Client side end to end encryption is a must have for me when hosting anything nowadays. I am using Cryptomator for this specific reason. It takes away a lot of legal questions because I only need to curate the data to serve my own needs and do not have to curate it for state actors too.
I really wish client side end to end encryption would become more widespread in the developer community. It is not hard to implement anymore and takes away all the headaches of having to comply with certain regulations.
There are so many laws now that regulate copyright and hosting. An accidentally public S3 bucket full of ebooks could technically land you in jail in certain jurisdictions. Automatic shutdown notices. Providers themselves may also automatically scan stored material, and so on. There are so many reasons not to host your media library unencrypted on a third party server.
I recommend using this kind of tool only if you can prove that you are legally allowed to possess every ebook you upload in every jurisdiction you travel to or live in, as well as in the jurisdiction where the server is located.
If it is helpful to other people here is how I manage my ebook library with flatfiles and heterogeneous devices (Android, macOS, iOS, Kindle, etc)
I have my own eBook library hosted with copyparty. It is a single binary. Runs on plain files. And speaks OPDS for integration with KOreader (Kindle) or Readest (iOS/macOS). https://github.com/9001/copyparty#opds-feeds
It also speaks webdav so I can quickly sync everything via rclone to an SD card on devices like an Android tablet.
I really like the convenience of flat files and multiple protocols.
Having built a tool in this space, I enjoy seeing all the Calibre alternatives that have been coming out in the last few years! It's fascinating to see the specific wants that people have.
Bookshelf, for example -- what possesses someone to make an ebook library that _only works on object storage_? Is this a weekend project, answering the question of "what would this look like"? Or was it something the author wanted for a long time?
Not to hijack but for non object storage use cases I’ve been using Grimmory[1] and like it. Opds, kobo api, kindle email and web reader cover pretty much every use case.
I absolutely love audiobookshelf for audiobooks. And I currently use it for my epubs, but it does not handle that particularly well. It doesn't save progress consistently and the UI for page flipping leaves a lot to be desired. Definitely going to check out how OP's library works
I haven't spent much time with calibre-web in a long time but can confidently say BookOrbit blows it out of the water in terms of functionality. I love that I can have one app that handles books and audiobooks. The ecosystem of apps that work with it is growing quick too, Apogee for iOS being a standout for me. They recently added readaloud support (like Amazon Whispersync or Storyteller) natively in the app, which I've never seen done before.
I have no relation to BookOrbit except I'm a very happy user.
I really wish client side end to end encryption would become more widespread in the developer community. It is not hard to implement anymore and takes away all the headaches of having to comply with certain regulations.
There are so many laws now that regulate copyright and hosting. An accidentally public S3 bucket full of ebooks could technically land you in jail in certain jurisdictions. Automatic shutdown notices. Providers themselves may also automatically scan stored material, and so on. There are so many reasons not to host your media library unencrypted on a third party server.
I recommend using this kind of tool only if you can prove that you are legally allowed to possess every ebook you upload in every jurisdiction you travel to or live in, as well as in the jurisdiction where the server is located.
RIP Aaron Swartz.
I have my own eBook library hosted with copyparty. It is a single binary. Runs on plain files. And speaks OPDS for integration with KOreader (Kindle) or Readest (iOS/macOS). https://github.com/9001/copyparty#opds-feeds
It also speaks webdav so I can quickly sync everything via rclone to an SD card on devices like an Android tablet.
I really like the convenience of flat files and multiple protocols.
Bookshelf, for example -- what possesses someone to make an ebook library that _only works on object storage_? Is this a weekend project, answering the question of "what would this look like"? Or was it something the author wanted for a long time?
npm being npm.
[1] https://github.com/grimmory-tools/grimmory
I have no relation to BookOrbit except I'm a very happy user.
(I have my Calibre library in iCloud Drive, but if I wasn't inside the Apple Ecosystem I'd use R2)
https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/