Ebook question

[james_davis_nicoll]

How do people browse their ebook collections? With paper, I can just let my eyes scan along the shelves but I have not found a similar method for ebooks.

added later

I use Kobo, laptop and Calibre.

The magic phrase is cover grid.

Comments

[jessie_c]

I use adobe Digital Editions on my laptop for Ebooks. It has a "library" and "bookshelf" feature which allow for the books to be sorted by Author's Name, Dates added, whether the book has been read or not, or grouped in any way the reader wishes. Within the bookshelves, the books may be sorted by Author name, Title, Publisher, date added, pages or something called "status" which I've never bothered to learn about.

[gingicat]

The Kindle does thumbnails of the covers for both text and audio, which is very helpful when looking at my husband's library.

(Are you thinking of doing audiobook reviews by any chance?)

[james_davis_nicoll]

Audiobooks take soooooo much time to listen to, says the guy with multiple full archives of old radio shows on his phone.

[gingicat]

That sounds perfect for Young People Read Old SF!

[beamjockey]

Or Young People Have Old SF Read To Them.

[dsrtao]

I put ebooks into a directory structure in a password-protected web server. It's easy to get the web server to show directories according to either alphabetical order (the default) or most recently changed (which I usually use).

I also keep a text file with a list of books I'm looking for in either physical or ebook format, and a notation for when I've found them and another notation for when I've read them.

Mindless browsing is a matter of looking through the alphabetical list of authors. For everything else, there's searching.

[arduinna]

(here via Network)

If you haven't updated to Calibre 3.x yet, give that a shot; it scales much better to modern screen resolutions, so things aren't tiny anymore. It also offers a couple of different ways to look at covers - cover grid, and cover browser (which helpfully includes the title of the book as you browse past it, so even if the image is unclear you should be able to see what it is0.

I also went through and put consistent tags on all my ebooks, and between that the the grid, it's like looking at a bookshelf. I can narrow down to a tag and then just browse that.

[scott_sanford]

I have opinions about how tags are used but for the sake of diplomacy should keep my mouth shut...

[kore]

The most recent Calibre update was awful, everything is oversized and cartoony.

[0jack]

Some devices will allow you to screencast to a cooperative television or computer screen -- or your library can be mirrored on the computer or a likely website. That would mean a little less immediate access but you could basically "go to the bookshelf" and have a look through, especially if it were on the TV.

[(Anonymous)]

I stick with the Kindle app largely because it allows you to put books in multiple collections and sort them eiher automatically by author, etc. or into a custom order.

[litalex]

I use Kindle and iBook, and both have a library screen to see all the books with their covers.

[thewormthatflies]

You can change the size of the covers shown in the cover grid display in the preferences, under "Look & Feel" -> "Cover Grid". I just tested it out and it seems to work.

[stdesjardins]

I create various collections on my Kobo (their term for a set of e-books). For instance, I have a collection of unread, current year science fiction, and when I finish a book or magazine I remove it from that collection. If I think I might want to consider it when Hugo nominations roll around, I add it to the folder for Hugo possibilities, which I review when the nomination season opens. I also have ad hoc to-read collections, for example, current Hugo nominees, and guests at upcoming conventions, and a collection of light reading which is not Hugo-eligible, and a collection of comfort books for when I'm in the mood to re-read something.