Quote:
Originally Posted by momtodogs
- What is the best format in ebooks to use with the Sony 505?
- What can't I use?
- Can I use .lit files?
- Are .txt files hard to read?
- I've seen comments about problems with .pdf format and the Sony. What's that all about?
- What is the deal with having to convert files for the Sony eReader?
- Where is/are the best sites for obtaining books (cheap)?
- What concerns should I have about 'free ebook' sites my nephew has told me about?
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1) LRF, very likely; the problem is that you can't easily convert from LRF to other formats, so a lot of people prefer ePub.
2-3) Can't use mobi/prc or lit, but Calibre will convert them nicely.
Also can't use .rb, .pdb (neither palmDOC nor eReader), .fb2, various Palm-OS focused types, nor the seven zillion small proprietary ebook types.
4) TXT files are easy to read; the only drawback is lack of formatting--bold, italics, table of contents, and so on. If you're reading straight text, .txt is an elegant format.
5) Most PDFs are not made for 6" screens, so they show up with a lot of useless white space, and tiny text. The Reader has a reflow, but how well it works depends on how well the PDF is made, and even if it's made perfectly, the reflow tends to run short lines of text together (poetry, short dialogue) into a single paragraph.
6) Any ebook that's not in .epub, .pdf, .lrf, .txt, or .rtf will need to be converted first. Fortunately, there are free document conversion programs; Calibre outshines the others as being the most versatile & useful.
7-8) The Mobileread wiki has a great list of
*legit* free ebook sites. There are plenty of non-legit free ebook sites. Telling the difference can be a bit troublesome, but you can be sure that if it offers for free books that cost serious money at booksonboard.com or fictionwise.com (like the Tolkein books), they're not legit; if they offer ebooks that don't exist elsewhere at all (like the Harry Potter books), they're also not legit. If there's no convenient "CONTACT US" spot, that's a warning sign.