MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Why supported formats don't matter to me (very much)

RWood · 11-28-2008, 01:10 PM

Great points Bob, thank you.

I have created and converted a few books for use use on reading devices and the differences between the conversion programs are many. Mobipocket provides a free excellent tool for creation of their books while the ereader format is still supported by Drop Book. Many third party tools exist such as Calibre, BookDesigner, and the ABC Amber series of converters. There are also tools for extracting from one format or another such as clit for converting MS Lit format to HTML. Nick has also developed a group of tools for dealing with the multiple flavors of IMP formats. In short, you can move just about any format to just about any other format with a little bit of work. Making it look good is another matter.

Anyone can create a content only version ebook in another format. Some -- and I'm thinking of Hary's series of Dickens when I type this -- are masterpieces of the electronic art. His versions of Dickens' books are the finest versions available for both quality of the text and visual presentation. Plus, they are available free at MobileRead. MobileRead has offered a wide variety of formats so the user just has to load and go. For over 99% of the users this means no format conversion is required to read the books posted at MobileRead. (Not all books are available in all formats. but it is getting better.)

With the screens currently the same from all leading manufacturers, the choice IMHO is dictated by the availability of the device in your country or region, the placement of controls, and the operating software of the unit.

11-28-2008, 01:10 PM	#13
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Great points Bob, thank you. I have created and converted a few books for use use on reading devices and the differences between the conversion programs are many. Mobipocket provides a free excellent tool for creation of their books while the ereader format is still supported by Drop Book. Many third party tools exist such as Calibre, BookDesigner, and the ABC Amber series of converters. There are also tools for extracting from one format or another such as clit for converting MS Lit format to HTML. Nick has also developed a group of tools for dealing with the multiple flavors of IMP formats. In short, you can move just about any format to just about any other format with a little bit of work. Making it look good is another matter. Anyone can create a content only version ebook in another format. Some -- and I'm thinking of Hary's series of Dickens when I type this -- are masterpieces of the electronic art. His versions of Dickens' books are the finest versions available for both quality of the text and visual presentation. Plus, they are available free at MobileRead. MobileRead has offered a wide variety of formats so the user just has to load and go. For over 99% of the users this means no format conversion is required to read the books posted at MobileRead. (Not all books are available in all formats. but it is getting better.) With the screens currently the same from all leading manufacturers, the choice IMHO is dictated by the availability of the device in your country or region, the placement of controls, and the operating software of the unit.