Calibre A Free And Open Source Ebook Management System For Linux
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Having ebooks is really a good thing. It can be read anywhere, you get free from the hassle of storage and many more benefits. But it creates a problem when you got an enormous number of ebooks also in various formats.
You will have the problem of searching perfect ebook you want to read at a time, you have to maintain various kind of software for every format and much more. This is why ebook management systems come in the game. Today we are going to talk about such an ebook management system which is worldwide famous and loved by everyone. Calibre is an ebook management system supporting ‘MOBI, LIT, PRC, EPUB, ODT, HTML, CBR, CBZ, RTF, TXT, PDF and LRS.
How To Download Calibre?
You can either download Calibre from your software center which applies for Ubuntu, Mint and other similar distros.
Or you can visit their website from the link below and download Calibre as per your requirements.
The Short Setup
Calibre was really easy to download for me as it was available in software center and should be in most distros repositories. Launching Calibre introduced a splash screen which you can see above. You will also come across a setup wizard. This appears for 1 time only.
Choose your language and location where Calibre must save downloaded books in the future.
Choose your ebook manufacturer, I will advice leave it generic, it is best. Choose your device and hit the next button.
You will get a message that setup is completed. Hit finish. I was surely impressed by a short setup wizard. Calibre also in final screen gives you the option for demo videos which is very helpful.
Adding Your Books To Calibre
I was hoping that adding a book in Calibre would be as easy as the setup and I was right. This is the default screen you will come across every time you will launch Calibre. The screen is simple, clean and easy to understand and use.
Now it was easy to add books for me. Just click that icon on top left corner having a “+” sign and choose your books and add them.
Soon Calibre added my books. It was really easy to add my books to Calibre. Opening books just require you to double click on their name after they have been added.
Editing Books Metadata
This is quickly done, just click on the above option showing you to edit metadata of the added magazine or your book.
Read Magazine Or Newspaper
Calibre also allows you to read your favorite news magazine/paper just in a couple of clicks. To do this, just click on the option above stating news, choose your language on the left panel and then choose the magazine/paper. You can also schedule Calibre to automatic download newspapers for you, but it requires you to keep Calibre running. Calibre will also delete old newspaper automatically if you want.
Convert Books Format
Calibre allows you to convert the ebook to another format in case you want to use it on some other devices. This is pretty much helpful if you want to read it on your kindle, tablet or smartphone.
Various options are also available side-by-side.
Purchase Books In Calibre
You can purchase more ebooks using Calibre if you want. Simply click on the option get ebooks. A window will open allowing you to search a book and will also tell you if the book is DRM protected or not. Choose a book carefully while purchasing. Calibre cannot read all formats.
Other Features
I found it easy to locate books in Calibre using the side panel indicating various criteria through which you can access your books quickly. There is also an option to search above your ebooks to quickly search an ebook and start reading it.You can also create a specific virtual library if you want. Calibre will access and show you books in this library only and will be restricted to that part. There are pros and cons both of virtual library.
You can also donate to Calibre using the heart icon indicated in top options. It is good sometimes to donate to open source projects that help us ease our lives.
Conclusion
Calibre ebook management is awesome software, which allows us to manage all our ebooks in one place. It is fully stable, easy to use, and simple enough to operate without any user manual. I will definitely recommend our readers to use this for their ebook management purposes. This is one of the greatest open-source software every books lover must have in their distro. What are your thoughts on Calibre? Let me know if you use any other ebook management software in your Linux box. Let me know by commenting below.
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