OK, so now I have my iLiad and I want to start accumulating content on my SD card.

I've taken a few free e-books in PDF format, some have been pretty good, some not so good. I quite fancy buying some too, which formats work well and could I reliably assume to be readable and not awful if I actually pay for them?

At the moment not a lot, I guess, if all we have is PDF and HTML and that Chinese one... do Adobe Reader PDFs count as normal PDFs that we can use?

Just don't want to spend money on books I can't read, is all :).

i tink that 'commercial' pdfs (from amazon ...) are drmed and won't display with xpdf.

is that right?

If you buy DRMed content today, you are not able to read it on your iLiad.

I don't know when (of if at all) e.g. the mobiread reader will be ported to the device.

Also there seems to be a possibility that content will be available via the iDS - this content one can only use with the registered device (as far as I remember the post here in the forum).

But this raises the question if iRex has content available for buying?

Greetings,
Frank

If you buy DRMed content today, you are not able to read it on your iLiad.

I don't know when (of if at all) e.g. the mobiread reader will be ported to the device.

Also there seems to be a possibility that content will be available via the iDS - this content one can only use with the registered device (as far as I remember the post here in the forum).

But this raises the question if iRex has content available for buying?

Greetings,
Frank


About 2 weeks ago there was a note that a 'DRM announcement would be made in a week'. The only place I saw this was in the iRex shop when you clicked on the icon for the Iliad. I'm not certain exactly what a week in iRex time is out here in the real world :uhoh2:

Side note to marketing department in iRex: The Bose noise cancelling headphones ship with about 10 business cards in them to give to interested people. They figure current customers to be the best sales tool. Based on some of the forum comments, worth while food for though.

Here is what I do... I always buy my e-books in Microsoft LIT format, either from Fictionwise, Amazon, or eBooks.com. I then use Convert Lit to convert this e-book (which is protected by DRM) to HTML (of course only for personal (fair) use). With HTML, you are free to do what you want, e.g., convert it to a format appropriate for the iRex.

See also here (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7011) for more on Convert Lit.

i tink that 'commercial' pdfs (from amazon ...) are drmed and won't display with xpdf.

is that right?

The xpdf website has a funny blurb explaining that they honour DRM pdfs because they expect people to honour the GPL license.

About 2 weeks ago there was a note that a 'DRM announcement would be made in a week'. The only place I saw this was in the iRex shop when you clicked on the icon for the Iliad. I'm not certain exactly what a week in iRex time is out here in the real world :uhoh2:


"one week" is one unit of time interval. "A week" is a week, anyone.

I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that content at Fictionwise, if downloaded as PDFs, fits the iLiad screen perfectly. The font size is acceptable, the pagination is correct - if you're looking to purchase content, I think you might want to try Fictionwise, and you can skip downloading as .lit and the conversion step.

bryanzs,

Are Fictionwise books readable without modification on the Iliad? How does the DRM work?

Yes, the Fictionwise ebooks are readable without any modification. Books on Fictionwise can be published as either "multiformat" or "secure". Multiformat ebooks don't have any DRM - except for the users' agreement not to copy. Secure ebooks are available in a variety of formats, none of which are currently directly useful to us.

While most newly-published books are in the 'secure' format, Fictionwise carries a lot of reprinted stories, and older books, in the multiformat format, and you can choose to search just the multiformat ones so you're not tempted by an ebook you can't yet load :) I particularly like that you can subscribe to ebook versions of the major US science fiction magazines - and download them as good-looking PDFs for the iLiad.

You can find out more here: http://www.fictionwise.com

I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that content at Fictionwise, if downloaded as PDFs, fits the iLiad screen perfectly. The font size is acceptable, the pagination is correct - if you're looking to purchase content, I think you might want to try Fictionwise, and you can skip downloading as .lit and the conversion step.

hi bryanzs,

can you post a picture of a book and/or magazine from fictionwise on your iliad.
it sounds great, but i've got to see it for myself ;)

edit:
and maybe you can post the pdfs page size (you can get these via adobe reader - file menu).

Acrobat Reader says the PDF page size is 6"x9". Here are some photos of the front cover of the magazine, and one of the interior pages (sorry in advance for the poor quality)

Here is what I do... I always buy my e-books in Microsoft LIT format, either from Fictionwise, Amazon, or eBooks.com. I then use Convert Lit to convert this e-book (which is protected by DRM) to HTML (of course only for personal (fair) use).

Is that legal in Italy? Here in the land of the free that would get you thrown in Jail for 10 years or so. There is no such thing as fair use anymore here in the USA. :rolleyes5

Another good source of DRM free eBook content is Baen Books. They publish their works in many formats, including HTML.

They also have a selection of free ebooks you can download and check out to make sure you are happy with how they format their ebooks.

I've purchased many of their ebooks for my Librie.

http://www.baen.com

Here is what I do... I always buy my e-books in Microsoft LIT format, either from Fictionwise, Amazon, or eBooks.com. I then use Convert Lit to convert this e-book (which is protected by DRM) to HTML (of course only for personal (fair) use). With HTML, you are free to do what you want, e.g., convert it to a format appropriate for the iRex.

See also here (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7011) for more on Convert Lit.

Is this as compicated as the web site makes it sound? It has been a long time since I noodled around with a command line. On top of that, as I understand it you need to do two passes, one with V1.8 then with V1.5.

Is that legal in Italy? Here in the land of the free that would get you thrown in Jail for 10 years or so. There is no such thing as fair use anymore here in the USA. :rolleyes5

Provided it is for your use, probably not. Let's face it, DRM doesn't keep honest people honest, it keeps honest people frustrated. The crooks are always a step ahead of the posse.

Is this as compicated as the web site makes it sound? ... I understand it you need to do two passes, one with V1.8 then with V1.5.

No, one pass will do and its very easy, but I have no idea how I know that. ;)