Added personal books to the EB1150

[=X=]

Hi All,
Well as mentinoed earlier in a thread I bought my daughter the eBookWise EB1150.
I purchased some books from Fictionwise and downloaded some from this site.

However it seem much harder to load the books on the EB1150 than I anticipated. How do I put books that I've downloaded from this site or Fictionwise to the EB1150 reader?




Thank you,
=X=

[DixieGal]

YAY! I can finally help!

Go back to the eBookwise.com site, click Help, then download the EBW Librarian. You can download your books from Fictionwise into it. Also any books you get elsewhere. Then - this is the tricky part it took me ages to figure out but was too embarrassed to ask - close your internet. While offline, hook the device up to the computer (power on), then turn on your device. On the device click "online bookshelf" and it should open the one on your computer. Then on your device, they will allow you to download them to your EB-1150. It's quicker and easier than it sounds.

You may have to fiddle with the settings under "phone connection" until it works. Or do like I did and contact eBookwise customer service. They talked me thru a bunch of questions in a style I could understand (no jargon, lots of encouragement, step-by-step instructions when they realized I'm totally non-tech and emailing me instructions was useless so they finally just called me).

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

YAY! I can finally help!

Go back to the eBookwise.com site, click Help, then download the EBW Librarian. You can download your books from Fictionwise into it. Also any books you get elsewhere. Then - this is the tricky part it took me ages to figure out but was too embarrassed to ask - close your internet. While offline, hook the device up to the computer (power on), then turn on your device. On the device click "online bookshelf" and it should open the one on your computer. Then on your device, they will allow you to download them to your EB-1150. It's quicker and easier than it sounds.

You may have to fiddle with the settings under "phone connection" until it works. Or do like I did and contact eBookwise customer service. They talked me thru a bunch of questions in a style I could understand (no jargon, lots of encouragement, step-by-step instructions when they realized I'm totally non-tech and emailing me instructions was useless so they finally just called me).

Addendum: Download the books into another file, then use "create new" to import them into the Librarian.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i use either the filament books "personal content" page (i believe a similar service is available on the ETI site) which allows me to automatically convert a document into .imp format (if i'm feeling lazy), and transfer it that way, or else i use the GEB Librarian to send .imp files from my computer.

do a search for the Librarian on the site to learn more about it ; you can download a trial version for free. at the end of the trial it will still work if there are maximum 3 books in your bookshelf.

the other option is simply to transfer files to the memory card if you use one, but be careful with that, i've heard it's very easy to mess them up.

[zelda_pinwheel]

hm, you should not need to cut your internet connection to use the librarian, as long as you have installed the usb driver.

also, i would recommend plugging the usb cable into the computer and the device while it is turned OFF, and turn it on once it is connected.

[=X=]

Thank you DixieGal/Zelda_pinwheel
Awsome, I'll install the software tonight. I did not realize I needed another software to uploaded files to the EB1150, I guess it explains why I just couldn't get it.

@DixieGal, If I buy a book from Fictionwise I assume it's the eReader format. Does it work as is, or do I have to remove DRM to get the book to work?

@ Zelda_pinwheel The "filament" Ebook special sure looks nice a bit to late for me. How good is their book club selection.

Again thank you both for the help

=X=

[zelda_pinwheel]

i'm glad we could help.

don't buy eReader format books for your eb1150 ; it can ONLY read .imp format natively. if you want to buy books which are not available in .imp format (from fictionwise, etc.), i recommend buying LIT (Microsoft Reader) format (this format is also available from fictionwise : they promote the eReader format because they own it), since this format can very easily be converted and is basically a very thin wrapper format around an oeb / html core.

for non-drm books the mobipocket format can also very easily be converted (i can't remember now whether it's possible de de-drm mobi books, so just to be safe you can stick to lit). i recommend our very own nrapallo's tools for conversion, namely lit2imp and mobi2imp (take a look around the forum here to find plenty of information and the tools themselves).

as for the selection on filament books, to be honest i've never bought anything there, i only use their service to transfer word files over (before i learned how to make my own imp books, or as i said when i'm feeling lazy). i don't ever buy an .imp format book because it is a proprietary "dead-end" format (with some other serious limitations), meaning it can only be read using the eb1150 software and cannot be (easily) converted to any other format. if one day my eb1150 dies and i cannot replace it, or i switch to a different device, i want to be able to read my books on a different device. so i prefer formats which i can easily convert, or archival formats like html (if it's a project gutenberg book).

[zelda_pinwheel]

if you have smallish word documents to convert and don't want to take the time to do it yourself the filament service can really be nice ; you just log in to your account, and when you connect the eb1150 using the usb cable and go to your online bookshelf, it will see the filament books site. however you do have a lot less control that way over the formatting, and there are limits on file size etc.

you can also make your own imp format books using the eBook Publisher program which is another free download from ETI. i recommend you download the manual (which can be found here as an imp book) and keep it next to you while you're working, because it's a rather steep learning curve. alternately, you can make mobipocket books and convert them in about 30 seconds using mobi2imp. for most books this is fine, although eBook Publisher is overall a more powerful program and allows you more control and better formatting, especially if you have some knowledge of html and css.

whatever you choose to do you can find plenty of help and advice here.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by =X=

Thank you DixieGal/Zelda_pinwheel
Awsome, I'll install the software tonight. I did not realize I needed another software to uploaded files to the EB1150, I guess it explains why I just couldn't get it.

It isn't necessary to buy new software to do it. It's just the easiest way for most people to do it.

I have a little piece of hardware that reads SmartMedia cards (as well as other types of "flash" memory cards). I also have two 128 MB SmartMedia cards. I transfer the books directly to those cards from my computer, using the flash media card reader.

When I insert the card into my eBookwise, it converts each of the books and - voila! - I read without paying for extra software.

There are a few...quirks...to doing it this way:

• Never insert or remove a SmartMedia card when the eBookwise is turned on. It is possible to break the EB1150! If you're lucky, it'll only kill your (relatively expensive) SmartMedia card. So always make sure the EB1150 is turned off and your finger isn't resting on the power button when handling the SmartMedia card!
• When the eBookwise converts the books, there has to be enough available space on the card for approxmimately 2x the size of the book it's working on. (This is also true of reading the books). So it's a smart rule of thumb to leave at least 1 or 2 MB unused on the card.
• There is a limit to the number of files that can be saved to the "root directory" of any "drive" on a Windows computer. I don't remember what it is exactly, but I've hit it copying books to the SmartMedia card more than once. The first time it happened, I had no idea what was going on and panicked (thought I'd killed the card). But I now know not to try to copy more than around 35 books at a time. Not a problem for me, I just put the card in the EB1150, let it convert them, and then put it back in the card reader and add the remaining books!

By the way, if you didn't buy the optional SmartMedia card when you purchased the EB1150, Nate has a thread open where he bought 10 new SmartMedia cards in a lot from eBay and is looking to sell the ones he doesn't need for himself. His price is $28.50. The cheapest I've found online for the same 128MB card is $40 (at Amazon or memoryten).