Topic: NEW: Thumbnailing of EPUB E-books (Read 4482 times)

Matt · « **on:** February 18, 2020, 01:30:31 pm »

Media Center 26.0.24 and newer will thumbnail an EPUB book if the book has images in it.

A good source of these books is here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Make sure to download the books with images so they can thumbnail.

The files in Media Center will be data files so will use whatever you have associated with them. The Microsoft store has a few free EPUB readers.

Instructions
In the import dialog, check the electronic books checkbox under Data so Media Center will import EPUB files. Next import a folder that has these files. Then you can view, organize, and play your books.

Enjoy

leezer3 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2020, 11:39:19 am »

That works, thanks

Can we get metadata.opf imported at all please.....
(Calibre metadata file, sample attached from what was alphabetically first on disk

)

leezer3 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2020, 11:44:42 am »

Secondary thought (talking to myself here?)-
I'm not sure Data is the best place to put ePubs / CBRs.

If we're getting closer to full features, perhaps it warrants a new category (literature or something?).

They could do with not being lumped with Office Files, ISO etc, as IMHO its not the most obvious place to look for them.

I'd also consider moving PDFs to this category, but they're probably less likely to be a full literary work (??), rather a manual or something.

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2020, 12:11:05 pm »

Please share what other software you use for reading epub books. I looked at a couple yesterday. Calibre looked good.

leezer3 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2020, 12:29:14 pm »

As a general rule of thumb, I don't read on the PC, other than preview functions; The eReader gets used for that.

If I am, I'll use Calibre, but it can be a little overwhelming for a new user.
Getting the metadata management for my eBook collection (thousands) into MC would definitely be handy.

MC on Android with full ebook metadata could potentially be a killer if the viewer was done right.

mwillems · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2020, 07:34:33 pm »

I use calibre too FWIW (there's nothing comparable on a PC).

I'll second a request for .opf metadata reading, that would make import a snap!

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2020, 10:38:52 am »

Here's a wikipedia topic on E-books:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book

I've downloaded books from Project Gutenberg. They're old enough titles to be in the public domain in the U.S.

https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2020, 10:44:54 am »

This topic is near and dear to me. I grew up around books. My dad was the manager of the textbook department at Nebraska Book Company in Lincoln, Nebraska. From an early age I went to work with him whenever I could. I worked there every summer, starting at age 13 and loved it.

In 1958, he and my mom started Cliffs Notes. His name was Cliff Hillegass. It grew quickly and several years later, he quit work at Nebraska Book to do Cliff's Notes full time. I helped pack the books, and from 1960, as soon as I was old enough to drive, I took them to the Post Office each evening. It was work, but it was fun, too. It was run out of the basement of my family home for the first few years, then moved into an old Safeway store downtown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes

JimH · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2020, 10:48:37 am »

Cliff Hillegass became a sort of icon. He's sitting here on the left, alongside another Nebraska icon.

DJLegba · « **Reply #9 on:** February 20, 2020, 01:58:02 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 20, 2020, 10:48:37 am

Cliff Hillegass became a sort of icon. He's sitting here on the left, alongside another Nebraska icon.

I did not know that.

fitbrit · « **Reply #10 on:** February 20, 2020, 05:53:49 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 20, 2020, 10:44:54 am

In 1958, he and my mom started Cliffs Notes. His name was Cliff Hillegass.

Wow. Just wow. Can't believe I am only now learning of this after 12+ years on this forum. Coolest thing I read today.

mwillems · « **Reply #11 on:** February 20, 2020, 07:41:41 pm »

I wondered if Cliff Hillegass was a relation. That's really cool!

ferday · « **Reply #12 on:** February 20, 2020, 07:59:29 pm »

so cool, i never made the connection either

thanks for sharing JimH

fitbrit · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2020, 08:16:57 pm »

Jim, is that Carnac in the picture with your dad?

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** February 20, 2020, 08:41:50 pm »

It is.

bwaldron · « **Reply #15 on:** February 21, 2020, 12:04:21 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on February 19, 2020, 07:34:33 pm

I use calibre too FWIW (there's nothing comparable on a PC).

I'll second a request for .opf metadata reading, that would make import a snap!

I also use Calibre (on my Windows PC) for all my ebook management and server needs.

BigCat · « **Reply #16 on:** February 22, 2020, 03:15:19 pm »

Jim, I just had to comment on the Cliff Notes thing. Those booklets got me through university times! They were (are) well written and I would often read them after reading the book they were based on (and obviously, when time was tight, occasionally INSTEAD of...).

Cliff Notes are all about dense information and content. They take brilliant works, and brilliantly concentrate the ideas. They are a joy to read for anyone who both loves knowledge and the value of time!

Like others, I had no idea of the connection here. Many years later, I have a career, and I can partially thank your family. Let me add that your JRiver has continued the family tradition of excellence.

So, thank you!

ssands · « **Reply #17 on:** March 02, 2020, 03:59:13 pm »

I've been hoping for improved e-book support, so this is great news.
I've tried Calibre twice and really, really disliked it.
And, I've most likely disliked it because I saw how much better JRiver was architected and planned.
If Calibre followed JRiver's example, I'd be all over it, but I'm not about to move all my ebook and pdf material into Calibre's directory structure. Forget it.
And the Calibre dev is adamant about no changes in that direction. So, I bailed.
Using JRiver to organize my ebook assets much like I do with my other media would be awesome - I actually haven't looked at it in awhile.

==> Really cool to find out about Cliff Notes!

MikeO · « **Reply #18 on:** March 03, 2020, 12:11:02 am »

I bought my first eReader for my 60th Birthday 10 years ago and have barely read a paper book since

I have gone through a Sony Reader, 2 Kindles and now read mostly on my iPad or Samsung Tab A (it acts as my phone, book , music control , everything !!)

I have used Calibre for the whole of that time as my library manager , I find it a great , intuitive piece of software , only real pitfall is it doesn't talk easily to the iPad so I have to resort to iTunes (UGH) to load the books

Cannot recommend Calibre more highly

MikeO · « **Reply #19 on:** March 03, 2020, 08:42:48 am »

PS for reading

Android is Aldiko, Google Play is OK but typically a bit pushy

Similarly the Kindle app on either OS both are keen to sell you stuff rather than read what you own

IOS I use the native iOS reader

Caliber is OK but no handheld version

PhDSM · « **Reply #20 on:** March 03, 2020, 12:00:20 pm »

I use calibre too.
if MC would handle metadata like author, date published, page count, publisher, ..esume...
would be wonderful !!

DougHamm · « **Reply #21 on:** March 29, 2020, 11:49:44 pm »

I used Neat Reader; it's the only product I'm aware of with iOS+Android+Windows+Mac+web clients with full syncing between all. Wasn't exactly cheap though. I do however use Calibre for all my cataloguing so being able to read its metadata would be useful!

-Doug

alb · « **Reply #22 on:** April 17, 2020, 05:10:57 pm »

One more Calibre user here.

If you have a large library of books and use Windows - you better be using Calibre. Nothing compares to it at all. Not even close. The e-book viewer that comes with Calibre is a separate program from the library manager which is good because it is very, very basic. So, you can use a different viewer, obviously. Still, I have no problems with it at all. Ugh. I told myself I wasn't going to upgrade to v26. That just went flying out the window. Damn you and your cool and interesting new features!!!

Oh yeah, that Cliffs Notes revelation is cool and stuff, but one time, my father won $500 on a scratch ticket...so there!

Haha! Naw, seriously...that is wicked cool to know. What other secrets are you hiding? LOL

wer · « **Reply #23 on:** April 17, 2020, 05:52:26 pm »

Somehow I missed this, and I had no idea MC had added EPUB support!

I use Calibre for EPUB. I researched EPUB managers quite a bit and Calibre is by far the best out there.

However, I recommend getting a slightly older version, like v3.3. When Calibre went to v4 it took a big step backwards in my opinion, especially with the reader. Calibre 3.3 is outstanding.

Calibre is more than just a cataloging app that keeps track of metadata. EPUBs often need a lot of "fixing" to display correctly on different e-readers, and Calibre make short work of this. It has many automated content and structure fixing processes, converts formats, and even has a built in epub editor so you can dive in and fix things if necessary. It's an essential tool.

alb · « **Reply #24 on:** April 18, 2020, 02:46:17 pm »

I eventually got used to Calibre 4's reader. When I first upgraded, I was not happy. I know some people are going to want to smack me, but one thing I don't like about Calibre is every time I open it up, the application has an update that I need to download. I could skip, but I don't. I know...I know. There are so many applications of all sorts that don't seem to ever offer updates. My beef with Calibre is the updates are often so darn unimportant. Like, I install the latest update and then I see the (totally made up here) update description, "1) Changed suffix selector "JR." to "Jr." in Settings > Favorite Authors. 2) Moved Author's Name underneath Book Title instead of having it next to the book title in the Metadata Editor." WHAT?! You made another update for THAT?!

I never thought I'd complain about free software updates.

Other features that I do take advantage of are: 1) It runs as a book sharing server. (ComicRack can be a Server too) 2) Convert E-Book formats. 3) Join/Split E-Books. 4) Automatically download newspapers, magazines...and other "News". I haven't used this is over a year, but when I did use it frequently, I loved it. I would have news sources like The New York Times auto-download each days paper turned into web links for my e-book reader. It never blocked me saying that I reached my limit of free articles for the month (which is so easy to defeat anyway). Anyway, then I could read all sorts of sources on my synced tablet while on the train. I used to commute 2 hours each way by train.

JimH · « **Reply #25 on:** June 13, 2020, 05:21:31 pm »

Build 91 is on the Latest Channel now. It has a couple of OPF file changes.

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,125806.msg871524.html#msg871524

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** July 24, 2020, 01:40:19 pm »

Does anyone who is using books also use goodreads.com?

My understanding is that it's a database, similar to what IMDB is for movies. Both are owned by Amazon.

mwillems · « **Reply #27 on:** July 25, 2020, 08:39:37 pm »

Quote from: JimH on July 24, 2020, 01:40:19 pm

Does anyone who is using books also use goodreads.com?

My understanding is that it's a database, similar to what IMDB is for movies. Both are owned by Amazon.

I don't personally use goodreads anymore, but I do use calibre to scrape data from goodreads. Calibre will often stash the goodreads ID number in the OPF file for a book if it found an entry so you can click through to the page, which is nice if you want to see reviews. Goodreads is also the best readily scrapable source for certain types of book metadata (like total page count in books).

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Author Topic: NEW: Thumbnailing of EPUB E-books (Read 4482 times)