[Jim Thompson]

Originally Posted by Rootman

Calibre ( http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ ) can convert MANY formats to MANY OTHER formats including basic text - which should be what you need.

Thanks. I'll try that and report back. The Calibre site indicates that lots of book types can be converted to text; though, I have seen PDFs that were created in a way that prevents saving as text and I'm guessing Calibre doesn't convert those to text. In addition to pdf, eBooks.com sells ePub, MobiPocket (mobi) and Microsoft Reader (lit).

I'm guessing none all these will be sold in a manner that prevents conversion to text. I know most Kindle files (azw) won't let you convert to text. I don't blame the publishers for wanting to protect their copyright. I just want my software to analyze word and expression usage in the book and erase it.

If I can get some of these to work, it will be much easier than scanning, so any further advice on where to shop or what format to purchase would be appreciated.

Meanwhile, my original scanning question asks for the many books I can't get in ebook format.