Access your ebook collection on your smartphone with Calibre and OPDS.

Nov 19

Calibre. Without a shadow of a doubt out favorite cross platform ebook management application, is once again the topic of conversation for today.  For whoever came up with the idea that ebooks should and could be managed through iTunes .. should be shot, brought back to life, shot again, cremated and have his/her ashes scattered on piles of horse shit. Managing your eBook collection in Calibre on the other hand is a bundle of joy. Ordering and cataloging your books, adding keywords, sorting them around AND converting them to your favorite format .. is exactly what Calibre is good at. So what gives ? Well , imagine you and your favorite ebook reader are out and about on the road ? What if you would like to grab that copy of the Twilight Saga you have stored on your computer at home ? Is there no hope ?  Sure there is  ! Calibre comes with a built in webserver that lets you acces your ebook directory via a browser .. exactly what you want .. is it not ? “Hotdiggedy YeS” I hear you scream .. but what if you don’t have access to a browser ?  (or are in the inability to transfer the downloaded files to your favorite reading app ?) Are you lost ? Should you revert to reading the cerealbox for all eternity ? No ! Enter ODPS : A standard for interacting with ebooks libraries. 

How does it work ? 

  • Make sure you have installed calibre on your machine (Duh)
  • Enable the Calibre web service and make sure to enter a username / password. (you don’t want the entire world to know you read my-little-pony cartoons )
  • Open up the correct ports on your router (if you want to access this from the outside)
  • Pick up an ebook reader app on your IOS or Android device that is able to open OPDS libraries.
  • Setup your home calibre library in the apps OPDS preferences.
  • Access your ebooks from anywhere.

What do you need ? 

And now ? 
Now you will be able to access your library directly from the application and get your ebooks from anywhere.
 
Help ? 
No worriez , we got you some manuals.

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Got an eBook Reader ? Get some Calibre !

May 22

If there is one open source cross platform application that I have loved like a puppy .. its Calibre. I can vividly remember coming across this little gem when I was looking for good ways to manage my eBook library after I had just purchased my Sony PRS-505 eBook reader. The original software cd that came with the device had thrown into a decaying orbit around pluto (by ME) after I swore never to trust Sony software again. We all know what happened with the majestic rootkit incident a couple of years ago. So Calibre stepped onto the scene and offered to manage and convert all of my txt, rtf, epub and mobi formats into one unified format. It then suggested to manage my library for me (if I wanted to) and gave me the added bonus of downloading RSS feeds and turning them into ePubs .. automatically. This little ball of Unicorn poo (and I mean this in the nicest way) is essential if you own some kind of eBook reader .. or even an iPad. The DRM infested locked town contraption cocked up by the late Steve Jobs refuses to read/eat anything else then ePub or Pdf files. Got some Txt’s, Mobi’s or RTF (not to confuse with RTFM) files ?  Use Calibre to manage them, fetch metadata and even shove them into iTunes for you.  A great must have app ( even the guys over at howto geek have written up a great post about using its advanced features HERE)

Get Calibre for Linux, Windows, Mac and the Lunar module computer … HERE.

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