Lack of Collections, work around?

*Angie* · 09-15-2010, 04:46 PM

So I've been thinking of upgrading my Sony 300 for a little while now, and I'm very close to taking the plunge and getting a Kobo (especially since it's on sale for $129 right now!). My only real concern, and it's a biggie for me, is the apparant lack of support for browsing by collection. I organize all my ebooks (and I have a lot) with Calibre and 99% of them are sorted into collections. The large majority of my books are series, some of which have upwards of 20 books in the series. There's no way I could ever remember the proper order of the books in each series. Has anyone come up with an easy work around?

Not being able to browse by collection might be a dealbreaker for me, but I'd be able to live with it until they hopefully add the feature in a future firmware release if I can get around the problem somehow in the meantime. Thanks!

taming · 09-15-2010, 06:16 PM

Hi Angie. I love my Kobo, but if collections were important to me, I would not buy one. Is that a feature we will see in the future--mebbe, mebbe not--but when you know your preferences in a gadget, go for the one that satisfies them.

heyok · 09-15-2010, 06:20 PM

I have an idea... I don't have my Kobo in front of me but if I recall, you can change your book view to sort by author.

How about if you go into Calibre and edit the metadata so that you append a number to the author's name. The number would be the book's position in the collection. Assuming the books were written by "Some Author", it could look like this:

Some Author - 01
Some Author - 02
etc.

Do this for each book in your collection (yes I am assuming that the author is the same for each book in the collection). Now when you view your books when sorted by author, you should be able to find what you are looking for.

Do you think that will work for you?

Or, another thought along that line is to insert a name in front of the name of each title in the series followed by a number, followed by the normal book title.

MyCollectionName - 01 - Alice In Wonderland
MyCollectionName - 02 - Through The Looking Glass
Etc.

Probably a lot of work but maybe not too much.

Al

sabredog · 09-15-2010, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heyok

MyCollectionName - 01 - Alice In Wonderland
MyCollectionName - 02 - Through The Looking Glass
Etc.

Probably a lot of work but maybe not too much.

Al

This is similar to what I do

[Series name] [Book number] - [Book title]

thus

Helforts War 03 - The Battle of Devastation Reef

This is easy to do via Calibre's edit metadata. I even rename the ebook file to same BEFORE importing into Calibre.

Being smart with naming conventions is the easiest way to keep your ebooks organised. Via Calibre it is easy to do. My Sony ereader allows collections so I ensure that the ebook takes advantage of that as well, using calibre's series field. As the Kobo does not support collections, the above naming convention serves as the best method of sorting my Kobo's library.

*Angie* · 09-16-2010, 02:20 PM

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to go through Calibre and rename my books, that will work just fine. I don't mind taking the time to rename my files, with my mild organizational OCD tendencies, I'll probably enjoy it, actually LOL

09-15-2010, 04:46 PM	#1
Angie Bookish Posts: 50 Karma: 112 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: NB, Canada Device: Kobo, Sony PRS-300	Lack of Collections, work around? So I've been thinking of upgrading my Sony 300 for a little while now, and I'm very close to taking the plunge and getting a Kobo (especially since it's on sale for $129 right now!). My only real concern, and it's a biggie for me, is the apparant lack of support for browsing by collection. I organize all my ebooks (and I have a lot) with Calibre and 99% of them are sorted into collections. The large majority of my books are series, some of which have upwards of 20 books in the series. There's no way I could ever remember the proper order of the books in each series. Has anyone come up with an easy work around? Not being able to browse by collection might be a dealbreaker for me, but I'd be able to live with it until they hopefully add the feature in a future firmware release if I can get around the problem somehow in the meantime. Thanks!

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09-15-2010, 06:16 PM	#2
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	Hi Angie. I love my Kobo, but if collections were important to me, I would not buy one. Is that a feature we will see in the future--mebbe, mebbe not--but when you know your preferences in a gadget, go for the one that satisfies them.

09-15-2010, 06:20 PM	#3
heyok Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kobo	I have an idea... I don't have my Kobo in front of me but if I recall, you can change your book view to sort by author. How about if you go into Calibre and edit the metadata so that you append a number to the author's name. The number would be the book's position in the collection. Assuming the books were written by "Some Author", it could look like this: Some Author - 01 Some Author - 02 etc. Do this for each book in your collection (yes I am assuming that the author is the same for each book in the collection). Now when you view your books when sorted by author, you should be able to find what you are looking for. Do you think that will work for you? Or, another thought along that line is to insert a name in front of the name of each title in the series followed by a number, followed by the normal book title. MyCollectionName - 01 - Alice In Wonderland MyCollectionName - 02 - Through The Looking Glass Etc. Probably a lot of work but maybe not too much. Al

09-16-2010, 02:20 PM	#5
Angie Bookish Posts: 50 Karma: 112 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: NB, Canada Device: Kobo, Sony PRS-300	Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to go through Calibre and rename my books, that will work just fine. I don't mind taking the time to rename my files, with my mild organizational OCD tendencies, I'll probably enjoy it, actually LOL