Help a new 505 owner, please.

lonelyphoenix7 · 07-09-2009, 01:31 AM

Hey everybody. First time posting, so please don't be so rough with me if I ask a common question.

I just got my PRS-505 a few days ago, and I love it. I had downloaded a few e-Books off the internet in PDF format, and put those on the reader via Sony's software. I then realized that there was no way to edit the title / author / any data for the e-books, so I downloaded calibre and changed all of the metadata to what I wanted. However, when I changed the files and added the new ones into the Sony software's library, the old author / title came up. :-(

I'm torn between the programs. If I was just able to edit information in Sony's program, I wouldn't have any need for calibre. I like the collection feature on the 505, and have found that when I try to use calibre to mimic the collection feature using tags, when I check the collection on the 505 the collection is all out of order. I guess I can't win. :-(.

So yeah, questions:
1 - Easiest way to edit data and make it permanent?
1a - If I download free books from Sony's store, is there any way I can edit those titles / authors as well?
2 - Any way to manage a collection's order in calibre?
3 - Is PDF a bad format for my eBooks? If so, what should I convert to, and how would I go about doing that?

Thanks for all your help, guys.
-Charlie

doreenjoy · 07-09-2009, 01:45 AM

1. How did you edit the metadata? Did you type over it in the fields in the main window view, or did you use the Edit Metadata dialog box? If the latter, did you click OK?

1a. yes, I've done this. After editing the metadata, send the file to your Reader.

2. There is a Series number field in the metadata. But you can't sort the titles in a collection like you can in the Sony Library.

3. You'll get a lot of opinions on this, I'm sure. Personally I don't care for PDF because I find the font just a bit blurry. You can use Calibre to convert them to LRF, but no conversion from PDF is perfect so leaving the files as PDF might be best. You can trim the white margins off the PDFs to make them easier to read.

Oh, and welcome to MobileRead!

lonelyphoenix7 · 07-09-2009, 01:03 PM

So after tinkering with the two programs all night, I've decided to completely erase the Sony software and stick to calibre. I don't need organized collections as long as I can get all of the metadata correct and organized. However, in tinkering, I found another problem:

I downloaded a few e-books together and re-wrote the metadata fine in calibre, and it looks like what I typed. However, after adding the books to the reader, I found that the last symbol of each title or author comes out as a blank box instead of whatever the character is supposed to do (so, the last character of the author's last name, and the last character of the book title have a blank box instead of the correct letter.)

Anybody have a problem like this?

alecE · 07-11-2009, 10:19 AM

FWIW I detest PDF on my reader and try to avoid that format wherever possible. Where I can't avoid it, I usually convert the pdf to text and then undertake the rather laborious process of creating decent html to convert the book to epub in Calibre. (I should add a disclaimer here - there's probably better ways to overcome PDF limitations - I'm still finding my feet in the area of ebook conversion. At least this way gives me complete control over little things like accented letters, emphasis, quote marks etc. Did I mention "anal retentive" anywhere?....). Hand-crafting in a text editor will also enable you to get rid of unprintable characters like your blank box.

07-09-2009, 01:31 AM	#1
lonelyphoenix7 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 18 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	Help a new 505 owner, please. Hey everybody. First time posting, so please don't be so rough with me if I ask a common question. I just got my PRS-505 a few days ago, and I love it. I had downloaded a few e-Books off the internet in PDF format, and put those on the reader via Sony's software. I then realized that there was no way to edit the title / author / any data for the e-books, so I downloaded calibre and changed all of the metadata to what I wanted. However, when I changed the files and added the new ones into the Sony software's library, the old author / title came up. :-( I'm torn between the programs. If I was just able to edit information in Sony's program, I wouldn't have any need for calibre. I like the collection feature on the 505, and have found that when I try to use calibre to mimic the collection feature using tags, when I check the collection on the 505 the collection is all out of order. I guess I can't win. :-(. So yeah, questions: 1 - Easiest way to edit data and make it permanent? 1a - If I download free books from Sony's store, is there any way I can edit those titles / authors as well? 2 - Any way to manage a collection's order in calibre? 3 - Is PDF a bad format for my eBooks? If so, what should I convert to, and how would I go about doing that? Thanks for all your help, guys. -Charlie

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07-09-2009, 01:45 AM	#2
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	1. How did you edit the metadata? Did you type over it in the fields in the main window view, or did you use the Edit Metadata dialog box? If the latter, did you click OK? 1a. yes, I've done this. After editing the metadata, send the file to your Reader. 2. There is a Series number field in the metadata. But you can't sort the titles in a collection like you can in the Sony Library. 3. You'll get a lot of opinions on this, I'm sure. Personally I don't care for PDF because I find the font just a bit blurry. You can use Calibre to convert them to LRF, but no conversion from PDF is perfect so leaving the files as PDF might be best. You can trim the white margins off the PDFs to make them easier to read. Oh, and welcome to MobileRead!

07-09-2009, 01:03 PM	#3
lonelyphoenix7 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 18 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	So after tinkering with the two programs all night, I've decided to completely erase the Sony software and stick to calibre. I don't need organized collections as long as I can get all of the metadata correct and organized. However, in tinkering, I found another problem: I downloaded a few e-books together and re-wrote the metadata fine in calibre, and it looks like what I typed. However, after adding the books to the reader, I found that the last symbol of each title or author comes out as a blank box instead of whatever the character is supposed to do (so, the last character of the author's last name, and the last character of the book title have a blank box instead of the correct letter.) Anybody have a problem like this?

07-11-2009, 10:19 AM	#4
alecE Evangelist Posts: 412 Karma: 546196 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: UK canal boat Device: sony prs505, prs650, kobo Glo HD liseuses	FWIW I detest PDF on my reader and try to avoid that format wherever possible. Where I can't avoid it, I usually convert the pdf to text and then undertake the rather laborious process of creating decent html to convert the book to epub in Calibre. (I should add a disclaimer here - there's probably better ways to overcome PDF limitations - I'm still finding my feet in the area of ebook conversion. At least this way gives me complete control over little things like accented letters, emphasis, quote marks etc. Did I mention "anal retentive" anywhere?....). Hand-crafting in a text editor will also enable you to get rid of unprintable characters like your blank box.

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