Calibre - An excellent program, but no thanks

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ahi

..

I don't find Calibre good enough to make it the sole tool for managing my eBooks. ...
.....
- Ahi

So what library software DO you USE?

[citac]

Apologies if this has already been addressed, I haven't yet reached the end of this thread but I felt the need to respond to #68.

I read my ebooks on my PC, don't keep several formats of a single ebook, and have them organized by whether they're fiction/non-fiction books, then topic>subtopic>author>book, e.g. Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Andrew Loomis>alphabetized titles; Non-fiction>Art>Calligraphy>David Harris>alphabetized titles. I have a large number of books, most of them heavy in size since they have a large number of photos in them. I don't have that much space and memory on my computer, and I don't want a second copy of several gigabytes worth of my library. Yes, I can delete my original file structure, but I've invested a lot of time into organizing it that way and don't want to get rid of hours of my life. Call me OCD if you want.

So, all I need is a program that would scan my folders, and provide me with a link to the ebook I want to read at that moment. If it can be presented in a pleasant way, with a cover and a short description, all the better. It all comes down to what a user needs. If a person needs a program that will organize and convert their files for them, then calibre is the right choice. If they've already organized their library and have needs similar to mine, they'll have to find something else. (I'd appreciate it if someone can recommend a similar program.)

The one thing that bothers me is this line in the FAQ, which, with all due respect, I simply find arrogant:

The whole point of calibre‘s library management features is that they provide an interface for locating books that is much more efficient than any possible directory scheme you could come up with for your collection.

I already know where my ebooks are, thank you. I don't really need a library management program, but I wouldn't mind having one that would suit my idea of a properly organized collection.

Thank you for your time.

[citac]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@dvs0826

4) Not having enough disk space. Are you serious? In this day and age of 1TB hard drives?

Not all of us have salaries that can afford those 1TB drives. I can't afford an ebook reader unless I forgo things like food, electricity and water. I have never even seen a 1TB drive in any store I go to in my country.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by citac

Apologies if this has already been addressed, I haven't yet reached the end of this thread but I felt the need to respond to #68.

I read my ebooks on my PC, don't keep several formats of a single ebook, and have them organized by whether they're fiction/non-fiction books, then topic>subtopic>author>book, e.g. Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Andrew Loomis>alphabetized titles; Non-fiction>Art>Calligraphy>David Harris>alphabetized titles. I have a large number of books, most of them heavy in size since they have a large number of photos in them. I don't have that much space and memory on my computer, and I don't want a second copy of several gigabytes worth of my library. Yes, I can delete my original file structure, but I've invested a lot of time into organizing it that way and don't want to get rid of hours of my life. Call me OCD if you want.

So, all I need is a program that would scan my folders, and provide me with a link to the ebook I want to read at that moment. If it can be presented in a pleasant way, with a cover and a short description, all the better. It all comes down to what a user needs. If a person needs a program that will organize and convert their files for them, then calibre is the right choice. If they've already organized their library and have needs similar to mine, they'll have to find something else. (I'd appreciate it if someone can recommend a similar program.)

The one thing that bothers me is this line in the FAQ, which, with all due respect, I simply find arrogant:

The whole point of calibre‘s library management features is that they provide an interface for locating books that is much more efficient than any possible directory scheme you could come up with for your collection.

I already know where my ebooks are, thank you. I don't really need a library management program, but I wouldn't mind having one that would suit my idea of a properly organized collection.

Thank you for your time.

I think it's called Windows Search.

P.S. does your file system also allow tagging and searching by tags and creating collections? What if there is more than one topic or subtopic?

[citac]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think it's called Windows Search.

P.S. does your file system also allow tagging and searching by tags and creating collections? What if there is more than one topic or subtopic?

I find Windows Search abysmal. Like I said, I don't need something to search for my ebooks because I know where they are, I simply thought it would be nice if I could have a pretty looking interface to access them. It's not something I must have.

I don't tag. It's very easy for me to have collections by adding a subfolder for a subtopic, e.g.

Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Pencil Drawing>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Graphite pencil>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Marker sketching>Author>alphabetized titles

Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Watercolor>Author>alphabetize d titles
Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Oil>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Digital painting>Author>alphabetized titles

Or further subfolders:

Non-fiction>Science>Languages>English>Teaching>Grammar >Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Science>Languages>English>Teaching>Vocabul ary>Author>alphabetized titles

[user_none]

Originally Posted by citac

I find Windows Search abysmal. Like I said, I don't need something to search for my ebooks because I know where they are, I simply thought it would be nice if I could have a pretty looking interface to access them. It's not something I must have.

I don't tag. It's very easy for me to have collections by adding a subfolder for a subtopic, e.g.

Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Pencil Drawing>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Graphite pencil>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Drawing>Marker sketching>Author>alphabetized titles

Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Watercolor>Author>alphabetize d titles
Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Oil>Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Art>Painting>Digital painting>Author>alphabetized titles

Or further subfolders:

Non-fiction>Science>Languages>English>Teaching>Grammar >Author>alphabetized titles
Non-fiction>Science>Languages>English>Teaching>Vocabul ary>Author>alphabetized titles

What do you do in cases where an author has a book that contains book oid and watercolor paintings? Also, how do you list all Pencil, Graphite, and Marker drawing books by a single author? How do you remember that an author has books on each topic when you have a few thousand books? The idea behind calibre's management is you are not forced to use single identifies or 7+ layer deep directory nesting.

[citac]

Originally Posted by user_none

What do you do in cases where an author has a book that contains book oid and watercolor paintings? Also, how do you list all Pencil, Graphite, and Marker drawing books by a single author? How do you remember that an author has books on each topic when you have a few thousand books? The idea behind calibre's management is you are not forced to use single identifies or 7+ layer deep directory nesting.

I find that most authors specialize in a subject, i.e. while I'm sure it's possible that some are good at watercolors and oil painting and drawing and line&wash, most people are not.

For example, my Andrew Loomis books are:

Creative Illustration.pdf
Drawing Heads And Hands.pdf
Figure Drawing for All its Worth.pdf
Fun With A Pencil - How Everybody Can Easily Learn To Draw.pdf
Successful drawing.pdf

I know that an author belongs in a topic because that's the form of art s/he practices, and that's why I put him into that folder. What if all you need are single identifiers? Or the fact that some people simply dislike a program tampering with their precious layout? Like I said, call me OCD if you want, wouldn't be incorrect.

I've just been reading a thread on .pdf vs other, reflowable formats; it would be impossible for me to view art books filled with images in anything other than a fixed format. It all depends on what you need, and what the content of your ebook is. Same with e-library management software.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by user_none

What do you do in cases where an author has a book that contains book oid and watercolor paintings? Also, how do you list all Pencil, Graphite, and Marker drawing books by a single author? How do you remember that an author has books on each topic when you have a few thousand books? The idea behind calibre's management is you are not forced to use single identifies or 7+ layer deep directory nesting.

Exactly. I find it is very optimized for what it does. Far more flexible than some arbitrary directory structure. In any system there are always trade-offs and I find calibre has done pretty well in that department.

Without using some type of tagging it's impossible to create a directory structure that works for all cases.

[citac]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Exactly. I find it is very optimized for what it does. Far more flexible than some arbitrary directory structure. In any system there are always trade-offs and I find calibre has done pretty well in that department.

Without using some type of tagging it's impossible to create a directory structure that works for all cases.

Like I said,

I find that most authors specialize in a subject, i.e. while I'm sure it's possible that some are good at watercolors and oil painting and drawing and line&wash, most people are not.

Different people, different needs. My collection consists of mostly art and science books. I read them and practice to their instructions. As far as fiction goes, there are a couple of genres I read, as well as several authors and I concentrate on them. I find that this filing system suits my needs and don't want it tampered with. I also don't appreciate duplicates.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by citac

Like I said,



Different people, different needs. My collection consists of mostly art and science books. I read them and practice to their instructions. As far as fiction goes, there are a couple of genres I read, as well as several authors and I concentrate on them. I find that this filing system suits my needs and don't want it tampered with. I also don't appreciate duplicates.

and like I said, it's impossible. I think you better go start writing your own ebook library software.

[citac]

Originally Posted by kennyc

and like I said, it's impossible. I think you better go start writing your own ebook library software.

Unfortunately, don't know how. It's not something I must have, I can open the book from the folder. It would be nice to have though. If you know of one that will simply scan my folders, present me with a nice link with maybe a cover photo and some info from Amazon or such, I'd be a happy camper.

[booksonthemove]

Originally Posted by citac

Apologies if this has already been addressed, I haven't yet reached the end of this thread but I felt the need to respond to #68.

I read my ebooks on my PC, don't keep several formats of a single ebook, and have them organized by...

With respect, I'd say you're therefore not the target audience. The software is quite obviously for people who want to manage their ebooks in conjunction with using a portable reader. Or even several portable readers, some of which might be better at using a format particular to them.

Originally Posted by citac

The one thing that bothers me is this line in the FAQ, which, with all due respect, I simply find arrogant:

The whole point of calibre‘s library management features is that they provide an interface for locating books that is much more efficient than any possible directory scheme you could come up with for your collection.

I doubt that's the intention, though if it said something along the lines of "much more efficient for CALIBRE to look up" that might clarify things for you somewhat. It does not touch or modify your existing collection, possibly for the reason you've just described, i.e. you have your own ideas how you'd like your books organised. It has its own ideas. So it makes its own database. Without touching yours.

Originally Posted by citac

I already know where my ebooks are, thank you. I don't really need a library management program, but I wouldn't mind having one that would suit my idea of a properly organized collection.

well blimey if that's not snarky then I don't know what is. If the software does not suit your idea of what it should do, you are under no compulsion to use it.

[bkilian]

I'd like to point out that this thread is for why people choose _not_ to use Calibre, not why they should change their habits because Calibre is the JesusProgram.

Pointing out that they're not the target audience is not the point. We're letting Kovid know why we don't use his product. If he cares to make some changes to accommodate us, then yay! If not, we'll we'll just go on doing what we do today.

Calibre's conversion utilities are the best in the market, although I could argue that 0.5 was better than 0.6 at the conversions I do (LIT/MOBI -> LRF), but that's neither here nor there.

Calibre's library management UI is, on the other hand, slow, clunky, and overbearing, with a "if you don't do it my way, you don't do it" attitude that rankles people who don't want to do it Calibre's way.

My statements are made from the perspective of the windows version of Calibre, I have no idea if it runs any better or faster on other OSs.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by bkilian

I'd like to point out that this thread is for why people choose _not_ to use Calibre, not why they should change their habits because Calibre is the JesusProgram.

Pointing out that they're not the target audience is not the point. We're letting Kovid know why we don't use his product. If he cares to make some changes to accommodate us, then yay! If not, we'll we'll just go on doing what we do today.

Calibre's conversion utilities are the best in the market, although I could argue that 0.5 was better than 0.6 at the conversions I do (LIT/MOBI -> LRF), but that's neither here nor there.

Calibre's library management UI is, on the other hand, slow, clunky, and overbearing, with a "if you don't do it my way, you don't do it" attitude that rankles people who don't want to do it Calibre's way.

My statements are made from the perspective of the windows version of Calibre, I have no idea if it runs any better or faster on other OSs.

So what is it you are using instead?

I don't feel it is slow, clunky or overbearing, it simply works and in many ways better than the Sony Library software that came with my reader.

Maybe you have a slow clunky computer??

[bkilian]

Originally Posted by kennyc

So what is it you are using instead?

I don't feel it is slow, clunky or overbearing, it simply works and in many ways better than the Sony Library software that came with my reader.

Maybe you have a slow clunky computer??

Well, I certainly don't have a $3000 gaming rig, but it's adequate for my needs. I use a combination of multiple CMD scripts for library maintenance. My books are stored in separate subdirectory trees for source files and then a tree for each of the readers (We have both Kindles and Sony Readers.). When I get a new book, I put it in the source tree, and the scripts take care of making it available to the device trees.

Keeping this separate is good for regenerating all my LRF or Kindle books when Kovid makes a useful change to the conversion program. It also means I can point the Sony software at my Sony directory and not worry about it catching stray epubs and duplicates.

I use the Sony software to move books onto my device, pretty much sorting by the "Date" column. I have to manually scan to update when new books arrive, but that's a minor issue. I would prefer if it could detect that automatically. I use the software because I prefer not to make the reader do the pagination. It takes too long, and uses up battery I could be using for reading.

I only use LRF on my reader, and will keep doing so until they can get ePub to render correctly (justified, and not crashing)

I really don't like flat, tag based management UI (Like Calibre and iTunes) I much prefer heirarchical organization, even if the heirarchies are arbitrarily chosen. (Like the Windows Media Player UI)