iBooks, iCloud and ePub Metadata

[mores]

Disclaimer: I like using iBooks. I like not having to run my own server, use complicated programs for different uses and I like the "simple yet powerful" experience that Apple likes to brag about.

Having said that, I can't understand WHY they took away to ability to edit metadata. All was well when we had ePub in iTunes.

So anyway, I get by, I can edit book titles in iBooks for the desktop, add [Seriesname #] to book titles to get things all nicely organized. I need that because I can't remember the correct order of titles etc.

Anyhow ... all was well, still, before I used the cloud and synced my phone with my desktop. THEN I was supersmart and activated iCloud for iBooks ... and all was not well anymore.



FINALLY MY QUESTION: how can I use tools like Sigil, Calibre or ePub Metadata Editor when the epubs are stored in a folder that is no longer accessible to me via finder?
Remember when files were stored in

/Users/'USERNAME'/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

Now it's

~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks/Documents/

and the only way to access then is through the terminal app.

Anybody know anything on how to get to these files to edit them? Or bake iBooks title changes into the actual epub file?

[harriska2]

I don't know about the specific issues you have. My husband loves ibooks. But I just side loaded (emailed, then open in ibooks) an epub that was just wack. It had black blocks, it cut off last sentences and paragraphs before the end of a chapter. I loaded Marvin and wallah, no problems - plus it picks up series names.

[cedhax]

Still remember the day when iBooks represented the state of the art in ebook reader with its beautiful bookshelf and realistic finger-following page curl animation as presented by Steve Jobs?

Unfortunately, iBooks has been pretty much in relative decline since iOS 7. Nevertheless, it is still much better at high-fidelity rendering of EPUB than many other ereaders, including various incarnation of Marvin. So I really have a hard time believing the story by harriska2.

mores, I don't think it's a good idea to "add [Seriesname #] to book titles to get things all nicely organized". Since [Seriesname #] are not EPUB attributes, there is no robust way to add it to the EPUB file itself. A better way is to rely on some good book management software and/or ereader app. My favorite is now MapleRead, which gives me the feel of the good old Steve Jobs' iBooks and the powerful and well thought-out design. Taking care of [Seriesname #] is a piece of cake, whether you do it by editing within the app or by importing via calibre.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cedhax

mores, I don't think it's a good idea to "add [Seriesname #] to book titles to get things all nicely organized". Since [Seriesname #] are not EPUB attributes, there is no robust way to add it to the EPUB file itself.

It's perhaps worth noting that, unlike ePub2, ePub3 does actually have series metadata: the "collection" metadata property is used for the name of a series, and the "group-position" property for the number of the book in the series. An ePub reader that supports ePub3 could, therefore, use this data.

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's perhaps worth noting that, unlike ePub2, ePub3 does actually have series metadata: the "collection" metadata property is used for the name of a series, and the "group-position" property for the number of the book in the series. An ePub reader that supports ePub3 could, therefore, use this data.

HarryT, you are right. Thanks. When I said EPUB, I should have qualified it as EPUB2.

Not sure how "collection" and "group-position" are supported in practice. For example, if you modify "series" and "number" of an EPUB2 book with calibre, will they ever appear as "collection" and "group-position" as an EPUB3 output by calibre?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cedhax

HarryT, you are right. Thanks. When I said EPUB, I should have qualified it as EPUB2.

Not sure how "collection" and "group-position" are supported in practice. For example, if you modify "series" and "number" of an EPUB2 book with calibre, will they ever appear as "collection" and "group-position" as an EPUB3 output by calibre?

Does Calibre handle ePub3 at all? I was under the impression that it only converted to ePub2 (but I may of course be mistaken).

[mattcurtis]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Does Calibre handle ePub3 at all? I was under the impression that it only converted to ePub2 (but I may of course be mistaken).

It does, when you use Save to Disk on an ePub 3. I asked the question of the developer here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=278805

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

conversion does not support outputting epub 3. Reading and writing metadata in epub 3 format is supported and input of epub 3 for conversion is supported.

If you want to see how epub 3 metadata is written simply add an epub 3 file to calibre and use save to disk. The metadata you set in calibre will be saved in epub 3 form in the output file.