Calibre Version 1.0 Released After 7 Years of Development 193
Calibre is a feature-laden, open source e-book manager; many readers mentioned in light of the recently posted news about Barnes & Noble's Nook that they use Calibre to deal with their reading material. Reader Trashcan Romeo writes with some news on its new 1.0 release, summing it up thus: "The new version of the premier e-book management application boasts a completely re-written database backend and PDF output engine as well a new book-cover grid view."
Awesome program (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been using this program for over a year first in Windows XP and now in Lubuntu and it's really really good to manage books on my Kindle Paperwhite. There's even a quality check plugin that has an option titled "Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire" which fixes it so that the book cover actually shows up on my paperwhite instead of a generic one. :)
pdf-epub (Score:4, Interesting)
My experience with it. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been using it for format conversions since I got my Kindle and though I have no need for it the reading and library features I'm sure they are adequate.
The one thing that bothers me, as is often the case with open source software, is the interface is a mess of icons in various colors, styles and questionable relation to the functions they're trying to represent.
I guess it's just another case of a developer not being a designer and making his own icons or accepting a patchwork of contributions from various people, but it would be nice if there was one consistent style throughout.
Hell, I might even consider using it for managing and transferring my ebooks if I felt more comfortable with the interface.
Re:Does it do custom folders? (Score:4, Interesting)
So far you had to import all of your files into calibre, it can't reference external files. So it is pretty much unusable for importing larger existing libraries, and you get locked in.
For me, I think this is a feature.
It ensures that no matter what plugins / convertors / bugs calbre has at the time, your original files don't get mucked up. So you can merge records, mess about with meta data, and not have to worry about losing anything.
The copies that are imported into calibre's own library folder are just that: plain copies. I don't get your point about "locked in". You're as locked in as you were with your original files. The directory layout may be different, but nothing gets obfuscated.
Re:My experience with it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Give it time, the interface grows on you. And having the same interface on Linux and Windows is worth learning what the icons mean. (hover works)
Nobody has mentioned that it the ability to send ebooks to your android without cabling up, sucking down newspapers or other periodicals and pushing them to your devices so you can read on the plane, or serving ebooks to your whole household for download via a simple web browser. Or managing multiple ebook libraries, so you can keep the kids books out of your books and vise versa.
I think it looks complicated, because it has a lot of power, but if you sit down and play with one feature a day, it becomes second nature.
Re:terrible UI (Score:5, Interesting)
UI is confusing, to say the least. But that's not my issue with it, it's UNBELIEVABLY slow to click around.
Addressing that second point first: I've been using Calibre for a couple of years, and the new 1.0 release is *much* faster than any of the earlier versions.
As to the "confusing UI", I just don't see how. It seems as straightforward as it can possibly be, unless there's some API I haven't heard about that somehow divines your intentions by reading your subconscious brainwaves.
Re:Thanks Kovid! (Score:4, Interesting)
Why would that be?
Some unrelated third party makes the observations that the developer is actively improving an already great program and giving it away free to the world, and that such generosity is deserving of reward in its own right. ( Incidentally this is the basis of a traditional gift economy - where people don't buy stuff, it's given free as a gift, and whoever gives the best gifts is the most likely to receive good gifts in their turn. )
If that observation discourages you from gifting the creator then I would venture a guess that you were unlikely to give such a gift to begin with, and that someone drawing attention to your selfishness aggravates latent feelings of guilt, which you defend against with hostility.