# New Calibre features (searches and metadata) -- MERGED



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

I'm sure some of you already know this, but Calibre has a relatively new feature called Get Books that will search various sites for books you enter in the search field. I've got mine set up to search Amazon, Mobileread, Feedbooks, Baen, and Gutenberg.

It returns the Title, Author, Price, DRM status, and formats available. You can click on the entry and be taken to the site and download the book directly into Calibre (if it is not a DRMed book). I don’t know what it does with books that you purchase or have DRM, haven't tried that yet.

A super nice feature.

Mike


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## jabeard (Apr 22, 2011)

Thanks for the info.


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## Jodi O (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes, thank you. I just upgraded Calibre and hadn't noticed that feature yet. I'll check it out.


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

No kidding, that's cool!  I hope Calibre is getting some kind of affiliate income if you purchase books through its search. That guy does a lot of work on a free product that everyone loves.  He deserves some kind of compensation.

--Maria


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

meromana said:


> No kidding, that's cool! I hope Calibre is getting some kind of affiliate income if you purchase books through its search. That guy does a lot of work on a free product that everyone loves. He deserves some kind of compensation.


One could, say, _donate _as suggested on Calibre's website and within the program itself.


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

I often wonder what proportion of people click on those "Donate" buttons. I'm a sucker happy patron, myself, when someone provides value. And Calibre is excellent value.

Off to update my Calibre software.


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

lpking said:


> I often wonder what proportion of people click on those "Donate" buttons.


Sadly, very low.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

I have made several donations because this is the best program I have added to my computer in the last few years.  The developer is depending on donations to help him continue his work on Calibre.  Be sure to help him or the work and updates might just stop.


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

meromana said:


> No kidding, that's cool! I hope Calibre is getting some kind of affiliate income if you purchase books through its search. That guy does a lot of work on a free product that everyone loves. He deserves some kind of compensation.
> 
> --Maria


I'm pretty sure that Kovid gets nothing when a book is purchased. I've donated to Calibre, though. It's a great program.

Mike


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

jmiked, how do I find that Get Books feature on my Calibre?

I have looked but I can't find it. 

It would be a nice feature to use.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

There's a new "Get Books" button on the toolbar, with a globe as it's icon. 

You need to be on version 0.8 or newer I believe.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

As of Calibre 0.8.2, you can set the metadata plugin to download covers and metadata from your local Amazon site (France, Germany, UK, Italy) instead of from Amazon.com.

It's not easy to find how to set it, this is how you do it:

Preferences... Plugins (under Advanced)... open "Metadata source plugins", pick Amazon.com, pick "Customise Plugin" and there's a pulldown from which you can select your preferred Amazon site.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

I finally found it.  You have to look under preferences, then Interface, and then toolbars.

I think it is really neat and is an excellent way to look for other books by the same author.


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

I'm pretty sure the Get Books icon got installed on my toolbar by default at one of the upgrades. I sure don't recall doing it manually. I wouldn’t have known what it was for if I hadn't clicked on it.

Mike


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Thanks for the instructions Morf. Calibre does so much, but a lot of it is wasted on me, because I never seem to have the time to figure out how it all works! As I'm in the UK, this will be very helpful.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi, I've merged two similar threads...if anyone discovers any more new features in this latest iteration of Calibre, please post them here....


Betsy
KB Moderator


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

After using this feature for several weeks, I guess I'd have to say it's less than useful to me. It doesn’t find all the books by any given author, it only shows the first 10 titles per store. The fellow that wrote the plug-in says that in most cases, the stores themselves will return only 10 to 15 titles on a search, so there isn't much to be done about it at the moment.  

Mike


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