Thanks to everyone for their input. And I've spent a lot more time browsing this site and others, picking up ideas and opinions.
I think I have reached a decision about my way forward, and it will be RTF in the main. For me the good things are -
- more than adequate for the text books I read in the main. I have no visual/comic books, and only a couple of books with diagrams/pictures/maps to support the text. I may live without these images or find an
ad hoc solution for each book as I come to it.
- easy to edit and format. I use Word and have created a macro to do 95% of standardising margins, page settings, font sizes etc. Using FILE > PROPERTIES you can set the Title and Author so that the PRS505 pick them up as metadata. I also use Wordpad to do final shrinking of file size if my many edits have resulted in a really bloated document.
- I have experimented with using Calibre simply as a manager rather than a converter. With Calibre I can add the Series information in the metadata and use it to transfer the RTF without further conversion to the 505.
- I have full control over justification without tinkering with custom firmware. I've tried minor mods to the 505 (and had success) but I've never successfully got justification as I'd hoped. As things stand I've currently got a UK 505 that I bricked and eventually recovered with US firmware. I think I'll quit at this while my head's still above water.
Acceptable compromises I'm prepared to live with -
- file size. RTF has a tendency to swell with repeat editing sessions but that can be managed with Wordpad. Even at its worst I'm enough of a greybeard and a slow enough reader that a 2GB memory card will probably hold all the books I'll be able to read in the rest of my life (ouch, that's a depressing thought!
)
- slow formatting of RTF in 505. As this greybeard's life dwindles away in front of his eyes (damn, I'm stuck on this theme now!) every minute it takes to format the book seems long, but it is only a minute or two..
Thanks again