Lord of the Rings eBooks

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Maybe your standards for what qualifies as an "error" are low ?

No, they are not. I detest errors.

[Big McLargeHuge]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The version of LOTR sold by Amazon seems to be pretty error-free.

Are the separate books error free or just the trilogy combined?

Edit: Also, i thought publishers had the same version across all stores? I was thinking about getting a Kobo Glo since the Paperwhite is having so many QA issues but if there's a chance their library of books may be of different quality then Amazon's.... which i would think the publishers are more likely to listen to if a problem with a certain book's quality should arise, with the Kindle's giant customer base.

Sorry if this post isn't clear, i'm a bit tired right now. And dizzy. Also, thanks for all the help guys!

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The version of LOTR sold by Amazon seems to be pretty error-free.

Anyone know of an ePub version which is error free?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Anyone know of an ePub version which is error free?

The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt version I got from Kobo earlier this year doesn't have the errors from the errata thread.

[AlexBell]

Thanks, Brian

[Valentino]

Originally Posted by crich70

I think there have always been 'rough' spots with any new technology and ebooks wouldn't be likely to be the exception there. Probably early printing with Gutenberg's presses had their fair share of problems. We just don't know about them because a lot of the books he and others printed back then are no longer extant and those that remain are among the best. I mean take Gutenberg's Bible for an example. He printed up 200 copies in the 1450's and of those only 48 copies (just about a quarter) of that run are still known to exist.

Rough spots, They are taking over the books Amy Pond. Wait.. Who..
I got it, this isn't a rough spot It's the DALEKS!!!

Most books don't have rough spots but total destruction of the text. LOTR was bad, but acceptable. Most ebooks are way worse and shouldn't get the 'rough spots' excuse. They get death.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Valentino

Most books don't have rough spots but total destruction of the text.

I buy quite a few eBooks (typically 4-6 a week) and I certainly haven't come across any where the text has been "totally destroyed". The overwhelming majority of commercial eBooks from big-name publishers seem to be pretty well done these days.

Can you give some examples of commercial ebooks where the text has been totally destroyed?

[hidari]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

No, they are not. I detest errors.

Are you anal retentive about ebook errors or about any errors in other areas as well?

[Valentino]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I buy quite a few eBooks (typically 4-6 a week) and I certainly haven't come across any where the text has been "totally destroyed". The overwhelming majority of commercial eBooks from big-name publishers seem to be pretty well done these days.

Can you give some examples of commercial ebooks where the text has been totally destroyed?

A lot of the books that I bought for my kindle were really bad with ocr errors that kept knocking me out of the story, some were not readable because of this. When put on the spot it is hard to remember. I've been spending most of my reading time this year on the Wheel of Time, so haven't read much else.

I can check tomorrow, to see which ones. but threr were a lot that I quit reading because of this.

[Big McLargeHuge]

Originally Posted by Valentino

A lot of the books that I bought for my kindle were really bad with ocr errors that kept knocking me out of the story, some were not readable because of this. When put on the spot it is hard to remember. I've been spending most of my reading time this year on the Wheel of Time, so haven't read much else.

I can check tomorrow, to see which ones. but threr were a lot that I quit reading because of this.

How are the wheel of time books? I'm getting those ebooks at some point.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by hidari

Are you anal retentive about ebook errors or about any errors in other areas as well?

Spelling and grammatical errors make me cringe wherever I see them. Formatting errors bother me as well. Right now there is something wrong with Google Chrome on my machine, and it's goofing up buttons (like in the pic below) and other things and driving me rather batty.

[grumbles]

yea, I'm anal about errors that distract me and interrupt my concentration. I recently bought several Harlan Ellison books from both Baen and Kobo. These are produced my Edgeworks and the quality ranges from good to bloody awful. Some of the books had not been proofed at all, save for a quick run through a spell checker, maybe. The result was that in one story there were references to "heaters" and "beaters". I finally figured out that since the "heaters" and "beaters" were always overhead that the correct term was "beaters" and it was slang for helicopter. There were many other errors like this as well as the well know scanning errors, "die" for "the". On some of the books the formatting and layout sucked dead bunnies. Margins that take up almost a quarter of the screen width. Introductions to stories that follow without a break from the previous story and then have a page break at the start of the story. I find it hard to believe that anyone actually looked at the book on any reader. Of the books I read, the quality of about half the books (not the writing) is just bloody shit! There is simply no excuse for this shoddy level of quality for something that I'm expected to pay for. I can find higher quality books on usenet. Yea, I'm anal and I'm pissed by these ebook error.

[JSWolf]

I've had one eBook where the formatting was non-existent because of errors in the CSS. I was able to fix the CSS and read the eBook. But if I could not have stripped the DRM, I would never have been able to get at the CSS to fix it. That one was never looked at after being "finished". If it was, it would have been seen that the formatting was not there.

[Big McLargeHuge]

Originally Posted by grumbles

yea, I'm anal about errors that distract me and interrupt my concentration. I recently bought several Harlan Ellison books from both Baen and Kobo. These are produced my Edgeworks and the quality ranges from good to bloody awful. Some of the books had not been proofed at all, save for a quick run through a spell checker, maybe. The result was that in one story there were references to "heaters" and "beaters". I finally figured out that since the "heaters" and "beaters" were always overhead that the correct term was "beaters" and it was slang for helicopter. There were many other errors like this as well as the well know scanning errors, "die" for "the". On some of the books the formatting and layout sucked dead bunnies. Margins that take up almost a quarter of the screen width. Introductions to stories that follow without a break from the previous story and then have a page break at the start of the story. I find it hard to believe that anyone actually looked at the book on any reader. Of the books I read, the quality of about half the books (not the writing) is just bloody shit! There is simply no excuse for this shoddy level of quality for something that I'm expected to pay for. I can find higher quality books on usenet. Yea, I'm anal and I'm pissed by these ebook error.

Can you give me a few examples of books with errors? I'd like to get an idea of what books and publishers to avoid.

[HarryT]

I don't think you need worry about it. I buy lots of eBooks (about 5 or so a week, normally) and have never come across one that has more than the occasional OCR error in it. Plus, if you buy from Amazon, you can return any eBook for a full refund within 7 days of purchase.