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[Glubbish]

Hi All,

Picked up a 650 on the weekend and have a few questions, probably very simple, but I am a complete neophyte as far as book reader are concerned.

First thing I noticed is that when its connected to the PC via the usb cable, it is either charging or charging complete. You cannot seem to be able to use it when connected, is this normal?

I started by using calibre, as prior reading suggested this was a good library manager. I found that when loading books, if I selected too many (more than 30) to send to device I would get a permission error 13. I spent a long time collecting before actually buying. The calibre site has info on error 13, but I could not match any with "send to device"

In calibre I have authors names eg: John Smith, with a search order Smith, John. But when transferred to the sony, it stays John Smith and is listed in the J section. Is there an easy way to do this, or do I need to clear the reader, change in calibre and reload (several at a time)?

I would also like to have the facility to list the authors, so I can select an author and display their books, rather than display all books ordered by author

Any help or clarity appreciated

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Glubbish

First thing I noticed is that when its connected to the PC via the usb cable, it is either charging or charging complete. You cannot seem to be able to use it when connected, is this normal?

Hi and Welcome!

I can answer this one. Yes, it's normal to not be able to use the device when connected via usb cable.

I'm sure others will come along and address the other things.

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, Glubbish.

edited.....

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by Glubbish

I would also like to have the facility to list the authors, so I can select an author and display their books, rather than display all books ordered by author

You can do that in several ways. You could search for the author by using the search field on top of the book list, for example a query of author:"John Smith" would display only books written by John Smith. You could then additonally save the searches, if you want. Another way to do it would be to use the tag browser, displayed on the left side of the screen (if it isn't, try clicking the luggage icon in the lower right, it should then appear). In the tag browser, expand the authors list, then click on an authors name. The name should then be preceded by a green plus sign, and the book list should be updated to only books of that author. If you click on the name again, the plus should change to a red minus sign and only books not by that author would be displayed. You can select multiple authors by holding Ctrl while clicking. Also note that this updates the search field with the appropriate query, if you prefer typing to clicking, take notes to learn the query language calibre uses.

[Worldwalker]

Yes, the Sony readers can't do be read when you have the USB cable hooked up, or while they're re-indexing their library afterward. I got a wall charger, which takes care of the charging issue, and since my transfers are infrequent (say, once a week or so) I just let it re-index while I'm in the shower or something.

There is a way to make calibre transfer to the Sony in author_sort order instead of author order. I know there is because I did it. For the life of me I couldn't tell you what it is right now, but someone with a functional clue will no doubt stop by in a few and explain it. It's somewhere in the settings, but calibre has a lot of settings.

Displaying the authors, then all the books by an author, works in calibre; unfortunately, Sony hasn't gotten the idea that we might want to do that, so we're stuck with books in author order over there. One alternative would be setting up collections with author names, but that would make it hard to find one's other collections in a deluge of author names.

[Glubbish]

Thanks for the info so far.
I renamed a couple of books, and added series to a few in calibre
The preferences/sending to device was changed to automatic.

I then attached the 650, and can see the changed books on both devices (each saying they are not on the other).

How do I get it to sync?

Thanks

[Glubbish]

There were not many of them, so I just deleted from the reader then added again
They are now in sync, but still curious on how this is done automatically

[Glubbish]

K, worked out how to set the search order for the author, using plugboard (who would have thought). Its a big learning curve, but I am getting there.

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Glubbish, and also good to see that you have the patience to get into the swing. Best wishes. Neil

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Glubbish

K, worked out how to set the search order for the author, using plugboard (who would have thought). Its a big learning curve, but I am getting there.

Plugboard or checking the Use author_sort for author on the Sony device interface plugin (see attached).

Since you're just starting out I would recommend that you go to Preferences - Sending bokks to devices and change Metadata management to Automatic Management.

[Glubbish]

Thanks. Was already set to automatic (you probably missed that update).
I am currently using:

device_db:any device = ([{series}{series_index:| - | - }{title}] -> title), ([{author_sort}] -> authors)

This does almost exactly what I want. The only problem is that the sort order is not by the series eg:
series - 02 - name
series -04 - name
series - 01 - name
series - 03 - name

[speakingtohe]

You now have to have series set as a collection to have them automatically ordered by series.
This will give you series collections as well as author sort collections but the series will be correct in both AFAIK.
Not sure why it has to be this way but must be some reason. Used to be you just sorted by series in Calibre before sending an it worked like a charm.
Gave me a lot more collections Luckily for us the Sony has a fairly good collection navigator with the letters on the side

Helen

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Glubbish

device_db:any device = ([{series}{series_index:| - | - }{title}] -> title), ([{author_sort}] -> authors)

This does almost exactly what I want. The only problem is that the sort order is not by the series eg:
series - 02 - name
series -04 - name
series - 01 - name
series - 03 - name

Try adding an extra SourceTemplate/DestField pair to your existing Plugboard for device_db:

Dest field: title_sort
Source Template: {series}{series_index:| - | - }{title}
(i.e the same as you've defined for title)

Then you don't have to use the Collections option to see books in Series order.

[Glubbish]

Hi Helen.
I am not sure what you mean here.
Do you mean changing the metadata plugboard for author to
{author_sort}{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }
ie:
device_db:any device = ([{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}] -> title), ([{author_sort}{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }] -> authors) ?

[Glubbish]

Hi Jackie,

Sorry, totally missed your post.

Changed it to:

device_db:any device = ([{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}] -> title), ([{author_sort}] -> authors), ([{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}] -> title_sort)

But does not seem to have worked.

Also I have not worked out how to sync the reader with calibre
In preferences/sending books to devices I have:
metadata management: automatic
save template: {author_sort}/{title} - {authors}
but the save template is overwritten by the plugboard right? as I do see my series in the title.

When I make a change to a book, ie: remove tags or add a series, it does not propagate to the sony reader. If I then add the book(s) in question they appear twice (but with the changes) on the reader, so I have to delete one copy of each.

There must be a way to update the metadata without going through these steps