eBook library management software: calibre

calibre-logoI’ve been using Stanza on my iPhone to read books, and have been impressed with how comfortable it is.  I love the convenience of traveling with a hundred books that add no extra weight to my luggage, and there’s a great number of freely available classics and contemporary books available to download.  The only problem is that I’m greedy.  I want more, and the internet provides so very much more.  There are a number of great eBook resources that aren’t tied into stanza and I usually find them while browsing on my main computer.  I don’t want to have to add them individually to Stanza, I want to download books in various formats (html, pdf, lit, epub, etc) and have them available to read in Stanza.  Is that too much to ask?
[GARD]
Apparently not! If you enjoy reading ebooks, you should really do yourself the favor of checking out Calibre.  This incredible free library management software does everything I was looking for and more.  You can manage multiple formats and convert them to your preferred eBook format for reading whether it’s a Sony reader, a kindle, a smartphone or iphone.  It comes with it’s own server as well, which means if you run stanza on your phone while connected to the same wifi network you can browse your library and download books to read later, you don’t even need to be USB tethered to do it.

That’s basically everything I was looking for in a library management program, but Calibre goes one step further.  It can auto download metadata to fill in missing descriptions, covers, tags and author information.  You can add internet news sources and have them automatically downloaded and converted to your eBook format of preference for reading later.

Can you tell I’m impressed?  Calibre is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.  It has a vibrant user community and is maintained and upgraded with regularity.  I highly recommend it.

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