Hi there,

I saw this sony reader in the store the other day, did some research, and went and bought one today.

Trouble now, is I have a lot of ebooks already, in lots of different forms. The only books that the software seems to support are PDF and .txt (and probably that proprietary format that I'm not too interested in).

I have read through and tried to understand the different tools, but most are not very user friendly and I can't figure out what to do.

When I put my .pdf files on it, they of course look horrible -- how do I scale them down so they are readable on the screen?

What about .lit files, or the occasional "ebook" which is really just a html file with links to all the chapters?

Any help would be appreciated. Been 2 hours and I don't even have a book on it yet! I really like the idea of the device but I have quite a headache already.

Hey, Elltrain, welcome to MobileRead. :nice:

You've actually asked a pretty involved question ... well a real answer will be pretty involved, anyway. So here goes.

Let me start by pointing out that you can use RTF on the Reader, so anything you can get into that format (like, say, HTML files that you've opened in Word/OpenOffice and saved as RTFs) will load right up. The only caveats there are that the Reader's RTF engine doesn't support in-line images (they just don't show up), and you'll most likely find that you need to increase the font size before you load the files onto your Reader. Most folks find that ~16 points is about right.

For PDF files, your best bet is something like PDFRasterfarian (recently renamed just "Rasterfarian"), it cuts the pages up into sections that fit the Reader's display. However, if your PDFs are locked (and it sounds like yours are not) then I don't know if it'll work for you. If you can re-make the PDF files, then sizing them to the Reader's display is the best way to go. Generally, though, most of us have reached the conclusion that PDFs are just a ... sub-optimal option. :shrug:

For .LIT files, there are a number of apps that'll convert them for you. And you may eventually find that you prefer to make versions of your source files in BBeB/LRF (that proprietary format). I didn't care anything about it at first either, nor did most folks around here, but we've found that we can make our own files quite handily with BookDesigner, and they tend to be smaller than the original RTF's, with in-line pix to boot. Just something to keep in mind. :smiley:

Here are some references for you, the e-book conversions (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_conversion) section of the Wiki is a good place to start, and the formatting BKM for the Reader (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Sony_Portable_Reader#Content_Formatting_Best_Known _Methods_.28BKMs.29) is another good reference.

Once you've got a bit of a handle on that, you can do some searching around the forum for RasterFarian and BookDesigner, or whatever else seems like a good option to you.

And, of course, you should feel free to ask questions on stuff that doesn't make sense to you, or isn't obvious -- the folks around here are quite knowledgeable and helpful (not to mention polite :)), which is a rare combination. Somebody always seems to have the answers to most questions, and if not, there's usually folks who will help figure the answers out. :beam:

Great. I am messing around with the tools right now. Luckily I am a CS guy and this stuff doesn't scare me.

I can't imagine trying to get my mom one of these though. Is this Sony's idea of ease of use? Sheesh.

When I converted a .lit file, it inserted what appeared to be page headers (eg. GEORGE RR MARTIN3) right smack in the middle of the text, all over the place.

I imagine that was a header on the original .lit file for the tops of the pages, but it didn't get converted right. Can I strip those out automatically somehow?

Well, in their defense, their idea of ease of use involves the ConnStore (Connect Store)... which would be more compelling if the ConnSoft (Connect Software) and the ConnStore itself were more ... robust. :sad:

The best recommendation I can give you to start out (and the one with the lowest trouble quotient) is to use RTF files. They slide right in, and work just fine ... as long as you don't need pictures. :wink:

When I converted a .lit file, it inserted what appeared to be page headers (eg. GEORGE RR MARTIN3) right smack in the middle of the text, all over the place.

<snip>

Can I strip those out automatically somehow?You can probably strip them with a Word/Wordpad find replace run, but you may want to try a different conversion tool first -- another one might handle them better to begin with. :shrug:

2 more issues.

The CONNECT software is now not seeing my device at all. Tried rebooting and unplugging/replugging it. No dice. Is there a common way to fix this?

Also, can I open and edit .lit files in word somehow? Seems like it doesn't support the format.

edit: Resetting the reader seemed to fix it.

You'll have to convert the .lit file to something that Word can handle, RTF for example. The Amber Lit Converter that's on th one of those links in Post 2 will do that conversion nicely for you. :nice:

Yeah, the .lit file I have has some weird formatting that none of the converters seem to be able to handle. A find-and-replace in Word fixed it, sort of. Some of the indentation and such is off now, and theres no way im doing 800 of them by hand :rolleyes:

Thanks for the help. I'll let you know of any other exciting developments.

Im surprised at how difficult this whole process is. I think the ebook market is one that _really_ needs an extremely simple plug and play environment for it to take off. iTunes but with text.

I've been messing around with different formats and tools for 5 hours now, and just now finally starting to understand the limits of the different file formats and the boundaries of the device.

It's perfect for me, being pretty into computers. But I doubt the target demographic for these things has the patience and technical know-how that I do to really get the most out of a device like this.

You'll have to convert the .lit file to something that Word can handle, RTF for example. The Amber Lit Converter that's on th one of those links in Post 2 will do that conversion nicely for you. :nice:
Amber Lit Converter botches the italics. Better off loading the LIT file in BD and then saving as RTF if you want to edit in Word.

Yeah, the .lit file I have has some weird formatting that none of the converters seem to be able to handle. A find-and-replace in Word fixed it, sort of. Some of the indentation and such is off now, and theres no way im doing 800 of them by hand :rolleyes:

Thanks for the help. I'll let you know of any other exciting developments.

Im surprised at how difficult this whole process is. I think the ebook market is one that _really_ needs an extremely simple plug and play environment for it to take off. iTunes but with text.

I've been messing around with different formats and tools for 5 hours now, and just now finally starting to understand the limits of the different file formats and the boundaries of the device.

It's perfect for me, being pretty into computers. But I doubt the target demographic for these things has the patience and technical know-how that I do to really get the most out of a device like this.
Honestly, it's not too bad if you load a properly formatted LIT file into Book Designer. It doesn't take much to get it to work and then save as BBeB. But if you take the average pirated book in LIT format that someone just poorly created, of course you'll hae to do a lot more editing. But if you take a LIT file that you've purchased, strip the DRM with CLIT and then load into Book Designer, it'll be ok.

Yeah, I have 30 days to try this thing out before I am committed to it, so I just downloaded a couple books online before I went full-scale into buying ebooks instead of paper books.

I had book designer crash on me quite a few times -- is it less compatible with vista than xp?

Quick question about legality -- I know this comes up a lot in other media. If I own a paper book, is downloading a copy online against any US laws?

Im surprised at how difficult this whole process is. I think the ebook market is one that _really_ needs an extremely simple plug and play environment for it to take off. iTunes but with text.


In fairness, it is that simple if you download books from Sony's "Connect" store. It gets slightly more complex if you want to load your own content - as Nat has said, RTF is the best all-round format for ease of use.

There's a whole bunch of us using "Book Designer" to create nice LRF (Sony's native format) books with proper pictures, tables of contents, etc. You might want to check out the various tutorials, etc, in the "Book Uploads" subforum.

Quick question about legality -- I know this comes up a lot in other media. If I own a paper book, is downloading a copy online against any US laws?

Yes, absolutely. Buying a book in one format doesn't entitle you to get free copies in any other format. It is illegal to scan or photocopy a book even if you do own a paper copy, and downloading a copy that somebody else has scanned is equally illegal.

It is illegal, but personally I don't regard it as unethical, especially if that book cannot be bought as a commercial e-book. I must stress that this is just a personal opinion - I'm certainly not encouraging you to break the law!

I convert all of my LIT files to LRF using Book Designer, haven't had it crash on me either (if you're using Vista, that's a whole nother can 'o worms. I'm a CS guy as well and I think Vista is just a big ol turd that's more of a pain than it's proven worth yet, and that's coming from an early adopter). Anyway, moving on to PDF files... there are two good tools you can find in this forum: PDFRasterfarian and PDFRead, I personally haven't tried PDFRead yet, but many have and it appears they both do a great job of putting readable PDF's on your Reader. You can always try extracting the text from your PDF's and converting that to LRF (it's a more efficient format for the Reader).

There's a pretty good little tut for using BD, so give that a try (or use the built-in tut) it's well worth the effort and won't take long. If you're concerned about batch conversion, I think you can do use scripts with BD to process a bunch of LIT's. You can also batch-process PDF's in PDFRead.

Not sure about the legality of d/l'ing digital versions of PB's that you own, perhaps someone in the legal world can tackle this question (or someone who wants to put time into researching that question).

Bottom Line: The Reader was made to support RTF, TXT, LRF, and basic PDF functionality; though Sony wants to sell from their marketplace so it supports LRF best. The average consumer buying the Reader will either buy books from Connect or get the freely available public-domain books that have already been converted to LRF-format, so they won't think the Reader's a PITA that others trying to convert from other non-Reader formats.

Actually it's not illegal to scan or photocopy a book, or for that matter to change it from one format to another (with the exception of bypassing DRM, but that has nothing to do with copyright law). As long as it's for your own use. That's no different than ripping a cd to listen to it on an mp3 player. You just can't sale it. The courts have consistently found that you can do this.

Downloading a copy that someone else has scanned is a different question all together. It's a pretty grey area.

Yes, absolutely. Buying a book in one format doesn't entitle you to get free copies in any other format. It is illegal to scan or photocopy a book even if you do own a paper copy, and downloading a copy that somebody else has scanned is equally illegal.

It is illegal, but personally I don't regard it as unethical, especially if that book cannot be bought as a commercial e-book. I must stress that this is just a personal opinion - I'm certainly not encouraging you to break the law!

Yes, absolutely. Buying a book in one format doesn't entitle you to get free copies in any other format. It is illegal to scan or photocopy a book even if you do own a paper copy, and downloading a copy that somebody else has scanned is equally illegal.

It is illegal, but personally I don't regard it as unethical, especially if that book cannot be bought as a commercial e-book. I must stress that this is just a personal opinion - I'm certainly not encouraging you to break the law!

On the other hand, case-law in the U.S. has shown that it IS legal to copy legally-owned content so that it can be enjoyed on a different device, such as buying a CD and then recording it to a cassette so you can listen in your car, or buying single songs online and then burning your own mix-cds or ripping your legally purchased CDs into MP3 format to put on an MP3 player.

Additionally, case-law has shown that it is legal to videotape or otherwise record TV shows so that you can watch them at a different time.

I see no difference between the legal ability to record CDs onto cassettes and put legally purchased paper books on your Reader.

The legality (or illegality) comes from the source where you procure your copies of the paper books you do own. The people who have posted copies of your legally purchased books do NOT have the legal right to make those copies available, so they are breaking the law in posting them, and you are conspiring to break the law when you download those files.

Like HarryT I certainly think what you're doing is ethical since you've bought the paper copies of the books.

However, I'm not a lawyer and what I am posting is not valid legal advice but only what I (in my non-lawyerly way) have learned from what I've read both in books as well as from various legal sites on the web, and if you're caught and prosecuted, it's your neck on the chopping block, not ours.

Additionally, case-law has shown that it is legal to videotape or otherwise record TV shows so that you can watch them at a different time.

But only, I believe I'm correct in saying, for the purpose of "time shifting". ie, it's legal to record a program, watch it, and then delete it. It's not legal to keep it indefinitely after you've watched it.

Format shifting is just that -- be it converting your cds to mp3s to play on your mp3 player, or scanning a paper book that you own to read on your ebook reader. If the laws say differently in some countries -- then that law's an ass.

I thought the Human Rights laws made it illegal to discriminate against the disabled but publishers of ebooks are still not allowing a "text to speech" facility.
Nor do they allow printing of ebooks - printing in a large font would enable many people with impaired eyesight to read them. :huh:

Format shifting is just that -- be it converting your cds to mp3s to play on your mp3 player, or scanning a paper book that you own to read on your ebook reader. If the laws say differently in some countries -- then that law's an ass.


I agree with you, but the question was not "is it legal for me to scan my own paper book and convert it into an e-book", but "is it legal for me to download somebody else's version of an e-book if I own a paper version of that book". One might have a case to argue that that first action is legal (although I rather doubt it), but the second is unquestionable illegal because the person who's uploaded the book does not have the right to do so legitimately.

However, I stand by my purely personal opinion that, whilst it is illegal, I don't personally consider it to be unethical.

I do have qualms about the ethics of the person who's uploaded the book in the first place, however, because without doubt a lot of people will download it who do not own the paper version, and that's wrong without a doubt.

This post has just reminded me of a thought I had the other day whilst travelling to the local library to return some books. Would it be unethical (yes I know it would not be legal) to download electronic versions of books (not freely available classics) you have borrowed from the library, and then delete them from your system, the same time you return the paper version back to the library? :)

I think that's something that each of us has to decide for himself, Bierus. To me, the overriding ethical consideration is to make sure that the author, and yes, the publisher too, get compensated for their various investments plus a reasonable profit.

I've considered doing exactly what you've mentioned, checking a book out from the library, and then reading an ... unofficial e-version of it. I don't have an ethical problem with it, personally. :shrug:

Format shifting is just that -- be it converting your cds to mp3s to play on your mp3 player, or scanning a paper book that you own to read on your ebook reader. If the laws say differently in some countries -- then that law's an ass.

I thought the Human Rights laws made it illegal to discriminate against the disabled but publishers of ebooks are still not allowing a "text to speech" facility.
Nor do they allow printing of ebooks - printing in a large font would enable many people with impaired eyesight to read them. :huh:
According to the law it's ok to break the DRM if the DRM prevents the speech option from functioning. So CLIT is legal to use to break the DRM of LIT files because the DRM prevents speech.

Don't the author/publishers of books get a little bit of money when a library book is rented? If so, I don't see the harm in renting a book from the library and downloading an electronic version of it.

When it comes right down to it, I don't think that we should be paying any more or less to authors for the luxury of reading the book in electronic format.

However, all these zany legal complications are frustrating. Clearly it is no problem to give a book away, but what about deleting an ebook after you email it to a friend? Yikes..

Don't the author/publishers of books get a little bit of money when a library book is rented?

They do in the UK. I don't know if the same applies to other countries.

According to the law it's ok to break the DRM if the DRM prevents the speech option from functioning. So CLIT is legal to use to break the DRM of LIT files because the DRM prevents speech.

Sorry, are you saying that the speech function of Microsoft Reader doesn't work for DRM-protected books? That seems somewhat odd. Any idea why it doesn't? I'm not particularly keen on "Reader" as a book reading application, but its speech function does work surprisingly well.

Sorry, are you saying that the speech function of Microsoft Reader doesn't work for DRM-protected books? That seems somewhat odd. Any idea why it doesn't? I'm not particularly keen on "Reader" as a book reading application, but its speech function does work surprisingly well.
Yes, the speech function does not work. But the US Government has made it legal to break the DRM in order for that to work. So as long as you purchase LIT format books, it's 100% legal in the USA to remove the DRM.

Then why don't they stop selling DRM lits if almost everyone removes DRM and it is legal?

Inertia, most likely. :shrug:

Presumably, though, it's only legal if you have a disability, such as blindness, which means that you require speech output?

That, my friend, would depend a good deal on the exact wording of the law (which I don't know) ... if it doesn't specifically limit the exception to those with a disability, then it's not limited. :shug:

Doesn't the "meaning" of the law depend solely on how expensive a lawyer you can afford? Or am I getting cynical in my old age? :grin:

Well, I was thinking of the wording rather than the meaning, but you probably have a point there.

And if this usage of 'cynical' means 'wise,' then, I'd have to say: yup. :laugh4:

When I have a PDF that I want to read, I see if I can convert it to TXT and if I can I just format the txt to RTF and all my problems are solved. However this is not true for all PDF's. Some are locked down where you can't save all of them.

Untimately, my goals when creating a book is to get it into a txt form, format it to RTF using MS Word. I like using timesroman at 16 points. Since I discovered this little formula, I have had nothing but pleasure from my reader.

PDF's are of little concern for me now unless they are locked where I can't convert them.

-Seth
San Francisco, CA

When I have a PDF that I want to read, I see if I can convert it to TXT and if I can I just format the txt to RTF and all my problems are solved. However this is not true for all PDF's. Some are locked down where you can't save all of them.

Untimately, my goals when creating a book is to get it into a txt form, format it to RTF using MS Word. I like using timesroman at 16 points. Since I discovered this little formula, I have had nothing but pleasure from my reader.

PDF's are of little concern for me now unless they are locked where I can't convert them.

-Seth
San Francisco, CA

Complete agree with you, Seth - that's an excellent way to do it.

Stingo's "Word" macro (linked to in the Wiki) does an extremely nice job of formatting text files for the Reader - getting rid of the carriage returns at the end of each line, changing the font, etc. Well worth a look if you're not using it already.

For stuff that you want to keep longer-term, "Book Designer" produces nice LRF files, but for "read once and throw away" stuff, RTF is definitely the way to go.