
Calibre doesn't support sub-collections. As far as I know, Sony devices don't either, although I confess I know very little about the 900.

Assuming that you have 'tags' (no quotes) in the device customization, Calibre will create a collection for each tag on a book. If you put 'authors' there, then calibre will create a collection for each author -- some people use author_sort for this so they have a list by author and a list by author_sort. If you put 'series' there, then calibre will create a collection for each series. A book will be listed in as many collections that match. For example, every book with the tag ReadMe will be listed in a collection named ReadMe.

And you are welcome.
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Old 06-25-2010, 10:03 PM   #137
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Originally Posted by Demonthus View Post
Hi I have made an account just to say this: 0.7.0 completely screwed up my reader's collection organization.

I've had about 700 works organized into 10 collections at this point, using criteria such as new fiction, old fiction, science, etc. Due to my e-reader's slow refresh rate, it helps to know exactly where books are located.

However, this latest version of calibre automatically "updated metadata" on my books, effectively turning 10 collections into 200. My previously meticulously created collections have been destroyed, and the books have been scattered to the wind. A good deal of my books had no metadata, so calibre put each one in it's own collection based on title. Shall I find a novel in "Pesticides", "Man-Woman Relationships, Drama" or perhaps "Sisters -- Fiction"? Needless to say it defeats the concept of collections if each collection has only a couple books.

Of course, I don't want to be entirely pessimistic so I offer the suggestions that you create a setting for automatically re-organizing the entire reader. I know the easiest thing would have been to not update calibre, or (God forbid) stuck to Sony's Reader Library.

Anyway, I'll return to spending the next several hours deleting books and re-adding them
I actually just signed up to say the same thing. Demonthus knows what he's talking about. I have a Sony PRS-505 reader, and typically if I started Calibre, it would detect my reader a few seconds after loading and display it and the icon for its memory card. When I upgraded from 0.6.54 to 0.7.2, I started the program as always, then for about 2 minutes the activity list said it was updating metadata. Then I did a pretty typical task - converted a comic from CBZ to LRF and sent it to the reader's card. When I disconnected, my reader churned for about 5-10 minutes; I've never seen it take this long. I almost thought it had crashed or something. Then I had almost a hundred collections! Any metadata anywhere in my files, often PDF, turned into a collection. It took forever to find the ones I'd created. The comic I converted also had an auto generated cover on it, which had always been turned off in previous versions.

I plugged the reader back in, but it seems there's no way to edit collections on books already on the reader, so I'm going to have to wipe it and start from scratch now! Luckily I started saving backup images of it since a previous version locked up when sending books to the reader and nuked the XML file with bookmarks and tags in it, so I can rewind a couple of weeks, figure out what I've added since then and skip ahead to where I've read in each book.

I really appreciate all the work being put into Calibre for free, with seemingly tireless work being put into new features and devices, but what just happened was nearly calamitous. I'm going to stick to 0.6.55 until a feature I can't live without gets added because I can't justify this kind of risk regularly.
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Old 06-25-2010, 11:14 PM   #138
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I think I've managed to reverse the damage pretty easily actually... I grabbed a copy of XML Notepad from Microsoft and edited my cache.xml files on the reader and memory card, removing each erroneous "playlist" entry. If anyone else has this problem and comes here, that's what I'd recommend doing - then either setting Calibre not to redo it, or downgrading.
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Old 06-25-2010, 11:24 PM   #139
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Originally Posted by Aka View Post
I really appreciate all the work being put into Calibre for free, with seemingly tireless work being put into new features and devices, but what just happened was nearly calamitous.
First welcome to MobileRead.

I'm a little confused by your timing. You waited until the conflict has been corrected (0.7.5 check this thread) to sign up and voice your opinion?

Fortunately folks who were using calibre and manually editing their collections were a very small minority.

What you experienced as being nearly calamitous is why I have always managed my collections through calibre. There have been (very rare) occasions when my 505 has crashed, rebooted and wiped out my collections. Using calibre it only took minutes to restore things back to the way they were to begin with.

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I'm going to stick to 0.6.55 until a feature I can't live without gets added because I can't justify this kind of risk regularly.
I agree with this statement, as a matter of course you should only upgrade when there is a compelling reason. Either correcting a bug you can't live with or having a new feature you can't live without.

The biggest risk when upgrading is always between major versions, in this case from 0.6.X to 0.7.X. So if someone is risk adverse they should avoid any major version step for a month or so until satisfied with forum reports.

What is amazing is the fact that I forget that calibre is only at 0.7.5 and not yet up to version 1. Calibre is a work in progress that is ever changing and this last jump in features was a big one.

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Old 06-26-2010, 02:06 AM   #140
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Originally Posted by Aka View Post
I think I've managed to reverse the damage pretty easily actually... I grabbed a copy of XML Notepad from Microsoft and edited my cache.xml files on the reader and memory card, removing each erroneous "playlist" entry. If anyone else has this problem and comes here, that's what I'd recommend doing - then either setting Calibre not to redo it, or downgrading.
Another way to do it is to use 0.7.5's collections editor. Available through right-clicking on the collections column, it can rename and delete collections for all books on the current memory section of the device (main memory or a card). There is more information in the post that dwanthny referred to, and in the calibre FAQ.

Of course, to use this feature you must upgrade, something you might not be willing to do.

Another note: if you want calibre not to make collections from the books' metadata, be sure to clear the 'list of metadata fields to turn into collections' (preferences -> plugins -> devices -> sony driver -> customize) *before* you plug in the device. Calibre believes that setting, and if it detects that its metadata cache is out of date, it will add missing metadata-derived collections.
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Old 06-28-2010, 07:47 PM   #141
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Originally Posted by dwanthny View Post
First welcome to MobileRead.

I'm a little confused by your timing. You waited until the conflict has been corrected (0.7.5 check this thread) to sign up and voice your opinion?

Fortunately folks who were using calibre and manually editing their collections were a very small minority.
The timing is what it is... I installed an update, went to use it as usual, and my reader's library was automatically trashed. Whether or not there is a new version, this has already happened, and I figured others should be warned about it.

I can't imagine how you'd non-manually manage your collections though unless you simply don't have any? They are never automatically generated when I convert a book, so rather than browse 500+ books by name, especially when they are more like chapters of a single book, I add them to collections with the title of the book or series.

Quote:
What is amazing is the fact that I forget that calibre is only at 0.7.5 and not yet up to version 1. Calibre is a work in progress that is ever changing and this last jump in features was a big one.
That's basically why I'm not crying bloody murder for making me spend what will probably be a dozen hours before I get my library repaired and working again. It's free, and Kovid puts in unthinkable amounts of work to this project with no real warranty that I'm aware of, and I'm using Calibre because it beats Sony's software in almost everything. It is however, SHOCKING when you plug in a device as always and its functionality is decimated, so instead of just updating because there's always an update available, I'm going to have to be far more cautious now. I'd gotten into the habit of updating Calibre all the time because usually I wouldn't even see the difference, but wanted bug fixes.
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Old 06-28-2010, 07:56 PM   #142
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Originally Posted by chaley View Post
Another way to do it is to use 0.7.5's collections editor. Available through right-clicking on the collections column, it can rename and delete collections for all books on the current memory section of the device (main memory or a card). There is more information in the post that dwanthny referred to, and in the calibre FAQ.

Of course, to use this feature you must upgrade, something you might not be willing to do.

Another note: if you want calibre not to make collections from the books' metadata, be sure to clear the 'list of metadata fields to turn into collections' (preferences -> plugins -> devices -> sony driver -> customize) *before* you plug in the device. Calibre believes that setting, and if it detects that its metadata cache is out of date, it will add missing metadata-derived collections.
Well, I'd certainly have changed that option if I knew about it beforehand or if any previous versions had worked that way before I was ambushed.

I'm afraid I'm more than a little dubious of 0.7.x's ability to manage metadata though. After trying to remake some of my collections manually in Sony's software, my reader took minutes to become usable AGAIN, and now it appears that about 40 of the collections Calibre destroyed (oh, I discovered today that around 1/3 of my collections simply disappeared after the metadata "update") are back intact, even though I didn't see them when I manually checked out the XML files earlier! Whatever Calibre did is apparently off spec with the way the reader works, and even seems to interfere with its normal functioning. Perhaps it's corrupted some of the file entries on the reader itself?

In any case, I think I'll continue to manage my collections with Sony's software for now - I know that an update won't drastically change the way it works because... well, Sony doesn't update, even when they need to! Maybe when I have everything 100% functional and stable again, I'll make a backup and try Calibre out again in 0.7.8 or 0.8.0.
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Old 06-28-2010, 09:01 PM   #143
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Originally Posted by Aka View Post
I can't imagine how you'd non-manually manage your collections though unless you simply don't have any? They are never automatically generated when I convert a book, so rather than browse 500+ books by name, especially when they are more like chapters of a single book, I add them to collections with the title of the book or series.
I have many Series that have 20+ books and when sent to the device a collection is automatically created by Calibre and the books end up in series order within the collection. For these books I use the series area in the metadata and give each book a different number from 1- ???

When I send books to my device I have calibre create collections based on tags and series (the default setting). So a book from Asimov's Foundation series will be in the Foundation collection. The same book may also be in other collections such as Hugo Best Novel, Top 100 Sci-fi, Science Fiction. Currently I have 246 books on my reader and 69 collections.

I limit my tags and try to keep it simple, but I may, at the most, have 3 tags and 1 series per book. This means a book may be in 4 collections at the same time, but there is only one copy of the file on the reader.

Doing collections this way means that on the rare occasion my reader might reboot and trash the collections, Deleting the books and resending them puts everything back exactly as it was and it only takes minutes not 12 hours.

You're right, the Sony software will work and won't sneak up you with an upgrade. Calibre is over the hump in regards to the issue you faced and most likely won't sneak up on you for a while either.
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Old 06-29-2010, 05:39 AM   #144
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collections?

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Originally Posted by chaley View Post
Another way to do it is to use 0.7.5's collections editor. Available through right-clicking on the collections column, it can rename and delete collections for all books on the current memory section of the device (main memory or a card). There is more information in the post that dwanthny referred to, and in the calibre FAQ.

Of course, to use this feature you must upgrade, something you might not be willing to do.

Another note: if you want calibre not to make collections from the books' metadata, be sure to clear the 'list of metadata fields to turn into collections' (preferences -> plugins -> devices -> sony driver -> customize) *before* you plug in the device. Calibre believes that setting, and if it detects that its metadata cache is out of date, it will add missing metadata-derived collections.
I just upgraded to 0.7.6. Where is the collections column?

Also there are books in my reader which do not show up when I plug it into calibre and there are books which show as being on my reader which I cannot import to the calibre library.
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Old 06-29-2010, 05:43 AM   #145
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I just upgraded to 0.7.6. Where is the collections column?
There is not a separate Collections column nunless you create one using the Custom Columns facility.

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Also there are books in my reader which do not show up when I plug it into calibre and there are books which show as being on my reader which I cannot import to the calibre library.
What reader are you using, and what is the type of books that show this behavior.
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Old 06-29-2010, 05:46 AM   #146
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I just upgraded to 0.7.6. Where is the collections column?

Also there are books in my reader which do not show up when I plug it into calibre and there are books which show as being on my reader which I cannot import to the calibre library.
The collections column discussed here is on the device view, and only appears if you have a Sony.

As for the other issue, could you be a bit more specific? What kind of device do you have? Are the books in the folder that calibre expects them to be in? Are they all of a specific format?

Edit: I see from an earlier post that you have a Sony 900, so you should see the collections column on the device view, probably as the right-most column. If you do not, then that is our first problem.

As for the folder, for Sonys, calibre expects books to be in the folder database/media/books and subfolders of that folder. It does not look elsewhere. Are the missing books there?

Last edited by chaley; 06-29-2010 at 06:55 AM.
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Old 07-02-2010, 01:12 AM   #147
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The collections column discussed here is on the device view, and only appears if you have a Sony.

As for the other issue, could you be a bit more specific? What kind of device do you have? Are the books in the folder that calibre expects them to be in? Are they all of a specific format?

Edit: I see from an earlier post that you have a Sony 900, so you should see the collections column on the device view, probably as the right-most column. If you do not, then that is our first problem.

As for the folder, for Sonys, calibre expects books to be in the folder database/media/books and subfolders of that folder. It does not look elsewhere. Are the missing books there?

found the collections in device view. Found the database folder, the missing bookj are not there. I can't find them at all except in the reader itself.
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Old 07-02-2010, 03:50 AM   #148
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Found the database folder, the missing bookj are not there. I can't find them at all except in the reader itself.
My 300 has an 'info' function available when a book is selected but not yet opened. I imagine that your 900 has the same. One of the things 'info' shows is the actual file name on the device. Could you look at one of these mysterious books on your 900 and post the file name?
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Old 07-02-2010, 03:57 PM   #149
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My 300 has an 'info' function available when a book is selected but not yet opened. I imagine that your 900 has the same. One of the things 'info' shows is the actual file name on the device. Could you look at one of these mysterious books on your 900 and post the file name?
location: internal memory
path: database/media/downloads/How_to_Woo_a_Spinster.epub
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Old 07-02-2010, 04:51 PM   #150
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location: internal memory
path: database/media/downloads/How_to_Woo_a_Spinster.epub
Well, that explains why calibre doesn't see the book(s). They are not in the folder calibre expects them to be in, database/media/books.

Fixing this is going to take some thought. My problem is that I don't know under what circumstances a book can end up in 'downloads', and what the 'meaning' of being in that folder is. My guess is that the books are there because they were downloaded over the 3G network. Does that make sense to you? Is there anything special about a book being there, such as being deleted after a time?

It might be that we can change calibre to see books in 'downloads', but to put books only into 'books'. I don't know if we can permit editing, because I don't know what the side effects are. My main goal is to not break anything for devices that don't have 3G. As I said, thought required.

Thanks for the information.
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