@David Snyder said:
Plex is, and let’s all hope always will be, only for video & audio.
Uh…HA! Nope.
Plex also serves up images, which is only one step away from ebooks.
(Not even ONE step, when you consider that the PDF format was created for printing of documents, including images, and that many images are text-based formats, such as SVG, DFX, AI, CDR, GEM, HPGL, HVIF, MathML, NAPLPS, ODG, POV-Ray, PPT, VML, WMF/EMF, Xar, XPS.)
I’d just be happy to have my e-books in a nice looking library that i could access remotely.
it’d only have to pull info from librarything or goodreads, provide download links to each File Type (or ‘open with’ options/default settings).
i can see how having built in readers would be nice eventually, but i like the ones i have now on my various platforms. they’re dedicated to that one purpose and they work really well. they just don’t allow for quality media management, browsing, or remote access.
this post needs more likes !!!
I would also like to see Ebooks as part of the Plex system, for me, PDF would be enough I could convert andy bood I want to read to PDF. I’ve already been able to add comic books.
Simply un-rar them into a separate media directory, put each comic in a separate folder under that directory, import them into pictures (I renamed it “comics”), set the Poster and background. Done.
I am throwing in my vote for ebooks as well…added audio function would be nice too
This has my vote. I actually ended up on this post searching for a way to submit this idea to Plex. Guess is the closest we can get? This would be a real game changer - and I’m sure a lot of people would pay for a full subscription to do it if they were on the fence otherwise.
I’d also be interested in this!
Thinking about Plex being a replacement for all the shelves in your house (where you used to have DVDs, CDs, and photo albums), the last thing remaining is books!
What’s taking so long…?
+1 on eBooks.
Yes! +1
I am shocked that plex has not included this feature. Anyone with a large media library probably has plenty of ebooks that they would like to include. Would be very useful on mobile and hand held devices. I would even start reading on my 65 inch tv!
Plex E-reader FTW!
Yes! I like and need to +1
Add another vote for e books
We need PDF please ???
I too would like to see this. Can’t be too complcated to add compared to movie, tv, and music libraries.
This would be wonderful, +1 
Seriously people this is not happening. There are more important things for Plex developers to work on, such as Plex running as a service [please implement this :-D]. Just setup a Calibre server on your own network. The interface is great (https://calibre-ebook.com)
i need too!
@sundi712 said:
Seriously people this is not happening. There are more important things for Plex developers to work on, such as Plex running as a service [please implement this :-D]. Just setup a Calibre server on your own network. The interface is great (https://calibre-ebook.com)
We can dream, can’t we? 
Calibre is okay, but not great; same with Ubooquity if you’ve got a specific setup, but none compare even remotely to the potential of what PLEX could offer.
PLEX [as it stands] is primarily used for entertainment, but I think it has a lot more potential than that. I (for example) use it for entertainment purposes (Movies, TV, Music, Pictures), BUT, I ALSO use it for different things like a Tutorial/Course Database (which I edit on an individual basis) and even Workout Programs (like the BeachBody series) for other members in my family. The offering in my household is huge; we’re talking some serious terrabytes of space. The entire thing set up on a NAS, which [unless you’re amazing at programming] isn’t designed [nor even ideal] for COPS/Calibre or Ubooquity. The Book, Comic, and Magazine libraries also span many gigabytes, so it’s a major shortcoming not to have that at my disposal when I need it.
When I’m at the cottage for example I might forget a book that might be relevant to something I need to learn or understand by the time I get back, or maybe a guest is bored and would love some reading material to digest down at the beach, or sometimes I find myself teaching/educating others in schools or in a professional setting, so lending them material to review [to help them help themselves] would be a HUGE help; as it stands though, I have no way of providing or sharing what I have aggregated. Also, getting people on board with multiple systems and interfaces can be extremely frustrating and confusing for everyone; it’s much easier to have them all under one roof, even if there are better readers out there. If Plex would AT LEAST just index it all, allow tags, and allow for the sharing/downloading options, that’d be a huge win; I could even live with a prompt asking me what program I want to open it with. PLEX would have to provide VERY little for it to make a BIG difference and instantly out-do Calibre.
The magic of PLEX was never how great of a player it is, nor the ability to match carefully named files with information about the media (both of which Kodi can do fine, and as far as I can tell, it can even do books), and the magic of PLEX is clearly not its channels (which are just horrible, Kodi definitely does that better due to 3rd-party interest)… PLEX (which is an offshoot of Kodi) is great for ONE reason, and that’s “ease of access”; it’s the ability to grant you access to your media on demand anytime you have a way of connecting to your server; there is no alternative to PLEX yet to match this feature in such a wholistic and well crafted way as the PLEX team has done it…
COPS (Calibre OPDS) may let you access files remotely if you’re fortunate enough to have the right setup, but even then (given that perfect scenario), it messes up your entire library and organizes everything the way it deems appropriate, which is a MAJOR no-no if you want control over the organization of your library files and folders. Additionally, [as far as I can tell] you can’t set up a way to manage sharing/remote access with others, so that’s actually a huge downer too. On top of all that, I’ve heard it can get really slow and lags when your library gets huge, which it probably will. Given all that, Calibre is ‘cute’, but it’s severely flawed; even if the PLEX team created a half-baked solution, it’d still be more useful than Calibre [in my opinion].
I Google PLEX e-books every few months hoping there’ll be good news… but there never is. >,<
I, too, have a few gigabytes of ebooks, and a few terabytes of video and audio.
I use Calibre to organize my ebooks and manage metadata, and TinyOPDS as a lightweight server, but TinyOPDS has not been updated since 2013. I would prefer to have a single network interface/address for all of my media including ebooks.
Plex is the best at everything else that I have found. It would be nice to have it handle ebooks, also.
Actually, if PLEX allowed their more flexibility in their channel development, e.g. custom object, this could easily be done by the community rather than PLEX.
Not to Re Necro this thread however on top of all the reasons stated previously. I’m sorry but plex has outgrown just being for the big screen. It now resides in our hands on phones, on tablets. A eReader would be great especially if we do not want sync the full book to our devices and just view it live with internet like any other plex media.
Its true, media in plex eyes stopped at Video and Audio, but its called evolution of technology as we all know. I paid for a plex pass to be part of something bigger, to contribute to the development of what would be the next great app for all devices. There is so much potential being wasted on pride and not venturing out. Lets bring out the eBook support and offer it only to plex pass members! or however you want to put it out there.
