Anybody read this one by Mark Alpert? I just noticed it on the Sony and Amazon sites and it looks interesting or at last has an interesting premise; Einstein actually did discover a unified theory that explained all of nature's forces and a University professor comes across it while visiting his elderly mentor in hospital. And now the FBI and lots of baddies are after him to get the secret.

It's $12.59 on Sony and $9.99 on the Kindle (nice going Sony!).

Sounds interesting, I may have to get it :bookworm:

Yeah, it seems like a combination of two of my favorite genres; science and sleazy detective novels (SDN's). May have to give it a try.

Only $8.56 at Fictionwise if you're a club member. Easy enough to get the Microsoft Reader version and convert to Sony format.

Harry, how do you do that? Do you just convert it using Calibre or is it DRMed?

Use "ConvertLIT" to remove the DRM (if this is legal to do where you live, of course!) and then any tool you wish to convert the DRM-free LIT to LRF.

Harry, I've tried downloading Convert.LIT but, when I do, I get a Zip file that contains several files but no instructions of what to do from there. Have tried fooling with it but get nowhere. Are there instructions hidden somewhere that I just haven't found?

There should be a file called "Readme.txt" in the ZIP file with instructions.

I tried that. It instructs you to open and run ReaderKeyRecoveryTool.exe. But, when I do that, I get an error message stating 'Hook.dll cant be found'. there is a Hook.dll file in the Zip folder but, when I double click on that it eventually opens a Notepad page with a bunck of code in it. Not sure what to do at this point.

Would appreciate any advice

I tried that. It instructs you to open and run ReaderKeyRecoveryTool.exe. But, when I do that, I get an error message stating 'Hook.dll cant be found'. there is a Hook.dll file in the Zip folder but, when I double click on that it eventually opens a Notepad page with a bunck of code in it. Not sure what to do at this point.

Would appreciate any advice

Cassidy... you have to install and register MS Reader. Then you have to get a DRMed lit book. One you do that, running that tool will open MS Reader... once there open a DRMed LIT book... MS Reader will close and you will see the LIT key. OF course, this is all in the readme.txt.

BOb

Bob, I have Microsoft Reader installed and can open .LIT books with it. But, when I double click on ReaderKeyRecoveryTool.exe, I get the same message I mentioned above about hook.dll

Maybe I'm not handling the files in the ZIP window correctly. There are five files listed in teh Win ZIp window. I'm double clicking on them to open them. Should I be doing something else to install them? I'm not familiar with Zip files and may be making a dumb rookie error.

Thanks

Bob, I have Microsoft Reader installed and can open .LIT books with it. But, when I double click on ReaderKeyRecoveryTool.exe, I get the same message I mentioned above about hook.dll

Maybe I'm not handling the files in the ZIP window correctly. There are five files listed in teh Win ZIp window. I'm double clicking on them to open them. Should I be doing something else to install them? I'm not familiar with Zip files and may be making a dumb rookie error.

Thanks

YOu need to unzip all the files into a directory (I called mine c:\convertlit). You won't be able to run the .exe from within the zip file since it needs the dll.

BOb

Cripes, Bob. i post the question at 3:27 and you post an answer at 3:32. Could you be a little quicker? Thanks

Anyway, when you say 'create a directory' is that the same as creating a folder on the C drive?

Also, of all the actions available listed in the Zip window, none of them are labeled 'Unzip'. Is this what Open means?

Sorry to be so dimwitted. Am new to Zip

Bob, I have Microsoft Reader installed and can open .LIT books with it. But, when I double click on ReaderKeyRecoveryTool.exe, I get the same message I mentioned above about hook.dll

Maybe I'm not handling the files in the ZIP window correctly. There are five files listed in the Win ZIp window. I'm double clicking on them to open them. Should I be doing something else to install them? I'm not familiar with Zip files and may be making a dumb rookie error.

ThanksThe issue isn't Zip files per se. A Zip file is simply a container containing compressed files. The assumption is that you will extract and uncompress the files and place them where they need to be.

A DLL file is not executable directly. It's a Windows version of a "shared library", containing code that may be used by more than one program. It's loaded and accessed by the program(s) that use it when they need something in the library. You're getting the ConvertLIT error because Windows doesn't know where to find hook.dll.

Windows works the same way MS-DOS used to. When it needs to find a program or library, it looks first in whatever it thinks the current directory is, and then looks in directories defined in the PATH, a list maintained by the OS of places to look for programs if the program isn't in the current directory. You can see and modify the PATH listing by right-clicking on My computer, selecting Properties, selecting Advanced, and clicking on Environment variables. Most programs installed in windows are run through shortcuts. The shortcut explicitly changes the current directory to the one it is installed in when it starts the program, so Windows finds any pieces like DLLs the program needs. Other programs add their own entries the the PATH setting.

The simplest solution for your problem is to put a copy of hook.dll into \Windows\System32. This is one of the standard Windows directories, and included in the PATH.
______
Dennis

Thanks Dennis. I successfully placed hook.dll into System 32 and it did extract a key.

Next step? Do I double click LitConverter.exe?

Anyway, when you say 'create a directory' is that the same as creating a folder on the C drive?

Also, of all the actions available listed in the Zip window, none of them are labeled 'Unzip'. Is this what Open means?


Um... sorry I'm a little old school. Directory and Folder are in fact the same thing... MS Just decided to change the name when Windows came out since the icon looks like a little folder.

So yes, create a "folder" on the c drive. Drag all the files from the ZIP to this folder.

I see you basically got the answer to this already. But you will still need to do the above because you will need to run the program from a command line... and that doesn't support running an exe still in the zip file. (Actually a ZIP is a file which contains many files, usually compressed. Windows shows it as a "folder" and allows you too look at the contents.)

BOb

Thanks Dennis. I successfully placed hook.dll into System 32 and it did extract a key.

Next step? Do I double click LitConverter.exe?

You need to run clit.exe from a command window. If you run it, it will give directions... you want to "downconvert" your lit file.

BOb

Anyway, when you say 'create a directory' is that the same as creating a folder on the C drive?Yes. A folder is another name for a directory.

Windows uses a tree structure to organize files. The top level of your C: deive is called the "root" directory. Other directories branch off of that, and directories can contain directories. Windows itself lives under C:\Windows and directories beneath it. Your programs mostly live in C:\Program Files and directories below that. Your My Documents folder probably lives in C:\Documents and Settings\<userid>\My Documents\, where <userid> id the user name you use to log onto Windows. The stuff on your desktop is a folder as well, living in C:\C:\Documents and Settings\<userid>\Desktop. Some things live in "hidden" directories which aren't shown by default in Windows Explorer.

Also, of all the actions available listed in the Zip window, none of them are labeled 'Unzip'. Is this what Open means?Yes, it is.

Sorry to be so dimwitted. Am new to ZipZip is a standard. The original Zip program was a DOS program called PKZip, developed by the late Phil Katz of PKWare. Phil was creating a replacement for the then dominant archive utility called ARC, which would be faster, provide greater compression, and have more features. Phil explicitly dedicated the format used for Zip files to the public domain, and a number of developers have created programs to create and extract Zip archives. Microsoft includes the ability to extract the contents of Zip files in XP/Vista, calling it Zip folders.

There are an assortment of other archive types around. One popular in Europe is an archive format called RAR, created by a Russian developer named Eugene Rorshal. RAR files offer slightly better compression and special features intended for multimedia. The are popular in binary newsgroups, because they contain support for multi-part archives, and have enhanced recovery information, making it more likely that you can use a RAR file originally delivered in multiple posts to a binary newsgroup if pieces got damaged or never made it to your news server.

I don't use Zip Folders in Windows. I prefer an actual archive utility. I'm partial to a free, open source archiver called 7-Zip. 7-Zip can create files in its own 7z format, as well as Zip, Gzip, and TAR files (the latter widely used on Unix/Linux). It can extract from a number of archive formats, including 7z, Zip, Gzip, TAR, RAR, CAB, ARJ, and LZH files. Go to http://www.7zip.org for info and downloads.
______
Dennis

You can run "LitConverter", yes. It's a Windows graphical "shell" which is perhaps a little easier to use than the command-line "clit" tool. It's what I generally use myself.

I double click LitConverter.exe and it opens the MyLibrary folder in MyDocuments. I select the book I want to convert and it then opens my file structure. I created a folder in MyDocuments called MyConverts and select this. Then a wimndow opens titled 'Enter Folder Name'. I type in MyConverts, click the Ok button and get the following error message, "This path does not exist" and closes. Looks like Microsoft Reader flashes on for a second.

Would appreciate any advice. And Karmas to all of you for being so patient with my fumbling along here.

Hold on ! I actually got it to work using the GUI wrapper and successfully converetd a book I read years ago on my iPaq and moved it to my Sony.

Thanks again for all the help. And patience!

Hold on ! I actually got it to work using the GUI wrapper and successfully converetd a book I read years ago on my iPaq and moved it to my Sony.

YEA! :thumbsup:

I prefer the command line, but whatever works for ya.

I know how you feel. I just got a new iMac for combined birthday/fathersday gift and I feel like a n00b using it. I've got alot to learn. That's why I help with what I know... hopping others will help me when I need help on something.

BOb

Once you remove the DRM, lit2lrf will work very well to convert it to a very readable LRF.