New to e-books. Need help.

[cjpreuit]

I got a Sony PRS-505 reader for Christmas and have installed the software to my computer.

Then I purchased some e-books off eBay and those have been downloaded to the MS Reader program I downloaded onto my computer. But I want to get them on the Sony reader and can't figure out how to do it.

Also, what does it mean when the file says .lit? Do I have to convert these to PDF first and if so, what do I use to do that?

Thanks for any help.

[slayda]

Welcome to the joys of ereading. .lit is the MicroSoft reader format. I don't believe your Sony will read it. Check the WIKI pages here for "Convertlit" and "Calibre". I'm not expert on either but others here are. Look on the WIKI for conversion software.

Several places sell .LRF ebooks. Check out Baen, BooksOnBoard, & Fictionwise.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by cjpreuit

I got a Sony PRS-505 reader for Christmas and have installed the software to my computer.

Then I purchased some e-books off eBay and those have been downloaded to the MS Reader program I downloaded onto my computer. But I want to get them on the Sony reader and can't figure out how to do it.

Also, what does it mean when the file says .lit? Do I have to convert these to PDF first and if so, what do I use to do that?

Thanks for any help.

Bookdesigner, Links and guide in my sig.

also if you bought books on ebay you were Ripped Off. anything you got you can either get for free, or you bought illeagally.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by cjpreuit

Then I purchased some e-books off eBay and those have been downloaded to the MS Reader program I downloaded onto my computer. But I want to get them on the Sony reader and can't figure out how to do it.

Also, what does it mean when the file says .lit? Do I have to convert these to PDF first and if so, what do I use to do that?

MS Reader ebooks are often called LIT, because thay have the .lit filename extension. If they are DRM-free then Calibre (see its forum here) can convert them to LRF or ePub for you. If you had to download the ebooks using Internet Explorer with MS Reader authorized, then they probably have DRM (encryption) and before they can be imported into Calibre you need to strip the DRM. Use "ConvertLIT GUI" to do this. Note that stripping DRM from ebooks is thought to be illegal in many countries, although it is hard to see who is hurt by doing this on ebooks you bought from a legitimate retailer for personal use.

I do worry a bit about buying ebooks from eBay, since if they are stolen ebooks the author won't get paid. I don't know that eBay allows the sale of questionable ebooks, but I have not thought of it as a source of legitimate ebooks before now.

[lilac_jive]

This just sounds like serious bad news. I would highly recommend not buying ebooks from ebay.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

also if you bought books on ebay you were Ripped Off. anything you got you can either get for free, or you bought illeagally.

I don't think that's always true. There's Munsey's Blackmask store at eBay selling erotic books that are not available for free from any other location. In some geographies, they might indeed be illegal, but not because they violate copyright -- which is what I thought you were implying with your comment.

And, I'm not sure I'd qualify 10,000/15,000 classics on a DVD from eBay as a rip-off. Yes, one could spend their time downloading the many thousands of those books, but paying $15-$20 seems a very fair price for not having to track down the books. Even if they are straight ports of Project Gutenberg text with no significant improvement from transformation to MobiPocket format, $15-$20 still seems fair.

Assuming that the books weren't pirate copies, you may be able to contact the seller and let him/her know that you bought the wrong format. And, it may be possible to exchange for the Sony version if you pay a postage (and handling?) fee. It's certainly worth asking.

[Andybaby]

yeah dispute the charge with paypal, say the product is illeagal, and you will get your money back.

[desertgrandma]

I've seen a LOT of illegal books on DVD on ebay.

If it from a well published author, and not available for free somewhere else, you've bought an illegal copy.

There was one with Agatha Christie books, I sent an email to Ebay and they pulled it.

[lilac_jive]

I just did a search on ebay for ebooks. Among the plethora of "Make gajillions of dollars selling my ebooks weeeee" I saw all four of the twilight books on PDF. That is eeellleeegaal.

[Andybaby]

I agree. If its on DVD they have a right to sell it. but most are just Digital Downloads, and most are either just stait PG rips, or a random torrent they downloaded, or all the books they got off of IRC.