I have written a 5,000 word review on the eBookWise eb-1150 e-book reader, including a discussion of personal content issues. I have also included some photographs to show the size of the book (compared to two other PDA type devices), and some screen shots in normal and large font display.

You can read the online review here (http://www.webstead.org/eb1150/index.html).

Feel free to post comments, suggestions and corrections to this thread.

I have an eBookWise too.

Here's the skinny for folks on the line:

Personal content - yeah, it's possible. Gutenberg is possible, RB is possible, etc, etc, and if you are enterprising enough, even .LIT files can be converted.

Complex HTML, offline reading - it's possible if you spend an hour or two getting familiar with sitescooper. Sitescooper, I'm finding, is the eBookWise user's best friend. I now, daily, read the Times, BBC News, the Guardian, and a handful of my favorite blogs on my EBW (yes, with hyperlinks).

Weight, readability - the screen isn't as green as it looks in the pics, unless you're reading it under direct sunlight. It *is* a green screen, but the backlight makes it appear black/white. It's not that heavy, either - if you figure out the correct way to hold it, it's nearly weightless.

My opinion: I love this thing. I wouldn't trade it for any Palm/PocketPC - I wouldn't even trade it for a lifetime of free martinis. The size of the screen is wonderful, and the price is right.

I demand alot of this machine and have used alot of the document converters. I'd be willing to answer any questions and help people out making this thing even more usable.

Thank you guys for your impression on the eBookwise. I am only using a PDA to read e-books, and it seems I have been missing a great opportunity here. Perhaps I should take the risk and invest in a eBookwise next.

I used to have this reader when it was the original rocket ebook, back in 98 I believe. I forget the model, but the one I had did not have the modem. It was first generation. I had stopped using it when I purchased the franklin e-bookman. From what I remember, the battery life was fantastic and the display was excellent for reading. Better than any PDA that I have owned.

I dug it up a few weeks ago, but the battery would no longer hold a charge. Despite my efforts I could not find a way to replace the battery. I think I may purchase the ebookwise version. I currently own the Cybook, but would not mind having another reader. I am assuming that the ebookwise 1150 can still read the REB format.

I think it has native support for REB. If not, the Librarian software (is it free? I don't remember, I may have paid $15 for it) converts it.

I just like the ability to put absolutely anything I want on it, save PDFs, and even PDFs can be converted with the right OCR software.

The battery life is awesome. Between 8 and 20 hours depending on your preference for screen brightness. I change mine constantly (reading at the bus stop is different than reading in a dark room), so I get on average about 15-16 hours to a charge.

I don't use the modem. I guess I might if I valued hte online bookstore, but most of hte stuff I throw on it is from my local machine. With an extra $15 memory card, I have 128 megs of storage, which is plenty for any sort of vacationing away from my PC.

The best reason to buy one: screen size, screen size, screen size.

The worst reason: what if your battery breaks, like pitcher's? Doesn't seem like Fictionwise really has a hardware support infrastructure setup.

I used to have this reader when it was the original rocket ebook, back in 98 I believe. I forget the model, but the one I had did not have the modem. It was first generation. I had stopped using it when I purchased the franklin e-bookman. From what I remember, the battery life was fantastic and the display was excellent for reading. Better than any PDA that I have owned.

I dug it up a few weeks ago, but the battery would no longer hold a charge. Despite my efforts I could not find a way to replace the battery. I think I may purchase the ebookwise version. I currently own the Cybook, but would not mind having another reader. I am assuming that the ebookwise 1150 can still read the REB format.

Pitcher23, Gemstar is still offering to replace defective readers, including the old rocket, with a new 1150, for the shipping only cost of $30. You should also be able to access all your old encrypted rocket content on it through the Gemstar servers, which are scheduled to stay up for another year.

I replaced two of my old Rockets this way and have enjoyed them ever since. :)

I haven't tried using the Gemstar 1150 at ebookwise, but they have talked of providing a patch for it. I have an ebookwise 1150 anyway. Personally, I prefer to convert .lit files and make them into .imp books for both my 1150 and the colour 2150 using the gemstar publisher software.

You can get the details of the $30 replacement program and download the free Gemstar publisher software from http://www.gemstar-ebook.com

Cheers!

The 1150 rocks!

I have a couple of them - the Gemstar models and the eBookwise one too. For me, it's not just the screen size and the smart layout of the page turning buttons, but the form factor and the light weight.

I have a 1200 and a 2150 - those were the big colour ebook readers made by RCA and Gemstar. (The 2150 is just the 1200 with a new label stuck over top of the old one.) The colour is nice and the screen size is great, and the removable batter pack is awesome, BUT the darn thing is too heavy to hold upright with one hand. Oh, you can do it, but boy, does your arm get tired after a while. Not to mention the page turning buttons are on the opposite side, so you need to use your other hand to change pages.

The 1150 is grayscale, and frankly, the quality of the screen could be better. I wish they had chosen a dial for the contrast setting because it needs regular adjusting as the unit gets warmer. And I wish it used SD or something, not smart memory which only goes up to 128mb, but just the same it's my daily ebook reader and I'm not giving it up! :)

I wish I saw your post earlier. I wound up chucking my old Rocket E-book after doing a bunch of online searching for the ebook model and the battery. I wound up purchasing e-bookwise's 1150.

I am still reading the books I have on my Cybook, and have not used the 1150 extensively yet. From what I have seen, it is a little lighter than the original Rocket and is quite legible with fantastic battery life. I did notice though, that the original Rocket had a better display. This is not to say the 1150's isn't nice, but the Rocket was easier on the eye and the text looked more clean. I do prefer the built in modem that will allow me to purchase books without a computer, which will come in handy if I am away from one. It's too bad that when Gemstar took over, smartmedia was a popular removal media choice at the time. I wish it took SD/MMC.

All in all you cant beat this device for it's size and price.

I did notice though, that the original Rocket had a better display.

The rocket certainly did, even the 1100 was better than the 1150 since it required no grayscale capability.

But the Rocket was the best and clearest, and there was much gnashing of teeth and wailing amongst users when RCA decided to downgrade Nuevomedia's original specs.

I'm looking forward to trying the Libre when it's issued though does anyone know if it supports grayscale? Images are pretty lousy in 1 bit monochrome.

I'd be so nice if they had the EBW-1150 available outside canada and the US. There's more to the world. They're never available on eBay either.

The only RB's which are available on eBay are the original RB1100's. Sometimes.

Annoying.

That might be a positive statement about the 1150. Nobody wants to sell theirs!! :)

Craig.

I'm a happy owner of an ebookwise 1150. After using it for a month I've found I really enjoy using it. I agree with all comments and reviews posted here.

Here are some things I found that can be polished in order to make this reader a great device that shows all the potential and the real advantage of ebooks over regular paper books.

First of all: I think a dictionary would be a great addition to it. I read this device was supposed to have a single-tap dictionary, but I couldn't find it. It would also be great if one could have translation dictionaries for reading books in different languages. I'm learning french and I still have to have a paper dictionary by my side. Wouldn't it be great to just tap on the word in the screen to read their meaning? I think that's possible on this device. The firmware just has to be updated.

The GUI (graphical user interface) could also be polished. There are many simple tasks that has to be done with many taps. For example: whenever I want to change page orientation, in order to change hands, i have to do 3 taps. I'd like to have that on the page orientation icon and done with a single tap!! I avoid changing hands because of that: it disturbs my reading when I have to start tapping to accomplish a simple thing. Besides that, why do we have to press the page orientation to change screen contrast or brightness?

There are also wasted screen areas that could be better used for text display. I mean the top and bottom part of the screen. I'd like to have the possibility to hide the top tab (with the default magnifying glass) and the page number bar on the botton.

There are many other things that can be done with this device (eg. audio jack?) but I think these suggestions are simple to accomplish and may have a great impact on usability.

I wonder if the ebookwise 1150 firmware can be upgraded. Does anyone knows anything about it?

I've been searching the net for good handheld readers and so far it sounds like the 1150 is the best out there.

I see from your posts that there are ways to convert LIT files which would really help me. I'll check your conversion forum on how to do it.

I plan on using the reader a lot. I'm on a mission to read every Star Wars book. I have about 50 downloaded onto my comp. I just hope the battery can hold up. I just don't get why companies bother to make things in which you cannot replace the batteries.

rmeister0's review was great. Answered a couple questions I had about the reader.
My other criticism of the eb-1150 is it’s inability to display any file format other than its native IMP. You can’t just copy a RocketBook or plain text file onto a memory card and load it into the reader; all content must be converted to an IMP file before being loaded onto the device.
Too bad... my computer has a built in smartcard reader... would have been so easy to just dump the files on it... pop it into the ebook and be ready to go. Seems like I'll have to download the eBookWise Librarian program.

I am an owner of a REB1100 (because I cannot/wasn't allowed to buy a EBW1150, being in Europe). I am having a pleasing amount of success converting various books to its native format. One thing to keep in mind though is that the process from for example LIT to IMP (or in my case RB) may not be fully automatic. As a side note, unless I am mistaken, the EBW1150 can deal with RB files (and will automatically convert them).

As a side note, unless I am mistaken, the EBW1150 can deal with RB files (and will automatically convert them).

No, it won't; I tried it.

You can upload RB files to the personal content server and it will convert them to IMP files. The GEB Librarian software will also do this conversion.

Since I have not yet downloaded books from actual ebooks sites my files are only in html, lit, txt, pdf, and rtf (wordpad). But it's good to know which software will do RB conversions. Thanks :)

YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Fed Ex just came by.... I got the eBook reader!!!

Now to spend the rest of the day figuring out how to use it.

Congrats! Let us know how you like it.

Thank goodness for rmeister0's detailed review. Without it I may not have been successful in loading the files.

For some reason I could load files to my bookshelf using the Ebooks Librarian program. It would convert the file but nothing would show up in online library. I had to go online to the Ebookwise site and log into the Personal Content Server. It worked like a charm and now I can happily read the last book in the Star Wars The Thrawn Trilogy.

The reader is nice. Just the right size and not too heavy to hold. The text is easy enough to read. The buttons and settings are fairly easy to figure out.

:)

Mine's on the way too!

Quick newbie question: I understand this thing supports various open file formats, as well as ebookwise purchased ebooks. But is it possible to buy ebooks from other vendors and convert them to formats usable by the ebookwise?

Mine's on the way too!

Quick newbie question: I understand this thing supports various open file formats, as well as ebookwise purchased ebooks. But is it possible to buy ebooks from other vendors and convert them to formats usable by the ebookwise?
The official answer is no. There are some formats (e.g. .LIT) for which inofficial tools (e.g. Convert Lit) exist allowing you to convert the purchased book back to HTML, which you can then reconvert to any format that is supported by the ebookwise.

Mine's on the way too!

Quick newbie question: I understand this thing supports various open file formats, as well as ebookwise purchased ebooks. But is it possible to buy ebooks from other vendors and convert them to formats usable by the ebookwise?

Not to be too picky, but the EB-1150 does not support *ANY* open file formats; it doesn't even support any proprietary file formats except for its own IMP format. Everything other type of file must be converted first, and you have a few routes available to go on that one.

FictionWise sells some non-encrypted e-books in the IMP format (they call it OEP 1/2 vga); BlackMask has converted at least part of their catalog. Some vendors, such as Renaissance Books, sell plain HTML books that you can convert.

That is my biggest gripe about the device - not being able to load an HTML or RB file directly onto a media card and loading it up.

Thanks for the info. Man, I wish they'd just come out with a simple tablet that incorporated all the obvious features we want. Why can't it be easier to download the morning paper into this thing. I checked out that sitescooper program and it looks impossible.

; BlackMask has converted at least part of their catalog. Some vendors, such as Renaissance Books, sell plain HTML books that you can convert.

That is my biggest gripe about the device - not being able to load an HTML or RB file directly onto a media card and loading it up.

I think the convertion program that Blackmask uses doesn't work properly. I tried downloading some books in french and all accents and special characters were illegible. They should try to fix that.

I don't know why they tie the ebookwise 1150 to only the IMP format. If they let you upload and read unencrypted content why not let us use just plain HTML for that. I say this because I know this device has a built-in HTML reader. I've coded a little software that let's you surf the web with this device and it was great to see all the screen was used to render webpages (the top toolbar and the page count bar were not shown!). Some HTML tags and/or Javascript are not supported, so not all websites are rendered as expected.

Does anyone know anything about their firmware content? I know nothing about that, but it'd be great to try to change it.

I'm new to this forum, and I'm considering buying this device, as it seems to be the best available at the moment. But, is this exactly the same as the modified RCA REB 1100, or has anything changed? The reason I ask, is because the latter seems to be considerably cheaper on ebay. Does anyone know?

Edited: Forget it. I though it was cheaper cause I looked in the wrong place.

I think the convertion program that Blackmask uses doesn't work properly. I tried downloading some books in french and all accents and special characters were illegible.

I suspect that the original files contained extended ASCII codes rather than proper Unicode mark up. It's too bad to hear that, but it goes straight to the heart of the matter I've complained about repeatedly - poor proof-reading, or in this case even just opening the bleeding file and checking to see if it looks okay.

I agree that a straight up html reader would be an excellent feature. On the FW Yahoo group, though, all you'll ever hear is "Use the librarian" (I'm on OS X) or "use the content server" (I don't want to be dependant on a service that could go away at any time).

The goal of making the eb-1150 easy to use for one purpose has made it far more difficult to use for the many things people really want to use it for.

Hi, I've ended up buying it, thanks to your review. I should receive it in a week or so. There's something that worries me, though. I have more books in my hard drive than I will be able to read in my lifetime, and I will be using the ebookwise a lot more often to read those books than to buy new ones.

And my concern is this one: How dependant is the device on the FictionWise web? Do you have any trouble with the Personal Content sever? Because if DiscoLeia said the ebookwise librarian did'nt work for her and she had to use the server, I don't feel comfortable with the idea that I depend on a web to read my ebooks, and if the site goes down for some reason, I will lose that ability and the device will be useless. Is the ebook Librerian software independent from the web? Or it forces you to connect some way? Again, I don't want to pay 15 bucks to register it, and then find out that I can't use it, or that, after all, it's still going to connect to the website.

Anyone to solve my doubts?

You need to clarify what operating system you are using before I can really answer that question.

What format are your existing titles in?

It's a Pc with Windows XP Professional. And the files are different in format, most of them are pdf or word documents. I now the pdf files are particularly difficult to modify. I guess I'll have to change them to html before and then to other format.

It's a Pc with Windows XP Professional. And the files are different in format, most of them are pdf or word documents. I now the pdf files are particularly difficult to modify. I guess I'll have to change them to html before and then to other format.

Well I only have one day of experience with my ebookwise reader but so far I'm pretty happy with it. I transferred four or five books with the GEB Librarian software and it worked great. Barring any major problems I'll register the software in a week or so.

Nandokin, so far I have converted mainly HTML files but I did try a Word doc and I had no trouble. So far they look very good on on the ebookwise.

I haven't used the online feature and doubt that I will unless I start having problems with the GEB Librarian software.

The device could definitely be easier to use. The USB driver/proxy isn't terribly intuitive but knowing what to do ahead of time thanks to rmeister and others definitely helps.

I'll post more thoughts on the device and software after I've had more time with them. So far I am happy with my purchase.

I purchased a few books off of www.ebookwise.com and noticed that it auto-sorts them into odd categories on the unit itself. It placed a science book into "Fiction" ("A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson) and placed a physics book into "General Interest" ("Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos" by Michio Kaku.)

Anyone know how to edit these? Doesn't seem like the unit allows it, and they don't show up in Ebookwise Librarian software in order for me to edit them in there.

On the FW Yahoo group, though, all you'll ever hear is "Use the librarian" (I'm on OS X) or "use the content server" (I don't want to be dependant on a service that could go away at any time).
I also didn't find much information on the Fictionwise Yahoo group. (I think you'll get much more from the REB1200 group.)

There are many librarian projects on the internet that may work with ebookwise devices. One is written in Visual Basic, another one in C (For linux). I've been participating in one Java project (that works on OSX). I'm not a good Java programmer so the coding was being done by HVoyer. So far, we were able to upload content. It rests coding the format conversion part.

my concern is this one: How dependant is the device on the FictionWise web?

Don't worry, you can avoid accessing fictionwise website. You can upload content to your device by means of software that "emulates" fictionwise web. While the Java version gets finished you can get GEBLibrarian. It let's you convert and upload content. Even if you don't buy a license for it you can keep on using it to upload ebooks.

One other thing, if anyone is interested:

Content creation tip:
So far the only GOOD ebook content creation software is ebook Publisher. Well, it's not really good, because it doesn't have many features, but, at least, it let's you modify some settings on ebooks and get good-looking e-text.

To start, I recommend converting any ebook to RTF format. Import that file into ebook publisher and then save it to ODF format. Open that new file with a text editor and change its header with this code:
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC
"+//ISBN 0-9673008-1-9//DTD OEB 1.0 Document//EN"
"http://openebook.org/dtds/oeb-1.0/oebdoc1.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled</title>
<style>
body {margin-left:0pt; margin-right:0pt; x-sbp-widow-push:0; x-sbp-orphan-pull:0}
td {vertical-align:top}
table.hdr {width:100%; border:none; margin-left:0pt; margin-right:0pt}
td.hdrl {text-align:left}
td.hdrc {text-align:center}
td.hdrr {text-align:right}
.plain {text-decoration:none; text-align:justify; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000}
header {display:none; display:oeb-page-head; oeb-column-number:1; margin-bottom:10pt}
footer {display:none; display:oeb-page-foot; oeb-column-number:1; margin-top:10pt}
pbrk {page-break-before:always}
.KWN {page-break-inside:avoid}
fn {font-size:-1}
sp {font-size:-3}
adv2lm {sbp-advance:left}
p {margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; text-decoration:none; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000}
a {text-decoration:none}
</style>
</head>
<body>

You'll get full page usage (no margins) and justified text! Personally, I don't need margins and I think justified text is much cleaner and easier on the eyes.
Hope this tip helps you

Thanks. Not that I've understood half of what you say, :dizzy2: but I guess I will once I have the device in my hands.

Ok, I finally got it yesterday. I'm very happy with it. However I'm gonna have to learn how to use the conversion software. What program do you use for .lit and pdf files?

Also, I tried your trick, but I don't know what to do with the odf files once you've modified them. The GEB Librarian won't take them.

Take a look at this site (http://www.chromakinetics.com/REB1200/convert.htm). It's not specific to the ebookwise, but it's compatible and it will give you some hints. (ebookwise is a ETI-2 device, just as the REB-1100 and the GEB-1150).

I forgot to add, that after making the changes to the ODF file, you have to open it in ebook Publisher and build the corresponding ebook. You'll end up with an IMP file which you'll upload with GEBLibrarian.

Thanks again. It still doesn't work, but I'm not putting much enthusiasm into it, since I'm already reading a lot. I'll have to learn little by little.

>>Anyone know how to edit these? Doesn't seem like the unit allows it, and they don't show up in Ebookwise Librarian software in order for me to edit them in there.

Yes, you can edit these in eBookWise Librarian.
1. Right-click on any title.
2. Choose Change Category from the context menu.
3. Choose New Category from the submenu.

You can enter your new categories there and when you download the book into your eb-1150 device they will show up in the category you specify.

Purchased titles don't show up in Librarian.

Ok, I finally got it yesterday. I'm very happy with it. However I'm gonna have to learn how to use the conversion software. What program do you use for .lit and pdf files?

Also, I tried your trick, but I don't know what to do with the odf files once you've modified them. The GEB Librarian won't take them.

Hey Nandokin are you still needing help with this? For .lit files make sure you get a copy of ConvertLIT. The GUI version is pretty easy to use. You point it at your .lit file and it explodes it into lots of files for you in their own folder. From there I pretty much just look to see what the big file is (it'll be html) and drop that into GEBLibrarian. Converts no problem. You can download it here. (http://www.hot.ee/dukelupus/index.html)

This also works for the encrypted .lit files you download from stores like Fictionwise. It's an extra step as it has to get some sort of key from your activated copy of Reader. This is explained in one of the readme files. This is very handy as the eBookwise can't read any other encrypted formats other than from the ebookwise site I believe.

As for PDF I can't be much help. Do a thread search on convert PDF and you'll find lots of info here. Most of the programs I've seen for converting PDFs are terrible. Even Acrobat Pro 7 which I have makes a mess of most of them when exporting to say RTF. It's too bad too because when it comes to printing PDF is great but not for reading on ebook devices in my opinion.

Thanks Gatton. I'm using ABCLit. I don't have that many lit files anyway.

And for those who might be interested, Solid PDF Converter is an excellent way to convert to word files. Every other program I've seen for this is pure crap.

Ok, I'm already pretty comfortable with the ebook software. Now, onto the next level, anybody knows how can I read websites on the ebookwise? I have no idea how to use SiteScooper or what I need.

Try wget. It's a linux command line tool for downloading files or entire site contents. There's also a Windows version. It's pretty simple and very powerfull.
http://wget.techknight.com/usage.php
http://wget.sunsite.dk/

After having the HTML files on your disk, you can convert them using ebookwise librarian.

Hey! Great news!!
eBookwise-1150 Dictionary Support (http://www.ebookwise.com/servlet/mw?t=help_dictionary_faq&si=43)
Hope they release translation dictionaries as well! (BTW, does any1 here know how to build dictionary files?)

Hey! Great news!!
eBookwise-1150 Dictionary Support (http://www.ebookwise.com/servlet/mw?t=help_dictionary_faq&si=43)
Hope they release translation dictionaries as well! (BTW, does any1 here know how to build dictionary files?)
My guess is that it uses a proprietary format. Did you have a look at the Random House Webster's Concise Dictionary files?

I found that if I use a style sheet in an html file I have to set my margins to 0% before indents show and that linked graphics can't have any blank spaces in the name. ie end.jpg would show in converted book but end 01.jpg would be left out.

Just some of the learning curve of putting all my scanned ebooks on the reader.

Little question for those who registered Ebookwise Librarian. Can you install it in different computers? I say this, because I have a Pc and a laptop. Addionally, I'm giving another reader as a present to someone and I wonder if I would be able to use the same registration number on all three computers or would I have to buy it three times.

Little question for those who registered Ebookwise Librarian. Can you install it in different computers? I say this, because I have a Pc and a laptop. Addionally, I'm giving another reader as a present to someone and I wonder if I would be able to use the same registration number on all three computers or would I have to buy it three times.
I'd say there won't be a problem. I think this librarian doesn't "call home" to check for installed serial numbers.
You can still check that with your firewall or with a network sniffer

I have had a Cybook and an eBookwise for 5 months. The Cybook is heavy, very short battery life, the USB adapter gave out after two months and you have to look directly at the screen to read. (I have these devices for reading, not writing about as I am doing now-duh!). The eBookwise is the perfect size, light and easy to read. Add to that a 20 hour battery life and it is a no brainer for me. There is nothing complicated about getting started either. At first I worried about the availability of books but with the Librarian this is no problem - btw, I love Blackmask Online - thousands of free books. I work and am in my car a lot and when sitting somewhere waiting on an appointment I pull out my eBookwise and enjoy. The eBookwise site is great also. This sounds like a commercial and, if so, fine - I think this thing is great. I recommend it highly!

Little question for those who registered Ebookwise Librarian. Can you install it in different computers? I say this, because I have a Pc and a laptop. Addionally, I'm giving another reader as a present to someone and I wonder if I would be able to use the same registration number on all three computers or would I have to buy it three times.

Yes, I have it installed on two computers with no problems.

Bought an EB 1150, don't have it yet. My iPAQ 2215 gave up (anybody need it for parts, etc? Make me an offer). So I want to transfer stuff I have on my CF card (and my SD card) over to the Smart Media card I had to buy for the EB1150. I guess I can do this with a card reader and then push it back to the EB1150 in a format it will read. Right? But what do I do with my Bible Study programs, like e-Sword and BibleLink? Can you run a "program" on the EB 1150, and if not, is it possible to convert all those files to plain text, or .doc, or html etc?? and then transfer them re above?? :blink: Boy am I going to be busy!
Robert1444

I have been very tempted to but this machince. My problem with this unit, however, is that it can't read MobiPocket or eReader formats. This locks me into Fictionwise as a supplier. I love Fictionwise, but I would like to have a choice and they don't offer everything. I notice that Blackmask is not offering Rocket eBook format, so this makes it a bit better.

What are people's thoughts about this?

By the way, I can't get the links to the review to work.

Paul

FAILURE ON REVIEWS.Paul said, in part:
"By the way, I can't get the links to the review to work."

I couldn't either. Neither the "here" nor the "pdf".
Solution?

By the way, I can't get the links to the review to work.lSeems to no longer be there. I've managed to capture the text portion of it and include it here, but I couldn't find the images and the pdf. Maybe rmeister can help us out?A Review of the eBookWise eb-1150

Updated March 4, 2005: Minor cleanup and added some reader comments at the end.

Introduction

In late 2004, FictionWise (www.fictionwise.com) introduced a new web site called eBookWise (www.ebookwise.com), selling a dedicated e-book reading device and a selection of unencrypted and secured content for it. Unfortunately, solid detailed information about the device has been difficult to come by. How does the device work? What is the display quality like? How does the device handle large libraries? How does it handle e-books you already own?

In February I made the plunge and purchased one myself. This article serves several purposes: to describe the device, how it works and my qualitative opinions on it; to discuss content options for the device; and to address the quality of e-book offerings available today. My approach will be fairly conversational, but a summary of pros and cons at the end will serve those of you who just want to get to the point.

Making the Purchase

The current price of the eb-1150 is about $130 (as of February 2005). I purchased the reader by credit card on the eBookWise site, and selected Fed Ex 2nd day shipping. Be warned, as I had forgotten: this option does not provide delivery on weekends, so my box did not arrive until Monday.

In order to make the purchase I had to create a login on the eBookwise site. I already had one at FictionWise, and since the two companies are one and the same, my FictionWise login worked just fine. Important point: If you already have a FictionWise account, use it at eBookWise. It will pay off later on.

I was disappointed that the e-mail I received did not have a Fed Ex tracking number. After I had received the device, I logged into eBookWise and found a message waiting for me - notification of my product shipment, with the Fed Ex tracking number. It had not occurred to me to log back on to eBookWise until after the order had arrived; most web merchants include that data in a confirming e-mail. eBookWise may wish to consider either changing this, or indicating on the e-mail receipt that you can log on to the web site to check shipping status.

The order includes a $30 credit at eBookWise.

Opening the Box

My order arrived the following Monday (which happened to be President’s Day). I discovered then why the Fed Ex number was not available at the time the confirming e-mail was sent: the device is drop-shipped from ETI.

The eb-1150 is, in fact, a re-branded ETI-2 device made by Ebook Technologies, Inc. (www.ebooktechnologies.com/devices.htm). Inside you get the device itself, and a vinyl carrying case with a flap at the top; a standard RJ-11 phone cable; a non-standard USB cable; a power supply, and an 8 page quick start guide.

The guide suggests charging the unit for 2 hours before use, so I plugged it in and let it sit.

Then you will need to go to the ETI web site to download USB drivers for your computer - both Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X are supported. The term ‘driver’, however, is rather in-appropriate, particularly in the Windows version; it is really an application that goes into your startup folder that acts as a proxy server for your reader, taking tcp/ip traffic from the reader and re-directing it out over whatever internet connection your computer has. You will need to install this driver in order to do your initial registration; while you can use use a dial-up connection directly from your reader instead, I have not tried this scenario.

The OS X version of the driver uses a standard package installer, and requires a reboot after installation.

I will talk more about the device physically, and the starting content you get with it in a moment. Next I want to discuss setup and registration of the device, which has the potential to confuse a lot of people who don’t go step -by-step and carefully read everything they are presented with.

Setup and Registration

First things first: you will have two bookshelves: one is hosted by ETI, and is accessed directly through your reader; it contains the sample content you get with the reader out of the box, and any personal content you upload through ETI’s Personal Content server (which will be discussed later). The second shelf is provided by eBookWise, and contains only the content you purchased at that web store. (If you are also a FictionWise member, then you have *three* bookshelves, which I will discuss shortly.)

So first things first - the USB driver is installed, the cable is connected from the reader to the computer. Power up the reader and follow the directions in the Quick Start Guide to create a new bookshelf. You do this on the reader itself using the stylus provided.

When the registration form came up, my name and address were already filled in. A user id and password is suggested for you. The password is a random collection of numbers and letters, but is not mixed case and does not contain punctuation. Write the user name and password down. I suggest writing them in the Quick Start Guide so you know where to find them in the future.

Once done, you are presented with the usual license agreement. After accepting it, you are presented with your on-line bookshelf, which simply mirrors the content already provided on the reader.

You’re not done yet - you have created the bookshelf through ETI, and this is where you can store personal content. Now you need to register your device with your eBookwise logon - the one you created when you ordered the reader.

Log on to your eBookWise account, and on your reader open the bookshelf to display your last name and User ID. You enter these into a form on your account to register your reader device, and are then taken to your empty bookshelf.

The eBookWise web page noted that I had unencrypted e-books in my FictionWise bookshelf, and gave me the option of importing them to my eBookWise bookshelf. The process is fairly quick: you are presented with a list of books, you check each one you want to copy to your eBookWise bookshelf, and click a button. A few seconds later, the titles show on your eBookWise bookshelf.

Once you’ve done this, you can visit your on-line bookshelf on your reader device, and select the books from your eBookWise bookshelf to download onto your reader.

The integration of FictionWise with eBookWise is a smart move; I will discuss this more when I talk about content later on.

Finally - What is the reader like?

The reader is about a tall as a mass market paperback, but wider and a bit thicker. It has a bulge on the back of the left hand side, to make it easier to hold. It weighs less than a pound.

To give you some idea of its true dimensions, here is a picture of the device. On the left is a Palm Tungsten T3 PDA, fully extended. In the middle, the eb-1150. The third device is a ViewSonic ViewPad 100 - a “SuperPDA” with a 10” display, similar in size to many Tablet PCs available today. As would be expected, the T3 weighs less, and the ViewPad weighs considerably more (about 2.5 pounds).

The eb-1150 is a good compromise between portability and screen size. I used the T3 for reading several books using Palm’s eReader, and while I like the portability and the quality of the display, it’s small size irritated me. I used the ViewPad for a long time, with MobiPocket and uBook, along with image-only pdf files. While it performed admirably, battery life was problematic (battery drain while not in use was unacceptably high), and the screen was too bright to use in a darkened room without incurring eyestrain. The screen was almost a little too large for reading big blocks of solid text.

Another picture, to give you a better sense of scale:

The device holds comfortable in the left hand. Your thumb naturally rests on the top button, which pages down; there is another large button below it that pages up. I’m conflicted on this; on the one hand I would expect the lower button to page down and the upper button to page up; on the other hand, holding the book your thumb naturally rests on the top button, and you’re far more likely to be paging forward than backward. (You can re-map these keys to the top button pages up and the bottom button pages down. I tried this, and after a few pages ended up switching it back.)

For the left-handed reader, there is an option to rotate the screen so you hold the book in your right hand, and the buttons will be re-oriented to work the same way. Unfortunately you also have to hold the book upside down, and the logos on the front don’t rotate as well...

It would have been nice to be able to rotate the display to a landscape orientation, particularly on the large font display, but this is not an option.

The brightness and contrast settings are adjustable right on the reader, and while the slider controls for them have a wide range, the actual usable range of settings is rather narrow. This is not a problem; with a bit of fiddling around you should find an acceptable setting that is comfortable for you to read.

The display is a grayscale backlit LCD. Clearly some compromises were made on the display to reach the price point desired.

I feel the choice of a grayscale versus a color display, for reading of general fiction books and books not requiring color photographs or illustrations, to be a very good decision. The absence of a strong white background being actively lit directly at you helps reduce eyestrain.

The display area is 5.5” measured vertically; not a large as a paperback book, but close enough. The resolution of the display, however, is less than stellar. I would have preferred to see a full 640x480. The serif font displayed takes on a slightly blocked appearance; the pixels that make up each character are readily discernible. No one will confuse reading this device for the printed page. The font has a few quirks that take getting used to (the lower-case ‘l’ looks a lot like a ‘1’, for instance), again an artifact of the displays low resolution.

Update one week later: While I still hold to my criticism of the low resolution of the display, I have quickly acclimated to it. The standard size serif font is clearly legible; give the book a few hours of reading and frankly you will stop noticing the display.

Assuming that whoever authored the e-book you’re reading did their job properly, you have two display sizes to choose from. The standard size mimics closely a typical print size in a mass-market paperback:

The larger display reminds me of the old easy-eye editions (anybody remember those paperbacks, with the green-tinted paper?) This almost, but not quite, doubles the page count of the ebook:

Unfortunately, if the person who built the e-book hard-coded any font sizes, this feature will not work correctly, if at all. This is a shame, because I could see this being very useful for people with less than perfect vision. However, the library where you choose which book to display always uses the smaller font - something that should be made optional.

(The pictures above are slightly blurred, so don’t display the font’s quality quite as they appear in person. The device also has better display contrast than the pictures here would indicate.)

In normal indoor use screen glare is minimal, but in bright sunlight or outdoors reflected light on the screen will make it difficult to read. A good anti-glare coating would not be remiss.

The power button is on the lower right edge of the reader, and is slightly recessed to make it harder to accidentally hit it. The unit powers on in a matter of seconds, and shuts down almost instantly.

Battery life has been superb; I only use the device one or two hours a day, and only recharged it after the first work week of use because I was accustomed to having to do that. Battery discharge when not in use appears very minimal. The device reports 18 hours of use available on a full charge, but I have yet to wear it down all the way to verify that claim. Sometimes the device will sit on my shelf two or three days before I get back to it, and having most of the charge I left in at is a refreshing change from the PDAs I’ve used.

The battery, by the way, is not user replacable. Again, nothing on eBookWise or ETI indicates how to replace a dead or faulty battery. Make no mistake, it will wear out, and you don’t want your device rendered useless just because of a dead battery. Either eBookWise or ETI must address this issue.

There are a few quirks on the user interface that should be addressed. The device includes a 1/4 inch headphone, but no software on the device makes any use of it. The bottom of the screen has a musical note icon, but pressing it bring up the settings menu - clearly the icon is mislabeled (possibly this device, manufactured in Taiwan, is repurposed from some other design?). Another icon on the top of the screen shows a page being rotated. This same button allows you to change contrast and brightness settings of the display, again a poor labeling job.

The device comes with 8 MB internal memory for storing content, and has a SmartMedia card slot protected by a rubber flap on the back. Contrary to some reports, I have had no problem inserting or removing cards from this slot. A 128 MB card ran me $50 at CompUSA, with another $25 for a USB card reader. It was money well spent.

Content - The Quality of E-Books

Like most e-book readers, this one has a rather poor library. Books are sorted into extremely broad categories. Most of my books fall under “General Fiction”, though items you upload through the Personal Content server will show up in a “Personal Content” category. There’s no way to change the classification of a title in your library or to change the sort order.

Once you get more than a few dozen books in your library, it will be something of a mess.

Looking at the sample books that come on the device - three novels and a users guide - almost show the full potential of this reader; but the biggest deficiencies are not in the device at all, but in the content available for it.

The eb-1150 conforms to the Open E-Book Publication Structure specification, probably version 1.0.1. This specification details what formatting options can be used in the display of electronic text, and what a fully-conforming display device must be capable of doing.

You can come awfully close to replicating a basic paperback book: indented paragraphs with full justification (instead of web-style paragraphs without indentation and extra inter-paragraph spacing); page breaks between sections or chapters, fine control of margins, indenting, and so on. With the exception of full justification, the sample e-books included take advantage of these capabilities to create a truly first-class presentation.

The only feature I feel is really lacking compared to eReader or Microsoft Reader is a table of contents link. A book can have a table of contents, which is really a set of hyperlinks to other parts of a document, but there’s no hot key to take you directly there. You can, with one press on the screen, jump immediately to the first page of a document and then page down a few times until you reach the table of contents, but a hot-key would be preferable.

Downloading some unencrypted titles soon proved to be a disappointment. Some books are no better than reading from a web browser display - just one long page of text, and you have to use your reader’s search function to find chapter headings. In other cases I found nothing short of negligence - one e-book I downloaded had all the paragraphs - every single one of them - centered. (Thinking this was just one bad file, I downloaded the same title as a RocketBook edition - same thing there too! How the heck did this not get caught?)

This does not speak poorly to the eb-1150 itself, but to the care and attention paid by e-book publishers. Until greater attention is paid to the quality of their product, e-books will remain a niche product. Publishers of unencrypted titles must put more effort into the presentation of their titles. A bare minimum should be page breaks between chapters, a table of contents as hyperlinks, and indented paragraphs with full justification - in short, book style formatting.

Frankly, running a spell checker wouldn’t hurt either.

Update one week later: I have purchased two secure books: Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, and Clive Barker’s Imajica. Both are superb presentations, with a cover image, table of contents with hyperlinks, and all everything you get in a print edition except the back cover. Now I just need to hope my device never breaks or gets replaced.

Encrypted vs Non-Encrypted Content: The DRM Trap

I have generally resisted purchasing encrypted books for the eb-1150 for one simple reason: books are locked to your specific device. This means if your reader breaks and you have to replace it, or if you migrate to a newer model in the future...you are probably out of luck. FictionWise already had to back out of a plan to let Gemstar RocketBook owners transfer their encrypted content to the eb-1150; don’t think for a moment that this problem won’t rear it’s ugly head in the future. Any DRM mechanism that is tied to a specific piece of hardware is creating a future scenario where you lose all the content you legally paid for.

For this reason I have mainly purchased unencrypted ebooks through the FictionWise store. Many of the unencrypted titles are available in multiple formats including the IMP file format this reader uses. Once you have purchased content on FictionWise, you can go to your bookshelf on eBookWise and copy your unencrypted books from your FictionWise bookshelf to your eBookWise bookshelf. The process takes just moments, and once completed, you can download books onto your reader directly from the eb-1150.

Why go to all that bother when you can just buy them on eBookWise? On eBookWise, you only get one format - IMP, which only the eb-1150 (and other re-branded ETI-2 devices, I think) can read. To really protect yourself from future hardware or software problems, you should really download your e-books in one or two other file formats as well, such as Mobipocket, Palm database, or Microsoft Reader (as these formats are increasingly ubiquitous).

IMP: The Proprietary File Format Trap

My other criticism of the eb-1150 is it’s inability to display any file format other than its native IMP. You can’t just copy a RocketBook or plain text file onto a memory card and load it into the reader; all content must be converted to an IMP file before being loaded onto the device.

(Interestingly, the IMP file itself is not used directly. When you first load an IMP file on the reader, the device blows the file apart into a number of separate resource files and then deletes the IMP file itself. This all happens under the covers, but there are two side effects of this. First, if you load an IMP directly onto a SmartMedia card using a USB adapter on your computer, and then read that card on your computer later on the IMP files will be gone. You must not delete any files on the card directly (you can delete books from the bookshelf on the reader). Secondly, you will want to be sure to keep backup copies of any IMP files you create yourself or download from sites like FictionWise or BlackMask.

Personal Content: ETI Server Method

If you have word documents, rich text format files, plain text files or html documents, you can convert them to IMP files and load them on your reader fairly easily.

First you browse to your personal bookshelf following a link provided on the eBookWise site. (The domain says filamentbooks.com, but it’s really just another part of ETI by all appearances.) You log-on with the user name and password the device gave you and that you wrote down in your Quick Start guide (you did write them down, right?). Using a series of web forms, you select a file to upload, you type in the title and author of the document, and click a button. Once done, you power up the reader, plug in the USB or phone cable, and connect to your on-line bookshelf.

This method will work well for short documents that really are yours - word files, contact lists, a short web page you downloaded, and so on. Unencrypted RocketBook files will also work. However, you have no control over the formatting - you just take what you get.

Strictly speaking, you are not supposed to use this method for anything you don’t own copyright to - no discussion of fair use rights is made on the web site when you go through this process. What’s more, space is limited: your file can be no more than 2 MB in size, and you only have 10 MB space available on your on-line bookshelf. What’s more, you can only move the converted file to your reader; you can’t get a copy of the converted IMP file to store somewhere else for backup purposes.

So for people with significant RocketBook libraries, or a lot of personal content they wish to use, this is not a viable option. Fortunately, two other options are available.

eBookWise Librarian, GEB Rocket Librarian

Both of these names refer to essentially the same product. The program has three essential functions: to store and organize your e-book content on your computer; to create new e-book content from a variety of source files; and to transfer those files to your eb-1150 without having to use a third party web site. In particular, if you have a large collection of text files (such as Project Gutenberg titles), html files or older RocketBook files, this program will convert them for you quickly and painlessly.

For Windows users with a large collection of files, this program is a must. When running, it intercepts your reader’s attempt to access the internet through your computer to access your on-line bookshelf - this program essentially becomes your on-line bookshelf. As an alternative, you can direct the program to write your bookshelf out to a SmartMedia card directly.

You can download the program from www.breeno.org; the programmer has set up a discussion forum there, and is fairly active on newsgroups (including the FictionWise Yahoo! group).

I attemped to use this program on my Mac OS X system using Virtual PC 7 running Windows XP SP 2. While it worked flawlessly the first time, the second time I was unable to get the reader to communicate with the Librarian program. After half an hour of reboots and twiddling, I dropped it. I believe it can be made to work, but my preference would still be for a native OS X application instead.

My Mac Solution: SmartMedia Card and Reader, ETI Publisher

Warning: This is for serious geeks only. After a few weeks of playing around, I finally settled on an all-Mac solution that works.

For purchased content through FictionWise, I download the IMP file and store it on my computer. It becomes my backup or safety copy. Then I copy the file onto the SmartMedia card I keep in my reader, right into the root directory of the card. Load the card in the reader, turn it on, and the file is quickly imported into my library.

For personal content, ETI makes available free application called eBook Publisher. Versions are available for Windows and Mac; unfortunately the Mac version is an OS 9 application, but runs without a problem in the classic environment. It also comes with a pdf instruction manual that is well worth reading, and a copy of the Open eBook Publication Structure. It’s a bit dry, but definitely worth reading - everything you ever want to accomplish with formatting is done through Cascading Style Sheets, but the specification is not completely HTML or CSS complaint.

Using this tool, along with a really good text editor (BBEdit is one common suggestion, though the free version called TextWrangler should be sufficient for these purposes) will allow you absolute control over the appearance of your documents. Using a tool like rbmake (rbmake.sourceforge.net), you can blow apart an unencrypted RocketBook, use search and replace in a text editor to make a few clean-ups, and create a new IMP file for reading on your eb-1150. I’ve done this with a few titles now, setting full justication, cleaning up bad font decisions, creating a table of contents with link - and the results are superb. Considering that eReader Studio for Palm and the MobiPocket content creator program both cost money, this is a delight given it’s zero dollar price tag.

One Last Criticism

FictionWise and eBookWise have made it very easy to purchase books and load them onto your reading device. Finding the book you want to purchase, however, is a royal pain.

The developers of the FictionWise web site would do well to play around on the iTunes Music Store for a few hours. The ability to browse by multiple criteria would be extremely helpful. At the minimum, I would love to see a drill-down such as this: select a genre, see all the authors in that genre, sorted by last name. Provide a series of links by the first letter of the last name (click on ‘B’, see all the authors in that genre with a last name of ‘B’). Then click an author’s name and see all their titles.

This would be much more like browsing a bookstore. It would also be nice to to set certain flags on searches: (short stories vs. novels, for instance).

The current system works fine when you know a specific title you’re looking for, but casual browsing is much more difficult. The categories I look at sometimes for for a few thousand pages. I really don’t have the time to click through them all; a more efficient browsing mechanism is definitely called for.

Final Impressions

Is the eb-1150 perfect? No, it’s not, but it may be as close as we’re going to get until low power digital displays really come of age (and if manufacturers, like Sony with the Libre, don’t keep screwing up the opportunity). The reader is reasonably sized, light, and has a good display. Storage capacity with a SmartMedia card is very good. I carry it to work every day, hoping to get an hour lunch to read, and since I have several titles in the book I can choose on the fly which one I want to read; it’s kind of like the iPod of e-book readers. I just plug it into its charger every couple of days, and I don’t have to worry about battery life. The display adjustments make it comfortable to read in average room lighting or in bed while the significant other is sleeping. I like being able to add books to my collection without taking up additional real-world shelf space, and I really like the fine control the eBook Publisher program gives me over the appearance of titles I convert.

The few warts this device has can be quickly glossed over, and the I got used to the display rather more quickly than I thought I would. If you want a dedicated device and don’t need PDA functionality, and you don’t want the extreme portability a PDA gives you, than the eb-1150 is a good match for you.

Summary of Pros:

* Excellent form factor: a little larger than a mass market paperback; weighs less than a pound.
* Bright screen display
* Excellent battery life and charge retention when device is not in use.
* Port for SmartMedia card allows considerable expansion at little cost, and ability to load content onto device without third party websites required.
* Regular and large font display for e-books that are properly authored.
* Rotating display to accommodate left-handed readers.
* Purchasing and downloading secure books is smooth and easy.
* Hardware is a good value for the $130 price tag.
* Authoring tools run on Windows or Macs (unfortunately only in Classic); can produce well-formatted e-books. Publishing tools are available at no cost (compared to the for-fee programs available for Palm eReader or MobiPocket).
* Wide range of titles available in IMP format on FictionWise and BlackMask.org.

Summary of Cons:

* Battery is not user replaceable.
* ETI or eBookWise need to address how to obtain replacement batteries.
* No ability to display landscape.
* Ability to use large font display dependent on book authoring.
* Secure e-books are tied to a specific device; may not be transferable to other hardware in the even of an upgrade, replacing a lost or damaged unit, etc. eBookWise web site says nothing about this situation.
* Books purchased from the eBookWise site cannot be downloaded to your computer first; you cannot store backup copies of your purchased content on your own hardware outside of the eb-1150 itself.
* Quality of unsecured content on FictionWise is highly variable.
* Cannot display any content other than proprietary IMP format - no native display of plain text or html.

Reader Comments

I forgot to mention that the eb-1150 is only sold in the US and Canada. Canadian readers be alert! Katy from the Yahoo! FictionWise group writes: "Canadian purchasers will pay additional GST, PST (varying with the province), Brokerage and Disbursement fees (FedEx) of from $45.00 to $50.00 Canadian."

Other readers have also reported exceptional battery life. Reader De reports: "Depending on how the backlight is set, I've had everything from around 8 hours at a full charge to nearly 24 hours. I've had this hardware sit around for weeks and the charge doesn't go down any noticeable amount."

A couple of readers have chimed with varying opinions on formatting: one indicated a preference for ragged right or left-justified text, and another stated a preference for san-serif fonts for body text. My own preferences are decidedly the opposite in both respects. Both formatting options are dictated by the the e-book author when the book is compiled to an IMP file; at least, in practice, that is what I have found. It would be preferable for the end user to be able to dictate justification and font family and size for the display of their e-books. Surely providing the option would make e-books more versatile and user-friendly than static print text.

About This Review

My intention is to update this review as necessary.

This review is stored at homepage.mac.com/rmeister0.

Please e-mail comments, corrections, and suggestions to rmeister0@mac.com.

This review is dated March 4, 2005. It was written using Apple Pages. Photographs were taken using a Canon Rebel digital SLR, and manipulated using Adobe Photoshop 7.

Thanks for all the readers who have chimed in with additional facts and critiques.

I have been very tempted to but this machince. My problem with this unit, however, is that it can't read MobiPocket or eReader formats. This locks me into Fictionwise as a supplier. I love Fictionwise, but I would like to have a choice and they don't offer everything. I notice that Blackmask is not offering Rocket eBook format, so this makes it a bit better.

What are people's thoughts about this?

By the way, I can't get the links to the review to work.

Paul

Paul,
I generally buy ALL my books in .LIT format, despite the fact that I no longer have my PocketPC, because I can then convert it to other formats. (Just Google "convert .lit" and you'll see what I mean. You'll find that eBookWise Librarian is essential if you want to create your own ebooks out of HTML files for the eBookwise device. But I do all my reading on the eBookwise device now.
-su

Bought an EB 1150, don't have it yet. My iPAQ 2215 gave up (anybody need it for parts, etc? Make me an offer). So I want to transfer stuff I have on my CF card (and my SD card) over to the Smart Media card I had to buy for the EB1150. I guess I can do this with a card reader and then push it back to the EB1150 in a format it will read. Right? But what do I do with my Bible Study programs, like e-Sword and BibleLink? Can you run a "program" on the EB 1150, and if not, is it possible to convert all those files to plain text, or .doc, or html etc?? and then transfer them re above?? :blink: Boy am I going to be busy!
Robert1444

Robert,
The eBookwise is strictly a reading device. It doesn't have any PDA functionality. You can copy files from card-to-card, but you'll have to make sure you're using the correct format for the eBookwise device. I don't know what reading software you were using on the iPaq 2215, since you didn't mention it. I suggestion you purchase eBookwise Librarian, since it'll take HTML or doc files and put them into the proper format for the device.
-su

Hi again. My PC just ate a most lucid follow-up on care and feeding of ones EB1150 :huh: and I can't figure where it went.
Factoid: I now have 12 books on my reader not counting those initially on when it arrived. They are on a Smart Media 128 card that I bought from TigerDirect.com along with a Lexar Multi-Card reader. Total cost, with shipping $72 and change.

Downloaded the eBookwise Librarian and tried it for four days. It hates me. Could not get it to work as advertised, so I shall not buy that.

Tried the ABC Amber LIT Converter. It hates me also. (Hey! Were talking super techno-clutz here).

Read all the stuff Bob R and other have sent and posted and figured a way out. Went to Blackmask On Line and found a bundle of books in the .imp format, just lurking there for me. Downloaded a dozen onto my desktop and then drug them up to my "new" h-drive after my PC identified it.

Removed the Smart Media card from the Lexar and (MAKING SURE MY EB 1150 WAS TURNED OFF) plugged it into the reader and turned it on. It almost immediately identified each book and installed them on my machine. I'm like a fat pig in deep clover now.

Bob R asked if the reading was (is) any easier then on my iPAQ 2215. Oh My Yes. This machine is the answer to eBook reading. Only thing is I am unable to find Bible Study material that is not pricey. Can't seem to transfer any of my stuff over from the CF/SD cards as I can't crack the formats. Give me time.

Suggestions?

Robert1444

For the less technically inclined I strongly recommend the Lexar Multi-Card reader and a 128MB Smart Media Card. Those things make the EB1150 more addictive than salted peanuts. Up to 24 books now on the external disk and that is only 110MB (85%) of the 128.

Finally broke down and bought the OT/NT KJV Bible after spending I can't recall how many hours trying to find one I could convert and read in an .IMP file. Only $5.85 from Fictionwise for the two.
Now, with all the free .IMP stuff on Blackmask Online and others, I am set up.
Thanks for all the comments and help.
Robert1444

Hi, guys.

Do any of you have the Ebookwise manual in .imp format? I happened to erase it from my uncle's device, so he'd have a little more space to load ebooks, but it would be nice if I could get it and read it on the computer or transform it in a text format, so i could print it.

If so, I would appreciate it if you'd either email me or upload it to some web like rapidshare.

Thanks.

I'm at work so can't post it right now. I can this evening if nobody else does. In the mean time you can read it online at the ETI site:

http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/support_eti2_usrgtoc.htm

oops!

Yea, I've been working on my .mac account, but some work issues have delayed me getting that back up. I do actually have the original pages and will re-post them sometime in the next couple of days.

Sorry about that!

Okay, I have the review re-posted. The link is now www.webstead.org/eb1150/index.html (http://www.webstead.org/eb1150/index.html) . I have also updated the link at the beginning of this topic.

I have an eBookWise too.

Here's the skinny for folks on the line:

Personal content - yeah, it's possible. Gutenberg is possible, RB is possible, etc, etc, and if you are enterprising enough, even .LIT files can be converted.

Complex HTML, offline reading - it's possible if you spend an hour or two getting familiar with sitescooper. Sitescooper, I'm finding, is the eBookWise user's best friend. I now, daily, read the Times, BBC News, the Guardian, and a handful of my favorite blogs on my EBW (yes, with hyperlinks).

Weight, readability - the screen isn't as green as it looks in the pics, unless you're reading it under direct sunlight. It *is* a green screen, but the backlight makes it appear black/white. It's not that heavy, either - if you figure out the correct way to hold it, it's nearly weightless.

My opinion: I love this thing. I wouldn't trade it for any Palm/PocketPC - I wouldn't even trade it for a lifetime of free martinis. The size of the screen is wonderful, and the price is right.

I demand alot of this machine and have used alot of the document converters. I'd be willing to answer any questions and help people out making this thing even more usable.


I love this unit also. I have to use litcovertor convert all my .lit files to HTML and then I use the ebookwise librarian to convert them to .imp. unfortumately I also have a ton of mobipocket files which I can't read. Do you know of any way to help me convert them?

Bookdesigner 4.0 (http://www.freesoft.ru/?id=6957). Quirky but it does the job for me with public domain prc's.

Liviu


I love this unit also. I have to use litcovertor convert all my .lit files to HTML and then I use the ebookwise librarian to convert them to .imp. unfortumately I also have a ton of mobipocket files which I can't read. Do you know of any way to help me convert them?

I get an alert when going to that page. It tries to run an exploit on IE. Could an admin please remove that link.

Thanks

Hi,

Sorry to hear that and feel free to delete the link and google for BookDesigner by yourself. I have been using that software downloaded from there for many months on and off and I find it quirky but useful (true I use Mozilla not IE but I tried with my IE and I saw nothing strange and I run firewall, antivirus, antispy...but always you can miss something...)
For me BookDesigner has 3 features that are useful: it opens prc's for conversion (I do not buy drm so I have only public domain prc's from www.ebooksgratuits.com/ebooks.php), it makes fb2 books, and it opens kml books which are very useful when building a book from many files with the free kml builder.

Liviu

I get an alert when going to that page. It tries to run an exploit on IE. Could an admin please remove that link.

Thanks

Thank you for your info I really appreciate it. You have been the only one who's given me any kind help and trust me I been looking. The russian thing is kind of intimidating thoughI don't download from sites I can't understand.

Hi there!
I would like to buy Graphics supporteb-1150 but I would like to clarify some details before I do it.
I will mainly use the pdf datasheets on this device.
These files contain not only text but also graphics(charts, tables and mechanical drawings.
Adobe PDF can be translated to html format with graphics, but it's unclear for me whether this device is capable of displaying graphical objects. If positive than the next question is whether it's possible to use zoom function?
Did anyone tried to read a file with graphics on eb-1150.

It can display images. If you're not sure about getting it, here's a good test - go download the eBookwise Librarian software (Google it) and try importing an HTML file. There is an option to view the book (just double click on it) after its converted. It shows you what teh ebook would show you - if it shows you the images, you're good to go.

hey guys... ive found this forum in my search for a good ebook reader device. the ebookwise does look good. however... im interested in reading new books. not classics. these often only seem available in pdf or ms reader. plus, ive got many books already on my pc in these formats and wanted to read them on a portable unit. so... guess im out of luck unless i go with a pda or pocket pc huh.. seems kinda foolish that a dedicated ebook reader doesnt support the main ebook formats.

how supported will the ebookwise format be... will almost all new novels be available or only best sellers...

Tough call. I'm pretty dissapointed with industry support of ebooks in general - not every book is available in lit/pdf, and those that are have prices similar to their print forms.

The 1150 shines with personal content, but does lack w/ commercial titles. I find myself still buying print books because many aren't released as ebooks at all.

I mostly bought mine for personal content.

Hi there!
I would like to buy Graphics supporteb-1150 but I would like to clarify some details before I do it.
I will mainly use the pdf datasheets on this device.
These files contain not only text but also graphics(charts, tables and mechanical drawings.
Adobe PDF can be translated to html format with graphics, but it's unclear for me whether this device is capable of displaying graphical objects. If positive than the next question is whether it's possible to use zoom function?
Did anyone tried to read a file with graphics on eb-1150.

The eb-1150 will not be a good solution for you. It is capable of doing modest grey-scale, but it has no zoom ability. The resolution of the screen is pretty low, and while the display quality is sufficient for text, is pretty bad for graphics.

For image-intensive PDFs I use a tablet; some early Acer and NEC LitePad models can be had on eBay for less than $1,000.

I purchased a few books off of www.ebookwise.com and noticed that it auto-sorts them into odd categories on the unit itself. It placed a science book into "Fiction" ("A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson) and placed a physics book into "General Interest" ("Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos" by Michio Kaku.)

Anyone know how to edit these? Doesn't seem like the unit allows it, and they don't show up in Ebookwise Librarian software in order for me to edit them in there.

This is one of my main peeves with this device as well. I have contacted the company a few times about this issue and they tell me that it is currently impossible to change the catagories on purchased books but they will pass my concerns on to their developers.

I thought this was extremely limiting, too.

Then I took a shot, and simply tried typing in my own bookshelf/category headings -- and it worked just fine.

In addition, the new headings become available as choices for subsequent titles.

Hope this helps.

Could you actually change catagories for books you purchased from them? That's my problem. It is easy to change your own books but purchased books seems impossible.

Try on Ebkw Librarian to click on Details/Edit and see if it works. If the imp file is drmed it may not work. I have only converted books or Fictionwise multiformat imp and for those it works very nicely.

Liviu



Could you actually change catagories for books you purchased from them? That's my problem. It is easy to change your own books but purchased books seems impossible.

Sorry, Tom, but I can't answer that. So far I've just been using public domain books from Gutenberg, etc. (There are lots of sources, and thousands of books.)

I haven't purchased one book from Bookwise yet.

Hey guys I am having a problem with my charger/adapter for the reader. I am having to bend the cord into unsual positions to get it to charge the batter pack. I expect there is a bad spot in the cord. Can I replace it with a standard adapter ie if its 12vdc output with 1000 milllamps. Is the plug that plugs into the reader custom? ie would have to break out the soldering iron and try tp splice the plug from the current charger onto the new adapter and cord? I dont see anywhere to buy just the adapter on the ebookwise site...

Thanks in advance.

I've had my Ebookwise 1150 for about two weeks now. I love it! I actually bought it based on all the reviews and user comments posted here at MobileRead. I'm on a Mac and I have successfully converted several unsecured ereader Palm books (.pdb), .txt files and .rtf files to it's required .imp format. I then copy them over the the SmartDisk card, put the card in it's slot and settle down for some good reads.

I wanted a Sony Reader, but the price and the "first generation bugs" of the device scared me off, plus my fears that it won't work well with my Mac. I have been a longtime reader of ebooks, but this Ebookwise device is really the best so far in terms of ease of use and price. A co-worker of mine liked mine so much that she went out and bought one. Now she may buy one for her friend and another one for her mom!

This is my fav ebook reading device by far. Since I am pretty frugal, I have stuck to Gutenburg texts so far, but I have found plenty of other free book sites (Manybooks.net, Baen books, etc). This helped me discover the old pulp adventures of the 30's and 40's like Doc Savage and The Shadow. Makes for some fun reading. So much so, that I was inspired to create and write my own pulp adventure series.

Just my two cents, but I feel that the Sony Reader is a good idea, but WAY too expensive. The lack backlight also ruins it for me. I'll stick with my Ebookwise for now and I take it everywhere I go. Thanks to everyone who posts here, it really helped me when it comes to ebook advice!

based on all the reviews here i'm also getting one . question can it hold a bigger memory card like 256 or 512 mb

based on all the reviews here i'm also getting one . question can it hold a bigger memory card like 256 or 512 mb
The basic answer is no. The SmartMedia cards just don't come in larger sizes, though there were plans for 256MB cards at one point. I seem to recall some people here on the boards talked about using an adapter and getting some other (and larger) types of media to work in the eBW, but even then, the unit only recognized the first 128MB.

I admit I had planned to upgrade to a 128MB as soon as I got mine, but I am still using the 64 that came with it, and have had no real need to switch yet.

Good luck with your purchase!

Jack

AFAIK, the upper limit is 128Mb. You can fit quite a lot of books in the basic 64Mb card, though.

does this do graphics, i read all the reveiws last week but i cant seem to recall grapics. i have some rpg books and i woudnt mind having the graphics show also :happy2:

does this do graphics, i read all the reveiws last week but i cant seem to recall grapics. i have some rpg books and i woudnt mind having the graphics show also :happy2:

Ebk1150 imports pictures, I know for sure about jpg's since I read non ocr'ed scans this way; the things to be kept in mind are the pixel size (318x448 or 320x460 if you get rid of margins) and the memory limit (128Mb).

do i need a card reader for my comp or can this ebook plug directly into the comp . my 1500 should be arriving today or tomorrow

You will get a USB cable with the reader, but a card reader is cheap and easy.

i got it thursday, played with it last night.a lot of my files are pdf i got adobe 8 pro but files transfered to html or jpeg still dont work.can any of u experts help me? i also got ebook publisher& librarian ,abc lit convertor

also im kinda new to converting files can some one give me a walk thru on converting jpeg and wikipedia pages to the ebookwise, :huh: PLEASE. :D

i got it thursday, played with it last night.a lot of my files are pdf i got adobe 8 pro but files transfered to html or jpeg still dont work.can any of u experts help me? i also got ebook publisher& librarian ,abc lit convertor

For pdf's it depends what kind they are; if they are text, I would just extract it to rtf, if they are image it's trickier, it can work from jpg's but the size needs to be right (318x448 or 448x318).
Html's sometimes do not convert for some reasons (see below where you can ask why), transformed to rtf's they work though you lose hyperlinking if any.
Also, sometimes if a file dies in conversion either on librarian or on eti pub, the following files die too, so you gotta restart the application first, and try again. Once or twice eti pub died altogether, so I had to remove by hand the offending dll and reinstall it, but the librarian always worked after restart on good files.
For more specific advice and tricks it's a good idea to ask in the Fictionwise forum on Yahoo since there are lots of people there that know cool tricks about Ebk1150 (how to change fonts, do hyperlinks, run headers...). I never needed anything complicated since all my files worked after some massaging if neccesary, but that is a really good place to ask experts.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fictionwise/

Hello ladies & gents,

I was a proud owner of an RCA REB1100, logged many hundreds of hours on it until the day I lost it. It just so happened that the week prior, RCA discontinued the product.

So I just stumbled upon this eBookWise device today, and my heart lept! It was my REB1100, rebadged! But the more I read, the more I think that it might be more complicated than that.

So, I have a couple questions I hope someone can answer for me. :)

1.) Would the eBook Librarian software that came with my RCA be able to do conversion and load books onto the device?

2.) Does the eBookWise device have dictionary lookup capabilities like the RCA did? If you had a specific dictionary ebook loaded onto the device, you could tap any word and get an immediate definition.

I appreciate any information on the likenesses or differences between the REB1100 and the eBookWise 1150 that anyone can supply. :)

Thanks in advance,
-p

I'm pretty sure it's the same thing, and the software should still work: http://www.breeno.org/eBook/faq2.html

2.) Does the eBookWise device have dictionary lookup capabilities like the RCA did? If you had a specific dictionary ebook loaded onto the device, you could tap any word and get an immediate definition.
Not sure if it works with just any dictionary, but there is one available at the eBookwise site for just this purpose, and it is free! I use it all the time.

Jack

I greatly appreciate the swift responses, and two bits of terrific news!

As much as I would love an eInk device (after seeing the Sony Reader at a tradeshow and thinking they had an enormous sticker on the screen like you see with radio alarm clocks quite often, faking a display - a remarkable departure from LCD), I would constantly be disappointed at the lack of an instant dictionary lookup function. That sort of thing, to me, is the real reason to eschew paper for an electronic device: enhanced functionality.

An ebook device should do more than just replace paper with a screen and have buttons for pages.

Thank you once again, neko and Jack, for the quick answers. :)
-p

For me, the storing/carrying of dozens of books for less than the weight of a single hardback is a pretty big deal all by itself. :yes:

I have both, and I prefer the REB1100 over the 1150.

Reasons:
- You can't load custom fonts on the 1150
- You can't change the orientation to landscape
- There's no software for it on Linux

On the other hand, the 1150 does have a grayscale screen (vs B&W for 1100), better HTML support and very good battery life :-)

There's no software for it on Linux
I had noticed that the Breeno software was on the Wine apps list, and I had been assuming it would also work for my 1150-- not so? Does the eBW Librarian sw not run under Wine? Or is there a better native Linux solution that only works with the 1100? I'm looking at changing the system I currently use to store my eBw library to Ubuntu, so I need to decide if it will have to be a dual boot system or what. Thanks --

Well, it *may* run under Wine -- I never tried it. For the 1100, you can use a combination of rbmake (http://rbmake.sourceforge.net) and rebcomm (http://rebcomm.sourceforge.net), which works out to be perfect for me. I've also developed some scripts which glue these together -- convert a PDF to images (like PDFRasterFarian), download all my feeds from bloglines, index and convert all html pages in a directory, etc. It's easy when you have command line automation :p

That might be a positive statement about the 1150. Nobody wants to sell theirs!! :)

Craig.
Maybe so, Craig. But I have an 1150 for sale. Bought a Sony eBook Reader (P500) to replace it..
Serious interests reply to utron7@yahoo.com. It's a couple of years old in outstanding condition and has an external flash disk card installed with 23 books still on it and 109MB free of 128 MB. Can swipe card or leave books on. I understand the main battery IS NOT REPLACEABLE and could die in another 3 years.
Malerne133

I have an eBookWise too.

Here's the skinny for folks on the line:

Personal content - yeah, it's possible. Gutenberg is possible, RB is possible, etc, etc, and if you are enterprising enough, even .LIT files can be converted.

Complex HTML, offline reading - it's possible if you spend an hour or two getting familiar with sitescooper. Sitescooper, I'm finding, is the eBookWise user's best friend. I now, daily, read the Times, BBC News, the Guardian, and a handful of my favorite blogs on my EBW (yes, with hyperlinks).

Weight, readability - the screen isn't as green as it looks in the pics, unless you're reading it under direct sunlight. It *is* a green screen, but the backlight makes it appear black/white. It's not that heavy, either - if you figure out the correct way to hold it, it's nearly weightless.

My opinion: I love this thing. I wouldn't trade it for any Palm/PocketPC - I wouldn't even trade it for a lifetime of free martinis. The size of the screen is wonderful, and the price is right.

I demand alot of this machine and have used alot of the document converters. I'd be willing to answer any questions and help people out making this thing even more usable.
I know the message I read from you is old, but I have a question about converting files. I use the EBW Librarian for most of my conversion of html. I haven't converted other files because I don't know how. I've tried to convert lit and I think rb, but they didn't convert. I have one html file that won't convert in the librarian...any suggestions? The company even sent me the lit & ms files and they didn't convert. I would love to be able to convert all types of files even pdf's, but don't know what software will do that or how to do it once I have the software. I did download ebook publisher and the book came up in the file, but I don't know how to save it to html or imp or anything else. So I hope you can help me. I've had my ereader 1150 since last yr and love it love it love it. Just would like to do more with it. Also...do you know where a good place to purchase 128 sm card from. the ones on ebay for some reason go to high.
Thanks for your help
Mary

i've never succeeded in converting with the librarian ; i always use eBook Publisher, which is a free download from ETI Tech (there are links around here somewhere... i'd find you one but it's quite late here and i'm feeling a bit lazy). it's not very intuitive and i had to use the manual to make the first several, however it does allow you to make books from html or other sources (word documents can be imported) and gives you many many more options / control than the librarian.

for converting lit and mobi files, nrapallo has written some excellent utilities : look at the sticky about mobi2imp (direct conversion from.prc to .imp, in about a minute, with no effort on your part. brilliant). lit conversion requires one or 2 extra steps but not many ; first break down the lit file using convert lit, then build your imp either from the html output or the mobi conversion. not very hard at all. not sure about pdf, you'd probabaly have to make it into text first or something.

i'm still a relative novice at bookmaking (and haven't done it in a while, so i might be forgetting a few details) but there are some real pros around here so don't hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck.

EDIT : pff : lit2imp converter exists as well, how could i have forgotten. (see previous mentions 'haven't done any converting in some time' and 'it's late here'... must be getting stupid. time for bed now.)

I did download ebook publisher, but don't know how to save the book to imp or anything else. I've never used anything but EBW Librarian so this will all be new to me. What do you mean by bookmaking? Ebook publisher wants me to print the book and I want to save it. I could really use some step by steps here I guess.
Thanks for your help.

oh no, we're both talking about the same thing, don't worry :wink:

with eBook Publisher, you make an imp by first importing your source files (html, word, whathaveyou), saving and intermediary "container" file, then from that you "build" your book (you can export to imp for the 1150, imp for the 1200, and / or oeb (or is it opf ?? arg, where are nick and dale when you need them...).

it sounds complicated (and it is a *tiny* bit, at first) but the manual* gives you step by step instructions. by the way, the manual is also available here as an .imp book, so you can read along as you go, and use the search function and such. i can't remember whether it is in the ebooks section or the eb1150 section but a search should bring it up. i beleive DaleDe uploaded it, if you want to add that detail to your search to narrow the results.

nick and dalede know millions of times more about this than i do, by the way (i can tell i'm not doing a good job with my explanation :rolleyes:).

if you don't want to worry about ebook publisher for now, definitely try out mobi2imp, which you can get here (check the stickies). that's the tool nick (nrapallo) made. it's brilliant ; completely effortless. if you have any mobi format books around (.prc) definitely use that.

*by manual i mean the help file.

I did download ebook publisher, but don't know how to save the book to imp or anything else. I've never used anything but EBW Librarian so this will all be new to me. What do you mean by bookmaking? Ebook publisher wants me to print the book and I want to save it. I could really use some step by steps here I guess.
Thanks for your help.

Zelda_pinwheel was writing her explanations on what to do way past her bedtime!!! :rolleyes: She has given you some great ideas to further explore, like Mobi2IMP and lit2sb (i.e. .lit to .imp). :2thumbsup

Allow me to further elaborate since these programs can be found here in the Fictionwise fourm, namely Mobi2IMP 9.4 with new Windows GUI & UTF-8 (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22178) and Convert .lit directly into .IMP formats (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20592). I would also recommend, in the Format Conversion forum, PDFRead 1.8.2 released! (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21906) for all your .pdf/.djvu converting needs.

The above programs are mainly useful in creating .imp ebooks using previously created ebooks (in a different format like .prc/.pdb/.lit/.pdf). I have a lot of hands-on experience with these programs since most were created/exploited by me.

For creating your own .imp ebooks from .html source, the most powerful software to use is eBook_Publisher. It has a steep learning curve, but what powerful software doesn't.

Ok, now enough with the introductory stuff, let's get you creating .imp ebooks:

- First, eBook Publisher requires that you to create a New Project (.opf file) using the File menu item.

- Next, you should enter the ebook details using Edition Setting... under the Project menu and save it using the name of your resulting .imp ebook. Ensure you uncheck "Require ISBN", enter Title, Author and Bookshelf Category at a minimum as these are required entries.

- Next, you can Add Files... any source .html, just change the file-requester's filetype from *.odf to *.html.

- Next make sure you change the Build Target from the default "OEBFF: All Targets" to "Grayscale Half-VGA" for the eBookwise 1150 .imp format.

- Last, select Build Edition... and determine if the Processing Successful message appears as the last line of the Errors and Messages window. If not, you may need to tweak your source .html and repeat Build Edition... until you are satisfied with the .imp output.

To get the .imp file onto the reader, just follow this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=152902#post152902).

Obviously, this is just a very cursory step-by-step, but it should point you in the direction. And yes, you will benefit by reading the eBook Publisher 2.1 documentation/manual (User's Guide).

Ask away if you get stuck, either here or in a new thread.

Enjoy!

Also...do you know where a good place to purchase 128 sm card from. the ones on ebay for some reason go to high.
Thanks for your help
Mary

No, ebay seems to be the primary source since no new smartmedia cards have been manufactured in over 5 years. Only used/second hand ones can be found, and yes, they do go for a premium, esp the largest size available - 128 MB.

As the 128 MB SM cards are not cheap, you may wish to get two or more smaller cards (16, 32 or 64 MB) if considerably less expensive. However, you may end up swapping the SM cards and this must be done with care or else you may "grid" your unit i.e. wipeout the firmware. :( Check the IMP wiki for further information about changing SM cards.

EDIT: my bad, while the gridding of the unit i.e. firmware corruption usually/mainly occurs on the REB 1100, since both use SM cards, it is wise to be extra careful with the 1150. I believe the 1150 will handle this situation better, but you never know... :bulb2:

A sigh of relief heard 'round the world! :)

However, you may end up swapping the SM cards and this must be done with care or else you may "grid" your unit i.e. wipeout the firmware. :( Check the IMP wiki for further information about changing SM cards.
good god, WHAT ??? i didn't know that... suddenly feeling rather weak in the knees at the thought of the many times i've taken my card in and out of the reader...

(me goes to verify the wiki...)

thanks nick for the further (much more clear and comprehensive...) explanation about making imp books ! we can always count on you... i think you deserve some karma for that.

good god, WHAT ??? i didn't know that... suddenly feeling rather weak in the knees at the thought of the many times i've taken my card in and out of the reader...

I may have been a tad bit stong with the "grid" comment i.e. not 100% true and edited my message to tone down the possiblitlty of corrupting the 1150. However, it's better to be safe than sorry!

Zelda_pinwheel was writing her explanations on what to do way past her bedtime!!! :rolleyes: She has given you some great ideas to further explore, like Mobi2IMP and lit2sb (i.e. .lit to .imp). :2thumbsup

Allow me to further elaborate since these programs can be found here in the Fictionwise fourm, namely Mobi2IMP 9.4 with new Windows GUI & UTF-8 (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22178) and Convert .lit directly into .IMP formats (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20592). I would also recommend, in the Format Conversion forum, PDFRead 1.8.2 released! (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21906) for all your .pdf/.djvu converting needs.

The above programs are mainly useful in creating .imp ebooks using previously created ebooks (in a different format like .prc/.pdb/.lit/.pdf). I have a lot of hands-on experience with these programs since most were created/exploited by me.

For creating your own .imp ebooks from .html source, the most powerful software to use is eBook_Publisher. It has a steep learning curve, but what powerful software doesn't.

Ok, now enough with the introductory stuff, let's get you creating .imp ebooks:

- First, eBook Publisher requires that you to create a New Project (.opf file) using the File menu item.

- Next, you should enter the ebook details using Edition Setting... under the Project menu and save it using the name of your resulting .imp ebook. Ensure you uncheck "Require ISBN", enter Title, Author and Bookshelf Category at a minimum as these are required entries.

- Next, you can Add Files... any source .html, just change the file-requester's filetype from *.odf to *.html.

- Next make sure you change the Build Target from the default "OEBFF: All Targets" to "Grayscale Half-VGA" for the eBookwise 1150 .imp format.

- Last, select Build Edition... and determine if the Processing Successful message appears as the last line of the Errors and Messages window. If not, you may need to tweak your source .html and repeat Build Edition... until you are satisfied with the .imp output.

To get the .imp file onto the reader, just follow this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=152902#post152902).

Obviously, this is just a very cursory step-by-step, but it should point you in the direction. And yes, you will benefit by reading the eBook Publisher 2.1 documentation/manual (User's Guide).

Ask away if you get stuck, either here or in a new thread.

Enjoy!
Thanks soooooo much for the directions and info. you guys are great. I will work on this and read the manual for publisher.

If I may slide in here with a suggestion - you see, I'm not very techish. It has to be more pointy-clicky and less codey-changey for me. My simple solution, if EBW librarian wants to argue, is to just upload the .doc or .html or whatever directly to my EBW personal content bookshelf at eBookwise. The files may come out a few bytes bigger, but so far, it has never failed to produce a lovely .imp for me.

what about PDB files? will they convert if uploaded to fictionwise? They didn't work with ebook pub.

what about PDB files? will they convert if uploaded to fictionwise? They didn't work with ebook pub.

If the .pdb is of the type "TEXt/REAd" (PalmDOC), then Mobi2IMP will convert it to .imp formats.

If the .pdb is of the type "PNPdPPrs" (ereader), then you're stuck as I don't know of any converter for it.