Quote:
Originally Posted by JLYates
okay, I think I understand what you are saying. If I do the Sony route, I have to get the DRM books. Which can have problems. Some books have DRM and are not clear on it. I don't want to do any of the "grey area".
Perhaps I need to do this backwards, LOL. What should I use to get ebooks that won't create problems for my reader, be breaking any legal, moral or ethical laws of downloading book. I would like to get free ebooks, ebooks from libraries, buy ebooks from reliable sources that I don't have to worry about problems due to something of the dowloading format or whatever. If possible have access to pdf articles from professional journels, perhaps some magazines. I don't want to be stuck with having to get books of one specific type of format, or from one specific place (if I had not minded that, I would have bought a Kindle).
Some rules are meant to be broken or bents a little, but in this area, I don't think so.
So, what should I download?
Thanks again for the help.
Janette
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OK Janette, I have a sony device (505) so here is my 2 cents of advice.
Since you are new to this, stick to something really easy the first time.
1. Go to the mobileread sony epub book forum
HERE. Choose a book. There are lots of books here. They are all free and public domain (depending on where you live). Click to download one. It will ask you where you want to save it. Choose somewhere on your computer you will know where it will be downloaded to.
2. Open calibre. Drag that "*****.epub" file you downloaded onto the calibre window. It should import a copy of your book into the library. The original will stay where you downloaded it in case you want to keep it somewhere else.
3. Connect your sony device to your computer using the usb cable it came with. Calibre should recognize that you have connected the device and you will notice the sony reader icon added next to the library icon near the top of the calibre program.
4. Select the book in the library. Click on the "send to device" icon at the top of the calibre screen (near the middle). Your book should be transferred to your sony. Now click on the "arrow" near the icon of your sony device (next to the library icon about 1/5 of the way down from the top) to eject your sony from calibre and the computer. Detach the usb cord. Wait for your sony to catalog your book (swirly arrows on my device) and then open it.
5. Read.
Now when you have figured this out, it will all become easier as you repeat the process.
You asked about where to get books and are concerned about DRM and formats. It is really confusing when you start out. Everyone has their own format. Here is a partial list:
Ones you CAN'T use:
eReader [.PDB]
Microsoft [.LIT]
Palm Doc [.PDB]
Rocket/REB1100 [.RB]
Franklin [.FUB]
Hiebook [.KML]
Isilo [.PDB]
Mobipocket [.PRC]
Kindle [.MOBI]
Ones you CAN use:
ePub [.EPUB]
Adobe [.PDF]
Sony Reader [.LRF]
Ones you can use AFTER conversion in calibre:
text [.txt]
html [.html]
OK, here is some more confusion: the epub and pdf formats may have DRM attached to them. These books are purchased books and usually titled as "secure ADE", "secure PDF", "secure Adobe", or "secure ePub". The "secure" is the hint
If you want to purchase books that do NOT have DRM, look for the following formats in the ebook stores:
-html
-txt
-epub
-multiformat
The hint to use on these is that the bookstore often lists a whole bunch of formats under the same book title. If one of the formats is either html or txt, then DRM is not present.
For some great places to purchase DRM free books you can start at these sites:
Fictionwise (all genres)
Smashwords (all genres)
Samhain (erotica/romance)
Baen (sff)
Now, if you wan't to use your library for ebooks, this becomes slightly more challenging. You will need to find out from your library the website that you can use to get the books. This varies from place to place, but they usually have an easy primer to get you started. You will need to download adobe ADE since these books will be protected by DRM. Once you have adobe ADE, you will need to sign up for an adobe ID and then when you get the book from the library website, it will show up in the adobe ADE library (not calibre). Now you have 2 choices:
A. put it on your device via the ADE system (you may need to ask how to do this in a separate topic)
B. strip off the DRM and send it to your device via calibre (illegal in the US, but not in many other countries. morality quite gray)
Hope this helps start you off.