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Announcing Calibre 2.0

blog.calibre-ebook.com

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Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#3
One thing that really sucks still is the conversion of PDFs (for e.g. journal articles) into formats suitable for e-ink readers. I've tinkered with its heuristic processing and regex formatting, but I'd never considered manually touching up the final .epub as it comes. If their ebook editor is any good I might start reading journal articles again.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#5
post #4

Does it still refuse to index without managing? A quick glance at the documentation says yes.

What do you mean by that?

I suspect that the parent was asking whether Calibre will index books where you put them on your hard drive, rather than insisting on moving them into a directory that it manages. (For example, iTunes will index your music, but iBooks insists on managing your books.)

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#6
I'm sure calibre 2.0 is a great technical feat, and kudos for all the work put into this product, but judging by the screenshot the user interface is equally clunky as in 1.0. This software does mostly everything I need it for to convert ebooks... but can you, the authors, please improve the UI?

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#7

One thing that really sucks still is the conversion of PDFs (for e.g. journal articles) into formats suitable for e-ink readers. I've tinkered with its heuristic processing and regex formatting, but I'd never considered manually touching up the final .epub as it comes. If their ebook editor is any good I might start reading journal articles again.

This converter is reasonable: http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ I wonder if someone has done a Calibre plugin for it.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#8
post #6

I'm sure calibre 2.0 is a great technical feat, and kudos for all the work put into this product, but judging by the screenshot the user interface is equally clunky as in 1.0. This software does mostly everything I need it for to convert ebooks... but can you, the authors, please improve the UI?

I agree the app is good - but the user interface has always needed simplifying.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#9
post #4

Does it still refuse to index without managing? A quick glance at the documentation says yes.

What do you mean by that?

It comes with a library. A media library can read metadata from content and use that to build up an index, or it can monkey around with the location of the content by copying or moving it to some special folder and then read the metadata there.

Ideally, software supports both ways of working (lots of people prefer to have the software take over, lots of people are worried this will make a mess, or don't want to live with some constraint the software imposes, or whatever).

Calibre will only index content imported into its library.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#10
I have a love-hate relationship with Calibre. As a way to manage my ebooks, and especially overcoming the insanity that is DRM, Calibre is a lifesaver. I wouldn't even be buying ebooks if it wasn't for Calibre. (I only bought a Kindle after making sure I could crack the DRM and actually own the books I paid for.)

However, the user interface of Calibre is one of the worst I've ever encountered. It looks and feels like a teenagers first attempt at creating a desktop software prototype back in 1995. (Having to go to the website to download and install every single new minor release also feels like something from a bygone era.)

I donate to Calibre because I need it to continue existing, but I have no love for it.

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