Entourage Use Questions

Hello All,

I am a biology professor and, as is common in the field, there is a lot of upkeep in order to stay more-or-less current. As such, the college I work for changes texts every few years which requires constant analyses and studying (both for myself as well as for choosing an appropriate text for the students). I also am regularly adjusting PowerPiont notes and Word documents and even have the occasional .pdf I need to read. Finally I like to read e-books, and have a first generation Kindle.

Due to my academic needs I have thought that the Entourage Edge would work nicely, yet I had a few questions, if I may:

1). As I have a Kindle I already have a lot purchased books downloaded from Amazon and on a SD card. Can I read those books on the Edge or only on the Kindle? Also, does the e-reader, like others, do well in direct sunlight?

2). If I understand correctly the PowerPoint, Word, and Excel usage on the Edge is "light", thus I would not expect to do anything heavy. However, for just changing text and some images in both Word and PowerPoint, can the Edge handle this? If so, is it easy enough to transfer the modified Office documents back to my Mac or Windows computer?

3). How usable is the Internet?

4). Can I listen to music while I work?

Thanks for the help!

the fine folks at Amazon have DRM'd most, if not all, of their books, which means they're "locked" to your kindle. There are "ways" to get around this, but not that can be discussed here (google is your friend)...

I haven't had any problems with light modification of word/powerpoint files (haven't tried anything with swapping images yet though), and moving the files from the eDGe to your computer and back again is as easy as connecting a thumb drive and moving the files to it.

The internet is pretty useful - more so, I'd say, than a mobile phone since you have the option to use "desktop" mode which more often than not will pull up the full version of sites, rather than their mobile (watered down) ones. Right now video playback is the big lim-fac here, but once they get the flash support up, that should greatly improve.

Listening to music is no different than your MP3 player - you can use the built-in speakers (nothing special), head phones, or connect external speakers...soon you should be able to connect bluetooth speakers/headphones too.

HTH

Hello all,

Thanks! I appreciate the input.

As for the Kindle and the books, I apologize if I asked an inappropriate question as I did not mean to. I was just curious if I wouljd have to repurchase books. Yet I had not even thought of the DRM issue...

It would indeed be nice to be able to read both ebooks for fun as well as those for work (e-text books) in one place.

Thanks again!

Your Kindle question was not inappropriate at all. If the books are DRM'ed using Adobe Digital Editions, you will be able to load them onto the eDGe as long as your register the device using the same Adobe Digital Editions account.

I am inquiring about what exactly the Docs to Go suite is capable of doing in terms of editing documents. I should hopefully have some information for you later today or tomorrow.

Depending on where you live, you are legally allowed to remove DRM from ebooks, check your local laws.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Calibre... Features ...

What formats does calibre support conversion to/from?¶

calibre supports the conversion of many input formats to many output formats. It can convert every input format in the following list, to every output format.

Input Formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT

Output Formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, TCR, TXT

** PRC is a generic format, calibre supports PRC files with TextRead and MOBIBook headers
. . .

How do I use purchased EPUB books with calibre?¶

Most purchased EPUB books have DRM. This prevents calibre from opening them. You can still use calibre to store and transfer them to your e-book reader. First, you must authorize your reader on a windows machine with Adobe Digital Editions. Once this is done, EPUB books transferred with calibre will work fine on your reader. When you purchase an epub book from a website, you will get an “.acsm file. This file should be opened with Adobe Digital Editions, which will then download the actual “.epub e-book. The e-book file will be stored in the folder “My Digital Editions, from where you can add it to calibre.



Hmmmmm. If DRM is not supportable, then all the Mobipocket books I have can't be converted to the Edge. I think that's what that means above. Maybe.

Google Mobi DRM? you will find your answer at the top.

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