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Old 11-16-2007, 12:08 PM   #16
HarryT
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Lit is backed by Microsoft and is a major format. Probably more stuff in lit than it almost any other format.
I believe that Mobi has the edge in terms of numbers of titles. Lit is probably a reasonably close second.
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Old 11-16-2007, 12:11 PM   #17
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If Kindle stays with mobi (i.e. if Amazon isn't shooting itself in the foot by way of its head), then I'd anticipate seeing the number mobi titles skyrocket in fairly short order.
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Old 11-16-2007, 12:20 PM   #18
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Isn't it true for Sonys format also that you cannot convert it to another format due to the DRM?

Actually I looked at a way on my Linux machine to convert a non-DRM lrf file to html or something I could handle but did not find any program to do it.
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Old 11-16-2007, 12:31 PM   #19
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It is true that there's no way (so far) to pull the book out of an LRX (the DRMed variant of Sony's format) but there is a way to pull it out of LRF (the non-DRMed variant). That app is pretty rough, though, and the results are mixed. If you want something out of an LRF it's easier and more effective to open it in the PC side software and copy the contents out -- preserves the formatting for the most part.
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Old 11-16-2007, 12:36 PM   #20
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As far as I know, there's no way to get a book out of mobi at all. Probably the best format choice for what you're asking about would be .LIT (microsoft reader format). With a non-DRMed .LIT file, you can pretty much drop it into any of three or four apps found on this site and get an LRF out of it in a few minutes without much finagling at all. Then it's just load and go. So 10 minutes of mostly waiting on the computer to do stuff is probably a rather long estimate ... more like 5~7, I'd guess. Unless you want to do fancy stuff like Tables of Contents and illustrations. Stuff like that can take hours to set up.
Table of contents and illustrations are automatic in lit2lrf.
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Old 11-16-2007, 02:49 PM   #21
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MobiPocket DRM has been broken, but the software to do so (which also explodes non-DRM .mobi files) isn't widely available. So for routine format shifting, .LIT is your best bet.

The advantage of using a DRM scheme that isn't secure (.LIT or .MOBI) is that it provides insurance for the future. For example, in the past Amazon has withdrawn from the e-book business and discarded all on-line copies of their e-books. So if they ever closed down MobiPocket, you would still be able to format shift your existing .mobi e-book files to new reading devices.
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Old 11-16-2007, 03:28 PM   #22
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Lit is backed by Microsoft and is a major format. Probably more stuff in lit than it almost any other format.

Book Designer can, I believe, import mobi files but only if they use the original mobi compression and are not DRM.

Dale
And for the Sony Reader PRS-505, it is a lot easier to use lit2lrf (part of librs500) to convert MS Reader format to LRF then it is to convert MS Reader to Mobi format. So if you want books without DRM, then I would suggest the 505 as content creation from purchased LIT cannot be easier. And removing the DRM from LIT would be the same process no matter which device you got be it the 505 or Gen3. Also, if the books you purchase have illustraions or photos, you will find that the versions in LIT will have larger sized pictures then the mobi versions. So once you have the LIT convertefd to LRF, the ones that have photos/illustrations will give you a better reading experience. Take some SF books, they have maps and the maps will be more readable on the 505 then the Gen3. If the graphics in the LIT are not jpeg, you will have to convert them to jpeg and reinsert them into the book. It's just a lot easier to use lit2lrf. It's a simple process and all is done for you.
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Old 11-16-2007, 04:31 PM   #23
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And for the Sony Reader PRS-505, it is a lot easier to use lit2lrf (part of librs500) to convert MS Reader format to LRF then it is to convert MS Reader to Mobi format.
A lot easier? Is seems to be very easy to convert to Mobi format also. What is the reason for the big difference in how hard it is?
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Old 11-16-2007, 04:36 PM   #24
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I think he means that the LIT to LRF conversion can be done in a single step with lit2lrf, as opposed to 2 (or more?) to convert MOBI files.
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Old 11-17-2007, 09:51 PM   #25
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I think he means that the LIT to LRF conversion can be done in a single step with lit2lrf, as opposed to 2 (or more?) to convert MOBI files.
All you do is use ConvertLIT to break the DRM so you end up with a LIT file that has no DRM. Then you use lit2lrf to convert that to an LRF. Also, if the LIT has images, you will get larger image sizes in the LRF then you would in the mobi format file. If the images are not jpeg then you have to covert them to jpeg in order to be able to convert to mobi format to keep them in a larger size. Otherwise, they will be small. Converting to mobi can sometimes be a pain. Converting to LRF is very easy.
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Old 11-17-2007, 09:52 PM   #26
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A lot easier? Is seems to be very easy to convert to Mobi format also. What is the reason for the big difference in how hard it is?
How easy is it to take a LIT file that has images and convert to mobi format so they keep the same size especially if the images are in GIF? lit2lrf and LRF do not care. They just work.
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Old 11-18-2007, 04:48 AM   #27
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How easy is it to take a LIT file that has images and convert to mobi format so they keep the same size especially if the images are in GIF? lit2lrf and LRF do not care. They just work.
Why should you care about image size if you just want to read a book? I just thought you overstated the difference in how hard it is to convert a lit file to different format for reading a book. But if it is possible to get images to work in mobigen then it is trivial to write a script that does everything in one step if the number of steps should be an issue.
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Old 11-18-2007, 09:51 AM   #28
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Why should you care about image size if you just want to read a book? I just thought you overstated the difference in how hard it is to convert a lit file to different format for reading a book. But if it is possible to get images to work in mobigen then it is trivial to write a script that does everything in one step if the number of steps should be an issue.
Imagine getting a fantasy book that comes with a map and you cannot see the map all that well because the size is too small. That is one example. It really depends what you personally prefer. Some people don't want palm/cell sized images on their larger eink screens.

Actually, I did not overstate. I stated it just right. Once setup properly, it's a simple 2 step process to go from LIT to LRF to have DRM free ebooks. Mobipocket format is a throughback to the times when it was primarily for reading on smaller palm/cell phone sized screens and hence the issue with image sizes.
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Old 11-18-2007, 10:33 AM   #29
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Imagine getting a fantasy book that comes with a map and you cannot see the map all that well because the size is too small. That is one example. It really depends what you personally prefer. Some people don't want palm/cell sized images on their larger eink screens.

Actually, I did not overstate. I stated it just right. Once setup properly, it's a simple 2 step process to go from LIT to LRF to have DRM free ebooks. Mobipocket format is a throughback to the times when it was primarily for reading on smaller palm/cell phone sized screens and hence the issue with image sizes.
You are talking about the conversion process. If there is inherrent limitations in the mobipocket format so it cannot display images in certain sizes then this has nothing to do with how easy or hard it is to convert.
If that was your point you should have said that one format was more restricted and could not do some things which the other format handled.

My process when setup correctly going from lit to mobi format is a one step process. The context for this discussion is to help people choose and then to pretend that the conversion to get a mobipocket book that looks like the mobipocked books you can buy is a much harder process then when converting to Sony format is misleading.
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Old 11-18-2007, 11:46 AM   #30
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You are talking about the conversion process. If there is inherrent limitations in the mobipocket format so it cannot display images in certain sizes then this has nothing to do with how easy or hard it is to convert. If that was your point you should have said that one format was more restricted and could not do some things which the other format handled.
Mobi format is not restricted in that way if done using jpeg images. But if gif images are used, then the restriction on image size is in place. LRF does not have this limit. I was looking at a book in mobi that I borrowed from the library and the images were a bit on the small side. The book is The Gathering Strom by Winston Churchill. The images are ones that the size matters. They are maps, diagrams, tables, and annotated maps. This is book one in his account of World War II. If this books is available in MS Reader format, so if you were to buy it, that would be the format to get so you could do the conversion to LRF or mobi and be able to have large enough images. And if you convert the LIT to HTML and find you get BMp/GIF like you do with the Mobi version then you would have to convert them to jpeg so as to keep the size. With lit2lrf, you won't need to convert bmp/gif to jpeg in order to keep the image size.

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My process when setup correctly going from lit to mobi format is a one step process. The context for this discussion is to help people choose and then to pretend that the conversion to get a mobipocket book that looks like the mobipocked books you can buy is a much harder process then when converting to Sony format is misleading.
How can LIT to Mobi be a one step process. Step one is removing the DRM. So there has to be at least a step two.
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