All of this conversion stuff gives me a headache

Nate0072 · 03-02-2009, 10:20 AM

I ordered my 505 a few weeks ago and am still waiting for it to be delivered.

In the meantime, I've been reading up on the different formats and the ones that need to be converted to work on the 505. What a nightmare.

Why can't publishers just convert the books into LRF instead of LIT, MOBI, EREADER, etc to make our lives easier?

I looked at Calibre, Convertlit and BookDesigner, and just confused myself.

I even tried a free LIT book, used Convertlit to remove the DRM, and tried to convert it into LRF via Calibre, doesn't seem to work, had a strange message on Calibre saying something about atoms not found!

I love the idea of having my books in one place, and the 505 is damn sexy, but right now, I'm just wondering if I have made a terrible mistake and should continue reading paper books instead.

Any feedback to would be great...

llasram · 03-02-2009, 10:30 AM

You found a book with atoms, seriously? Where? Squee! That's the one feature of LIT calibre doesn't support because I could never find a book using it to test with please please post a link.

Ahem.

And (calmer now) I assure you that pretty much any other LIT book will work right now. You are literally the very first person to report running into this.

lilac_jive · 03-02-2009, 10:34 AM

What books are you trying to read?

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-02-2009, 10:38 AM

Wish I could help... but I just spent a solid Saturday converting my new novel into ePub, LRF, LIT, Mobi, eReader and RTF... then discovered a problem with the text, and had to do it all again on Sunday! My head's sore, too!

I use Book Designer for conversion to LRF, and it drives me crazy too... it's buggy, it messes up formatting upon input, and it requires a lot of manual fixing to get the text just right. I've also recently discovered that the conversion tools I have do not like the 2007 version of Word, meaning I have to convert my texts down to Word 2000 format before they can be used by most of my tools... including BD.

And don't get me started on ePub. I end up doing everything manually, to get it the way I want it (sorry, but Calibre just doesn't leave ePub in a form I want it in, though it does fine for converting to Mobi).

I am so looking forward to some really top-notch format conversion tools... especially for ePub and LRF!

Nate0072 · 03-02-2009, 10:38 AM

Hi,

It was on the Fictionwise website under free books.

The link is: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook23624.htm

If you could briefly describe how to remove the DRM from LIT titles and convert using Calibre that would be great.

Cheers

Nate0072 · 03-02-2009, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

What books are you trying to read?

A multitude of different authors. All of them are from Fictionwise though, for example:

Clive Cussler
Tom Clancy
Lincoln Child

Why?

lilac_jive · 03-02-2009, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate0072

A multitude of different authors. All of them are from Fictionwise though, for example:

Clive Cussler
Tom Clancy
Lincoln Child

Why?

Just being nosy

I'm confused, doesn't fictionwise offer books in LRF?

Nate0072 · 03-02-2009, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Just being nosy

I'm confused, doesn't fictionwise offer books in LRF?

I think so, but not for the books I'm after.

lilac_jive · 03-02-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate0072

I think so, but not for the books I'm after.

Ohhh ok.

llasram · 03-02-2009, 10:48 AM

@Steve Jordon: How could calibre's EPUB generation be improved for you?

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-02-2009, 11:12 AM

I'd need some time to get back into it (it was late, I was in a hurry, and didn't take the time to properly troubleshoot the issue)... right off, I'd like to see individual chapters be broken up into individual HTML files within the package, instead of one big HTML file. Calibre seemed to have problems with the TOC, which may have been related to that. The ePub TOC did not work properly when I opened it in DE after creation in Calibre.

llasram · 03-02-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I'd need some time to get back into it (it was late, I was in a hurry, and didn't take the time to properly troubleshoot the issue)... right off, I'd like to see individual chapters be broken up into individual HTML files within the package, instead of one big HTML file. Calibre seemed to have problems with the TOC, which may have been related to that. The ePub TOC did not work properly when I opened it in DE after creation in Calibre.

That's strange. Calibre will definitely split input HTML at detected/XPath-specified chapter breaks, as well as at page breaks. The NCX TOC should be generated from those detected chapters or additional specified XPath expressions. The only issue I'm aware of with it is that it can be somewhat slow on the Reader because calibre doesn't currently try to prevent top-level TOC items from having fragment identifiers.

I'm glad you're able to use calibre for Mobipocket generation though. Baby steps!

llasram · 03-02-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate0072

The link is: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook23624.htm

Exellent. LIT Atoms support coming soon to a calibre build near you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate0072

If you could briefly describe how to remove the DRM from LIT titles and convert using Calibre that would be great.

If you got to the point where you got the Atoms error then you're doing it right. Atoms are just a very very very obscure feature of the LIT format which calibre doesn't support yet. If you get pretty much any LIT file and do what you did then you'll get successful conversion.

-Marshall

AnemicOak · 03-02-2009, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate0072

Why can't publishers just convert the books into LRF instead of LIT, MOBI, EREADER, etc to make our lives easier?

You don't have to convert if you don't want to. You can get books through the Sony store in LRX format. Also you can read DRM'd ePub files (available for some titles through Books on Board) on it. It will also read DRM'd PDF, but PDF display isn't the greatest.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-02-2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llasram

That's strange. Calibre will definitely split input HTML at detected/XPath-specified chapter breaks, as well as at page breaks. The NCX TOC should be generated from those detected chapters or additional specified XPath expressions. The only issue I'm aware of with it is that it can be somewhat slow on the Reader because calibre doesn't currently try to prevent top-level TOC items from having fragment identifiers.

I'm glad you're able to use calibre for Mobipocket generation though. Baby steps!

It could easily have been something about the source material that caused the problem... I simply didn't have the time to get deeply into it, and opted for manual instead. When I have more opportunities, I'll see if I can see what went wrong in Calibre.

03-02-2009, 10:20 AM	#1
Nate0072 Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 282 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brussels, Belgium Device: Sony Reader 505 (Silver)	All of this conversion stuff gives me a headache I ordered my 505 a few weeks ago and am still waiting for it to be delivered. In the meantime, I've been reading up on the different formats and the ones that need to be converted to work on the 505. What a nightmare. Why can't publishers just convert the books into LRF instead of LIT, MOBI, EREADER, etc to make our lives easier? I looked at Calibre, Convertlit and BookDesigner, and just confused myself. I even tried a free LIT book, used Convertlit to remove the DRM, and tried to convert it into LRF via Calibre, doesn't seem to work, had a strange message on Calibre saying something about atoms not found! I love the idea of having my books in one place, and the 505 is damn sexy, but right now, I'm just wondering if I have made a terrible mistake and should continue reading paper books instead. Any feedback to would be great...

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03-02-2009, 10:30 AM	#2
llasram Reticulator of Tharn Posts: 618 Karma: 400000 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: EST Device: Sony PRS-505	You found a book with atoms, seriously? Where? Squee! That's the one feature of LIT calibre doesn't support because I could never find a book using it to test with please please post a link. Ahem. And (calmer now) I assure you that pretty much any other LIT book will work right now. You are literally the very first person to report running into this.

03-02-2009, 10:34 AM	#3
lilac_jive Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,870 Karma: 27376 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Device: PRS-505	What books are you trying to read?

03-02-2009, 10:38 AM	#4
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	Wish I could help... but I just spent a solid Saturday converting my new novel into ePub, LRF, LIT, Mobi, eReader and RTF... then discovered a problem with the text, and had to do it all again on Sunday! My head's sore, too! I use Book Designer for conversion to LRF, and it drives me crazy too... it's buggy, it messes up formatting upon input, and it requires a lot of manual fixing to get the text just right. I've also recently discovered that the conversion tools I have do not like the 2007 version of Word, meaning I have to convert my texts down to Word 2000 format before they can be used by most of my tools... including BD. And don't get me started on ePub. I end up doing everything manually, to get it the way I want it (sorry, but Calibre just doesn't leave ePub in a form I want it in, though it does fine for converting to Mobi). I am so looking forward to some really top-notch format conversion tools... especially for ePub and LRF!

03-02-2009, 10:48 AM	#10
llasram Reticulator of Tharn Posts: 618 Karma: 400000 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: EST Device: Sony PRS-505	@Steve Jordon: How could calibre's EPUB generation be improved for you?

03-02-2009, 11:12 AM	#11
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	I'd need some time to get back into it (it was late, I was in a hurry, and didn't take the time to properly troubleshoot the issue)... right off, I'd like to see individual chapters be broken up into individual HTML files within the package, instead of one big HTML file. Calibre seemed to have problems with the TOC, which may have been related to that. The ePub TOC did not work properly when I opened it in DE after creation in Calibre.