Question about formatting of free books

oksahmof2 · 06-17-2010, 11:28 PM

Do most of the free books, like from Google, Amazon, Project Gutenberg, and so on, come in formats that will work on ALL ebook readers? Was just wondering about the Cybook Opus since it is so limited on formats. I guess one could always convert the formatting?

Poppa1956 · 06-17-2010, 11:54 PM

I'm pretty sure the answer is "no," especially with regards Amazon. However, the Gutenberg project has HTML and (experimental) epub files you can use. There are a LOT of files you can use without conversion Here at MobileRead, a lot of the Google books are available in PDF and epub. You can also search for free books on Inkmesh, keeping in mind to look for formats you can use.

Worldwalker · 06-18-2010, 12:10 AM

Amazon's "free" books are formatted for the Kindle only. I don't know if they're DRM-locked, but given Amazon, I'd suspect they are.

Google is ... problematic. Their quality is extremely irregular, ranging from excellently-formatted epubs to pdfs of bad scans. Or, worse, OCR'd text which is clearly generated from bad scans. What concerns me more about Google is their refusal to allow viewing of most of their public domain books. Apparently if anyone is reprinting a book, which a number of POD houses have taken to doing, Google will not allow the original to be viewed; even if it isn't in print in any form, it's usually still tagged with an "unavailable due to copyright" notice -- and we're talking 100+ year old books here, books by authors who died in the 19th century. If there's anywhere in the world that a book published in 1872 is still in copyright, it's news to me.

Project Gutenberg started with plain text, but has since expanded into HTML, epub, and other formats. Most if not all of their books are now available in machine-converted formats for basically every known reading device.

There are also sites which scrape PG and add covers, more formats, etc. Manybooks is my personal favorite; Feedbooks is another. They also have original works, which I haven't explored much but in some cases appear to be quite good.

Here on MobileRead there is a whole section of ebooks which have been handcrafted by MR members. Quality-wise, they're probably better than any other ebooks out there, including the commercial ones.

And, of course, you can always get calibre (which you should do anyway) and convert your ebooks to the format of your choice.

Jonimeesermann · 06-20-2010, 04:11 PM

I don't like kindle free ebooks. I read their version of pride and prejudice and anna karenina but there is no TOC in it. And of course it too can not be easily converted to another format like epub. Google books has so much typo and inconsistent. So my main source of free ebooks is http://feedbooks.com and of course here in MobileRead uploads.

As far as i know there is only epub format in feedbooks, but it's really easy to convert it to another format using calibre (And I like feedbooks layout and consistencies)

A_J_Lath · 06-20-2010, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Amazon's "free" books are formatted for the Kindle only. I don't know if they're DRM-locked, but given Amazon, I'd suspect they are.

I depends on the writer/publisher, as anyone uploading an ebook to Amazon is given a choice as to whether they want their book to be DRM locked or not. I would suspect that most works from major publishers will be locked, whilst those from indie publishers and authors (myself included) are likely to be DRM free, given that the indies interact with their readers a great deal, and are fully aware of how unpopular DRM is with the e-reading populace.

jasonfedelem · 06-21-2010, 07:36 PM

I download the .mobi versions on Gutenberg site and sideload them thru Calibre. No issues so far. Actually, its really smooth.

Worldwalker · 06-21-2010, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonimeesermann

As far as i know there is only epub format in feedbooks, but it's really easy to convert it to another format using calibre (And I like feedbooks layout and consistencies)

Have you tried ManyBooks? Like Feedbooks, they primarily scrape PG, but they have more formats available.

Here's my whole cut-and-paste list of good places to get free ebooks:

Right here on MobileRead is a good start -- the ebooks are built by hand by MobileRead members, and in my opinion they have the best formatting. There are a lot of other good ebook sites out there. Here's my personal free ebook source list:

Public Domain

MobileRead - best formatting, limited selection (hand-built by MobileRead members)

ManyBooks - PG scraper, but sometimes has books from other sources, good formatting

Feedbooks - mostly scrapes PG, improves formatting

Project Gutenberg - the granddaddy of them all, phenomenal selection

Munseys - painful to use, but has books nobody else does

the Internet Archive - generally only the scans are readable

Google Books - most of the time, what's good isn't free, and what's free isn't good

Free non-PD

Baen Free Library - amazing selection; also, they will tempt you into buying books

5th Imperium - Baen CD collections

Other Things

Search: Inkmesh. Sadly, it's not a very comprehensive search engine, at least when it comes to free ebooks - it misses a lot of them - but as far as I know, it's the only ebook-specific one out there.

If you're using free ebooks, it's only right to give something back: proofread a page a day at the Distributed Proofreading Project.

neilmarr · 06-22-2010, 03:48 AM

I've NEVER been disappointed by the presentation of any of the many classics I've downloaded from MR. Our generous members take such pains over formatting that it's humbling to pick them up free. They knock spots off the so-called pros. Cheers (and thanks). Neil

GhostHawk · 06-23-2010, 07:49 AM

I agree with Worldwalker, for public domain stuff its really hard to beat manybooks. You can quickly find an author, and grab all of his stuff that you want in whatever format you choose. Its a very simple, easy to use web page with lots of nice features.

I'm about halfway through downloading and extracting all the good stuff in the Baen CD's at the 5th Imperium, those come in several flavors also. HTM by chapter,1 big HTM, Lit, prc, rb, and RTF. Since I prefer rtf I'm just tickled pink with all that good stuff.

I don't know how I managed to "not" read Flint, Weber and Ringo till now, but even at the rate which I suck words I've got a whole lot of reading to do.

Vintage Season · 06-23-2010, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Search: Inkmesh. Sadly, it's not a very comprehensive search engine, at least when it comes to free ebooks - it misses a lot of them - but as far as I know, it's the only ebook-specific one out there.

AddALL eBooks is another eBook-specific search engine, that shows available formats and prices within the search results. (Yes, their results also include MobileRead uploads.)

- M.

06-17-2010, 11:28 PM	#1
oksahmof2 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Location: NE Oklahoma Device: Kindle 2	Question about formatting of free books Do most of the free books, like from Google, Amazon, Project Gutenberg, and so on, come in formats that will work on ALL ebook readers? Was just wondering about the Cybook Opus since it is so limited on formats. I guess one could always convert the formatting?

06-20-2010, 04:11 PM	#4
Jonimeesermann Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 12 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Nokia e71, Ipod Touch, Sony PRS 300	I don't like kindle free ebooks. I read their version of pride and prejudice and anna karenina but there is no TOC in it. And of course it too can not be easily converted to another format like epub. Google books has so much typo and inconsistent. So my main source of free ebooks is http://feedbooks.com and of course here in MobileRead uploads. As far as i know there is only epub format in feedbooks, but it's really easy to convert it to another format using calibre (And I like feedbooks layout and consistencies) Last edited by Jonimeesermann; 06-20-2010 at 04:14 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
[KOBO] Strip existing formatting to apply my own default formatting to all books	digital_steve	Calibre	2	08-10-2010 06:34 PM
Formatting Question	HiddenZebra	Amazon Kindle	2	06-26-2010 02:16 AM
Question about the 100 free books from Sony	Stacey34	Sony Reader	4	02-13-2009 04:35 PM
line formatting formatting question	daesdaemar	Workshop	9	02-06-2009 11:47 AM
Question about Formatting Downloaded e-Books	rozie123	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	11	12-22-2007 08:05 AM

06-17-2010, 11:54 PM	#2
Poppa1956 Evangelist Posts: 487 Karma: 344188 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Oregon, USA Device: Verizon Ellipsis Tablit w/Kindle and Nook apps.	I'm pretty sure the answer is "no," especially with regards Amazon. However, the Gutenberg project has HTML and (experimental) epub files you can use. There are a LOT of files you can use without conversion Here at MobileRead, a lot of the Google books are available in PDF and epub. You can also search for free books on Inkmesh, keeping in mind to look for formats you can use.

06-18-2010, 12:10 AM	#3
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	Amazon's "free" books are formatted for the Kindle only. I don't know if they're DRM-locked, but given Amazon, I'd suspect they are. Google is ... problematic. Their quality is extremely irregular, ranging from excellently-formatted epubs to pdfs of bad scans. Or, worse, OCR'd text which is clearly generated from bad scans. What concerns me more about Google is their refusal to allow viewing of most of their public domain books. Apparently if anyone is reprinting a book, which a number of POD houses have taken to doing, Google will not allow the original to be viewed; even if it isn't in print in any form, it's usually still tagged with an "unavailable due to copyright" notice -- and we're talking 100+ year old books here, books by authors who died in the 19th century. If there's anywhere in the world that a book published in 1872 is still in copyright, it's news to me. Project Gutenberg started with plain text, but has since expanded into HTML, epub, and other formats. Most if not all of their books are now available in machine-converted formats for basically every known reading device. There are also sites which scrape PG and add covers, more formats, etc. Manybooks is my personal favorite; Feedbooks is another. They also have original works, which I haven't explored much but in some cases appear to be quite good. Here on MobileRead there is a whole section of ebooks which have been handcrafted by MR members. Quality-wise, they're probably better than any other ebooks out there, including the commercial ones. And, of course, you can always get calibre (which you should do anyway) and convert your ebooks to the format of your choice.

06-21-2010, 07:36 PM	#6
jasonfedelem Zealot Posts: 118 Karma: 202232 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Texas Device: Kindle Paperwhite Gen2	I download the .mobi versions on Gutenberg site and sideload them thru Calibre. No issues so far. Actually, its really smooth.

06-22-2010, 03:48 AM	#8
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	I've NEVER been disappointed by the presentation of any of the many classics I've downloaded from MR. Our generous members take such pains over formatting that it's humbling to pick them up free. They knock spots off the so-called pros. Cheers (and thanks). Neil

06-23-2010, 07:49 AM	#9
GhostHawk Data Privateer! Posts: 586 Karma: 62887 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Fargo ND Device: Ectaco Jetbook& Jetbook Lite	I agree with Worldwalker, for public domain stuff its really hard to beat manybooks. You can quickly find an author, and grab all of his stuff that you want in whatever format you choose. Its a very simple, easy to use web page with lots of nice features. I'm about halfway through downloading and extracting all the good stuff in the Baen CD's at the 5th Imperium, those come in several flavors also. HTM by chapter,1 big HTM, Lit, prc, rb, and RTF. Since I prefer rtf I'm just tickled pink with all that good stuff. I don't know how I managed to "not" read Flint, Weber and Ringo till now, but even at the rate which I suck words I've got a whole lot of reading to do.

Advert

Advert