calibre is an open-source e-book library program for Linux, Windows, or Mac OSX. calibre (pronounced "kuh-LEE-bray," as in libre, or freedom) gives the user the basic functions found in the various proprietary user programs that are included with various e-book reader platforms, as well as a number of other file conversion and import/export capabilities.
(more after the jump)
calibre was developed by Kovid Goyal, who owned a Sony PRS-500 reader and did not want to use Windows to sync/manage it. His original device management program evolved into the full-blown graphical tool that is now calibre.
The above shot is calibre's main screen. At this point, no portable device is connected, so just the on-computer library is visible. Adding a book is simple, just choose the "Add Books" button on the top, or drag-and-drop a file in a supported format. The program allows input in the following formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR, and TXT. The user can convert their files and export them to the following formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, TCR, and TXT.
Once the book has been added, the user can edit its metadata. I added Jim Butcher's "Harry Dresden" novel, Small Favor, to my library, then changed the "cover" of the file by including a JPG of the book's cover.
My e-book copy of Small Favor was in Microsoft Reader's .LIT format, which is not compatible with my Sony PRS-700, so I used calibre to convert it to the more-open EPUB format.
Now that the e-book was converted and ready to be downloaded to my reader, I connected the device to the computer. Notice how the Reader joins the Library in the main window.
Syncing to the reader is a simple process. Click on the local library and choose one or more e-books to send (ctrl-click to select multiple e-books). When ready, click the "Send to Device" button to do the sync.
A check of my PRS-700's contents indicates that the two e-books were indeed transferred.
Another interesting feature of calibre is its ability to collect news feeds from the web and save them as an EPUB file. Those collected news feeds can then be downloaded to a reader like any other e-book. This may at first seem unnecessary, if one already has an Internet-ready smart phone or Amazon Kindle, but the display of most e-readers is larger (and crisper) than a smart phone. Additionally, air travelers have to shut down their phones once the flight departs, so the reader is convenient on planes. Above, I've chosen a RSS feed from The Register (theregister.co.uk), a computer/technical news/information site.
Now the feed from The Register (as well as Al-Jazeera's English feed) are saved in calibre and ready to be sent to the reader.
calibre supports the SONY PRS 300/500/505/600/700, Barnes & Noble Nook, Cybook Gen 3/Opus, Amazon Kindle 1/2/DX, Netronix EB600, Ectaco Jetbook, BeBook/BeBook Mini, Irex Illiad/DR1000, Foxit eSlick, PocketBook 360, Android phones and the iPhone.