Books sent to iTunes lose publication date

[Joel Tscherne]

After I convert books to Epub and edit the metadata, I send them to iTunes using the calibre connect to device method. When I review the books in iTunes after they transfer, the date field in iTunes is blank. I then have to manually enter the publication date.

calibre version 0.8.32

Mac OSX version 10.7.2

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Changing the component for this bug.

 assignee griker
 tag apple-driver
 status triaged

[GRiker (griker-deactivatedaccount)]

Calibre uses OS X automation to communicate with iTunes. iTunes allows a small subset of the metadata to be written via automation. Calibre transfers the book's publication date to the Year field. The Release Date field is not available to be updated via the automation interface.

You can use the Year field to view the publication date, or manually transfer the publication date to the Release Date field.

[Joel Tscherne (jwt0001)]

Obviously I slightly mis-spoke. I know that you can't access the release date easily. However, Calibre is not putting anything in the year field when I transfer ebooks.

[GRiker (griker-deactivatedaccount)]

If you're connecting directly to the device, and not using the recommended 'Connect to iTunes' method, that could explain the failure. Try using the 'Connect to iTunes' method to transfer your books.

There is a known problem updating metadata when the device is directly connected. It's on my to-do list. I believe the problem began with iOS 5.

[Joel Tscherne (jwt0001)]

I am using the Connect to iTunes method.

On 1/4/12 7:40 AM, "GRiker" <email address hidden> wrote:

>If you're connecting directly to the device, and not using the
>recommended 'Connect to iTunes' method, that could explain the failure.
>Try using the 'Connect to iTunes' method to transfer your books.
>
>There is a known problem updating metadata when the device is directly
>connected. It's on my to-do list. I believe the problem began with iOS
>5.
>
>--
>You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>report.
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/909050
>
>Title:
> Books sent to iTunes lose publication date
>
>Status in calibre: e-book management:
> Invalid
>
>Bug description:
> After I convert books to Epub and edit the metadata, I send them to
> iTunes using the calibre connect to device method. When I review the
> books in iTunes after they transfer, the date field in iTunes is
> blank. I then have to manually enter the publication date.
>
> calibre version 0.8.32
>
> Mac OSX version 10.7.2
>
>To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/909050/+subscriptions

[GRiker (griker-deactivatedaccount)]

If you are using the supported 'Connect to iTunes' method, create a debug log as described in the forum FAQ, then attach it to this ticket.

[GRiker (griker-deactivatedaccount)]

I've revised the code, testing right now. Fix should be in next release.

[GRiker (griker-deactivatedaccount)]

Patch submitted, should be in the next release.

Note that the year of publication will be extracted from calibre's 'Published' field and transferred to iTunes 'Year' field.

Note that the iTunes 'Release Date' field is extracted from the ePub's <dc:date> element in the .OPF file when the book is added to iTunes.

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Fixed in branch lp:calibre. The fix will be in the next release. calibre is usually released every Friday.

 status fixreleased