(2 books) in "On Device" column Sony Reader

[phenomshel]

I noticed this the first time I plugged in my Sony 600 after updating to 7.18, but this is the first chance I've had to ask about it. I updated to 7.19 tonight (after the fix, LOL), and it's still happening (and now I have time to ask about it).

When the Sony is plugged in, and the "On Device" column is visible, a lot of books now have the checkmark under "On Device" but then in parentheses (2 books). Now, I know that there's only one copy of the book on the device. It isn't the ones that have two formats that are Sony compatible - I can't seem to find a pattern as to which ones have the (2 books) message and which ones don't.

Somebody got a clue?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

When the Sony is plugged in, and the "On Device" column is visible, a lot of books now have the checkmark under "On Device" but then in parentheses (2 books).
...
Somebody got a clue?

Yep, got a clue.

Unless something is broken (which is possible), there really are two books on your reader that match the same book in the library. They might match because of author/title matching, or they might match because the have the same calibre ID. One might be in the reader's memory and the other on the reader's card.

Select one of the books, push the little down-pointing triangle next to the Remove Books icon, then select 'Remove matching books from device'. You will be presented with a dialog that lists the books, including where they are stored on your reader. You won't actually delete anything unless you leave the checkboxes checked and press OK.

[tcreek]

I had the same problem with a Kindle 3.
For 12 book titles, "2 books" were shown in the "On Device" column. There was definitely only one book for each title on the device.
The duplicates were shown in different formats so I deleted the books with the formats that were not on the Kindle.
Be sure you remove the check mark for the book that is actually on your device so you don't lose it.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by tcreek

I had the same problem with a Kindle 3.
For 12 book titles, "2 books" were shown in the "On Device" column. There was definitely only one book for each title on the device.
The duplicates were shown in different formats so I deleted the books with the formats that were not on the Kindle.
Be sure you remove the check mark for the book that is actually on your device so you don't lose it.

Could you explain a little more what you mean?

You say that there was definitely only one book for each title, and that you deleted formats that were not on the kindle. Where were these formats located? In the library? If so, then they would not appear in the dialog with the check boxes (or shouldn't be).

Or perhaps you are saying that you had two books in your library, each with one format, and those formats different from each other? If this was the case, was each book marked as '2 books'?

What I am trying to do is understand whether or not there is a bug. Thanks for your help.

[tcreek]

I had single books in the library that showed "2 books" in the "On Device" column. I searched everywhere (that I knew of) to find why this should be so but discovered no duplicate titles or books with different formats. Then I saw your post above and went to the arrow at the "Remove Book" icon.

There, and no where else, were the books shown in 2 different formats.
Ten books that were "mobi" on my Kindle were also listed as "prc". Two books that were "azw" on my Kindle were listed as "azw" twice.

The "mobi/prc problem might have been caused when I converted books from prc to mobi. I did that for some books and then deleted the prc format at "Edit Metadata" at Calibre.
I may have downloaded the duplicate "azw" twice for each book but I would have deleted the duplicates for the titles did not show up twice in the Library.

I am not proficient in Calibre, just discovered the site last week.
Hope this helps.
Don

[chaley]

Originally Posted by tcreek

Hope this helps.

Yes, it does.

Your post tells me that the book counting is doing what it is supposed to do. It found more than one file on the reader that it could match with a book in the library.

What we don't know is how the multiple files got there. One way this can happen is if you change author or title metadata and send the book to the device. The template used for file name generation when sending usually includes those fields. so the book with new metadata would end up somewhere different from the first. It is extremely easy to forget to delete the now-obsolete copy. The scenarios you described are also quite feasible.

Thanks again for helping.

[tcreek]

One other thing.
The document files on my reader (H drive did not show any duplicates for the books that were shown as duplicates in the "On Device" column of Calibre.

[Perkin]

I've had (2 books) and some (3 books) on my reader (Sony PRS-300) which has no memory-card, only main memory, and on the reader and in the actual calibre library, there was only one format of these file (epub). None of them had titles that matched others.

When clicking the small arrow on remove books, and remove from device, only one item is being listed.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by chaley

Yep, got a clue.

Unless something is broken (which is possible), there really are two books on your reader that match the same book in the library. They might match because of author/title matching, or they might match because the have the same calibre ID. One might be in the reader's memory and the other on the reader's card.

Select one of the books, push the little down-pointing triangle next to the Remove Books icon, then select 'Remove matching books from device'. You will be presented with a dialog that lists the books, including where they are stored on your reader. You won't actually delete anything unless you leave the checkboxes checked and press OK.

Is it possible to have that list (Remove matching books from device) default all UNSELECTED.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by chaley

Yep, got a clue.

Unless something is broken (which is possible), there really are two books on your reader that match the same book in the library. They might match because of author/title matching, or they might match because the have the same calibre ID. One might be in the reader's memory and the other on the reader's card.

Select one of the books, push the little down-pointing triangle next to the Remove Books icon, then select 'Remove matching books from device'. You will be presented with a dialog that lists the books, including where they are stored on your reader. You won't actually delete anything unless you leave the checkboxes checked and press OK.

But if that's the case, wouldnt' the reader show two books? And there's nothing on the reader's main memory except one of the books that came with it... I never put any books on it, ONLY on the secondary card. (I just double checked this..yep, still true).
Using your suggestion to "Remove matching books from device" it only shows one copy of the book on my reader (screenshot attached).
Thanks for your help
I can't figure out how to post a thumbnail, so here's the URL to the image:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/alb...pictureid=3272

[chaley]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

But if that's the case, wouldnt' the reader show two books?

Not necessarily. If the metadata is the same, the reader might show only one of them.

And there's nothing on the reader's main memory except one of the books that came with it... I never put any books on it, ONLY on the secondary card. (I just double checked this..yep, still true).

What is on Card A?

Using your suggestion to "Remove matching books from device" it only shows one copy of the book on my reader (screenshot attached).

Well, that is a mystery.

The (almost the) same code is used to generate the count and produce that dialog box. One gets 2 and one gets 1. Sigh... I suppose I must look carefully at the 'almost' part.

I will get back to you if I need more information that you can reasonably provide. Posting me your reader is probably not reasonable.

Do you have zillions of books on the reader? If not, and if you are willing, it would almost certainly be helpful to have copies of the two Sony databases. This issue is size. It is feasible if the zipped version of a database is smaller than a meg or 2. Input into your consideration: know that I would be able to see titles and authors for all the books, something you might consider an invasion of your privacy.

[phenomshel]

Nothing is on Card A. There is no Card A... only the main memory. I think Sony identifies the slot for Memory Stick as Card A; but I'm not using that slot, I'm using an SD card, which was identified as Card B. I have 1000 books on the Reader... and no idea what the dbase size is, LOL...or where to find it (sorry....*wince*). I don't care if you know what's on the device, LOL!!

However, I'm also on the way out the door to get new glasses. Bad timing, I know, and I apologize. I'll be back in a few hours and will check in then, ok?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

...or where to find it (sorry....*wince*). I don't care if you know what's on the device, LOL!!

When you plug in the reader, you will get two drives, one for main memory and one for the card. There is a database on each drive. I am assuming you are using windows.

The one for main memory is 'database\cache\media.xml'. If the main memory is on drive L:, then the database is L:\database\cache\media.xml. Make a zip file of it.

Assuming that the drive for your card is M:, the database for the card will be at M:\Sony Reader\database\cache.xml. Make a zip of this one as well.

Email the two zips to calibrebugs [at] charles [dot] haleys [dot] org. Make the obvious substitutions, and make sure that a) there are no blanks in the address, and b) that there is no period at the end.

I'll be back in a few hours and will check in then, ok?

Sure. I will probably be asleep, but tomorrow comes soon enough.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by chaley

When you plug in the reader, you will get two drives, one for main memory and one for the card. There is a database on each drive. I am assuming you are using windows.

The one for main memory is 'database\cache\media.xml'. If the main memory is on drive L:, then the database is L:\database\cache\media.xml. Make a zip file of it.

Assuming that the drive for your card is M:, the database for the card will be at M:\Sony Reader\database\cache.xml. Make a zip of this one as well.

Email the two zips to calibrebugs [at] charles [dot] haleys [dot] org. Make the obvious substitutions, and make sure that a) there are no blanks in the address, and b) that there is no period at the end.
Sure. I will probably be asleep, but tomorrow comes soon enough.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Sent! Hope this helps

[chaley]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Sent! Hope this helps

Yes, it does. It proves conclusively that something is broken.

Unfortunately, it doesn't show 'what' is broken. That said, knowing that something can be done helps a lot in working out how it is done. I now know it can be.

One more thing you can do to help. There are two more files that might help. Calibre keeps a 'cache' of information on the device so that it doesn't need to rescan books on connect. These files are named 'metadata.calibre', and should be located in the root of the drive: L:\metadata.calibre and M:\metadata.calibre. If you could zip (rar) these up and send them to me, I would appreciate it.

Thank you again for taking your time to send me these things. I couldn't make progress without the help.