Naming convention of files on JBL

I recently picked up a JBL, and have been extremely impressed by it. I did upgrade to the v016 firmware. My question is about how files should be named so they show up on multiple lines in the JBL display menu.

It appears that .txt, .pdf and .fb2 files with a # between the author and title are displayed as though the # were a line break. Other formats (.mobi, .epub, .rtf & .prc) are displayed in the format "Author Name#Book_Title" in the display. Is there something I'm missing? I'll gladly adjust the naming scheme of these files if there's a correct way I should be doing this.

A second question is about how folders are handled on the SD card. It appears that if you create a Books and Pictures folder on an SD card, they show up as a second level in the Books menu option (to access the books on the Books folder of the SD card, you'd have to go into Books > Books, instead of having them all together in the menu display. The same appears true of the Pictures folder on the SD

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/28/2010 06:51:04

ccayer wrote:I recently picked up a JBL, and have been extremely impressed by it. I did upgrade to the v016 firmware. My question is about how files should be named so they show up on multiple lines in the JBL display menu.

It appears that .txt, .pdf and .fb2 files with a # between the author and title are displayed as though the # were a line break. Other formats (.mobi, .epub, .rtf & .prc) are displayed in the format "Author Name#Book_Title" in the display. Is there something I'm missing? I'll gladly adjust the naming scheme of these files if there's a correct way I should be doing this.

A second question is about how folders are handled on the SD card. It appears that if you create a Books and Pictures folder on an SD card, they show up as a second level in the Books menu option (to access the books on the Books folder of the SD card, you'd have to go into Books > Books, instead of having them all together in the menu display. The same appears true of the Pictures folder on the SD card. If you put everything in the root of the SD card, the books show up in the picture menu. What is the correct way to store books and pictures on the SD card so they display separately with the other books and pictures that are on the internal memory?

Thanks!

Hey,

Thanks for the question. I'm not sure i understand your first question. When you download a book you should see the name of the book right in the books section. So you go to books and the book title should be there (or in a folder you have created).

As for the second question. The JBL hardware should have two folders that should be of concern. A book placed in the "books" folder will show up when you go on the main menu to books. If you create a file "horror books" and put "book one" in there. Then you will have to go books > horror books > book one. (this is if you put books on the device HD).

If you put it on the SD card they will show up the same way. So a book directly on the SD card will show up in books. If you create a folder on the sd card that says "books" and put "book 1" into it you will have to go books > Books > book 1.

Hope this helps!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/26/2010 15:06:08

Thanks for the quick reply.

The PD books that came with the JBL are named (mostly) Author Name#Book_Title.txt. This displays in the menu as Author, left justified in the first line, followed by the Title, right justified in the second line. TXT, PDF and FB2 format books are displayed in this manner. EPUB, MOBI, PRC and RTF files named exactly the same way are displayed in a single line with the # and underscores intact. Books with exactly the same file names are displayed differently depending on their extension. Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

I confirmed the operation of the SD card as the way you described it. The part that's throwing me off is when pictures are involved. If you place pictures in the root of the SD card, they show up correctly in the pictures menu, mixed in with the pictures on the internal memory. BUT, books in the root of the SD card also show up in the Pictures menu as well. I would think there should be a Books and Pictures fo

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/28/2010 06:51:32

ccayer wrote:Thanks for the quick reply.

The PD books that came with the JBL are named (mostly) Author Name#Book_Title.txt. This displays in the menu as Author, left justified in the first line, followed by the Title, right justified in the second line. TXT, PDF and FB2 format books are displayed in this manner. EPUB, MOBI, PRC and RTF files named exactly the same way are displayed in a single line with the # and underscores intact. Books with exactly the same file names are displayed differently depending on their extension. Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

I confirmed the operation of the SD card as the way you described it. The part that's throwing me off is when pictures are involved. If you place pictures in the root of the SD card, they show up correctly in the pictures menu, mixed in with the pictures on the internal memory. BUT, books in the root of the SD card also show up in the Pictures menu as well. I would think there should be a Books and Pictures folder on the SD card that maps to the root of the menu, so they could be kept separate, and still display with their respective bretheren in internal memory. As it is now, if you create Books and Pictures folders on the SD card, you have to go to Books > Books to access the SD card, and Picture > Pictures to do the same. The Pictures folder also shows up under the Books menu.

Hey,

Oh ok i understand. If i had to guess i would imagine the JBL reads the TXT, PDF and FB2 different then the EPUB, MOBI, PRC and RTF files. I'm not tech support but if you want to contact them to be sure the number is 718-728-3605.

As for the Pictures that's defiantly an interesting observation. Basically what your saying is all pictures placed on the SD card will come up in the books section. So if on the root of the SD you make a "pictures" folder and then go Books > Pictures you will see your pictures? This might be something for us to keep in mind with subsequent firmware releases.

What has worked for me, in terms of the file structure for my JBL's SD
card:

The safest thing to do is to lock up your USB cord in a hard to find
location. (Once you have used it to download the books that came
preloaded in the JBL's internal user's memory and copied them to your
SD card.) It is essential that you have a USB 2 based reader/writer
that is or can be connected to your PC, and that you work on your SD
card with that, not in the JBL. (You can find USB 2 SD card readers for
under three bucks.)

In fact, what I have done is to also delete all the internal folders EXCEPT
the "Books" and "Pictures" folders. All the subfolders under those were
deleted as well. Leaving just the Root directory with an empty Books
folder and an empty Pictures folder, in the JBL's internal memory.

(I have added back just a few "special" pictures and documents to have
with the SD card out of the JBL.)

The SD card(s) used as JBL library SD cards have to include a "Books"
and

Jerry, I think the one guy was trying to say that everything on the SD card seems to be mapped to Pictures on the main menu! I, too, see everything on my SD card when I select pictures from the three choices of the main menu - Books, Pictures, Settings. I also see the one and only picture I have put in the JBL picture folder (not on SD card but main memory). That seems a bit strange. I would expect to see just the stuff in the Picture folder on the main memory and the stuff in Pictures on the SD card, not the entire contents of the SD card. I have had this "problem" with all firmware releases since I got my JBL in early July.

Upon further investigation, it appears that main menu 1 choice BOOKS shows contents of Books folder on main menu and EVERYTHING on root of SD card. Menu choice 2 PICTURES shows contents of Pictures folder on main menu and EVERYTHING on root of SD card.

Would it not be better to REQUIRE Books and Pictures folders on SD card and then have main menu choice BOOKS show contents of Books folder in main memory AND Books folder on SD card; and then main menu choice 2 PICTURES show contents of Pictures folder on main memory and Pictures folder on SD card? that way, the root of the SD card would be structured simpler, and the main menu choices would function more consistantly?

Experiment - If you make a folder in main memory but outside of Books and Pictures, will that display anywhere in the main menu choices?

In other words, map the SD card the same way you map the main memory - books to books, pictures to pictures, and nothing outside those folders.

I think that would be the intu

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/09/2010 19:55:41

csamels wrote:
In other words, map the SD card the same way you map the main memory - books to books, pictures to pictures, and nothing outside those folders.

I think that would be the intuitive way to do it.

That would just make an unnecessary layer in the file structure.
The JBL already has a limited number of layers that it can support, even
with FAT32.

The menu that you get to from the "Books" selection on the JBL's Main
Menu is labeled "eBooks" and for mine there are five pages of theme
folders and a last page with theme folders and a few files (two are the
"JBL manual" PDF and "Useful web sites" PDF that are in the internal
memory; and the other is a loose PDF in the root of the SD card).

Without the SD card my "eBooks" menu is one page and only has
those two PDF files. There is no "Pictures" folder in my "eBooks"
menu, without the SD Card. If I select "Pictures" from the Main
Menu, I get to a "Pictures" menu that has the "JetBook" JPG that is

Yes, you have restated the situation as it exists.

One extra layer is not really all that much of a complication. I already have several layers deep of folders on the SD card with no apparent difficulties.

Still, ANY way to make the menu choices reflect reality, not some hodge podge mixture of things, would be just fine with me, and I assume the person who brought up the issue. Even Jerry said he'd point that out to the techies, and rightly so, I believe.

I just believe when a menu says Books, that's what the choice should lead to, and when the menu says Pictures, that's what the choice should lead to.

I was merely adding my evidence that the issue is real and a possible (though not necessarily the only) way to accomplish resolving it

I have had release 15, 16, and now 16b, and the issue has existed in all of them. It is real, sometimes confusing (especially to one used to having menu choices accurately reflect the choices), and I hope it does get resolved. In the meanti

csamels wrote:Yes, you have restated the situation as it exists.

One extra layer is not really all that much of a complication. I already have several layers deep of folders on the SD card with no apparent difficulties.

Still, ANY way to make the menu choices reflect reality, not some hodge podge mixture of things, would be just fine with me, and I assume the person who brought up the issue. Even Jerry said he'd point that out to the techies, and rightly so, I believe.

I just believe when a menu says Books, that's what the choice should lead to, and when the menu says Pictures, that's what the choice should lead to.

I was merely adding my evidence that the issue is real and a possible (though not necessarily the only) way to accomplish resolving it

I have had release 15, 16, and now 16b, and the issue has existed in all of them. It is real, sometimes confusing (especially to one used to having menu choices accurately reflect the choices), and I hope it does get resolved

Ken Maltby wrote:What has worked for me, in terms of the file structure for my JBL's SD
card:

The safest thing to do is to lock up your USB cord in a hard to find
location. (Once you have used it to download the books that came
preloaded in the JBL's internal user's memory and copied them to your
SD card.) It is essential that you have a USB 2 based reader/writer
that is or can be connected to your PC, and that you work on your SD
card with that, not in the JBL. (You can find USB 2 SD card readers for
under three bucks.)

With the new update, I have a use for the USB cable. I need it to get ADE to recognize the JBL to transfer library books over.

djharkavy wrote:
With the new update, I have a use for the USB cable. I need it to get ADE to recognize the JBL to transfer library books over.

Actually, if you copy the ADE files over to your SD card ADE recognizes the SD card as a JBL when you insert it into your card reader. So you can still toss that cable like Ken recommends. I think I used my cable once since I purchased the JBL and that was only because I was too lazy to go upstairs to get my card reader. I've since purchased another card reader and now my cable is "safely" stored away in the bottom of my junk drawer.

If you have any problems getting ADE to recognize your SD card as the JBL let me know. It identifies my card as the JBL every time.

Numbr6 wrote:

djharkavy wrote:
With the new update, I have a use for the USB cable. I need it to get ADE to recognize the JBL to transfer library books over.

Actually, if you copy the ADE files over to your SD card ADE recognizes the SD card as a JBL when you insert it into your card reader. So you can still toss that cable like Ken recommends. I think I used my cable once since I purchased the JBL and that was only because I was too lazy to go upstairs to get my card reader. I've since purchased another card reader and now my cable is "safely" stored away in the bottom of my junk drawer.

If you have any problems getting ADE to recognize your SD card as the JBL let me know. It identifies my card as the JBL every time.

I will give it a try later. Thanks for the tip!

djharkavy wrote:
I will give it a try later. Thanks for the tip!

I believe the directory you need to copy over is ".adobe-digital-editions" which contains the "device.xml" file. I also copied the "Digital Editions" folder, but I'm not sure if this is necessary. This folder does contain a file called "manifest.xml" which appears to be the "bookshelf", if you will, for ADE. The device.xml file appears to be what tells ADE that you're connecting to a JBL. I could be wrong on this, but that's what it looks like to me when I examine the xml files.

As a related observation, I've copied my .adobe-digital-editions folder to a SD card on a different JBL (with .16b firmware) and it still opened the ebooks that no longer contained DRM. I haven't tried it with an overdrive or similar DRM infected book yet.

Please share any observations you find if you decide to experiment a little yourself.

ccayer wrote:Thanks for the quick reply.

The PD books that came with the JBL are named (mostly) Author Name#Book_Title.txt. This displays in the menu as Author, left justified in the first line, followed by the Title, right justified in the second line. TXT, PDF and FB2 format books are displayed in this manner. EPUB, MOBI, PRC and RTF files named exactly the same way are displayed in a single line with the # and underscores intact. Books with exactly the same file names are displayed differently depending on their extension. Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

This is what I see also and nobody above has addressed this - I want to see the title and author on separate lines on the SD card like they show up on the reader's internal memory. The author or title sort DOES NOT WORK on the SD card. What gives.