[ficbot]

In the days of my recently departed eBookwise, loading content was so much more fiddly than it is now. My own content had to be converted to PDB, uploaded to my personal content server using a buggy, unreliable web interface that required me to log in twice, with different passwords, in order to complete it and then plug in the device to my computer and download from there. Purchased content was just as bad: I would buy from Fictionwise (never from eBookwise.com as their DRM is very onerous), log onto eBookwise, download my Fictionwise purchases into my account there, then plug the device into the computer and download them onto the device. Whew! A lot of work.

Now, I am using Calibre with my new Sony Reader. I just download a file, either from my Fictionwise bookshelf or elsewhere, and add it in Calibre. Plug the reader in, press the 'send to reader' button, and done. This morning, I had five minutes before I had to be out the door and I still managed to buy 7 books on Fictionwise, download them to my computer, load them into Calibre and onto my device with time to spare.

The iPod Touch is even easier for Fictionwise buys. I can do it over wi-fi from within the program and never even go near my PC. For my own content, it is a little trickier, I have to convert it to PDB then upload it to the personal content server on my Fictionwise account first.

It is just so much easier than the old days of eBookwise (though the eBookwise was a good device for me at the time and I do not begrudge owning it, happy though I am with my new Sony and with my eBookwise off to a second life at a good home).

Anyway, just curious what the rest of you do. Is it easy? Hard? Fast? Slow? Are you a Kindle person who just buys off the device and never goes near the computer, or a fiddler like me who likes to have total control over the process?