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Old 02-17-2010, 08:56 PM   #1
lynnh
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Making sure this will do what I need it to

I have recently started researching e-readers. I am 99% sure the Astak 5" EZReader is what I want. I just want to make sure of a few things. I am a homeschooling mom. I have a lot of e-books on my computer that are pdf files. It looks like the EZReader will read these with the possibility that I may need to convert them to e-pub using something like Calibre. Is that correct? The other books I would plan on loading on it would be old classic e-pub books from google books. I may purchase some books. Am I right in that the only place I can't purchase books form is Barnes and Noble? Everything else is compatible-is that correct? Thank you for answering these basic questions.

Last edited by lynnh; 02-18-2010 at 08:19 AM.
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Old 02-17-2010, 09:47 PM   #2
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Hi Lynnh. You are correct, the EZReader will read PDFs, but unfortunately I can't give too much further info on this as I don't use PDFs.

With buying ebooks, you can't buy them from Amazon either. Any ebookstore that sells ADE (Adobe Digital Editions) .epub and .pdf ebooks you can buy and read on your reader.
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Old 02-17-2010, 10:11 PM   #3
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Hello Lynnh, as long as your pdfs are mainly just text then the reader will handle it well. Converting is not even needed.
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Old 02-17-2010, 10:37 PM   #4
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Welcome to MobileRead, lynnh

Enjoy the forums.
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Old 02-18-2010, 10:02 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mellow_kitty View Post
...as long as your pdfs are mainly just text then the reader will handle it well.
I'll second that. It seems that pdfs with embedded images don't "reflow" very well. You can't really zoom a pdf like this because it attempts to display the whole page, image and all, as opposed to separating images and text. Therefore, unless you're using a magnifying glass to read with, the text is tiny. They do however seem to do better when converted to epub using calibre, though my experience with this is limited.
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Old 02-18-2010, 12:55 PM   #6
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If you're going for the classics, I'd look at what's posted here on MobileRead first. Google books tend to have the worst (no) formatting. To see what I'm talking about, find a book posted here by HarryT and then look at the same title on Google books. Some of the online bookstores charge for the classics, but that must be for people who don't know they can get them for free.
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Old 02-18-2010, 12:57 PM   #7
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Please check our 'ebook' section here first. You don't even need a device to read them on your computer.

Click on my links for more info on how to download, and don't hestitate to ask questions.
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Old 02-18-2010, 01:57 PM   #8
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Welcome, lynnh! I work for Astak.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lynnh View Post
I have recently started researching e-readers. I am 99% sure the Astak 5" EZReader is what I want. I just want to make sure of a few things. I am a homeschooling mom. I have a lot of e-books on my computer that are pdf files. It looks like the EZReader will read these with the possibility that I may need to convert them to e-pub using something like Calibre. Is that correct? The other books I would plan on loading on it would be old classic e-pub books from google books. I may purchase some books. Am I right in that the only place I can't purchase books form is Barnes and Noble? Everything else is compatible-is that correct? Thank you for answering these basic questions.
Dear Lynnh:

Welcome to our Dedicated Astak Forum. I work for Astak. I say this first for two reasons:

1. That you know my views may be a bit biased.
2. That you know Astak is on here almost every day answering questions, solving problems, and letting people know we are very reachable and friendly.

There was a thread about ten days ago on here that talked about PDF. What was basically said is that most PDF works just fine on the Pocket PRO and there is no need to convert. The Pocket PRO has Adobe Digital Editions allowing reflow of PDF. Yes, EPUB is just great on the Pocket PRO... but I think almost all of your PDF will work just fine. You have 20 formats on the Pocket PRO. They all work... but I would stay away from .LIT until we can get that perfected.

I am going to tell you a secret. Yesterday afternoon Astak was approved by Google to launch an Astak Bookstore. That Bookstore is now receiving final changes and should be up within the next 2-3 business days. It will have 1-1.5 Million Google free eBooks PLUS all the latest Best Sellers and other popular titles in EPUB (fom a separate content provider). I cannot tell you the website yet... but I want to assure you that you will have a great new eBook Store to turn to. In addition, of course, you have a choice of 300 other eBook Stores such as Books On Board and Powells. We are Open Format and try to provide maximum freedom to the end user so they have access to even the more obscure titles and publications. Great for home schooling!

At this time, you cannot purchase eBooks from Kindle (Kindle's dubious choice and not ours) and Barnes&Noble (we are still talking with them about gaining their format too).

I hope that this helps. Welcome to our happy band of Astak enjoyers.
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Old 02-18-2010, 02:17 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robertb View Post
At this time, you cannot purchase eBooks from Kindle (Kindle's dubious choice and not ours) and Barnes&Noble (we are still talking with them about gaining their format too).
And can't do DRM'd .mobi/.prc, right? Not quite the same as Kindlebooks; secure .mobi is available in a lot more locations, and while it's the same ebook format, the drm isn't cross-compatible. AFAIK, no devices natively read both Kbooks & DRM'd Mobi books.

IIRC, the PEZ does Adobe Digital Editions as its only DRM format; can't do secure .mobi or ereader/.pdb files, which are available in too many ebook stores to list. Can't do secure .LIT, which only a few stores have as their only ebook type.

Not a complaint; just a reminder to the original poster that it's based on *filetypes*, not stores.
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Old 02-18-2010, 04:04 PM   #10
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Thanks for all your replies. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but all the reading I have done about different formats and what different readers do is making my head spin. Robert that bookstore sounds great!

Two more questions. Is the user manual pretty good that comes with it? I have seen some threads about problems loading books on to it and then different formatting that is needed and that makes me nervous. Also I have an extra SD card that I have used in my Digital SLR camera. If I format that in my camera so it is blank can I then use it in the EZReader?
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Old 02-18-2010, 04:46 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lynnh View Post
Thanks for all your replies. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but all the reading I have done about different formats and what different readers do is making my head spin. Robert that bookstore sounds great!

Two more questions. Is the user manual pretty good that comes with it? I have seen some threads about problems loading books on to it and then different formatting that is needed and that makes me nervous. Also I have an extra SD card that I have used in my Digital SLR camera. If I format that in my camera so it is blank can I then use it in the EZReader?
Yes and No.

don't format with the camera if all you want to do is use it for books (the Camera creates a few specific folders for images).
The PEz will display any existing images (jpg) as 8 level Grey scale.
There is a folder DCIM and then a folder for the Camera Series (if the card is used in more than 1 Camera) where the photos are.

Insert it into your PEz and use Windows (or Linux) to format the (SD card) drive that appears when connected.
Use FAT (16) for smaller cards FAT32 for those 4, 8 or 16G
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