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Old 02-01-2009, 05:00 PM   #1
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Conversion Purgatory

OK - this is a rant. If you don't want to read any farther, don't, I won't be offended. (And I'm kind of laughing at myself here, too).

I'm usually pretty good with software and GUI's but I don't do command line. Keep this in mind, it's important later.

I bought a DRM'd lit file that I wanted to convert into .rtf. I've been told and I have read, that ConvertLit will do this. Fine... I got ConvertLit. I even got the right version, ConvertLit 1.5 - which seems to be command line only, wherein lies the problem...

Once I actually figured out the darn syntax to run it in the command line, it SAID it converted the file..but the converted file is nowhere to be found. Once I actually FOUND the file, it has no extension, and will not open with ANYTHING. So fine... I added the .htm extension, which is what I was told ConvertLit converts to. No luck. IE won't touch it, and Firefox opens it but it's encoded. Lovely.


Now to the rant: WHY on earth can't someone write a simple, easy to comprehend tutorial for this??? I had to fumble around and swear for an hour and a half to do this process that should have taken less than five minutes. I understand the thinking behind not wanting to get in trouble with the copyright holders, but I converted the book for MY OWN USE, not to pass around. But for heaven's sake... can't someone figure out a way to put a step-by-step together for command line challenged people like me?
Hide it if you must, but hand it out with the secret decoder ring and the membership card!!
Or PM it to newbies... or SOMETHING!!

I feel like I've just passed the secret initiation rites...

edited to add: I removed explicit instructions on what I did to convert the file, per the stated rules of the forum. As to why someone can't write a simple easy to follow tutorial, same applies, I suppose. But it's a stinker, anyway.

Last edited by phenomshel; 02-01-2009 at 07:49 PM. Reason: to remove explicit instructions.
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:04 PM   #2
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hm... don't be mad, but there actually is a GUI for convertlit (i'm not a fan of command line either).

you can convert to many formats ; "downconverted" which means it stays .lit but no drm, or html, and i think others (those are the only two i've ever used).

frustrating, isn't it ? can't wait for the day publishers finally catch on and abandon drm.
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:07 PM   #3
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hm... don't be mad, but there actually is a GUI for convertlit (i'm not a fan of command line either).

you can convert to many formats ; "downconverted" which means it stays .lit but no drm, or html, and i think others (those are the only two i've ever used).

frustrating, isn't it ? can't wait for the day publishers finally catch on and abandon drm.
I know there is a gui for ConvertLit, but it's ConvertLit 1.8...and according to it, it does not do a thing with DRM5. It wouldn't even open the file, which is why I went and got the commandline exe for ConvertLit 1.5. As far as I could find, there isn't a gui for ConvertLit 1.5. If I'm wrong, PLEASE point me in the right direction for it!!
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:08 PM   #4
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oh, okay, well i'm lost now... i've no idea what you mean by DRM5. sorry !
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:18 PM   #5
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oh, okay, well i'm lost now... i've no idea what you mean by DRM5. sorry !
No, it's ok. DRM5 is evidently what version of DRM that MS is using these days, but ConvertLit 1.8 won't have anything to do with it. So, you must use ConvertLit 1.5 to explode it...but ConvertLit 1.5 does not have a GUI available that I've been able to find, it's strictly a command line program.
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:23 PM   #6
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hm. well now you've made me curious. i opened the readme file for my convertlit installation (which, as it happens, is indeed 1.8, with the GUI) and the first thing it says is :

Quote:
Welcome to the release notes for ConvertLIT 1.8.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
A. Usage changes for DRM5 support
B. Bug fixes
C. Small GUI front-end

A. Important note: This release, as did all previous releases, changes how
DRM5 files are handled.
maybe give it a try ? be sure to read the readme file first.
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:31 PM   #7
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Well, I've learned something from this thread...

Thanks to all.
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Old 02-01-2009, 05:46 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phenomshel View Post
No, it's ok. DRM5 is evidently what version of DRM that MS is using these days, but ConvertLit 1.8 won't have anything to do with it. So, you must use ConvertLit 1.5 to explode it...but ConvertLit 1.5 does not have a GUI available that I've been able to find, it's strictly a command line program.
Fortunately, you are in fact mistaken. At some point between ConvertLIT 1.5 and 1.8 the author changed the program from directly attempting to extract the DRM5 key from the current system to using a pre-extracted key file (e.g., "keys.txt"). The Windows binaries of ConvertLIT 1.8 include a "ReaderKeyRecoveryTool" for extracting your system's DRM5 key into the key file.

As for why ConvertLIT only converts to HTML, that's because LIT is just HTML in a funky archive (like a ZIP archive, but funky), so the simplest thing way to "convert" it is to just extract the HTML.

Why is it that you want the book in RTF?
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Old 02-01-2009, 07:21 PM   #9
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Fortunately, you are in fact mistaken. At some point between ConvertLIT 1.5 and 1.8 the author changed the program from directly attempting to extract the DRM5 key from the current system to using a pre-extracted key file (e.g., "keys.txt"). The Windows binaries of ConvertLIT 1.8 include a "ReaderKeyRecoveryTool" for extracting your system's DRM5 key into the key file.

As for why ConvertLIT only converts to HTML, that's because LIT is just HTML in a funky archive (like a ZIP archive, but funky), so the simplest thing way to "convert" it is to just extract the HTML.

Why is it that you want the book in RTF?
Ok...well in that case, they have the "Reader Key Recovery Tool" well hidden, because I've not run across it. That could be because I don't have a clue what Windows Binaries are, though... I installed it and that was that. I think since I've figured out how to do it this way, I'll just stick with it.

LOL...you're going to think I'm crazy. I HATE MS Reader. I LIKE reading full screen in .rtf in Word, if I'm reading on a PC. I get two pages at a time, full screen spread on a widescreen monitor.
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Old 02-01-2009, 09:04 PM   #10
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Ok...well in that case, they have the "Reader Key Recovery Tool" well hidden, because I've not run across it. That could be because I don't have a clue what Windows Binaries are, though... I installed it and that was that. I think since I've figured out how to do it this way, I'll just stick with it.
"Widows Binaries" just means programs which execute under MS Windows. For the ReaderKeyRecoverTool, where did you download ConvertLIT from? If you go to the ConvertLIT Website, go to the "Download" page, then download the "Compiled version of Convert LIT 1.8," the ReaderKeyRecoveryTool is just right in the ZIP file.

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LOL...you're going to think I'm crazy. I HATE MS Reader. I LIKE reading full screen in .rtf in Word, if I'm reading on a PC. I get two pages at a time, full screen spread on a widescreen monitor.
Hmm... Yeah, can't help you with that one.

-Marshall
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Old 02-01-2009, 09:13 PM   #11
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"Widows Binaries" just means programs which execute under MS Windows. For the ReaderKeyRecoverTool, where did you download ConvertLIT from? If you go to the ConvertLIT Website, go to the "Download" page, then download the "Compiled version of Convert LIT 1.8," the ReaderKeyRecoveryTool is just right in the ZIP file.



Hmm... Yeah, can't help you with that one.

-Marshall

Ah, thanks. Apparently I missed it somewhere, or didn't know what to do with it when I extracted the zip.

And yes, I know I'm odd. It comes in handy at work, where I have a reputation for being crazy but harmless.
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Old 02-03-2009, 04:36 AM   #12
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I'm curious: what do you mean when you say "I don't do command line"? You can evidently type text into a computer on this forum - that's all a "command line" is. There's nothing "scary" about it.
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Old 02-03-2009, 02:13 PM   #13
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I'm curious: what do you mean when you say "I don't do command line"? You can evidently type text into a computer on this forum - that's all a "command line" is. There's nothing "scary" about it.
Command line IS scary..to me, Harry. Yes I can type text all day long into a computer, and I can also code a webpage from scratch in HTML in Notepad. But for some reason, command line scares me silly. It's a quirk. I live with it.
No one else has to understand it; my husband indulges me with it, and obviously I overcame it enough to run what I needed to run, even though I didn't LIKE it.
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Old 02-06-2009, 02:19 AM   #14
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Command line IS scary..to me, Harry. Yes I can type text all day long into a computer, and I can also code a webpage from scratch in HTML in Notepad. But for some reason, command line scares me silly. It's a quirk. I live with it.
No one else has to understand it; my husband indulges me with it, and obviously I overcame it enough to run what I needed to run, even though I didn't LIKE it.
anyone who came to computers after win 95, command line is scary.

its not scary to me. but i still dont like using it ever. UGH to linux, console computing sucks.

but if you can script in command line you can create a GUI, seriously. its 2008, no one seriously has used command line in over 15 years for anything of importance on a day to day operation.

2009* lol.
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Old 02-06-2009, 03:13 AM   #15
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but if you can script in command line you can create a GUI, seriously. its 2008, no one seriously has used command line in over 15 years for anything of importance on a day to day operation.

2009* lol.
I use command-line tools every day. For many internet tools it's by far the most convenient way of doing things. Would you really use a GUI for things like "ping", "tracert", etc?
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