A ton of Newbie questions - Sony Reader

[jcornel7]

After some very extensive research I went to the Sony store yesterday and used my company discount to buy a Sony Reader. Its a very cool device and I travel a lot for work so this way I can do my research and tech reading without having to open my laptop. (I hope)

If not youll see this thing end up on Ebay

Here are my questions:
1. I have a library of hundreds of technical Ebooks, however they are all pdf or chm. Is there some way to batch convert them?

2. Where do you get your fiction books? (legally or "not so legally" - e.g. George RR Martin, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Lincoln Childs, etc.)

3. Do you have to use the Sony eBook Library software, its a heap of dung as software goes?

4. I also have a ton of Word docs that I save to RTF however when I try to open them I get page invalid. How do I fix this?

OK I think that is all for now....Thanks in advance.

[JeffElkins]

Welcome to the forum. Search for libprs500/calibre. It's a must have tool for Sony ebook conversion.

Regarding book sources for public domain material, this forum provides hundreds of books, and project Gutenberg thousands more.

Forum rules prohibit public discussion of sources for so-called "darknet" books. Just remember, Google is your friend.

[vivaldirules]

Hello, and welcome. I can answer a couple of questions. I believe there is a batch converter for DRM-free PDFS using PDFLRF, although you should check to be sure. I don't know if Kovid's LIBPRS utitilies are batch are not, but I do know that it's used as a replacement for the Sony software as well as a file converter. You can check these out by looking in the Wiki for links. As to ebooks, we buy them or get legal copies for free. Please don't ask about illegal copies of anything here. In the Wiki, there's a terrific list of sites of ebooks in various formats. The list includes free ones, like this one (check out the ebooks section). I'm not sure of your RTF problem. Do you have a copy of Microsoft Word on your PC? It's required for the Sony software to convert, I believe. If that's not it, you might post a question in the Sony area.

[The Old Man]

I hate to throw cold water on your new Reader but if your technical pdf books have a lot of diagrams or charts they will be hard to read on the Sony.

Actually I have become accustomed to the Connect software. Yes, it needs improvements but it does work once you learn the quirks.

[RWood]

In addition to the Sony Store Fictionwise offers a lot of books and magazines for the Sony in LRF format.

[igorsk]

Baen also offers all their books in LRF.
http://www.webscription.net/
http://www.baen.com/library

[=X=]

Originally Posted by jcornel7

Here are my questions:
1. I have a library of hundreds of technical Ebooks, however they are all pdf or chm. Is there some way to batch convert them?

I also read a lot of technical PDF the best solution I've found this far is PDFLRF. The Calibre software has a pdf2lrf converter but it does not handle images or tables, only pure text.
The strength/weakness of PDFLRF is that it turns the PDF to images and enhances them, but also increases the filesize. Calibre keeps it as text.

Originally Posted by jcornel7

2. Where do you get your fiction books?

Sony Connect their prices is pretty comparable to Amazon.

Originally Posted by jcornel7

3. Do you have to use the Sony eBook Library software, its a heap of dung as software goes?

Yes and No. If you plan to buy books at Sony CONNECT you have to use their software. Also it does a good job of converting your Word docs into RTF so it does save you a step.

Originally Posted by jcornel7

4. I also have a ton of Word docs that I save to RTF however when I try to open them I get page invalid. How do I fix this?

I have not seen this so I don't know what the error is. However one note sony RTF does not handle images, so if your word documents have embeded objects or images they do not work on the reader. Personaly I would not convert the Word documents to RTF manually. I would use the Sony Software to do this form me.
If your word documents are complicated (ie think of ascii documents) then I would use a different format to save the documents. Personally I use OpenOffice (OO) /Calibe (aka libprs500) for complicated word documents. With OO I save the document as an HTML file, if there are images I create a zip file with the images and HTML. Import the zip to Calibe and convet it to an LRF.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by jcornel7

Here are my questions:
1. I have a library of hundreds of technical Ebooks, however they are all pdf or chm. Is there some way to batch convert them?

2. Where do you get your fiction books? (legally or "not so legally" - e.g. George RR Martin, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Lincoln Childs, etc.)

3. Do you have to use the Sony eBook Library software, its a heap of dung as software goes?

4. I also have a ton of Word docs that I save to RTF however when I try to open them I get page invalid. How do I fix this?

OK I think that is all for now....Thanks in advance.

Most of your questions can be answered on the Wiki, expessially for lists of convertion software and ebook sources.

Just a few comments...

3. With the 505 you can just copy books using File Explorer (windows) or whatever your OS provides since it mounts as an external storage device. However, using the sony software to transfer gives the advantage of preformating the book so they will open faster. Although I believe this hit is only taken on the first time you open a book.

4. Hm... do they have PICs in them? Have you tried saving as .txt?

BOb

[RSaunders]

Originally Posted by jcornel7

2. Where do you get your fiction books? (legally or "not so legally" - e.g. George RR Martin, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Lincoln Childs, etc.)

We have a list of places to get books:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11052

Please add new or good ones you find to the end of the thread. I'll update the list in the first message. That way new folks only have to read the first message.

[tgharold]

I think you'll find that viewing PDF files (usually designed for 8.5" x 11" paper) to be very difficult to view on a screen that is only 6" diagonal. Even though the screen is 170dpi, which is pretty darn good.

I'm simply happy that I don't have to carry around 10lb of paperback books for leisure reading. (And between Baen's webstore and Project Gutenberg, I have plenty of stuff to read.)

[simonp]

Originally Posted by JeffElkins

Forum rules prohibit public discussion of sources for so-called "darknet" books. Just remember, Google is your friend.

Is this a hard and fast forum rule?

Most sources of "illegal" digital books (read: p2p networks), could also be assumed to have substantial "legal" digital books as well.

One can't point out sources of legal books if there's a chance these sources might also have illegal books?

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by simonp

Is this a hard and fast forum rule?

Here's a link to the Policy.

The relevant short answer is that MobileRead does not allow links to sites that host illegal (read: "copyright infringing") texts available.

Originally Posted by simonp

Most sources of "illegal" digital books (read: p2p networks), could also be assumed to have substantial "legal" digital books as well.

If they're legally available on such sites, they're also going to be legally available on other sites whose legitimacy is ... let's call it "less questionable."

Originally Posted by simonp

One can't point out sources of legal books if there's a chance these sources might also have illegal books?

I had a teacher in High-School that summed up his view of morality as: "If it's wrong, don't do it -- and you know the difference." I'd add, if you can't tell the difference it's probably wrong.

If you're reasonably sure that there aren't any illegal books, then fine, but please don't get ridiculous on us and post stuff where you "don't know" because you've "completely and deliberately declined to look."

In other words: Please read the forum policy, if something is contrary to that policy, please don't post it, and if you can't tell, then please don't post it (we'll just have to pull it down).

[MerLock]

Another question from a newb. I'm assuming it's safe to put the Sony Reader through an x-ray screener at the airport? Not too familiar with E-ink technology but guessing since this device is aimed at travelers I'm guessing it should safe. But thought I'd ask anyways.=)

[zelda_pinwheel]

there are many forum members who have reported travelling with no trouble whatsoever. i think if you do a search for "travelling" you'll find a thread which was called something like "travelling with kindle" (i can't remember exactly.).

EDIT : actually it was "travelling with Cybook". it's been a while, but i seem to remember someone explicitly mentioning the x-ray machines, and that they pose no danger.

[vivaldirules]

I always take my Sony Reader with me when I fly. I've not had any problems with it being scanned and don't think I've seen any posts here where anyone else has either.