Calibre - eBook Management and Conversion Tool

[caption id="attachment_449" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Calibre eBook Management ~ calibre-ebook.com"][/caption] Ran across this yesterday and seeing the number of hits I am getting daily on my article about "Opening 'Other' eBooks in Apple iBooks" I thought that this could be very helpful. Calibre is an open source eBook library management application which also automates the conversion to the ePub format. Here are some of the other features:

• Library Management
• E-book conversion
• Syncing to e-book reader devices
• Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form
• Comprehensive e-book viewer
• Content server for online access to your book collection

One of the biggest benefits to Calibre (in addition to pulling your library into a single format and unified library space) is its ability to convert from multiple formats to other formats: Input Formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT Output Formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, SNB, TCR, TXT Be advised that Calibre does NOT convert books that have Digital Rights Management (DRM) enabled.  If you want to use Calibre to convert a an eBook that has DRM you would first need to be strip the DRM before the conversion. However, You can still use Calibre to manage your DRM's eBook library just without the conversion. Calibre nicely connects directly to various devices.  When I plugged my iPhone in, it immediately connected to it and with a click I can view what is on the main iPhone memory.  Now, I currently run 6 (yes SIX) different eReaders on my iPhone: iBooks, Kindle, eReader, Barnes & Noble eReader, Borders, and Nook.  I initially setup Calibre with a default export of Apple iBooks as a test so Calibre seems to only be looking for ePub format. Additionally, most of my books are in the Nook format, but I cannot figure out how to re-run the setup wizard to reset the software to default to the Nook format, but I will continue to look.  It is easy to manually do a conversion, but I wanted to try to simply reset the defaults. The interface is very clean and easy to understand.  You can also push a book on the system out to a connected eReader with a click of the button. (Note: iBooks requires an iTunes sync to fully move the book to the iPhone or iPad.) [caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Calibre interface"][/caption] Below is a demo of how Calibre works: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_FgtM_Oqs] I would strongly recommend trying Calibre to consolidate your eBook library.  in a future post I might break my own rule and provide ideas an options for stripping DRM on your eBook library to assist in pulling your purchased material together FOR YOUR OWN USE not distribution or sharing...