Calibre is a program to manage your eBook collection. It acts as an e-library and also allows for format conversion, news feeds to eBook conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an. Calibre is described as 'Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application made by users, for users. Many languages, designed around the concept of the logical book, i.e' and is one of the leading apps in the News & Books category.
| Original author(s) | Kovid Goyal |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 31 October 2006; 14 years ago |
| Stable release | 5.16.1[1] (19 April 2021; 0 days ago) [±] |
| Repository | |
| Written in | Python, JavaScript, C++, C |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Platform | IA-32, x64 |
| Size |
|
| Type | e-book reader, word processor |
| License | GPL v3 |
| Website | calibre-ebook.com |
Calibre (stylised calibre) is a cross-platformopen-source suite of e-book software. Calibre supports organizing existing e-books into virtual libraries, displaying, editing, creating and converting e-books, as well as syncing e-books with a variety of e-readers. Editing books is supported for EPUB and AZW3 formats. Books in other formats like MOBI must first be converted to those formats, if they are to be edited.
History[edit]
On 31 October 2006, when Sony introduced its PRS-500e-reader, Kovid Goyal started developing libprs500, aiming mainly to enable use of the PRS-500 formats on Linux.[3] With support from the MobileRead forums, Goyal reverse-engineered the proprietary Broad Band eBook (BBeB) file format. In 2008, the program, for which a graphical user interface was developed, was renamed 'calibre', displayed in all lowercase.[4]
Features[edit]
Calibre supports many file formats and reading devices. Most e-book formats can be edited, for example, by changing the font, font size, margins, and metadata, and by adding an auto-generated table of contents. Conversion and editing are easily applied to appropriately licensed digital books, but commercially purchased e-books may need to have digital rights management (DRM) restrictions removed. Calibre does not natively support DRM removal, but may allow DRM removal after installing plug-ins with such a function.[5][6]
Calibre allows users to sort and group e-books by metadata fields. Metadata can be pulled from many different sources, e.g., ISBNdb.com; online booksellers; and providers of free e-books and periodicals in the US and elsewhere, such as the Internet Archive, Munsey's Magazine, and Project Gutenberg; and social networking sites for readers, such as Goodreads and LibraryThing). It is possible to search the Calibre library by various fields, such as author, title, or keyword; however as of 2020, full-text search has not yet been implemented.[7][8]
E-books can be imported into the Calibre library, either by sideloading files manually or by wirelessly syncing an e-book reading device with the cloud storage service in which the Calibre library is backed up, or with the computer on which Calibre resides. Also, online content-sources can be harvested and converted to e-books. This conversion is facilitated by so-called recipes, short programs written in a Python-based domain-specific language. E-books can then be exported to all supported reading devices via USB, Calibre's integrated mail server, or wirelessly. Mailing e-books enables, for example, sending personal documents to the Amazon Kindle family of e-readers and tablet computers.[9][10][11][12]
This can be accomplished via a web browser, if the host computer is running and the device and host computer share the same network; in this case, pushing harvested content from content sources is supported on a regular interval (called 'subscription').[citation needed] Also, if the Calibre library on the host computer is stored in a cloud service, such as Box.net, Google Drive, or Dropbox, then either the cloud service or a third-party app, such as Calibre Cloud or CalibreBox, can be used to remotely access the library.[13][14][15][16][17]
Since version 1.15, released in December 2013, Calibre also contains an application to create and edit e-books directly, similar to the more full-featured Sigil application, but without the latter's WYSIWYG editing mode.[citation needed]
Associated apps[edit]
- Calibre Cloud (free) and Calibre Cloud Pro (paid), apps by Intrepid Logic that let one 'access your Calibre e-book library from anywhere in the world. Place your calibre library in your Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive folder, and be able to view, search, and download from your library anywhere'.[18] As Jane Litte at Dear Author and John Jeremy at Teleread observe: This tool can be used to 'create [one's] own Cloud of eBooks'[19] and thereby read and allow downloads and emails from one's Calibre library via the Calibre folder in Box.net, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Because the Calibre-generated local wireless feed (OPDS) can only be accessed on devices sharing the same network as the Calibre library, this feature of the Calibre Cloud apps is particularly useful when away from one's home network, because it allows one to download and read the contents of one's Calibre library via the Calibre folder in Box, Dropbox, or Google Drive.[20]
- Calibre Companion (paid), an app by MultiPie, Ltd., recommended by calibre's developers, 'brings complete integration with calibre on your desktop, giving you total control over book management on your device.'[21] John Jermey at Teleread notes this app can manage Calibre/device libraries as if one's mobile device were plugged into computer; however, unlike Calibre Cloud, Calibre Companion requires users to be at a computer and use the Calibre-generated local wireless feed (OPDS).[20]
- Calibre Library (paid), an app by Tony Maro that allows one to 'Connect wirelessly to your Calibre e-book library or other Stanza source. Browse and download your e-books on the go.'[22] This app's operations and benefits are similar to those offered by Calibre Cloud.[20]
- Calibre Sync (free), an app by Seng Jea Lee that 'seamlessly connects to your Calibre Library and shows up as a connected device on Calibre. If Auto-Connect option is enabled, your device will attempt to connect to the Calibre Library when it is within the home Wi-Fi network. This allows Calibre to automatically update your device with the latest newspaper or magazines you have scheduled for download!'[23] As with Calibre Companion, this app requires the device to be on the same network as the Calibre library.
- CalibreBox (free and paid), an app by Eric Hoffmann that, like Calibre Cloud, accesses Calibre libraries from cloud storage.[24] Unlike Calibre Cloud, it is limited to Dropbox, but CalibreBox supports more than one library at a time, and flexible sorting and filtering. Custom column support for the book detail view, sorting, and filtering by custom columns, and adding more than two libraries are restricted to paid users. The app is built on the design principles of Google's Material Design and is under active development.[25]
- Calibre-go (free), app by Litlcode Studios lets you access your Calibre e-book library from cloud storage and access the library through Calibre-go to browse, sort, search and read books on your mobile. Calibre-go supports multiple libraries across multiple accounts simultaneously.
- Calibre Sync (paid), an Android app by BIL Studio that lets you access Calibre libraries from cloud storage (Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, and pCloud), or from SD card. Calibre Sync supports multiple libraries across multiple accounts simultaneously, also allows users to browse, sort, search, filter and download books to read on devices.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'What's new'. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^Goyal, Kovid. 'calibre release (3.10.0)'. calibre-ebook.com. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- ^https://en.softonic.com/articles/interview-kovid-goyal-creator-of-calibre
- ^'calibre – About'. Calibre-ebook.com. November 2009. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^Sorrel, Charlie. 'How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others'. Wired.com. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^Zukerman, Erez (December 28, 2012). 'How To Break The DRM On Kindle eBooks So You Can Enjoy Them Anywhere'. MakeUseOf.
- ^'User named kovidgoyal on fulltext search in TODO list'. 2010-08-01.
- ^'User named Kovid Goyal (kovid) on fulltext search request'. 2011-05-23.
- ^'Transferring Kindle Books to Calibre'. Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^'About Calibre'. Calibre-ebook.com.
- ^Hoffmann, Eric. 'EBook Software: Calibre'. MobileRead Forums.
- ^'Featured Tips n Tricks: How to Use Dropbox to store all your ebooks in the cloud'. TouchMyApps. December 5, 2011.
- ^Wallen, Jack (February 28, 2011). 'How to Use Calibre to Access Your eBook Collection Online'. TechRepublic.
- ^Biba, Paul (February 18, 2010). 'How to Create Your Own Cloud of eBooks with Calibre, Dropbox, and Calibre OPDS'. TeleRead.
- ^'Calibre2OPDS'. MobileRead.
- ^Slangen, Simon (August 5, 2013). 'How To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With Calibre'. MakeUseOf.
- ^Litte, Jane (July 24, 2011). 'Create Your Own Cloud of Ebooks with Calibre + Calibre OPDS...'Dear Author. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
- ^'Calibre Cloud'. Google Play. Google, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^Litte, Jane. 'Create Your Own Cloud of Ebooks with Calibre + Calibre OPDS...'Dear Author. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^ abcJermey, John (September 30, 2012). 'Calibre Tools For Your Android Device'. Teleread. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013.
- ^'Calibre Companion'. MultiPie. MultiPie, Ltd. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^Maro, Tony. 'Calibre Library description'. Google Play. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^Seng, Jea Lee. 'Calibre Sync'. Google Play. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^Hoffmann, Eric. 'CalibreBox'. Google Play. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^'CalibreBox – New Cloud-Based App'. MobileRead Forums. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
Further reading[edit]
- Roy, Lachlan (June 9, 2011). 'A User's Guide to Calibre eBook Manager'. makeuseof.com.
External links[edit]
Download Calibre Ebook Management
- Media related to Calibre at Wikimedia Commons
Calibre Free Download For Mac
Calibre Free App
Calibre is advertised as the one stop solution for all your e-book needs. But as one famouse person said 'I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do all of those things very well.' That's why though Calibre is free, there are a lot of people that are not happy with this software and are looking for alternatives. Not for alternatives that also can fly and float, but for smaller and easier alternatives that can either fly or float and do it better than Calibre. We have picked 5 interesting apps in four categories that can replace Calibre on your desktop.
1. Calibre alternatives for book management
Ebook management includes e-library visulization, parsing and editing ebook metadata, searching and sorting books in the database, managing ebook files, etc. In this category we recommend two programs: Alfa Ebooks Manager for PC and Delicious Library for Mac.
Alfa Ebooks Manager features a lot of templates and options for beautiful library vizualization. Besides, it allows to update book data from multiple web sources (like Amazon, Google Books, Barnes & Nobel, etc). It's also good at file management and metadata extraction. And the main thing, that it's much more easy-to-use than Calibre.
Delicious Library is not just the Mac alternative for Alfa Ebooks Manager or Calibre. It's a bit different. Actually it's a software not just for books but for managing all stuff at your home. It's greates feature - entering books via webcam shot (it recognizes ISBN code). This feature makes Delicious Library the best software for collecting paper books.
2. Calibre alternatives for ebook conversion
As usual we need to convert books in order to read them on the e-reading device. Except Calibre there is another free tool for this purpose - Hamster. It allows you to convert eBook files in proprietary formats for more than 200+ devices (Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iRiver, Sony, Nook, Kobo, etc). Hamster converts ebooks to TXT, Adobe PDF, FB2, LIT, HTMLZ, PDB, LRF, PUB. It also allows to move eBooks between devices and convert multiple files in the batch mode.
3. Calibre alternatives for e-reading device management
Those e-reading devices that use SD-cards for book storing can be easily managed by one of gereral-purpose ebook organizers, but some popular e-readers need specific treatment. Of course, the first in this line is Kindle, that doesn't support folders, but supports own collections. We've found the great third-party tool for managing Kindle - called Kindlian. It's a paid app, but it's very easy and beautiful and unlike Calibre allows to manage Kindle Touch.
4. Calibre alternatives for ebook reading
Calibre can open most of ebook formats. But it's more a tool for opening books, rather than for reading them. There are a lot of much more comfortable desktop ebook reading apps. One of them is KooBits. It's also compatible with almost every book format (like PDF, EPUB, XML, HTML, KBJ, and more) and provides more comfortable reading experience. It also allows to personalize your ebook with the Highlight and Stamp tools to mark important sections or use the Extraction tool to copy content and piecing them however you like in the scrapbook.