# Calibre - do you use it? Why?



## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

I just went to the Calibre web site - very cool.  Question - now that Kindle allows collections, do you still plan to use Calibre?  How come?


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## RobertK (Aug 2, 2010)

I'm curious, too.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I use it to correct metadata - like author names, book titles, etc.


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## Daniel Pyle (Aug 13, 2010)

I use it all the time to convert DRM-free books.  Plus, I have lots of PDFs on my iPad that I don't store put on my Kindle.  I think Calibre is still a good way to keep track of books if you're using multiple devices.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I use Calibre to get all my books to appear properly. Changing the Metadata on them so the last name, first name and such appears as it should. Getting books from different sources can be a bit jumbled in appearance. Even Amazon books aren't always properly in meta. I have gotten books that the author would show up with first name when sorting by name. 

I also like to add the series numbers in the title as in 2 of 7 or such. I never had collections with my K1 so having 110 pages of unread books is daunting if the data is correct and stuff won't show up as it should Its also easier for me to keep track of what I need to still transfer to Kindle and what I read. 

I usually transfer in batches. I also like using the tags in calibre. But mostly for me its for having the books properly appear and look the same as far as title and names go.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I use it to catalog my non-Amazon ebooks.


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

Atunah said:


> I use Calibre to get all my books to appear properly. Changing the Metadata on them so the last name, first name and such appears as it should. Getting books from different sources can be a bit jumbled in appearance. Even Amazon books aren't always properly in meta. I have gotten books that the author would show up with first name when sorting by name.
> 
> I also like to add the series numbers in the title as in 2 of 7 or such. I never had collections with my K1 so having 110 pages of unread books is daunting if the data is correct and stuff won't show up as it should Its also easier for me to keep track of what I need to still transfer to Kindle and what I read.
> 
> I usually transfer in batches. I also like using the tags in calibre. But mostly for me its for having the books properly appear and look the same as far as title and names go.


Another thing I use it for is changing book covers. For whatever reason a number of publishers put a garbage, generic cover in their kindle books.

Also, check out the periodical support. It can pull a large number websites off the internet, format them into a kindle book, and (if you want) automatically send them to your kindle.

And, finally, I don't like keeping everything I own on my kindle. I do keep everything in Calibre, though. Sorta like iTunes for books - I don't put all my music on my iPod, but it's all in iTunes.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

:nods:  The cover thing bugs the heck out of me.  Not that I look at the covers very often, but still!  Also, having the series title / # in the title field would be handy.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Does Calibre work with Kindle for Android?  I've used it with Stanza on my iPod Touch but can't figure out what to do with my Kindle for Android.  Does anyone have any tips?


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## JaneD (May 11, 2010)

Mostly I use it for conversions for my personal documents, and fetching news from various sources. I don't really use it for organizing my books.


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## Daniel Pyle (Aug 13, 2010)

JSRinUK said:


> Does Calibre work with Kindle for Android? I've used it with Stanza on my iPod Touch but can't figure out what to do with my Kindle for Android. Does anyone have any tips?


If it's anything like the Kindle app for iOS, you can only add books directly through Amazon as far as I know.


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## Jobee87 (Aug 17, 2010)

I'm using it to convert my DRM free books I've had on my computer for a while. I also like it to manage my books.

Is there a way to create a collection in Calibre and have it become a collection on the Kindle?

I'm watching for an update so my Kindle 3 can work with it.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

I absolutely love Calibre.  Kovid, the creator, has really done an outstanding job of creating a program to help organize and change the books to suit your needs.  Everytime I purchase a new book, either from Amazon or another source, I import it into Calibre.  I am able to change the metadata and thanks to LuvMyBrats's tip about changing the publishing date, now all of my series which I keep in Collections are organized by first book in the series down to the last book in the series.  My entire e-book library which now stands at about 3500 books is organized in a way that makes sense.  If Kovid ever decides to charge for Calibre, I will be first in line to purchase.  Love it and highly recommend using it.

P.S.  One last thought, Kovid is constantly putting out updates to the program to make the program run smoother, faster or support new and different functionality.  He even has a process to request new functionality or report problems.  He is often over at MobileReads.com and is very responsive in answering questions.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

Jobee87 said:


> I'm using it to convert my DRM free books I've had on my computer for a while. I also like it to manage my books.
> 
> Is there a way to create a collection in Calibre and have it become a collection on the Kindle?
> 
> I'm watching for an update so my Kindle 3 can work with it.


At this time, there is no way to create a collection in Calibre and have it show up in Kindle. I do believe this is one of the enhancements that has been requested by others. Not sure where it sits in the queue.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

chilady1 said:


> If Kovid ever decides to charge for Calibre, I will be first in line to purchase. Love it and highly recommend using it.


He does accept donations to help keep it running. I donated $20 yesterday.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Daniel Pyle said:


> If it's anything like the Kindle app for iOS, you can only add books directly through Amazon as far as I know.


Oh, thanks. I thought I was just missing something.

My only intention was to convert some of my own books to Kindle and read them on the phone while waiting for Amazon to get around to doing anything about shipping my Kindle. I guess I'll just have to wait.


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

chilady1 said:


> I absolutely love Calibre. Kovid, the creator, has really done an outstanding job of creating a program to help organize and change the books to suit your needs. Everytime I purchase a new book, either from Amazon or another source, I import it into Calibre. I am able to change the metadata and thanks to LuvMyBrats's tip about changing the publishing date, now all of my series which I keep in Collections are organized by first book in the series down to the last book in the series. My entire e-book library which now stands at about 3500 books is organized in a way that makes sense. If Kovid ever decides to charge for Calibre, I will be first in line to purchase. Love it and highly recommend using it.
> 
> P.S. One last thought, Kovid is constantly putting out updates to the program to make the program run smoother, faster or support new and different functionality.  He even has a process to request new functionality or report problems. He is often over at MobileReads.com and is very responsive in answering questions.


And here I thought my library was huge at 855 books! 

Kovid provides phenomenal software support. He already has an update prepared so that the Kindle 3 will be recognized when plugged in, and the update should be released today or tomorrow.

PLEASE consider donating to support the author if you use Calibre! I've already donated once and plan to do so again as soon as I get the next release.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

DYB said:


> He does accept donations to help keep it running. I donated $20 yesterday.


Oh I have donated, believe me.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

chilady1 said:


> Oh I have donated, believe me.


So have I.

I use Calibre fore several things. I generally don't keep any book I've read on my Kindle/iPad/whatever, I delete them from the device once I've read them. I also use Calibre to edit titles, authors, covers, add series info, genre tags, etc. And to convert between mobi and ePub. It's my central repository for all my ebooks (several thousand of them).

Another feature I like is the ability to get a book from my personal library via wireless away from home when using iPad and Stanza. I'm hoping that this will be something I can do with the K3 when it arrives.

Mike


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

jmiked said:


> So have I.
> 
> Another feature I like is the ability to get a book from my personal library via wireless away from home when using iPad and Stanza. I'm hoping that this will be something I can do with the K3 when it arrives.
> 
> Mike


So Mike, help me out with that last line. Are you referring to the ability to access your Calibre library via the Web? I messed around with this for a couple of days and couldn't make it work. I know it had something to do with the ports and such and I just couldn't figure it out. Would love to be able to do this since I really download most of my books from Calibre. By the way, I am like you - I don't keep books read on my Kindle. Once read, I delete - I know I have several copies of them (1) Calibre (2) Calibre backed up on EHD (3)SugarSynch cloud etc.

More info on getting the books wirelessly when away from home would be great.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

chilady1 said:


> More info on getting the books wirelessly when away from home would be great.


I just tried it with the iPad. I don't seem to be able to connect with the iPad browser. I don't know if I was mistaken about being able to do that, or if something else is going on. I'll have to experiment more.

Mike


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## waynep (Dec 22, 2009)

I am setting it up in anticipation of my K3 arrival. I am going to use it to auto-send some news feeds to [email protected] That was I'll have daily news on it when I wake up. 

Don't know what I'll do with it as far as ebooks are concerned yet though. I'll have to wait and see what I need.


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## Lynn (Nov 4, 2008)

I like the idea of using Calibre but I obviously am not figuring something out. I can't get the authors names to show up correctly on my kindle. What order do they need to be in? I have tried lots of combinations but am doing something wrong since they don't come out right- usually with the authors first name being used to sort. I looked through the help area but couldn't find anything there to help me.

Lynn L


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## NiLuJe (Jun 23, 2010)

There's a "Use author sort for author" checkbox that you'll have to check in Preferences > Conversion > MOBI output

That should clear things up (while using the usual "FN LN" syntax in author, and "LN, FN" in author sort. The only thing you'll have to tweak manually is in case there's multiple authors, you'll have to go with a "LN1 & FN2 LN2 & FN3 LN3, FN1" syntax instead of what calibre does automatically) .


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## Lynn (Nov 4, 2008)

Thanks!

Lynn L


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I have put all my books with last name, first name in both fields and on the K1 it appears first name/last name but is properly sorted when using author sort on Kindle. 

So in calibre I put in Bronte, Charlotte in both the author field and the author sort field and it shows as 
Charlotte Bronte on the Kindle, but sorts by last name. I don't know about the preference thing though.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I always enter author info by FIRSTNAME LASTNAME in the author field and by LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME in the author sort field and it all gets listed properly on the Kindle and in Calibre.

You can click the little symbol by the author field to enter the sorted version automatically.

There are other ways to do it, but that's the way I ended up with. I just like seeing the author name as first then last in Calibre.

Mike


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