The easy way to correct the metadata is to fill in the title and author, then click the ‘Download metadata’ button at the bottom, center of the Edit Metadata dialog. Calibre will display possible matches for the information entered. If there is more than one result select the entry that looks like the best match. A lot of information should be filled in now.
Above the ‘Download metadata’ button and to the top, right of the cover image is the ‘Download cover’ button. If the book doesn’t have a cover showing or if you don’t like the cover, click it to try to have calibre download one from the internet.
Now that you have your e-books in calibre there are a few different ways to find specific e-books in your library. Direct Searching is one of the fastest ways. Above the book list there is a Search field. Think of it like having Google built into calibre. Just type a few key words into the Search field. Try the author, title, series, or anything else from the e-book’s metadata. E-books matching your search terms are shown as filtered results. The other e-books are still in your library, but they won’t be shown if the search expression doesn’t find them.
You can also use the tag browser to search your library. Along the left side of the window is the tag browser. If you don’t see anything to the left of the book list, click the luggage tag icon in the lower right of the main window; a list will appear to the left of the library. It allows you to see specific subsets of your library. Clicking the icon to the left of each tag allows you to display just the e-books matching that criteria. A plus searches for all books that match and a minus searches for all books that don’t match. Notice that as you enable items in the tag browser search queries are added to the Search field. The tag browser is really just an easy way to create search queries. You could type the query directly into the Search field and see the same result.
Task 2: Conversion
This is arguably the most useful, and most complex, feature calibre offers. Three of the most popular e-book readers today are the Amazon Kindle, the Kobo and the Barnes & Noble Nook. Unfortunately, not all of these devices read the same kinds of e-books. This mess is like the one in the music world where you might find such formats as WMA, MP3 and AAC. In e-books, the same confusion exists—the Tower of eBabel, as some call it.
2.1: Background
If you are only buying e-books from the store associated with your reader—for example, Amazon’s Kindle Store or Kobo’s Store—you don’t need to worry about any of this. But there are very good reasons why you should know about the major formats, what formats your reader supports, and how to convert between formats.
In addition to the big e-books stores, many online sites offer e-books. Everything from public domain works to novels (often offered at no charge) by well known and lesser known authors. The ‘Get books’ icon in the toolbar allows you to easily comparison shop via a store search dialog. This allows you to search many different stores (uncheck or check the stores you want it to use on the left), big and small, at once. It not only helps you find the best price but also the right format for the book you’re looking for. Please note that this feature connects you to a third party, the store, so any issues related to a purchase should be directed to the store itself because calibre is not part of this exchange.
Often you can download e-books in a variety of formats, but you won’t always find them in a format your e-book reader supports. Here is where conversion comes in. There is a very good chance that you will be able to take an e-book and convert it to a format your reader supports. Realize that you can’t convert e-books that use Digital Rights Management (DRM).
In the rest of the conversion section I will focus on three devices. 1) The Amazon Kindle which supports the AZW3 format. 2) The Kobo, which supports the EPUB format. 3) The Barnes & Noble Nook, which also supports the EPUB format. While both the Kobo and Nook use the EPUB format, books purchased from one store may not be readable on another device due to DRM.
2.2: Why are there different e-book formats?
Advances in technology is one reason why so many different e-book formats exist. In fact, it’s a major reason. Just like the transition from VHS to DVD and now to Blu-Ray, older formats which were created to solve the problems faced at that time are replaced with newer formats that better meet the needs of today. A great example of this is the e-books people read back in the ’90s on their PDAs. Those devices were very limited in what they could display. E-book readers today are much more advanced. They can display large images and handle advanced formatting. These newer devices needed updated formats that could provide these features.
E-book formats are constantly evolving. While new formats aren’t introduced very often, existing formats (like EPUB) are constantly being updated. For example, the transition from EPUB 2 to EPUB 3. One big change that comes with EPUB 3 is the ability for EPUB to support audio and video. While supporting audio and video might seem counter intuitive for an e-book, it make sense when you think about e-books as rich media. Coupled with a tablet or phone, audio and video can work very well and greatly enhance the readers experience.
Another major reason for the proliferation of e-book formats is exclusivity. Many vendors like to control their own proprietary format so they are not dependent on outside companies. They also have the benefit of being able to license their format for use by others. Finally, controlling the format allows them to lock users into their platform. E-books, being relatively new, are undergoing the same growing pains that Betamax and VHS or HD-DVD and Blu-Ray went though. The EPUB format, from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), is an industry standard intended to reduce these problems.
2.3: Conversion basics
The first thing you need to do is find out what formats your e-book reader supports. The Kindle supports AZW3, MOBI, PRC, AZW1, TPZ, PDF and TXT. The Kobo supports EPUB, PDF, MOBI, RTF, CBZ, CBR, and TXT. The Nook supports EPUB, and PDF. Don’t let this scare or confuse you; all of the major e-book readers support multiple formats. Even with this jumble of letters, you only need to worry about the preferred format for the e-book reader. This preferred format is the one that gives the best formatting. As I mentioned earlier for the Kindle, you really only need to worry about AZW3. For the Kobo and Nook you only need to worry about EPUB. However, it is a good idea to be aware of all of the supported formats because it wouldn’t make sense to convert a MOBI to AZW3 for reading on your Kindle because the Kindle can already read MOBI. Conversion is only necessary to fill in the gaps. For example, if you want to read an EPUB on your Kindle you can convert the EPUB to AZW3.
2.4: Auto conversion
Auto converting e-books with calibre is simple and straightforward:
Open Calibre and select the e-book to convert in the library list.
Connect your e-book reader to your computer. Calibre will take a moment to detect and scan your e-book reader.
Click the ‘Send to device’ button in the top tool bar.
Calibre is smart enough to know if the book is in a format supported by your reader. If it’s not, calibre will ask you if you want to auto convert. Say yes, and calibre will take care of the conversion and put the book on your reader.
That’s all there is to it. Doing it is easier than it sounds because all you need to do is select the book you want on your device and click ‘Send to device.’ Calibre worries about the formats and converting for you.
2.5: More robust conversion