Fictionwise & Calibre

[bookratt]

Since I have the Sony PRS-505, I can't use the formats that Fictionwise seems to use the most.... Mobipocket, MS Reader, eReader.

Can I use calibre to reformat Mobipocket, MS Reader, eReader, or are they protected?

If yes, does calibre transfer these formats into LRF format for Sony Reader (or ePub since I use Adobe Digital Editions for my Sony too), and does it do a good job?

I would like to purchase more from them if they have a good deal, but if the book isn't a multiformat or Adobe, I don't bother.

Any help would be great! Thanks!

[wallcraft]

Calibre does a good job on DRM-free MOBI, and LIT and eReader ebooks. However, the "Secure" ebooks at FictionWise have DRM.

Stripping DRM for personal use is not thought by everyone to be legal in the US and some other places. If you go the DRM-stripping route, the best format is LIT (requires a Windows PC), followed by MOBI and finally eReader. If the ebook is entirely text there will likely be very little to choose between the formats. The preference order comes into play with illustrations and ebooks with more internal formatting than is typical.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by bookratt

Since I have the Sony PRS-505, I can't use the formats that Fictionwise seems to use the most.... Mobipocket, MS Reader, eReader.

Can I use calibre to reformat Mobipocket, MS Reader, eReader, or are they protected?

If yes, does calibre transfer these formats into LRF format for Sony Reader (or ePub since I use Adobe Digital Editions for my Sony too), and does it do a good job?

I would like to purchase more from them if they have a good deal, but if the book isn't a multiformat or Adobe, I don't bother.

Any help would be great! Thanks!

Since you have a Sony, here's what you do for DRM'd books:

1.) Buy in .lit format
2) Strip the DRM
3) Format for LRF (which is Sony) using calibre.

It all works great. I've purchased probably $300 worth of DRM'd books - in the .lit format - and did exactly what I've detailed above.

Everything works fine for these books that I purchased that I own that I use on a Sony Reader that I own. (By the way, did I mention that I OWN all these things? .)

Don

[Jill74]

thanks for this tip. I just bought Sony PRS-505 and i have not tried using it with MS Reader and the others.

[ficbot]

One tip about secure eReader, the vast majority of my books have been fine when 'liberated' of DRM and converted using Calibre. However, special characters such as accents or fractions in recipes will not render properly. And I have maybe four (out of over 100) books in which the quotation marks all disappear when you convert it. Fwiw ALL four of these books are published by divisions of Hachette...

[koland]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

1.) Buy in .lit format
2) Strip the DRM

Do you use ConvertLit and then import the entire directory into Calibre? Or some other process? Is it worth putting back into LIT format and storing that as a backup instead of the exploded directory (of often dozens of files)?

[koland]

Originally Posted by ficbot

One tip about secure eReader, the vast majority of my books have been fine when 'liberated' of DRM and converted using Calibre. However, special characters such as accents or fractions in recipes will not render properly. And I have maybe four (out of over 100) books in which the quotation marks all disappear when you convert it. Fwiw ALL four of these books are published by divisions of Hachette...

I saw the same using mobicreator, until I changed the character set. That let MC replace all the UTF-8 in the html with windows characters (ie, what we wanted to see, including quotes and apostrophes). I suspect if you did that, then used Calibre as a last step for your final format, you'd get better results.

It's one reason I don't always use Calibre for ereader to mobi conversion (but do it after MC, so I can add tags to the metadata).

Perhaps a plea for Calibre to better handle the conversion might solve both our problems? (I'd also like an option to swap the way book names are assigned -- I would much prefer author name first (last, first) then the book names, not the backwards way now used, as it's harder to find files when looking in explorer at the USB drive (I don't let Calibre manage the Kindle, as it's just too slow with the number of books I stuffed on there).

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by koland

Is it worth putting back into LIT format and storing that as a backup instead of the exploded directory (of often dozens of files)?

I use "ConvertLIT GUI" and it has two options "Extract" and "Downconvert" (the non-GUI version has the same two options, but I don't know how to use them). What you are using is Extract, which explodes the LIT into its constituent OEB ebook with lots of files. What you want is Downconvert, which just strips the DRM. This is because Calibre is better at exploding a LIT (as part of a format conversion) that ConvertLIT is, so just give Calibre the DRM-free LIT and let it do the rest.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by koland

Do you use ConvertLit and then import the entire directory into Calibre? Or some other process? Is it worth putting back into LIT format and storing that as a backup instead of the exploded directory (of often dozens of files)?

I just use ConvertLit to remove the DRM and then drag the Lit into Calibre. You don't have to explode the Lit.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by koland

Do you use ConvertLit and then import the entire directory into Calibre? Or some other process? Is it worth putting back into LIT format and storing that as a backup instead of the exploded directory (of often dozens of files)?

Yes.

Calibre makes a copy of your .lit file when it is finished. I delete the original. All the files that calibre makes are stored in the calibre folder.

I copy and paste the new .lrf file and drop it into the Sony folder. This gives me a built-in redundancy.



Don

[koland]

Thank you all ... off to find the downconvert switch, which will make life much easier.

Edited to add: The version I had wrapped the exe in a baby GUI - no switches and no way to set default. Dumped GUI and set up batch file to handle conversion, so it always downconverts. Thanks again.

[benham]

Am I going to have to learn a whole new language if I get a 505? So far all I have had to worry about is downloading ereader books to my Palm.

[ficbot]

Koland, I am on a Mac. I have four books I am going to fix up this weekend when I have the chance, and here is what I have found works for me:

Phase 1:

Use the liberator to liberate my file.
Import into Calibre and convert to epub
Open the epub from this conversion in Stanza
Export it as an RTF

Phase 2:

Open the RTF in Pages, remove the extra line breaks (I have to do this in Pages as Neo Office does not let you run find and replace on invisible characters like paragraph marks)

Phase 3:

Open the file in Neo Office and save as HTML (this extra step is necessary because Pages does not have an export to HTML option, and also because when I put RTF on the Sony, the font is tiny, so Kovid suggested using HTML instead and then converting in Calibre) and then re-import into Calibre. Now the file can be converted in Calibre into a useable LRF.

As you can see, it is a bit labor-intensive, so I save it for the few files which a quick convert doesn't seem to do the trick on. Since I bought the Sony, I buy far less secure eReader anyway than I used to (plenty to read for free or in Fictionwise multiformat, I'll read anything in my preferred genres and don't care if it is a big name author or not) but occasionally I am swayed by a new release at 100% micropay or by a huge sale...