12-12-2010, 05:27 AM | #1 |
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Stuck trying to convert Borders book to K3
As a very new newbie I hope my post makes sense!
I am experimenting with converting books. I have downloaded Calibre. I have joined up with Borders and put a free ebook into my library there. I have downloaded Adobe Digital editions, and have moved the ebook into there. Now I am stuck. I am trying to put the Borders ebook into Calibre so I can convert it. I have put something into Calibre-Calibre has called it Unknown and saved it as an 'exe' format. I click on it to try and convert it but Calibre says it can't as 'no suitable source format was found.' I have no clue where I have gone wrong-can anyone help?? Thanx |
12-12-2010, 06:20 AM | #2 | |
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Quote:
Do you know what format the free book is in? *Edit*- I see that they have predominantly pdf & epub as the format of choice, I've just downloaded one of their free books in epub and converted it to mobi using calibre without any issues. Perhaps you may want to re-download whatever title you had as a free book in epub format and try again? Perhaps your original download was corrupted. Cheers Paul Last edited by Paulinafrica; 12-12-2010 at 06:32 AM. |
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12-12-2010, 06:45 AM | #3 |
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Hi Paul.
When you moved the book from the Borders library to Calibre, did you use the 'add book' button on Calibre? If so, did you then go into the Adobe Digital editions file that holds it? I will try again-am migthy confused! thanx |
12-12-2010, 07:00 AM | #4 | |
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I'm sure if you just download the book to your PC and then use the 'add books' function it should be OK. Why are you using Adobe Digital editions? |
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12-12-2010, 07:03 AM | #5 |
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Ok, now I see what you did. It seems the old books you can download as epub or pdf, which I've just done. No need to use the Adobe thing.
But I had followed a link to a Borders book that is a contemporary one, reduced to free for a short time. In that situation I had to use Borders library and the Adobe thing-there was no other option. |
12-12-2010, 07:09 AM | #6 | |
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Quote:
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12-12-2010, 07:25 AM | #7 |
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Ah see I thought by using Calibre I was stripping! Must not be.
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12-12-2010, 08:26 AM | #8 |
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12-12-2010, 09:56 AM | #9 | |
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And welcome to the forum. If you are trying to read a book that you bought at Borders or B&N, chances are the book is DRM protected. DRM protection is an internal codification that basically makes difficult (not impossible) to convert books from epub to mobi or any other format. In order to convert B&N or Borders epub books to any other format via Calibre, you must remove the DRM protection 1st. Keep in mind such process is still illegal here in United States. Once removed or stripped, you can convert as usual via Calibre. You must put an epub file, not an exe on Calibre. At least, that's how I convert on my Linux machine. Most big online bookstores are implementing DRM protection which makes difficult or annoying, moving your collection from one device to another, unless the destination one supports epub natively (not the case with Kindle) |
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12-12-2010, 10:10 AM | #10 | |
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It is probably not illegal in the US to strip DRM from ebooks you bought in order to read them on a device you own, see DRM: What did you buy? (An Essay.). |
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12-12-2010, 11:01 AM | #11 | |
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I'm aware of ... but yes, removing DRM protection, here in USA, it is still illegal. I am not a DRM protection fan, but the reason why they want to make it illegal is that the book is sold to you; removing the DRM protection allows the user copy or re-distribute the same book to others that have not paid for it, on such cases you are violating USA copyright act and because there is no way for publishers to know if you are going to keep it for yourself only or not, they take no chances and create that silly law. EDIT: and I want to clarify that even without removing you can copy or move the ebook to a different user's environment, but the DRM protection makes it unusable, at least not outside of the original device or user environment. Last edited by jocampo; 12-12-2010 at 11:13 AM. |
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12-12-2010, 11:07 AM | #12 |
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If I could take this just slightly off-topic....
To join Borders, do you have to supply credit card info, even if the book you want will be free? I'm getting a bit reluctant to spread my credit card number around for what will only be freebie offers. Now back to our regularly scheduled discussions of stripping drm (g) |
12-12-2010, 11:23 AM | #13 |
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Don't quote me on it but I don't think you do have to provide a credit card to buy an eBook at Borders. It uses plain old regular ADE ePub so it doesn't need the cc number for the DRM. I just "bought" one of their free books and it downloaded just fine and I can't find anywhere on the website where it has a credit card number stored for me.
I've bought from Border's before using a gift card and I can't remember having to supply a credit card. One thing I don't like about Border's is it doesn't keep your gift card balance for you in the account the way Amazon does. You have to re-enter your gift card number with every purchase. |
12-12-2010, 06:58 PM | #14 |
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Where does the Borders Desktop application put the book files when it downloads them? I did one today to try, and now can't find it!
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12-12-2010, 07:03 PM | #15 |
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The Borders Desktop app downloads everything into this ever-growing sqlite database which is very tricky to extract things from.
For best results in liberating your Borders books to read on the Kindle (it can be done!) is to go back to the website, check your My eBooks Library listing, and do "Download ePub" for the book you want. Open the .acsm file you get in Adobe Digital Editions (it's like a pointer file to the real ePub, which will then download), and then once you've gotten it, use the ePub file in the Digital Editions downloads folder for further tweaking via whichever set of tools you're using. Hope this helps. |
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