How do books from these websites look on the 505?

ficbot · 03-13-2009, 08:53 PM

I spent most of the afternoon today going through everything at Mobile Read and would have to rank them number 1 for 'ready to go' free ebooks which look most attractive on the reader. I tried some files from other places (Fictionwise and my own text files) and they just did not look as pretty. It seems like off line breaks and things like that were less noticeable on the smaller screen of my iPod Touch, and on the Sony, I seem to really notice it. I do not want to have ebooks on it which will not look decent.

So, with that said, what is the next best place to start looking for ready to go ebooks which look reasonably nice on the 505? If you had to rank the following places from best to worst, how would you do it?

Munseys
Manybooks
Baen Free Library
Feedbooks

Just as an FYI, I have gotten material from these websites for the iPod Touch and never had a problem. I am just concerned with how their books will look on the Sony.

AnemicOak · 03-13-2009, 09:00 PM

I've never had an issue with anything I've gotten from Baen looking bad, although most of my stuff was converted from Lit's before they started offering Sony LRF's.

If you use Sony's desktop software the built in viewer gives an accurate depiction of what it will look like on the Sony's screen at the various type sizes.

ficbot · 03-13-2009, 09:09 PM

I have a Mac so I am not using Sony software

Elsi · 03-13-2009, 09:24 PM

For the most part, the people who make books here at MobileRead pride themselves on the extra attention they pay to the way the books render on the various devices. I've had very good experience with books from Baen and Feedbooks.

Baen offers books in the Sony BBeB (.lrf) format as well as others. I've heard that some of the Baen books made a couple of years ago are not as nicely presented as their more recent productions. I've not taken the time to compare them.

At Feedbooks, for the Sony, you have a choice of PDF (generated specifically for the Sony's screen size) or ePub. Hadrien at Feedbooks uses a process based on starting from HTML markup and then generating the various formats from the HTML. His goal is to use well-coded HTML that will render well in all formats.

I believe that Munseys and Manybooks use a more automated process. The result is quite readable, but may lack some of the typographic features that would be present in an *excellent* rendition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ficbot

I have a Mac so I am not using Sony software

So use the viewer in Calibre. The .lrf viewer is excellent and looks just like the screen of the Sony. I haven't updated my Sony firmware to support ePub, so I don't know how the ePub viewer compares with the appearance on the Sony reader itself. But, since the Mobipocket viewer in Calibre looks a whole lot like the ePub viewer, I'm a bit suspicious. Mobipocket output looks a *lot* better in the Mobipocket Reader (Windows only) or on the Kindle than it does in the Mobipocket viewer in Calibre.

ficbot · 03-13-2009, 09:51 PM

Thank you! I tried one from Feedbooks just now and was very impressed with how it looked on the reader. I tried one from Manybooks too and the font looked smaller.

tech_au · 03-13-2009, 11:28 PM

I've downloaded epubs from Munseys and Feedbooks and they were well formatted.

03-13-2009, 08:53 PM	#1
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	How do books from these websites look on the 505? I spent most of the afternoon today going through everything at Mobile Read and would have to rank them number 1 for 'ready to go' free ebooks which look most attractive on the reader. I tried some files from other places (Fictionwise and my own text files) and they just did not look as pretty. It seems like off line breaks and things like that were less noticeable on the smaller screen of my iPod Touch, and on the Sony, I seem to really notice it. I do not want to have ebooks on it which will not look decent. So, with that said, what is the next best place to start looking for ready to go ebooks which look reasonably nice on the 505? If you had to rank the following places from best to worst, how would you do it? Munseys Manybooks Baen Free Library Feedbooks Just as an FYI, I have gotten material from these websites for the iPod Touch and never had a problem. I am just concerned with how their books will look on the Sony.

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03-13-2009, 09:00 PM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	I've never had an issue with anything I've gotten from Baen looking bad, although most of my stuff was converted from Lit's before they started offering Sony LRF's. If you use Sony's desktop software the built in viewer gives an accurate depiction of what it will look like on the Sony's screen at the various type sizes.

03-13-2009, 09:09 PM	#3
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I have a Mac so I am not using Sony software

03-13-2009, 09:51 PM	#5
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Thank you! I tried one from Feedbooks just now and was very impressed with how it looked on the reader. I tried one from Manybooks too and the font looked smaller.

03-13-2009, 11:28 PM	#6
tech_au Oz Bookworm Posts: 516 Karma: 4056 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Australia Device: Sony PRS 505,PRS 650	I've downloaded epubs from Munseys and Feedbooks and they were well formatted.

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